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Will Netflix eventually monetize its user data? | (The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.) Jason Mittell, Middlebury (THE CONVERSATION) Even in the wake of a recent mixed earning report and volatile stock prices, Netflix remains the media success story of the decade. The company, whose user base has grown rapidly, now boasts almost 150 million global subscribers. But as someone who studies the television industry, Ive always wondered how Netflix can provide so much unlimited ad-free content for such a low monthly rate, which currently averages around US$14. And Netflix is burning through cash, with negative cash flow of $3 billion in 2018 alone. Seeing Netflix this way might better explain its current strategy and clue us into the companys future plans, while raising red flags about ethics and privacy. Spending more and charging less For a century of screen entertainment, there were only a few ways for Americans to pay for media: - You could purchase a book, album or DVD, lease a movie theater seat or rent a tape at a video store; - You could pay with your attention by consuming ads alongside free radio or television programming; - Or you could subscribe to cable TV, and pay a large monthly fee to access an array of scheduled programming. Netflix doesnt follow any of these three models. Instead it most resembles HBOs subscription service, which similarly provides ad-free original programming alongside a library of older content for a monthly fee. While they may seem analogous, there are key differences. HBO is part of a larger media company, which gives it access to vast content libraries. And even though HBO charges more than Netflix, it spends far less for original content. In 2017, HBO spent $2.5 billion to Netflixs $8 billion. The latters spending grew to $13 billion in 2018. Relying on subscribers, not ads Pouring money into content might generate hits, but not direct profits: Netflixs sole revenue stream is subscriptions, so its primary goal is to gain and retain subscribers. Having popular content generates buzz, and Netflix hypes its brand by using self-reported numbers to claim that its original films and series like Bird Box and Sex Education attract millions of viewers. Yet Netflix only yields the same monthly fee per household, regardless of how much subscribers watch. This makes Netflix distinct from other media companies that use highly profitable hits to generate revenue. This will then subsidize the production of new films, television shows, albums and video games. Meanwhile, competing streaming platforms Hulu and Amazon Prime Video have other revenue sources advertising and retail, respectively and their larger diversified companies can better leverage hits. Netflix needs to produce and acquire desirable content to make the service indispensable. But making original content is expensive. Hiring talent and producing movies and television series costs the company more than $15 billion annually. Netflix spends much more cash than it brings in, leading to consistent negative cash flow and a mountain of debt that amounts to more than $10 billion. Even though it reported a record $1.2 billion in profit in 2018, those profits are based on an accounting model that ignores many costs and debts. This has led some financial analysts, like NYU professor Aswath Damodaran, to believe that Netflixs business model is unsustainable. The more Netflix grows, he wrote last fall, the more its costs grow and the more money it burns. One theory is that Netflix is playing the long game, pitting itself against social media companies like Facebook and YouTube, rather than just film studios or TV networks. Media commentator Matthew Ball argues that Netflix is in a race with the social media giants to occupy every minute of leisure time available. Yet Netflixs financial model is the inverse of Facebooks and YouTubes. The social media giants generate huge advertising revenues from free, user-generated content. Perhaps Netflix could balance content costs with higher subscription fees and its growing global user base. It seems unlikely, however, that this model could lead to anything beyond small profit margins. From its inception as a DVD rental service, Netflix has touted its competitive advantage through its algorithm the predictive engine that claims to deliver the most user-specific content from its vast library. Netflix has always been a technology firm first and foremost, invested in mining its library of vast user data to deliver what viewers want to watch. For instance, the Netflix engineering team strives to have customers click on a show in the first 10 seconds. Such obsessive interface tweaking helps promote programming as Ball notes, the most valuable real estate in the world is the top fold of Netflix home page. But it doesnt generate revenue. This emphasis on viewing optimization, internal promotion and maximizing engagement resonates with another recent Netflix offering: the Black Mirror episode Bandersnatch. Netflixs highest-profile experiment in interactive narrative, Bandersnatch allows viewers to choose how the story unfolds from dozens of options. Netflix collects data from viewers of Bandersnatch, charting the narrative choices they made during the episode. Such viewer activity feeds into Netflixs tracking efforts that it uses to make programming decisions and customize promotion to each subscriber. A logical next step would be product integration. Based on your choices within the narrative around specific brand names, Netflix could then sell customized micro-targeted product placements within programs a strategy that could actually lead to increased revenue. Netflix logs everything you have ever watched and how you watch every time you pause, what programs you consider watching but choose not to and when youre most likely to binge on Friends reruns. When linked to website trackers, Netflix could, for example, cross-reference that viewing data with your social media accounts, your purchasing habits, your search history and even your emails. In the age of surveillance capitalism, such data could be worth a fortune to marketers, political campaigns and advertisers. As far as we know, Netflix has not started using its data to track us online, package us to marketers or cross-reference our private messages (even though Facebook has provided Netflix access to this information). And I doubt Netflix will violate its core brand by incorporating ads into its interface. Partnering with or acquiring a marketing firm to suffuse every subscribers online experiences with micro-targeted ads seems more likely. All of these potential uses of viewing data are still speculative. But since profits regularly eclipse tech companies ethical standards, its important to be asking these questions before, rather than after, the damage is done. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here: http://theconversation.com/will-netflix-eventually-monetize-its-user-data-115273. | https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/article/Will-Netflix-eventually-monetize-its-user-data-13784784.php |
Do Smart And Sustainable Buildings Create An Unsolvable Equation? | I think we can all agree that this situation is a head-scratcher. Such is the case in the wild world of brain-busting mathematics, where the 1859 work from Bernhard Riemann, known as Riemanns Hypothesis, resulted in a problem so complex that it may never be solved. For the sake of sanity, I wont attempt to describe the logistics of the problem. Riemanns stumper is currently considered to be the most complex mathematical problem in the world. That honor was previously held by Pierre de Fermat, whose Last Theorem, proposed in 1637, was actually solved in 1995 by rock-star mathematicians Andrew Wiles and Richard Taylor. Oh, those unconventional mathematicians, always pushing the boundaries of complexity and living a life on the edge. Suddenly, science, technology, engineering and math are almost cool. Complexity isnt unique to the field of mathematics. For instance, consider the exponential growth of our hyperconnected world, particularly as it relates to the evolution of smart and sustainable buildings. Think about all the intricacies associated with the convergence of building automation controls, sensors, eco-friendly design and cybersecurity, supported by a smart infrastructure. This new reality has created some amazing economic, operational and environmental benefits but some perplexing challenges as well. Smart Buildings: No Room For Complexity The concept of a smart building goes well beyond the traditional brick-and-mortar building. Smart buildings today support the idea that a structure be it a skyscraper, cruise ship, factory or stadium is fully automated, controlling various operations, such as heating, air conditioning, lighting, humidity, security, conveyors and other systems that use power. The structure can be mobile and not fixed to any particular location. It utilizes sensors to gather data about activities taking place within and around the structure and manages them according to the structures function and needs. Businesses are keen on optimizing operational efficiencies for enhanced service delivery, reducing costs and downtime through preventative maintenance, all while lowering energy consumption and harmful environmental impact. This is accomplished by collecting, analyzing and leveraging data from internet of things (IoT) devices, which, according to Gartner, Inc., can "learn behavior and usage, react with preventive action, or augment or transform business processes." You Cant Collect What You Cant Connect While conventional structures are somewhat static, smart buildings perform as integrated, dynamic systems that focus on continuous process improvement. Achieving this means you must have effective data analytics. Data is the new gold that fuels todays smart infrastructure. Mining the data requires reliable sensors that are cropping up everywhere to create new data sources. IoT devices can fetch data for processing to make better business decisions across the enterprise from the core to the edges, which includes oil fields, substations, vehicles, robots and more. Effective data analytics are threatened due to connectivity constraints for all these unconventional endpoints. Furthermore, IoT endpoints are often vulnerable to exploits, which causes downtime. You must be able to securely connect IoT endpoints to collect the data and get to the gold. Despite the sizable number of positive business impacts IoT devices can have on businesses, many organizations have balked at the idea of deploying IoT devices and control systems, citing an overwhelming level of complexity and a lack of personnel with IoT training as their reasoning. The gap in IoT skills is a direct result of the information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT) convergence. Unfortunately, bridging that gap isnt an easy equation. Simply adding IT staff to an OT team does not produce the correct answer. Its back to complex mathematics again. To help enterprises solve this complexity, business leaders are working with firms such as ARC Advisory, an analyst firm in the crux of this disruptive IoT transformation. ARC advises that organizations unify separate IT and OT domains, but it must be with a common data, application and technology environment. Done right, this convergence plays a key enabling role in the overall digital transformation and is a prerequisite for organizations to thrive and remain competitive in years to come. The organizational and human aspects are critical. To that end, achieving our sustainability and smart building goals means we also need to rethink how IT and OT teams interact with technologies that are enabling this smart infrastructure. Meeting the true demands of scalable connectivity, while maintaining stringent security standards, requires new thinking and new architectures. Extending traditional IT network security solutions based on aging and brittle internet protocol (IP) communications seems like a loosely applied Band-Aid at best. Transmission control protocol and internet protocol (TCP/IP) served us well for a long time, but it was developed years before corporations even considered network security a priority even further before the notion of IT/OT convergence. Therefore, stretching its functionality to apply to our new smart infrastructure will widen the growing gap. The good news is that new networking architectures have emerged around the advanced host identity protocol (HIP), which was originally developed in the aerospace and national defense security circles. HIP-based connectivity has already proven to be more than promising as an IoT solution to bridge the modern networking gap and meet IT and OT imperatives. On that note, lets do a quick recap of some of the confounding issues Ive mentioned. Fermats last theorem has been solved, and it looks like were well on our way to figuring out this whole issue of securing and connecting a new era of smart buildings too. Anything is possible. Watch out, Bernhard Riemann. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2019/04/22/do-smart-and-sustainable-buildings-create-an-unsolvable-equation/ |
Is The Gig Economy Really Coming To Steal Our Lunch? | Getty 2001 seems a very long time ago, but it was then that Dan Pink published Free Agent Nation and predicted a future where we'd all be independent workers. It was a few years from the publication of that until sharing economy behemoths such as Uber and Lyft emerged alongside gig economy platforms such as UpWork and Etsy, but they have grown at a tremendous pace, with their ascendency causing ripples throughout the world. Whilst the notion of contingent labor has been around since Manpower was created in 1948, it's probably fair to say that the Internet has changed the game considerably. When Pink first highlighted the "free agent" concept back in 1997, he suggested there were around 25 million Americans working in such a way. It should be said that this figure covers all forms of independent worker, and the varied nature of such workers makes measurement notoriously difficult. For instance, official government data puts the figure at around 15.5 million, which is some way below the 57 million proposed by a recent UpWork survey. The size of the gig economy UpWork went on to predict that freelancers would form the majority of the workforce in the United States within a decade, but a recent analysis by the Center for Economic and Policy Research and the Economic Policy Institute pours scorn on such suggestions. Indeed, they argue that little has really changed since Pink made his prediction all those years ago. The authors suggest that there has been little real change in work trends in the last 12 years, with those working in the gig economy representing just 1% of the overall workforce. Despite the ubiquity of Uber and Lyft drivers in our major cities, the gig economy does not currently hold the key to the future of work, the authors say. Indeed, even workers in nonstandard work arrangements has fallen in recent years, from 10.9% in 2005 to 10.1% in 2017. What's more, the 90% or so of workers operating in traditional work arrangements has stayed largely static since the mid 1990s. The demographics of gig workers As with previous analyses undertaken by Prudential, they found that gig work was least common among older workers. For instance, Millennial gig workers were most likely to proactively work in this way as they found the flexibility and freedom of the work most in line with their long-term aspirations. By contrast, gig workers in Gen-X and Baby Boomer generations were much more likely to enter into gig work because of circumstances outside of their control. This then contributed to a general sense of dissatisfaction with their circumstances among Gen-X gig workers, who were much more likely to prefer to move back into a traditional, full-time job. Yes and no. Studies such as those prepared by Prudential do reveal that Millennials are much more likely to work in the gig economy than any other age group, and indeed some 1 in 4 Millennials had worked in such a way by 2015. So you could make the argument that this is a new way of working and that as Millennials and Gen-Z grow to dominate the labor market, gig work will become the norm. This is a hypothesis many of that age group support, with the Prudential report revealing that Millennials think it highly likely that freelancers will make up 75% or more of the American workforce. It's common for each generation to think themselves to be different than those who went before however, and the lack of real movement in the number of people employed in the gig economy doesn't suggest that we're in the midst of tremendous change just yet. That's not to say such a change won't happen of course, but as Mark Twain may not have said, reports of the death of traditional work may be ever so slightly exaggerated. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/adigaskell/2019/04/22/is-the-gig-economy-really-coming-to-steal-our-lunch/ |
Who is Democratic presidential candidate Seth Moulton? | Rep. Seth Moulton, a Democrat of Massachusetts, served four tours of duty in Iraq, earned three Harvard degrees, has served four years in Congress, and wants to add "president" to that list. After formally announcing his candidacy for president on "Good Morning America," Moulton is the 20th Democratic candidate to join the field. During the 2018 midterms, the Marine from Marblehead, Massachusetts, raised over $4 million through his Serve America PAC to support Democratic candidates running in battleground states. Before announcing his candidacy, Moulton laid the groundwork for his 2020 campaign, having already visited Iowa, South Carolina, New Hampshire and Nevada. Full Name: Seth Wilbur Moulton Party: Democrat Date of birth: October 24, 1978 Age: 40 Birthplace: Salem, Massachusetts Family: Wife Elizabeth, and 6-month-old daughter, Emmy. Education: Dual master's degrees in business and public administration, Harvard University (2011), Bachelor of Arts in physics, Harvard University (2001) What he does now: In 2014, Moulton unseated John Tierney, a nine-term incumbent, to win Massachusetts' 6th Congressional District, and has been re-elected twice since. What he used to do: After graduation from Harvard University, Moulton enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps in 2001. As an infantry officer, he served four tours of duty in Iraq, two as a special assistant to then-Gen. David Petraeus. Key life/career moments: According to Moulton's personal LinkedIn profile, he was an intern for Goldman Sachs in 2010 and in 2011 he was the president of Eastern Healthcare Partners, Inc, a medical company aiming to "address the burden of obesity and diabetes." Before his successful run for Congress, he was a managing director for the Texas Central Railway, a private company working to build a 240-mile high-speed rail line that would connect Dallas and Houston. He currently serves on the House Armed Services Committee, the House Budget Committee and is also one of many co-sponsors of the Bipartisan Background Checks Act, which is the first major gun safety policy to be passed in the House since 1994. What you might not know about him: Moulton's parent's, Tom and Lynn, didn't know he was awarded the Bronze Star for valor, and the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal for valor until The Boston Globe uncovered his awards in 2014. He was awarded for his "courageous battlefield presence under intense enemy fire," and "aggressive, from-the-front leadership," according to military citations obtained by The Boston Globe. Moulton collaborated with his Iraqi translator, Mohammed Harba, to create "Moulton and Mohammed," a television news show that aired twice a week in Iraq. He was also prominently featured in "No End in Sight," a 2007 Oscar-nominated documentary. In 2015, Moulton was named one of the "50 Most Beautiful" people in Washington, D.C., by The Hill. Moulton played the organ in high school, according to Phillips Academy classmate Tom Balamaci. | https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/democratic-presidential-candidate-seth-moulton/story?id=62465519 |
Is Tech (Finally) Poised To Make Life Easier For Renters? | Getty Imagine an office filled with three-ring binders, stacks of carbon-paper receipt copies, post-dated checks waiting to be cashed and the days schedule hand-scrawled on a whiteboard. You might be picturing a scene from a movie depicting life before the internet but this is the daily reality, still, in thousands of property management offices across the country. While digital technologies have transformed nearly everything we do from buying groceries to finding a ride across town, the field of property management has not gone digital at the same rate. I cant think of many other sectors where consumers still regularly pay by physical check or where voicemail is the primary way of keeping in touch. But as renters make up an increasingly influential part of the American housing market and a tech-savvy one at that the industry tech forgot may finally be ready for a complete digital overhaul. Updating Property Management For The Digital Age The oldest industries are sometimes the most difficult to change and real estate has been around, well, forever. Heavily regulated and touching on everything from law to banking, the process of leasing a home hasnt lent itself to easy digitization. Meanwhile, property managers, often small-to-midsize businesses (SMBs) or sole proprietors, have traditionally made up their processes on the fly, scheduling maintenance shifts on whiteboards and keeping track of leases on paper. Ive talked to hundreds of property managers, and they acknowledge that while their systems arent always pretty, they work. Its not that they havent wanted to try new technology. But time is always limited, new systems can be daunting to learn and their priority has traditionally been finding new clients to serve. So new tools for residents and owners took a backseat. But the reality is that technology has dramatically changed consumer expectations. Self-management and real-time access to information, feedback and service has become the norm for banking, travel, retail, ride-hailing and more. Smartphone access to key services is no longer considered a convenience but a necessity. For most of us, going back to a world without Google Maps, Uber or Airbnb is hard to imagine. Property management and really, the whole of real estate tech hasnt been able to innovate as quickly as other industries. And these changes have begun to create a gulf between residents and their managers. Having to hound your landlord about that leaky sink is no longer just inconvenient; its become a reason to consider moving. Indeed, our 2018 Renter Report, which surveyed 1,200 renters nationwide, shows that as renting becomes a popular option for Americans across the economic and demographic spectrum, expectations for service and responsiveness have shifted dramatically. Eighty-seven percent of millennial respondents prefer to manage their leasing process online, and two-thirds of residents across all demographics prefer to manage communications online. The Proptech Residents And Property Managers Actually Want But progress is finally being made in this space. The property tech industry now represents one of the fastest growing tech sectors, attracting more than $12 billion in venture capital in 2017 alone. Homebuying apps like Redfin and Homesnap are now practically household names. Meanwhile, an initial wave of rent tech startups has succeeded in bringing virtual apartment tours to the mainstream and simplifying apartment searches. The latest generation of proptech is poised to streamline how residents, owners and property managers interact and manage tasks such as viewings, background checks, signing leases, paying rent and submitting maintenance requests. In the end, automating many of these mundane and time-consuming tasks should help property managers focus on a key and often overlooked amenity: creating a sense of community that makes rental properties feel like home. Rather than manually running credit checks or sourcing handymen for dishwashers on the fritz, managers can put more time into creating vibrant, living properties, growing their business and serving residents. Ive spent my career 25 years and counting working at the intersection of small businesses and technology. During that time, I saw the power that technology offers SMBs that take full advantage and give it the priority it demands. What excites me today about the property management space is that this same untapped potential to leverage technology to make the lives of frontline managers easier and improve their bottom lines exists throughout this industry. Thats a big reason why I made the shift two years ago to this proptech sector. Property management software can help companies be more efficient and profitable, while also making it easier to communicate and build connections with residents. Admittedly, were not there yet across the board. I still walk into many property management offices where fax machines are regularly used and the ways of doing business are the same as theyve been for years. To be clear, many of these managers are doing an exceptional job serving their residents with the tools they have. Every SMB owner is crunched for time and money investing in a new software platform just isnt everyones top priority. But the reality is that, soon enough, the reliance on the tried-and-true processes will start to hold property management firms back from meeting the expectations of their residents and clients. Gone will be the days where technology adoption is optional, as resident expectations will demand the shift toward greater reliance on technology and online tools. At the same time, the benefit to property management firms is tangible: technology will enable property managers to do more with less and automate the rote and repetitive parts of their job. At the end of the day, technology can free up more time for managers to do what they do best provide exceptional service to residents and owners and grow their business. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesrealestatecouncil/2019/04/22/is-tech-finally-poised-to-make-life-easier-for-renters/ |
How Do Uber And Lyft Compare In Terms Of Key Revenue And Valuation Metrics? | 2019 Bloomberg Finance LP Ride sharing behemoth Uber recent filed its S-1 as it looks to go public, following rival Lyft which listed in March. In this analysis, we compare Uber and Lyfts key operating and financial metrics (for 2018). We note that the metrics for Uber includes its Uber Eats delivery business (about 13% of net revenues in 2018), while Lyfts metrics relate solely to its ride sharing operations. which outlines the metrics and comparison in detail. You can also see more data for Technology Companies here. Uber delivered over 5 billion trips vs. 620 million for Lyft in 2018, driven by its larger customer base and operations spanning 63 countries. In comparison, Lyft only operates in the United States and Canada.Ubers customers also appear to use the service more frequently, taking over 60 trips per year in 2018 versus just about 38 for Lyft. However, Lyfts total trips delivered grew at an average rate of over 90% over the last two years, ahead of the 70% growth posted by Uber. Gross revenues represent the total dollar value, including any applicable taxes, tolls, and other charges paid by riders using Uber. Ubers gross revenues are higher than Lyfts, due to the larger number of trips delivered. However, Lyfts revenue per trip is about 35% higher than Ubers, as it only operates in the higher-value U.S and Canadian market. Moreover, Ubers revenue per ride has declined compared to 2016, while Lyfts has grown. Net revenue is the cut that the company takes from gross revenues, after accounting for driver payments and incentives, promotions and other items. While Ubers net revenues are higher in dollar terms, its take rate is lower than Lyfts (21% vs 27%). This is likely due to Ubers expansion into international markets, which has resulted in higher discounts and incentives to drivers. Uber has some other businesses including Uber Freight and New Mobility, which it reports under its Other Bets revenues. We add this to its net ride sharing revenues to arrive at total revenue. While Uber has not priced its IPO, there is speculation that the company could be targeting a $100 billion valuation, implying a revenue multiple of 9x based on 2018 revenues. Lyfts current $17 billion valuation translates into an 8x revenue multiple. That said, its possible that Uber could go with more conservative pricing, considering that Lyfts stock is down by close to 25% since its IPO. Ubers revenue multiple stands at 9x, compared to about 8x for Lyft. In comparison, Google had a revenue multiple of 13x in 2016, when its revenues stood at about $11 billion roughly in line with Ubers 2018 revenue. Facebook had a revenue multiple of 16.5x in 2014 when it had revenues in the ballpark of $13 billion. However, both Facebook and Google were profitable at these revenue levels, compared to Uber which remains loss-making, justifying their comparatively higher multiples. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2019/04/22/how-do-uber-and-lyft-compare-in-terms-of-key-revenue-and-valuation-metrics/ |
How Common is Incest in the Targaryen Family? | Warning: This post contains spoilers for Game of Thrones. Jon revealed his true parentage to Daenerys on episode 2 of season 8 of Game of Thrones: He is the son of Danys brother, Rhaegar Targaryen, which means that Daenerys is his aunt. Daenerys seemed more angry that Jon might be the true heir to the Iron Throne than worried about the fact that she had slept with her own nephew. But incest is nothing new to a Targaryen. Daenerys actor Emilia Clarke confirmed that Daenerys was not particularly perturbed by the fact that she was related to Jon. The related thing, to her, is so normal, Clarke told Entertainment Weekly. She could have easily married her brother. Its not a thing. Its a thing for Jon, but lets just forget about that. The main thing is were up for the same promotion, and Ive been working for it for my entire existence. Its true that in the books, Daenerys spends years of her life expecting to marry her own brother, Viserys. (Viserys marries her off to Khal Drogo in a bid for the Dothraki army.) And as a proud Targaryen in hiding, Daenerys would have grown up hearing stories about her ancestors, many of whom married their own siblings in order to protect the royal line of dragon-riders. The Brief Newsletter Sign up to receive the top stories you need to know right now. View Sample Sign Up Now But incest has also led to devastating consequences in the Targaryen clan. Targaryens pass down from generation to generation an ability to ride dragons, but also madness. Your father was not the first, Ser Barristan Selmy told Dany in A Dance With Dragons. King Jaehaerys once told me that madness and greatness are two sides of the same coin. Lets look at the history. Here are just a few Targaryens who married their relatives for better or worse. Gaemon and Daenys Daenys had a prophetic dream about the Doom and convinced her brother to escape to Dragonstone with her. They did just that and married one another. Their children, Aegon and Elaena, in turn married one another as well. After the Doom killed all the other known, the Targaryens became the last dragon-riding family. Aegon, Rhaenys and Visenya Aegon the Conquerer, the man who burned his enemies weapons to create the Iron Throne and sit upon it, married his two sisters, Rhaenys and Visenya. According to lore, he loved Rhaenys but also felt that Visenya should be part of the relationship out of obligation. The three conquered Westeros and ruled together, and each sister-wife bore Aegon a son. The High Septon had blessed Aegon when he became king, but the Faith Militant were not happy with all the incest in the Targaryen family. When Arys eventually married his children to one another, the Faith Militant started a rebellion that lasted through the rule of three different Targaryen kings. Meanwhile, after Aegon died, Rhaenys son Arys took the throne for a brief period of time. But after a lifetime of resentment over the fact that Aegon preferred Rhaenys to her boiled over, Visenya had Arys killed. Her song Maegor the Cruel took the throne, and he lived up to his monicker in all the worst ways. Shaera and Jaehaerys In the books, the siblings Shaera and Jaehaerys were each betrothed to other people. But they secretly wed each other and gave birth to Aerys, who became the Mad King, and Rhaella, who became Aerys sister-wife. Aerys and Rhaella, in turn, gave birth to Rhaegar, Viserys, and Daenerys. Daemon and Rhaenyra Princess Rhaenyra eloped with her own uncle, Daemon. The controversial couple mostly paired up romantically to anger Rhaenyras father Daemon has a gripe over his brother denying a past romantic interest. Eventually, Daemon cheated on Rhaenyra with another Targaryen relative. Then he fell off a dragon and died. Rhaenyra was eaten by another dragon. Write to Eliana Dockterman at [email protected]. | http://time.com/5575266/game-of-thrones-targaryen-incest/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+time%2Ftopstories+%28TIME%3A+Top+Stories%29 |
Are Sansa Stark and Theon in Love on Game of Thrones? | Warning: This post contains spoilers for Game of Thrones. The second episode in Game of Thrones eighth season was chock-full of reunions. But one in particular stood out to fans: the one between Sansa Stark and Theon Greyjoy. Midway through the episode, Theon returned to Winterfell Castle after rescuing his sister Yara to join the Fight for the Living. Sansa, who has given the cold shoulder to several characters this season, embraced Theon like her best friend or perhaps something more, fans speculated. Their hug seemed more emotional than Sansas reunion with her own sister, Arya last season. A brief refresher on the history between these two characters: Ramsay Bolton physically and mentally tortured both Sansa and Theon (then known as Reek). A brainwashed Reek blocked Sansa from escaping once by telling Ramsay her plans. But when Ramsay was off fighting Stannis Baratheon, Reek finally seemed to remember that his identity. And togetherm he and Sansa jumped off the walls of Winterfell and made a run for freedom. When they thought they were about to be cornered by Ramsays forces, Theon risked his life to helps Sansa escape. By the time they parted, Theon was still Reek, but he had begun his journey to recovery. It looks like Theons return to Winterfell is part of his great redemption arc. After all, Winterfell was the scene of his great betrayal of the Starks he murdered two boys that he claimed to be Bran and Rickon. Winterfell was also the backdrop for his torture and time spent as Reek. Theon had to muster a lot of bravery to return to that place, and specifically to face Sansa, whom he also once betrayed. But now it seems that Sansa trusts him with her life, trusts him perhaps more than anyone else (besides maybe Brienne). Helen SloanHBO So yes, they are probably the only two humans left alive who truly understand what the other person suffered Ramsay flayed just about everyone else. Eventually, they saved one another and formed an emotional bond. I hope not. Yes, Theon is on a redemption tour, but its all rather new. Just a few weeks ago, she jumped off the side of a ship while his sister was being kidnapped out of fear. He proved his bravery by scuffling with a few Iron Born (and realizing that he has an advantage over anyone who tries to kick him in the groin.) He later saved Yara, sure, but that rescue mission felt way too easy. Theon still has to prove himself to the Starks. Hes asking for a chance to do so. But thats just the first step. As for Sansa, she was once a young girl who dreamed a prince would sweep her off her feet. She suffered under at the hands of two different masochistic princes and learned how cruel the world could be. But she has emerged from hell as a strong leader, one who understands how to garner her peoples loyalty in a way that Daenerys and Jon seem to be struggling with in the North. She does not need a love story by the end of this show. She already has an impressive arc as a woman who learns to have faith in her own abilities. Its nice to see that Theon returned to serve her but as the Lady of the North, not a love interest. Write to Eliana Dockterman at [email protected]. | http://time.com/5575293/game-of-thrones-sansa-theon-in-love/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+time%2Ftopstories+%28TIME%3A+Top+Stories%29 |
Why are so many people using ashley as a password? | Name: Ashley. Age: First recorded use as a first name was in the 16th century. Before that, it was a surname; before that, a location (ash leigh). Appearance: Weak. I dont know, I think it has a certain quiet strength. But its weak for a password only six characters, no numbers, no symbols. It certainly is. It was 56th in a list of hacked passwords released last week by the National Cyber Security Centre. 123456, of course. But ashley used for 432,276 accounts was the highest-ranking first name on the list. Funny. I had no idea that name was so popular. It isnt. It ranked 797th in the list of names given to baby girls in the UK in 2017, according to the Office for National Statistics. It came in at 122. There were more baby girls named Reagan in 2017. As the compromised passwords were obtained from global breaches, it could be that they were simply lazy in setting up their account with the infidelity site Ashley Madison, which was hacked in 2015. You would think you would opt for at least a couple of symbols for that one. Well, quite. But there could be other reasons for the prominence of ashley. It may not be a popular name now, but it was back in the late 80s, so there are a lot of living Ashleys. Yes, but there must be way more say Michaels out there. michael was 59th on the hacked password list, two behind ashley. Maybe people called Ashley are just too stupid to come up with a safe, secure password like the rest of us. No comment. Well, it was exclusively a male name before the 20th century but it doesnt even make the top 1,000 in the US list for baby boys. I dont understand this. Perhaps Ashley is the most common uncommon name. Think of it this way if you were called Olivia or Muhammad, you would know your name was a useless password. But if you were called Valerian or Parlophone, you might think you could get away with it. We may never know the answer. Youre right. homelesspa is ranked 28th on the hacked password list, and nobody knows what that means (it probably originated with a bot generating fake Myspace accounts in bulk). Do say: My parents are very security conscious, which is why they named me Sc1ss0rsD0ncasterH0rse. Dont say: Have you met my sister, Password? | https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/shortcuts/2019/apr/22/why-are-so-many-people-using-ashley-as-a-password |
How do I get the boss to stop talking about her personal life? | Q: My bosss life is just fascinating. If you doubt it, just ask her! The problem is, shes so preoccupied with her personal life that I get no direction from her. Our one-on-ones get used up on details about her family, vacation, etc., and theres no time to talk about me. While she is very nice in our chats, later she criticizes me for not keeping her in the loop. Help! Tracy, 55, director, infrastructure A: Try different ways of getting your needs addressed until you find a way that works. Theres a power differential here, so dont let the nice fool you. This is a control device, whether its intentional or not. Also keep in mind that her continued failure to give direction depends on you remaining passive and not pushing her to do her job. I know, you could argue that you shouldnt have to push her to be helpful to you. But that wont help you get what you need. Advertising One simple approach is to go in to your meetings with a list. Take charge of the meeting by saying something like, Today I have three things I need to discuss with you. Be formal, with specific points to cover, alternatives to consider, and a decision for her to make. If she diverts with social chat, acknowledge it and point her right back at your topic: That sounds really fun; now, about this project This approach will be particularly helpful if shes just scatterbrained and doesnt stay focused. Also, if shes not an experienced manager and hasnt had good leaders in her past, she may not know how to be effective in meetings with her team members. This approach gives her some subtle mentoring. If you determine that this personal aspect is important to her, throw her some cookies by proactively asking about her kids, her grandkids or her dog. And volunteer some tidbit about your life to provide reciprocity. Using email may also be effective, especially if you need her to state a preference and history suggests you should have a paper trail. In the beginning of the email, state exactly what you need from her (a decision, that its just FYI, etc.). Then lay out the background, alternatives you considered, and any other information you want her to have. Be concise but thorough. Give her a timeline to respond, if appropriate. Advertising Then take responsibility for following up in your regular meeting so you know shes been informed. Despite these steps, she may continue to complain about being out of the loop. In this case, be more direct and ask her what her communication expectations are. Be prepared with examples of how you have attempted to communicate with her and make a concrete plan. Keep your tone pleasant and collaborative, emphasizing that you are just trying to best meet her needs. Then follow up with her periodically to make sure she is satisfied (or at least has no reason to fault your communication efforts). During all of this, be sure that you are communicating fully with others who need to know what you are doing. This forestalls the risk to you that shes an information roadblock that will make you look bad. | https://www.seattletimes.com/explore/careers/how-do-i-get-the-boss-to-stop-talking-about-her-personal-life/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all |
Why Are The New York Times and The Washington Post Producing Ads for Big Oil? | Sign up for Take Action Now and get three actions in your inbox every week. You will receive occasional promotional offers for programs that support The Nations journalism. You can read our Privacy Policy here. Sign up for Take Action Now and get three actions in your inbox every week. Thank you for signing up. For more from The Nation, check out our latest issue 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. Fight Back! Sign up for Take Action Now and well send you three meaningful actions you can take each week. You will receive occasional promotional offers for programs that support The Nations journalism. You can read our Privacy Policy here. Sign up for Take Action Now and well send you three meaningful actions you can take each week. Thank you for signing up. For more from The Nation, check out our latest issue Travel With The Nation Be the first to hear about Nation Travels destinations, and explore the world with kindred spirits. Be the first to hear about Nation Travels destinations, and explore the world with kindred spirits. Sign up for our Wine Club today. The late Herb Schmertz was a public-relations legend, a dedicated oil man who revolutionized the way his industry and other corporations manipulate American news, public opinion, and government policy. As a senior PR executive for Mobil, Schmertz pioneered what he called the op-ad. Beginning in October 1970, Mobil paid The New York Times to publish regular op-ed articles, written by the oil company, in which it delivered its views on energy, the environment, and other issues of the day. In a 1991 interview revealed here for the first time, Schmertz explained: Everything we did was organized as if it was one big political campaign. The goal of the campaign, Schmertz continued, was to win elections also. On public-policy issues. Ad Policy And win they did. By 1983, Schmertz and his colleagues in Mobils press office were privately congratulating themselves on how their advertorials had shifted The New York Times editorial positions. There has been a substantial change in The New York Times editorials over the years toward the very positions we have argued, the Mobil PR team crowed in an internal report uncovered by the nonprofit Climate Investigations Center. Of course, we cant prove a direct relationship, the team added. But that was the goal, Schmertz confirmed in the 1991 interview, saying it was part of the political campaign. Related Article The Media Are Complacent While the World Burns Mark Hertsgaard and Kyle Pope Schmertzs influence lives on in the increasingly common practice of US news organizations featuring content prepared by and with oil companies and other large corporations. Known as native advertising, branded content, or sponsored content, it looks and sounds like genuine news, even as it provides a one-sided, corporate-friendly take on climate change, clean energy, or other issues. And these days, the oil companies dont even have to produce the content themselves. Numerous top news organizationsincluding the Times, Politico, and The Washington Posthave pocketed hundreds of thousands of dollars from ExxonMobil, Shell, Chevron, and organizations such as the American Petroleum Institute to create the companies advertorials. Call it greenwashing with a twistthe twist being that the fossil-fuel companies claims of good corporate citizenship are now being supported by respected news organizations. At a time when the same news organizations must dramatically improve their coverage of the climate crisis (see Mark Hertsgaard and Kyle Popes article in this issue), such a financial relationship with the very companies that are helping drive the crisis is problematic at best. Journalistic catechism commands a strict division between the business and editorial sides of a news organization. In an era when revenue losses are leading to draconian staffing cuts in newsrooms across the country, it strains credulity to believe that any news outlet can receive hundreds of thousands of dollars in outside funding and not be influenced, if only unconsciously. After all, as Schmertz and his colleagues confided, Mobil achieved that influence by the 1980s, long before the revenue crisis struck American journalism. (I also asked CNN how it ensures that oil-industry ads that run before segments on climate change dont counterbalance its reporting.) Only the Post replied, saying, All sponsored content is clearly labeled as advertising and includes the name of the advertiser. The Washington Post newsroom is not involved in the creation of this content. This is a fairly standard response from news outlets about this practice, but the Post explicitly advertises its newsroom as part of what makes its Brand Studio valuable. On the Brand Studio home page, the sell is: We apply the Washington Posts award-winning investigative lens and a deep understanding of our audience to create compelling multimedia storiesfrom concept to production to distribution. Schmertzs recollections suggest that companies do end up exercising influence over news organizations internal decisions and public product. The companies are too shrewd to do this in any obvious way. Instead, Schmertz had the genius idea of funding Masterpiece Theatre on PBS to foster an affinity-of-purpose, creating a positive impression of his company in the minds of policy-makers and the public by associating Mobil with high culture. Current Issue View our current issue PBS has downplayed Schmertzs and Mobils role in the series, but Schmertz revealed in the 1991 interview that he, in fact, had a lot of hands-on control. Nobody was going to spend Mobils money but me, he said. When the interviewer said, [British producers] told me you had script approval, casting approval, producer and director, Schmertz replied, Thats true. He also had a hand in selecting individual shows for Masterpiece Theatre and later for Mobil Showcase, a group of TV stations that was assembled, he said, for the sole purpose of putting material into commercial television that would enable us to have a vehicle for the advertisements we wanted to run. He chose to use journalists rather than actors as the hosts for Mobil-funded shows because, he said, actors dont really have as much credibility as journalists. These days, media outlets arent even trying to hide such cozy arrangements with oil companies. The New York Times campaign highlighting ExxonMobils algae-based biofuels, created by the Times T Brand Studio, was featured on the studios website and ran across the Times site. It May Come From Where You Least Expect, the story proclaims. And: How scientists are tapping algae and plant waste to fuel a sustainable energy future. In late February, Shells social-media team tweeted proudly about the companys Sky Scenario campaign, which promotes potential pathways for getting to an emissions-free world by 2070 (far too late, by most scientists reckoning) while nevertheless keeping fossil fuels in the mix: Sky Scenario shows a challenging but technically possible pathway to a cleaner future. Read our paid post on @nytimes created in partnership with @TBrandStudio. #MakeTheFuture. As if guided by Schmertz, these advertorials arent so crass as to spout outright nonsense like Climate change isnt happening. No, they suggest solutions that would just so happen to keep fossil-fuel companies profitableand the climate spinning out of controlfor decades to come. The Post created an advertorial for the American Petroleum Institute that asserted the importance of natural gas as a bridge fuel in the transition to clean energy. Never mind that science now recognizes that natural gas is even worse for the climate than coal because gas production invariably leaks methane, which is up to 86 times as potent as carbon dioxide when it comes to trapping heat. Corporate PR influence campaigns dont focus on mass public opinionthey say they influence the influencers, observed Robert Brulle, a professor of sociology and environmental science at Drexel University. This is why, his research shows, the fossil-fuel industrys spending on advertising, PR, and lobbying rises and falls depending on which politicians are in office and how much of a perceived threat there is to industry profits. Thus, spending spiked in the run-up to the UN climate negotiations for the Kyoto Protocol in 1997 and fell once Republicans held a majority in the Senate. Spending rose again during Barack Obamas presidency, then dropped to almost nothing. Brulle says its logical to expect a ramp-up in spending in response to the Green New Deal. Advertising may be a necessity for privately owned news organizations, but the presss primary responsibility is to the public. Imagine that US news outlets were still running advertisements for the tobacco industryand not only running them but creating them, despite the well-known dangers of smoking. In 2019, the dangers of climate change are no less well-known. | https://www.thenation.com/article/big-oil-pr-fossil-fuel-lobby-herb-schmertz/ |
Why is the US news media so bad at covering climate change? | This article is excerpted from an piece published by Columbia Journalism Review and the Nation. The Guardian is partnering with CJR and the Nation on a 30 April conference aimed at reframing the way journalists cover climate change. More information about the conference, including a link to RSVP, is here. Last summer, during the deadliest wildfire season in Californias history, MSNBCs Chris Hayes got into a revealing Twitter discussion about why US television doesnt much cover climate change. Elon Green, an editor at Longform, had tweeted, Sure would be nice if our news networks the only outlets that can force change in this country would cover it with commensurate urgency. Hayes (who is an editor at large for the Nation) replied that his program had tried. Which was true: in 2016, All In With Chris Hayes spent an entire week highlighting the impact of climate change in the US as part of a look at the issues that Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump were ignoring. The problem, Hayes tweeted, was that every single time weve covered [climate change] its been a palpable ratings killer. So the incentives are not great. The Twittersphere pounced. TV used to be obligated to put on programming for the public good even if it didnt get good ratings. What happened to that? asked @JThomasAlbert. @GalJaya said, Your ratings killer argument against covering #climatechange is the reverse of that used during the 2016 primary when corporate media justified gifting Trump $5 billion in free air time because it was good for ratings, with disastrous results for the nation. When @mikebaird17 urged Hayes to invite Katharine Hayhoe of Texas Tech University, one of the best climate science communicators around, on to his show, she tweeted that All In had canceled on her twice once when I was literally in the studio w[ith] the earpiece in my ear and so she wouldnt waste any more time on it. Wait, we did that? Hayes tweeted back. Im very very sorry that happened. This spring Hayes redeemed himself, airing perhaps the best coverage on American television yet of the Green New Deal. All In devoted its entire 29 March broadcast to analyzing the congressional resolution, co-sponsored by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Ed Markey, which outlines a plan to mobilize the United States to stave off climate disaster and, in the process, create millions of green jobs. In a shrewd answer to the ratings challenge, Hayes booked Ocasio-Cortez, the most charismatic US politician of the moment, for the entire hour. Yet at a time when civilization is accelerating toward disaster, climate silence continues to reign across the bulk of the US news media. Especially on television, where most Americans still get their news, the brutal demands of ratings and money work against adequate coverage of the biggest story of our time. Many newspapers, too, are failing the climate test. Last October, the scientists of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a landmark report, warning that humanity had a mere 12 years to radically slash greenhouse gas emissions or face a calamitous future in which hundreds of millions of people worldwide would go hungry or homeless or worse. Only 22 of the 50 biggest newspapers in the United States covered that report. Instead of sleepwalking us toward disaster, the US news media need to remember their Paul Revere responsibilities to awaken, inform and rouse the people to action. To that end, the Nation and CJR are launching Covering Climate Change: A New Playbook for a 1.5-Degree World, a project aimed at dramatically improving US media coverage of the climate crisis. When the IPCC scientists issued their 12-year warning, they said that limiting temperature rise to 1.5C would require radically transforming energy, agriculture, transportation, construction and other core sectors of the global economy. Our project is grounded in the conviction that the news sector must be transformed just as radically. The project will launch on 30 April with a conference at the Columbia Journalism School a working forum where journalists will gather to start charting a new course. We envision this event as the beginning of a conversation that Americas journalists and news organizations must have with one another, as well as with the public we are supposed to be serving, about how to cover this rapidly uncoiling emergency. Judging by the climate coverage to date, most of the US news media still dont get grasp the seriousness of this issue. There is a runaway train racing toward us, and its name is climate change. That is not alarmism; it is scientific fact. We as a civilization urgently need to slow that train down and help as many people off the tracks as possible. Its an enormous challenge, and if we dont get it right, nothing else will matter. The US mainstream news media, unlike major news outlets in Europe and independent media in the US, have played a big part in getting it wrong for many years. Its past time to make amends. Some preliminary suggestions. (You can read this story in its entirety at Columbia Journalism Review.) Dont blame the audience, and listen to the kids. The onus is on news organizations to craft the story in ways that will demand the attention of readers and viewers. The specifics of how to do this will vary depending on whether a given outlet works in text, radio, TV or some other medium and whether it is commercially or publicly funded, but the core challenge is the same. A majority of Americans are interested in climate change and want to hear what can be done about it. This is especially true of the younger people that news organizations covet as an audience. Even most young Republicans want climate action. And no one is speaking with more clarity now than Greta Thunberg, Alexandria Villaseor and the other teenagers who have rallied hundreds of thousands of people into the streets worldwide for the School Strike 4 Climate demonstrations. Establish a diverse climate desk, but dont silo climate coverage. The climate story is too important and multidimensional for a news outlet not to have a designated team covering it. That team must have members who reflect the economic, racial and gender diversity of America; if not, the coverage will miss crucial aspects of the story and fail to connect with important audiences. At the same time, climate change is so far-reaching that connections should be made when reporting on nearly every topic. For example, an economics reporter could partner with a climate reporter to cover the case for a just transition: the need to help workers and communities that have long relied on fossil fuel, such as the coal regions of Appalachia, transition to a clean-energy economy, as the Green New Deal envisions. Learn the science. Many journalists have long had a bias toward the conceptual. But you cant do justice to the climate crisis if you dont understand the scientific facts, in particular how insanely late the hour is. At this point, anyone suggesting a leisurely approach to slashing emissions is not taking the science seriously. Make the time to get educated. Four recent books McKibbens Falter, Naomi Kleins On Fire, David Wallace-Wellss The Uninhabitable Earth, and Jeff Goodells The Water Will Come are good places to start. Dont internalize the spin. Not only do most Americans care about climate change, but an overwhelming majority support a Green New Deal 81% of registered voters said so as of last December, according to Yale climate pollsters. Fine. But journalists should report that the rest of America does. Likewise, they should not buy the argument that supporting a Green New Deal is a terrible political risk that will play into the hands of Trump and the GOP; nor should the media give credence to wild assertions about what a Green New Deal would do or cost. The data simply does not support such accusations. But breaking free from this ideological trap requires another step. Lose the Beltway mindset. Its not just the Green New Deal that is popular with the broader public. Many of the subsidiary policies such as Medicare for All and free daycare are now supported by upwards of 70% of the American public, according to Pew and Reuters polls. Inside the Beltway, this fact is unknown or discounted; the assumption by journalists and the politicians they cover is that such policies are ultra-leftist political suicide. But what Congress and the White House do is often very different from what the American people favor, and the press should not confuse the two. Help the heartland. Some of the places being hit hardest by climate change, such as the midwestern states flooded this spring, have little access to real climate news; instead, the denial peddled by Fox News and Rush Limbaugh dominates. Iconic TV newsman Bill Moyers has an antidote: Suppose you formed a consortium of media that could quickly act as a strike force to show how a disaster like this is related to climate change not just for the general media, but for agricultural media, heartland radio stations, local television outlets. A huge teachable moment could be at hand if there were a small coordinating nerve center of journalists who could energize reporting, op-eds, interviews, and so on that connect the public to the causes and not just the consequences of events like this. Moyers added that such a team should always have on standby a pool of the most reputable scientists who, on camera and otherwise, can connect natural disasters to the latest and most credible scientific research. Cover the solutions. There isnt a more exciting time to be on the climate beat. That may sound strange, considering how much suffering lies in store from the impacts that are already locked in. But with the Green New Deal, the US government is now, for the first time, at least talking about a response that is commensurate with the scale and urgency of the problem. Reporters have a tendency to gravitate to the crime scene, to the tragedy. They have a harder time with the solutions to a problem; some even mistake it as fluff. Now, with climate change, the solution is a critical part of the story. Dont be afraid to point fingers. As always, journalists should shun cheerleading, but neither should we be neutral. Defusing the climate crisis is in everyones interest, but some entities are resolutely opposed to doing what the science says is needed, starting with the president of the United States. The press has called out Trump on many fronts for his lying, corruption and racism but his deliberate worsening of the climate crisis has been little mentioned, though it is arguably the most consequential of his presidential actions. Meanwhile, ExxonMobil has announced plans to keep producing large amounts of oil and gas through at least 2040; other companies have made similar declarations. If enacted, those plans guarantee catastrophe. Journalism has a responsibility to make that consequence clear to the public and to cover the companies, executives, and investors behind those plans accordingly. If American journalism doesnt get the climate story right and soon no other story will matter. The news medias past climate failures can be redeemed only by an immediate shift to more high-profile, inclusive and fearless coverage. Our #CoveringClimateNow project calls on all journalists and news outlets to join the conversation about how to make that happen. As the nations founders envisioned long ago, the role of a free press is to inform the people and hold the powerful accountable. These days, our collective survival demands nothing less. | https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/apr/22/why-is-the-us-news-media-so-bad-at-covering-climate-change |
Why are middle-aged marathon runners faster than twentysomethings? | According to new data from the running app Strava, runners in their 40s are streets ahead of younger rivals According to data released by the running app Strava, middle-aged runners consistently average faster marathon times than their younger rivals, apparently defying the usual rules of athletic performance. Men in the 40-49 age bracket clock an average time of four hours and 17 minutes for a marathon, according to the recent figures. Women in the same age range typically come in at just under the five-hour mark. In both instances, middle-aged runners outperform runners in their 20s, with fortysomething men and women more than two minutes and one minute faster than their younger peers, respectively. And, the data seems to suggest why: more hours spent pounding the pavements. A key differential appears to be the hours the two groups are willing to put in. According to Strava, older runners average 28 miles (45km) a week about three months before race-day, compared wth 24 miles for those in their 20s. The rationale seems sound marathon runners talk about having miles in their legs in reference to the buildup of strength and muscle from years of training. Yet how much difference an extra four miles a week makes is debatable. For the 59-year-old veteran Richard Askwith, the author of Feet in the Clouds, older runners success is more likely to be about mentality. Your perception of time changes with age. You become more patient in training and in racing rather than fretting about the distance, we just cruise along in a more relaxed frame of mind, he says. The author of Primate Change, Vybarr Cregan-Reid, 50, argues that what 20-year-olds have in bone density and muscle mass, they lack in race experience and tenacity. Im sure if you saw race splits for younger runners, you would see that they went off much faster. Those in their 40s have enough experience not to make that rookie mistake. But it may not be a case of the tortoise and the hare, he adds. Im not convinced that people in their 40s train more. But I suspect its much more likely that someone in their 40s will track their training with an app. | https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/shortcuts/2019/apr/22/why-are-middle-aged-marathon-runners-faster-than-twentysomethings |
What is PITI and why does it matter when applying for a mortgage? | CLOSE With fewer homes for sale today, would-be buyers are having to get creative about making their bid stand out. USA TODAY Shopping for a mortgage can be confusing because lots of unfamiliar words are often used by your lender or found in financial paperwork. Early on in the process, one of the words you're likely to hear is PITI. PITI is actually an acronym. It stands for principal, interest, taxes, and insurance. It's necessary to calculate PITI for every potential mortgage loan as this calculation can determine whether or not you'll be given the financing you need. PITI accounts for the total costs you have to pay for your housing. When you're a homeowner, you have to pay back your mortgage loan over a set period of time, such as 15 years or 30 years. You're charged a certain amount of money each month to make sure you can repay the loan on schedule. The amount you're charged could be a fixed amount if you have a fixed-rate loan. Or it could fluctuate if you have a variable-rate loan and your rate changes. The amount you're charged to get your loan paid off is calculated based on the interest you must pay, plus the portion of principal you have to pay to get the balance to $0 by the end of the term. The P and I in PITI stand for Principal and Interest. But, your mortgage isn't the only cost you incur. You also have to pay real estate or property taxes. The amount of tax you owe is based on the tax rate where you live and the appraised value of your property. You may be required to make monthly payments towards your tax bill that are included in your mortgage payment. Your lender then puts this money into an escrow account and uses the funds to pay the tax bill when it's due. If you're able to waive escrow, you don't have to pay a portion of the tax bill to your lender each month. But the monthly cost of taxes is still factored in when determining your housing costs. Taxes are the T in PITI. Finally, you have to pay homeowner's insurance to protect your home, which lenders require because the home is the collateral that secures the loan. If you put down less than a 20% down payment on your home, you're also required to pay private mortgage insurance (PMI). PMI protects the lender in case you default by making sure the lender is paid back in full. Insurance payments may need to be paid into escrow on a monthly basis, and the lender would pay the insurer when the bill is due. If you've waived escrow, you'd be responsible for paying the insurance cost yourself but the monthly amount due is still factored in. The insurance payments are the other I in PITI. Finally, if you're required to pay homeowner's insurance fees, lenders may factor those into PITI as well. It's necessary to calculate PITI for every potential mortgage loan as this calculation can determine whether or not you'll be given the financing you need. PITI matters because lenders use this number when determining how much you are allowed to borrow. Mortgage lenders don't just loan you an unlimited amount of money when you want to buy a home. They want to make sure you're able to afford to pay back your loan. Lenders look at your debt-to-income ratio as one of the key factors in deciding if you're likely to be able to pay back what you borrow. Your debt-to-income ratio, or DTI, is the amount of debt you have relative to income. There's both a front-end ratio and a back-end ratio that lenders will assess and both consider PITI in the calculations. The front-end ratio simply compares PITI to your gross monthly income, not any of your other debts. So, if your principal payment and interest payment on the mortgage, plus your taxes and insurance, added up to $1,200 per month, this is the number that would be used to determine your ratio. If your gross monthly income is $5,000 per month, you'd divide $1,200 by $5,000 and your debt-to-income ratio would be 24%. Lenders typically want to see a front-end debt-to-income ratio of around 28% at most. If your front-end ratio is higher than that, you may not be approved for a loan or your interest rate might be higher because you present a bigger risk. The back-end ratio takes into account both PITI and all of your other monthly debt obligations. So, if you owe student loans, a car payment, and a credit card payment, those monthly payments are also factored in when calculating the back-end ratio. If your PITI was $1,200 and your other debt payments added up to $600 per month, your back-end ratio would equal $1,800 divided by $5,000 or 36%. Typically banks prefer your back-end ratio to be 36% or lower, although some lenders allow you to go as high as 43%. If either your front-end or back-end ratios are too high, you may need to buy a less expensive house so you can borrow less and your PITI will be lower. Or, you could pay down other debt to get a better back-end ratio and increase your chances of loan approval. PITI could also be used to calculate reserve requirements In some cases, mortgage lenders will require you to have certain cash reserves before you can be approved for a loan. This just means you must show you have a certain amount of money saved in case you experience an interruption in income. Mortgage lenders put reserve requirements in place to ensure you are able to keep paying your mortgage bills even if you lose your income for a while. Reserve requirements vary by lender, but two months of PITI is common. So, if your PITI was $1,200, the lender would require you to show you have $2,400 in a deposit account before they'd approve your loan. You can calculate PITI when shopping for a home There's no sense in falling in love with a home you can't afford. To avoid this, you can calculate PITI for any home you're considering. You just need to know the taxes, estimated insurance costs, and what your likely mortgage payment would be. Once you know this number, you can both determine if you're likely to be approved for a loan based on your debt-to-income ratio... and you can determine if your housing payment will be affordable for you. The Motley Fool owns and recommends MasterCard and Visa, and recommends American Express. Were firm believers in the Golden Rule. If we wouldnt recommend an offer to a close family member, we wouldnt recommend it on The Ascent either. Our number one goal is helping people find the best offers to improve their finances. That is why editorial opinions are ours alone and have not been previously reviewed, approved, or endorsed by included advertisers. Editorial content from The Ascent is separate from The Motley Fool editorial content and is created by a different analyst team. The Motley Fool is a USA TODAY content partner offering financial news, analysis and commentary designed to help people take control of their financial lives. Its content is produced independently of USA TODAY. Todays Best Mortgage Rates Offer from the Motley Fool: Chances are, mortgage rates won't stay put at multi-decade lows for much longer. In fact, the Fed has already signaled that it expects rates to continue increasing. That's why taking action today is crucial, whether you're wanting to refinance and cut your mortgage payment or you're ready to pull the trigger on a new home purchase. Click here to get started by scanning the market for your best rate. 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Can "Not-So-Rich" Kids Become Unicorn Entrepreneurs? | They are all Minnesotans (Burke moved from Georgia to Minnesota). They built unicorns from startup. They were not born rich. They saw entrepreneurship as opportunity, not risk. This goes against the theme of Fortune's article, which suggests that entrepreneurs need family money (Entrepreneurs come from families with money). I dont know the data used, but the article raises a key question is entrepreneurship now a playground for rich kids, from top schools, whose families can afford to invest. Nearly all of Minnesotas unicorn-entrepreneurs started their ventures in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s. Burke borrowed against his house. Schulze used his savings. Taylor built up his equity in the venture before buying the venture from his partners. Bakken bootstrapped until the IPO and then got VC. Kierlin got funds from his friends and his own savings. There were some U.S. entrepreneurs in the same era who used family money, including Walton and Dell. But many unicorn entrepreneurs did not need family money at the time. They grew with skills and bootstrapped to the top. If you examine some of the rich kids who have used family money along with angel capital to build giants, the group includes Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos, both of whom received family money. But unicorn-entrepreneurs such as Michael Bloomberg, Thai Lee, and Vijay Goradia seem to have used a variety of alternative-financing sources including savings, alliance capital, venture revenues, and bootstrapping, but not family money. The assumption that entrepreneurs need VC to build ventures has affected entrepreneurial education, especially in universities that have rich angels and rich alumni. Business schools have developed incubators and connections to angels, and the lucky ones, who get capital, are often selected based on pitch contests. Many entrepreneurs are convinced that they cannot start a new venture unless they get angel and venture capital, and need mentors to help guide them. One of my fellow-professors on a recent panel noted that his entrepreneurship students try out venture development. If the venture does not launch while they are in college, they accept a job with a large company. Otherwise, join corporate America to avoid risk. Are business schools mainly focusing on the opportunity because they have been convinced by VCs to focus on the opportunity. VCs want proven opportunities. After proof of potential, the VCs often recruit a new professional CEO if they invest in the venture. But when the entrepreneur has the skills to lead the venture to take off, the entrepreneurs can stay in control and continue to build the venture. Some get VC. Most did not. Few business schools are teaching the skills to help entrepreneurs take off without VC. They teach capital-intensive entrepreneurship, get rich alums to capitalize a VC fund, and dole out funds to their students. If they show traction, hello entrepreneurship. If not, hello corporate job. Unfortunately, this trend towards capital-intensive venture development has been copied by foundations, such as the one run by Steve Case, and by states with Silicon Valley alums such as Steve Grove in Minnesota. This is the Silicon Valley disease, but it does not do much outside Silicon Valley. Instead of focusing on skills and smart strategies to take off without VC, they are focusing on opportunities and pitches and reinforcing the need for VC, even though the reality is that VCs fund 0.1% of U.S. ventures, only 0.001% are home runs, and that too mainly in Silicon Valley. It is time for the educational world to get back to basics and teach all students how to take off with skills and not VC. MY TAKE: Entrepreneurial education, not entrepreneurship, is becoming a rich kids game. Entrepreneurship is Andres Corton who was born in Union City, NJ, to Cuban exile parents, and has built a chain of 4 restaurants (Black Bean Deli) in Orlando and is on his way to building a giant without family money, without VC, and without winning pitch contests. Entrepreneurial education needs to help all students, including those for whom entrepreneurship is the only choice, not a risky choice. It can give them the skills to help them grow and not just stay a small business. If universities and foundations want to democratize entrepreneurship, and I hope they see this as their mission, they should focus on skills, not opportunities. Skills can make high-potential entrepreneurship an all-kids game. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/dileeprao/2019/04/22/can-not-so-rich-kids-become-unicorn-entrepreneurs/ |
Who Decides If 'Curse Of La Llorona' Counts As A 'Conjuring' Movie? | Warner Bros. The actual figures are in, and The Curse of La Llorona earned a rock-solid $26.35 million this weekend to (easily) top the Easter weekend box office. Despite poor reviews and Warner Bros. swearing up and down that it wasnt technically part of the Conjuring Universe (the director and at least one co-star might disagree), the religious horror flick still pulled down strong numbers for a $9 million-budgeted horror flick. With a $56 million global opening, it could be about as leggy as Annabelle ($84 million domestic and $256 million worldwide) and still top $180 million global. The debate over whether or not this movie is indeed a Conjuring Universe flick is a sign of the times, since (despite the omnipresence of the MCU) this whole cinematic universe thing is relatively new. Despite every studio looking at the $1.519 billion gross of The Avengers seven summers ago and tripping over themselves to get their own cinematic universes going, the successful/functioning cinematic universe is still relatively rare. Truth be told, The Conjuring Universe, which began with James Wans based on a true-ish story of the Warrens and their ghostbusting antics, is one of the few outright successful examples. It produced one spin-off trilogy (Annabelle Comes home opens this June) and The Nun with The Nun 2 on the way. Throw in The Crooked Man and The Conjuring 3 (directed by Michael Chaves, who just directed The Curse of La Llorona), and you have a fully-functioning cinematic universe that is also a couple installments away from topping $2 billion worldwide in under a decade. To the extent that the filmmakers have discussed the connections while the studio swore otherwise, it might be a handful of intersecting factors. First, the notion of a cinematic universe is less alluring than it was seven years ago. While executives and producers once boasted about cinematic universes before even the first chapter of a Dark Universe (or whatever Hasbro and Paramount are up to) opened, its now almost considered the opposite of an enticement. In 2019, films that take place in the same universe are distanced from a successful brand. Weve now seen DC Films go out of its way to distance itself from interconnected storytelling. Justice League, The Mummy, Solo: A Star Wars Story and Transformers: The Last Knight (which bent over backward to set up a Transformers universe for spin-offs and prequels) failed hard enough to turn the concept from a selling point to a detriment. Moreover, with the poor reviews that greeted the film upon its SXSW debut, its possible that New Line and friends preferred to keep the Conjuring brand untarnished even as the lack of an explicit connection may have hurt this specific movie in terms of the global box office. The decision to keep it apart from the ongoing Conjuring franchise is an amusing, if understandable, one. As someone who rolled my eyes as folks debated whether Life might be a Venom prequel (it was not) or whether A Quiet Place shouldve been a Cloverfield movie (it earned more than every Cloverfield movie combined), I can respect New Lines insistence that The Curse of La Llorona does not count as a Conjuring film. Never mind that it has the same producers, the same 1970s period-piece settings, the same R-rated but not gore-drenched mentality and the same Catholic dogma is accepted as outright fact mentality. Never mind that it 104% takes place in the world of the Conjuring movies, including a cameo from Tony Amendola as Father Perez shown briefly with Annabelle. No, we cant say for certain whether ads explicitly shouting This is a Conjuring spin-off! would have bumped up the global debut, but its still going to be a solid hit without it. And to the extent that New Line and Atomic Robot have been hitting pay dirt in the realm of horror for a while now, there may be some value in assuring folks (be it filmmakers who want to make a horror movie with WB or audiences who want to see a horror film) that not every New Line horror movie is a Conjuring movie. After all, Blumhouse (and Platinum Dunes) make their horror flicks without tying them together. That it opened well enough anyway shows, like Lights Out, they dont need an explicit connection to rake in the bucks. That being said, maybe the answer is simpler than that. Annabelle is a spin-off from The Conjuring while The Nun and The Crooked Man are spin-offs from villains who showed up in The Conjuring 2. As much as it looks, feels and plays like a franchise installment, The Curse of La Llorona doesnt involve a baddie who was previously introduced in a Conjuring movie (or a Conjuring spin-off). So, if thats the parameter in question, that it has to be a true-blue spin-off using an element that audiences saw in a previous Conjuring Universe movie, then The Curse of La Llorona doesnt quite count. It may be splitting hairs, but there may be a desire from studios to offer at least some guidelines or rules about what does or doesnt make the cut. Its the same reason Toon Disneys Planes is not considered an official Pixar movie even while it stems from Pixars Cars. Its the same reason that, however much it fits thematically, Green Lantern is not part of the DC Films Universe. Even if Godzilla: King of the Monsters cements the MonsterVerse as a successful/functioning cinematic universe, that wont retroactively put Rampage, The MEG or Pacific Rim into that universe. We dont get to decide this stuff. It is still up to the folks who make the movie and fund the movie to decide whether a given flick counts as part of an established franchise. Yes, the movie contains characters from and references to Annabelle, but until Raymond Cruzs deadpan freelance ghostbuster shows up in a Conjuring Universe movie (which should absolutely happen), it doesnt count. All of this is mere trivia to those who are merely discussing the film from an artistic point-of-view. This only matters to folks like me who otherwise would have looked at how The Curse of La Llorona financially compares to the previous Conjuring movies and how it boosts the franchises overall global cume. A $26.25 million launch is higher than (offhand) Happy Death Day, Lights Out and Pet Semetary (while being just under the $26.4 million debut of Don't Breathe), but it would have been the lowest Conjuring debut by far. And to the extent that the reviews were worse than The Nun or Annabelle, and I would argue it was better than at least those two installments, there may have been interest in keeping the franchises critical balance sheet higher. This is more of a box office conversation than an artistic one. Its the explicit exclusion is disappointing to me, because including it would allow The Conjuring Universe to become the biggest R-rated franchise of all time (past Matrixs $1.633 billion global cume as of tomorrow). Moreover, when combined with Annabelle Comes Home (which pits Annabelle against the Warrens in a kind of Conjuring: Civil War cross-over event), the franchise would probably be over the $2 billion mark by the end of the summer. Nonetheless, I expect that milestone to be breached when The Quiet Man or The Conjuring 3 opens next year. Nonetheless, there is a case to be made that its up to the studio (or at least the filmmakers) to decide if a movie is part of a given universe. If the studio says it doesnt count, then I guess it doesnt count. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/scottmendelson/2019/04/22/who-decides-if-curse-of-la-llorona-counts-as-a-conjuring-movie/ |
What's The Difference Between Good Debt And Bad Debt? | originally appeared on Quora: the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. Answer by Tammy Lally, Certified Money Coach, TED Speaker and Author of Money Detox, on Quora: Lets keep this simple. Good debt is an investment of money that grows in value or generates long term income. Two good examples are home mortgages and student loans. However, as a money coach, I often see destructive money beliefs highjack good debt. With mortgages, youre borrowing to own a potentially appreciating asset, and it may be tax-deductible. (As always, be sure to check with your tax advisor.) However, good debt turns bad if you buy a home with less than a 20% down payment and no savings account to cover unexpected maintenance, and trust me, you will have unexpected maintenance. You can be underwater fast if we have a real estate market shift. Remember the housing crisis of 20062008. Unexamined History will repeat itself. With student loans, benefits include enhanced career opportunities, which will increase your earning potential in the long run. However, good debt turns bad if you decided to take a semester off and use your student loan money to buy a new car or take your friends on a shopping spree. Yes, this happens! Bad debt works against you from the onset, such as credit cards and long term auto loans. Credit Cards high interest rates will cost you big over time. If you use them, you must pay them off every month so you arent accruing interest and creating an emotional and spiritual death tramp. Debt will hold you hostage for years at a job you hate or keep you in an unhealthy relationship. Bottom line, if possible, dont use credit cards, cash is king. And lastly, Buying a new car - youre borrowing on something that immediately loses value as soon as you drive it off the lot. Its the worst! A slightly used car, 2-3 years old, is usually more cost effective. And if you have to finance a used car, 3 year car loans are the maximum. If you cant afford the payment at 3 years than you cant afford the car. This question originally appeared on Quora - the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. You can follow Quora on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+. More questions: | https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2019/04/22/whats-the-difference-between-good-debt-and-bad-debt/ |
Are Natural Cleaning Products As Effective As Artificial Ones? | originally appeared on Quora: the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. Marketing. In other words -- generations of behaviors that are really hard to change And, some truth about where natural products have come from. Brands like the one we all think of in laundry (hint: its orange) have been around for 150 years and are some of the strongest ever built. Literally hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent making consumers think what we need is to KILL ALL THE GERMS and WHITER WHITES! But, the reality is that this isnt necessarily whats best for us. The FDA, for example, recently came out against anti-bacterial soaps (because they are no more effective than non-anti-bacterial soaps and create the risk of resistant bacteria over the long term) -- but thats something that consumers still demand. The other aspect, in all honesty, is that natural products in many of these categories are still super new. If [orange bottle brand] has been working on their product for 150 years, natural versions have only been around for maybe 20 in any scale. The chemistry and science is just catching up to where conventionals have been for a long time. Thats part of why we started Grove -- because now naturals have caught up, but folks dont always realize that yet and we seek to educate them. We have a 100% happiness guarantee on the products we sell, but it rarely comes into play because the natural products we offer DO work! Its no ones fault that this perception exists, but I really believe that as a more educated consumer comes to market (especially with the help of the internet! Go Quora!) that more people (and many of the biggest brands) will start changing their habits towards products that are healthier for people + planet -- and still effective. This question originally appeared on Quora - the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. You can follow Quora on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+. More questions: | https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2019/04/22/are-natural-cleaning-products-as-effective-as-artificial-ones/ |
What Does The Future Of Retail Look Like? | originally appeared on Quora: the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. Answer by Stuart Landesberg, Co-founder & CEO of Grove Collaborative, on Quora: I think the one certainty in the future of retail is a more educated, empowered and connected consumer. I believe that in the coming years, retail will be defined by the brands that are able to build the deepest trust with their communities, and that the bar for that will get ever higher. The internet makes it so much easier to reach your tribe, including more niche groups than ever possible. Sometimes, this has negative consequences, and sometimes it is positive, like consumers having an ability to better know the brands they are supporting and which ones share their values, etc. Given that this will drive the proliferation of niche brands which almost by definition meet their customers needs better than mass-market brands designed for everyone, its inevitable we will see more successful brands out there and the giants of yesterday giving up share and buying smaller companies. The proliferation of niche brands doesnt necessarily mean that retail will disaggregate. Logistics are a commodity, and commodities tend to consolidate So even as niche brands grow, I think the big platforms will continue to have a ton of leverage -- and the tension that exists today around questions like should I sell on Amazon? will continue as both brands like Grove that are strong and independent and platforms like Amazon that have the benefit of scale thrive. One other prediction: robots, AI, drone-delivery -- a ton of hype. The best brands are now, and will still be the ones that have the strongest emotional connection to their customers whether or not they have the fastest self-driving-three-wheeled-flying-amphibious-laser-powered-delivery-robot. Short answer to a complicated question -- it will be interesting to watch for sure. This question originally appeared on Quora - the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. You can follow Quora on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+. More questions: | https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2019/04/22/what-does-the-future-of-retail-look-like/ |
Is A Solo 401(k) Or An SEP-IRA Better For A Small Business With No Employees? | Getty Now that this tax season is over, its time to start planning for the next one. If you own a small business, this means you. The U.S. Small Business Administration reports the number of small businesses with no employees increased from 15.4 million in 1997 to 23.8 million in 2014. A business without any employees has a different calculus when it comes to deciding on a retirement plan. This often involves moving away from the options owners might be most familiar with. If youre a typical retirement saver, youre probably very aware of IRAs and 401(k) plans. Small business owners can certainly use either of these popular retirement saving vehicles, but they each have their drawbacks. The IRA suffers from having the lowest maximum annual contribution ($6,000 beginning in 2019, with an additional $1,000 catch-up provision for those aged 50 and above). The traditional 401(k) plan, designed for businesses with multiple employees, presents greater costs and administrative burdens than may be needed or necessary. Of the other retirement saving options available to them, small business owners may find the SEP-IRA and the Solo 401(k) most attractive. While both feature much higher contribution limits than a traditional IRA, they dont have the same high costs and reporting requirements as a traditional 401(k). The time of year and your future intention regarding hiring employees can play a role in determining which option is most appropriate for your business. In addition, several other factors may influence your decision. Before you choose between an SEP-IRA and a Solo 401(k), here are a dozen questions to consider. Answering them today might help you avoid unpleasant experiences tomorrow. Depending on the time of year you ask this question, you may find youve eliminated one of the options right off the bat. The IRS says, You can set up an SEP-IRA plan for a year as late as the due date (including extensions) of your businesss income tax return for that year. This means, for example, if youve received an extension on last years tax filing, you can still start an SEP-IRA. Unlike the SEP-IRA, a Solo 401(k) must be established by December 31st of the tax year for which the contributions are made. If youre thinking of setting up a Solo 401(k) for last year, its too late. Still, there may be some (albeit very limited) wiggle room if can plan ahead. The next question offers one suggestion. In general, there are two kinds of contributions that go into a retirement plan. An employees contribution is called an elective deferral. In addition to that we have the employer contribution. To maximize your Solo 401(k) contribution, you must use both an elective deferral and an employer contribution. An SEP-IRA has no elective deferral. All contributions to SEP-IRAs come from the employer. Because each type of contribution has its own deadline, your expected timing of those contributions can tell you which plan might be better for you. If you have an SEP, you can fund it as late as your extended tax return, says Michael Sedlak, Founder and Managing Member at Golden Trail Advisers, LLC in Burr Ridge, Illinois. If you do a Solo 401(k), you can fund the employee portion of up to $19,000 or $25,000 if you are 50 or older by January 31 (with some wiggle room) and the employer portion of up to $37,000 as late as your extended tax return. Of course, this assumes youve already established the Solo 401(k) during the tax year for which the contribution is made. (Youll see there may be a very good reason for this question in a moment.) If you decide to set up a retirement plan after 12/31, you can only use an SEP-IRA and not a Solo 401(k), says Sedlak. Heres the reason why you might be hesitant to pick a plan during the tax year for which it will first apply. One cannot determine the funding maximums for either plan type until year-end books are completed, says Mark Wilson, President of MILE Wealth Management in Irvine, California. Thats the risk with starting too early to fund either option. You may find that youve overfunded the plan. There are different contribution methodologies for each plan, so one may be preferable to another based on how much youre able to contribute. Heres a question thats normally the first question. It falls to number four on the list because the first three may limit your options; thus, obviating the need to even consider this question (and all the remaining questions). Both plans require adoption agreements over and above a typical IRA. Since these remain single employee plans (although spouses may be included), custodians often offer boilerplate adoption agreements. The use of these pre-approved agreements can keep costs low (although higher compared to traditional IRAs). In general, SEP-IRAs tend to be lower cost, especially as the plans grow beyond $250,000. Thats when the IRS requires Solo 401(k) plans to file a Form 5500-SF (or Form 5500-EZ). SEP-IRAs do not have to make these filings. Aside from cost, theres also ease of use. Heres where you get to an important distinction between the two options. You may establish a Roth version of a Solo 401(k). The SEP-IRA, however, does not permit you to have a Roth with the SEP-IRA (although you may still contribute to a traditional Roth IRA if you are eligible). This may be a critical question, especially if the owner is currently not permitted to contribute to a traditional Roth IRA. If you are a business owner but make too much to contribute to a Roth IRA, a Solo 401(k) is a way to make a Roth contribution and gain the benefits of long-term tax-free growth, says Colin Exelby, President of Celestial Wealth Management in Towson, Maryland. Theres another specific situation where the availability of a Roth option is critical. Suppose the owner of the business is a minor child and wishes to create a turbo-charged version of a Child IRA. In this specific case, since its likely the child wont have dramatic earnings and therefore be in the lowest possible tax bracket (if not in the zero tax bracket), a Roth option is likely the preferred choice. Now were getting to the nitty gritty. This is where the rubber meets the road (or whatever tired clich you prefer). As luck (and public policy) would have it, the standard contribution limit for both plans is $56,000. How you get there is a bit dicey. That comes into play here and our next two questions address this. In general, beginning in 2019 SEP-IRA owners may contribute a maximum of 25% of their compensation up to $56,000 in any one year. That means compensation up to $280,000 can be considered when calculating the annual contribution. So, if youre earning more than $280,000, salary is not a determining factor in your choice. As long as you dont earn more than the standard maximum contribution of $56,000 a year, then youll want a Solo 401(k). Again, this scenario really suits the child entrepreneur who wishes to go beyond a typical Child IRA. But it may well be relevant for others, too. The great benefit of a Solo 401(k) versus an SEP-IRA is how much you can contribute to the account, especially for those earning a middle-class income, says John Madison, Personal Financial Counselor at Dayspring Financial Ministry in Ashland, Virginia. Suppose you own and operate an S-Corporation, paying yourself $50,000 a year. An SEP-IRA would limit you to a contribution of 25%, or $12,500, of your wages. Weve been talking about the standard deduction of $56,000. For those age 50 and above, the IRS allows you to contribute above this standard deduction in an effort to catch-up. Alas, this catch-up provision is only available for employee contributions, not employer contributions. Since the SEP-IRA is only an employer contribution, it does not allow any catch-up contribution. Eligible owners, however, may still take advantage of the $1,000 catch-up provision as it relates to traditional IRAs. The Solo 401(k), which includes an employee contribution, therefore does permit a catch-up contribution. Like any other 401(k) plan, the catch-up in this case is $6,000. This dramatically impacts the math when comparing the two plans for small business owners age 50 and above. This catch-up provision creates a significant difference between the two plans in terms of the maximum allowable annual contribution. The SEP-IRA maximum remains at $56,000, while the Solo 401(k) maximum grows to $62,000. Thats a big enough difference to impact the decision for some owners. Heres yet another big difference. Once more, the scales may tilt in favor of the Solo 401(k)but only if you feel its in your best interest to take a loan from your retirement plan. You can do that with a Solo 401(k). You cant take a loan from your SEP-IRA. Finally, we get to a question where the SEP-IRA comes out ahead. Our assumption in this entire article has been that the business has no employees. It consists of a single owner (and perhaps a spouse). This arrangement produces specific advantages regarding retirement plans. The answers to the above questions address those advantages. This takes the simple calculations weve been using and throws the monkey wrench of complication into the whole works. Clearly, the retirement plan decision will need to be recalibrated. It turns out the SEP-IRA buys you more time. With a Solo 401(k) plan, employees are eligible if they work more than 1,000 hours. Not so with the SEP-IRA, says Dr. Guy Baker, Founder of Wealth Teams Alliance in Irvine, California. Bear in mind the date of this article, as tax laws evolve over time. It therefore makes sense to run your answers by an able advisor before you go making any potentially life-altering decisions. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/chriscarosa/2019/04/22/is-a-solo-401k-or-an-sep-ira-better-for-a-small-business-with-no-employees/ |
Will Daenerys Turn Into the Mad Queen on Game of Thrones? | Warning: This post contains spoilers for Game of Thrones season 8. The second episode of Game of Thrones eighth season saw Jon reveal to Daenerys that hes the trueborn son of her brother Rhaegar and Lyanna Stark, a truth that the Mother of Dragons wasnt so eager to accept. Instead of keeping her focus on the coming battle against the dead, Daenerys immediately began worrying about the implications that Jons heritage may have on her claim to the Iron Throne. If it were true, it would make you the last male heir of House Targaryen, she told him in the final moments of the episode. Youd have a claim to the Iron Throne. Of course, this isnt the first time that Daenerys has shown her hand in regards to winning the crown. Earlier in the episode, we saw Dany attempt to smooth over her differences with Sansa only to raise her hackles when Sansa suggested that the North would never bow to a southern ruler again. The Brief Newsletter Sign up to receive the top stories you need to know right now. View Sample Sign Up Now Game of Thrones seems to have long been hinting that Daenerys has the potential to follow in the footsteps of her father, Aerys II The Mad King Targaryen, and turn into the Mad Queen. Thanks to the Targaryens long history of incest the family spent over 300 years wedding brothers to sisters to keep their bloodline pure they could be genetically predisposed to insanity. In fact, when Cersei is discussing Joffreys sadistic nature with Tyrion during a rare moment of vulnerability in season 2, she notes that nearly half the Targaryens went mad.Whats the saying? she asks him. Every time a Targaryen is born the gods flip a coin. ' We know that of Daenerys two brothers, Rhaegar was good and Viserys was bad. During her time in Slavers Bay, there were several instances when the only thing that kept Daenerys from enforcing her rule with fire and blood was her more level-headed advisors. And it seems like her ruthless impulses werent tempered upon her arrival in Westeros. In season 7, we saw her burn Randyll and Dickon Tarly alive when they refused to bend the knee. She gave them the chance to bow to her rule, but didnt seem to give her ultimate decision much thought despite Tyrions pleas for her to reconsider. Daenerys has often claimed that she intends to break the wheel of power in Westeros, but if the latest developments are any indication, it seems like she may have lost sight of her mission to deliver the Seven Kingdoms from oppression. When the people rose in revolt against him, your father set their towns and castles aflame, Ser Barristan Selmy told Daenerys back in season 5. He murdered sons in front of their fathers. He burned men alive with wildfire and laughed as they screamed. And his efforts to stamp out dissent led to a rebellion that killed every Targaryen, except two. Im not my father, Daenerys insisted. No, your Grace. Thank the gods, Barristan responded. But the Mad King gave his enemies the justice he thought they deserved, and each time, it made him feel powerful and right, until the very end. If Daenerys doesnt ease up on insisting that everyone bend the knee or die, it could be the very thing that leads to her ruin. Write to Megan McCluskey at [email protected]. | http://time.com/5575244/game-of-thrones-daenerys-mad-queen/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+time%2Ftopstories+%28TIME%3A+Top+Stories%29 |
Will the Winterfell Battle Strategy Fail on Game of Thrones? | Warning: This post contains spoilers for Game of Thrones season 8. During a strategy meeting for the impending showdown with the army of the dead in the second episode of Game of Thrones season 8, Bran suggested that he be used as bait to lure the Night King to the Winterfell godswood. The thinking behind this approach was that if the group can figure out a way to kill the Night King, then all of the dead that were turned by him will fall as well. But in order to do that, theyll first need to catch the leader of the White Walkers in a vulnerable position. Hell come for me. Hes tried before, many times with many Three-Eyed Ravens, Bran explained before some providing some much-needed clarification on the Night Kings motives. He wants to erase this world. And I am its memory. The Brief Newsletter Sign up to receive the top stories you need to know right now. View Sample Sign Up Now However, based on the Night Kings seemingly uncanny ability to be in the right place at the right time, some fans have long speculated that he may possess the same greenseeing abilities that Bran has. I also believe that the Night King is both a warg and a greenseer, Reddit user snowcapped mountain theorized following the Beyond the Wall episode of season 7. Him being a greenseer would explain how he is able to perceive Bran when he is in his visions. The [Night King] having greensight could make it [so] that he knew that [Jon, Tormund, Jorah, Gendry, Beric, Thoros and the Hound were] going to cross the Wall and that he knew that there would be a dragon coming. His marching towards the wall would simply be him fulfilling one of his visions (also explains why he randomly has chains with him). If the Night King is already aware that the living intend to use Bran as bait, that could be disastrous for our band of heroes especially Theon, who has vowed to protect Bran to make amends for his past mistakes. However, because the Night King wasnt shown among the White Walker ranks advancing on Winterfell in the closing moments of Sundays episode, other fans think that he wont even be present at the battle. A viral theory put forward by Reddit user qp0n before suggests that the Night King will take advantage of the distraction his army provides to conquer Kings Landing with undead Viserion. When the army of the undead line up for the battle of Winterfell, the Night King and his zombie dragon will not be there. Instead he will already be near to his next target Kings Landing, the Redditor explained. Most people have come to assume that the living will lose the Battle of Winterfell and fall back to Moat CailinI predict they actually win the battle only to find out soon after that there is a new army of the dead much bigger and much further souththe population of Kings Landing. After all, theres still going to be three episodes left when the Battle of Winterfell is over. Write to Megan McCluskey at [email protected]. | http://time.com/5575355/game-of-thrones-battle-of-winterfell-night-king/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+time%2Ftopstories+%28TIME%3A+Top+Stories%29 |
Where do unsold Easter baskets, candy go after the clearance rack? | Anyone looking for a cheap sugar fix this week can go to any retailer that sold Easter candy. It's likely to be discounted 30 to 50 percent less. Target, for example, is discounting all Easter candy 30% on Monday. Merchandise such as baskets, Paas egg coloring kits, and fake grass are 50% off. Walmart is clearing out its Easter supplies at half off. As the week goes on, supplies will dwindle and the discounts will rise to 70%, possibly even 90%. Major retailers are unlikely to store it until next year, especially candy, so some sell it to liquidators such as Event Sales in Minneapolis, SkyGroup Closeouts in St. Paul or Jacobs Trading in Hopkins, who then sell it second-hand retailers, dollar stores, surplus and thrift shops. Salvation Army and Goodwill Easter Seals purchase some overstocks and returns from Target before and after Easter. "We get quite a bit of Easter merchandise before Easter and after," said Tom Canfield, district manager for Salvation Army's nine stores in the Twin Cities metro. What doesn't sell after Easter, especially candy, may go to a homeless shelter or a kids camp. Non-food items live on for another day. "Whatever doesn't sell by the weekend after Easter will be taken off the shelves and stored until next year," said Brent Babcock, chief sales and marketing officer at Goodwill Easter Seals Minnesota. Charities such as Goodwill are allowed to purchase new goods but are limited to stocking no more than 15% of their inventory with new merchandise. B Stock Solutions in Boston buys overstocks and excess inventory from retailers such as Costco, Lowe's, Target, Walgreens and Walmart. Their merchandise is then auctioned to small businesses or companies. Easter retail goods, for example, may be auctioned off by the pallet or the truckload, A pallet of plastic, bunnies and other related items may sell for $1,000 to $2,000, but it depends on condition of merchandise, where the buyer is located, and seller restrictions. "The more time that goes by after Easter, the less valuable it is to liquidators," said Eric Moriarty, vice president at B Stock Solutions. "It picks up a week or two after the holiday and trails off a couple months later." As for candy, its value plummets as it nears the expiration date. Still, it's not illegal for any retailer to sell candy near or past its freshness date. Regulars at Mike's Discount Foods in Anoka, Fridley and Hilltop can attest to that. .. | http://www.startribune.com/where-do-unsold-easter-baskets-candy-go-after-the-clearance-rack/508893532/ |
What are Drew Locks best options in Thursdays NFL Draft? | Mizzou QB Drew Lock taking it one throw at a time at NFL Scouting Combine Missouri Tigers quarterback Drew Lock talks about the NFL Draft process on Friday, March 2, 2019 at the NFL Scouting Combine. Up Next SHARE COPY LINK Missouri Tigers quarterback Drew Lock talks about the NFL Draft process on Friday, March 2, 2019 at the NFL Scouting Combine. Missouri quarterback Drew Lock enters Thursdays NFL Draft with a question mark hanging over his head, as there remains no consensus as to where the Lees Summit native will be chosen. With reports that the Arizona Cardinals could pass on Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray with the No. 1 pick, Las Vegas currently has Lock has the fifth most-likely option to go first overall. Heres a look at some of the main teams who have been associated with Lock throughout the predraft process and the situations he could step into. The Giants could have two shots to take Lock with the No. 6 and No. 17 picks. Rumors are swirling around the Giants taking Duke quarterback Daniel Jones to be Eli Mannings heir, which makes sense given their similar personalities and tutelage under David Cutcliffe, who coached Manning at Ole Miss before going to Duke. Should the Giants take Lock, hell be going to a team that plans to use Manning for another year or two before giving him the reins, which makes for a good situation. Despite trading away Odell Beckham Jr., the Giants still have Saquon Barkley in the backfield to pair with Lock. Giants coach Pat Shurmur saw plenty of Lock in college (his son Kyle quarterbacked Vanderbilt) and would know what hes getting. Lions: The Lions havent been associated with Lock a ton, but Matt Stafford is 31, and Detroit could start thinking about its next quarterback. Head coach Matt Patricia is more of a defensive mind, but Lock drew comparisons to Stafford because of his arm strength. Broncos: Speculation about Lock going to the Broncos started when John Elway watched Missouris regular season finale against Arkansas. The Broncos recently traded for Joe Flacco, which would give Lock a Super Bowl champion quarterback to learn from, and the team still has star wideout Emmanuel Sanders to throw to. Denver has met with Lock multiple times and appears to be a fan, but it could be a smoke screen. After trading for Flacco, the team doesnt have to draft a quarterback immediately and could potentially wait until next season for a prospect such as Oregons Justin Herbert. Bengals: Andy Dalton is still signed through 2020, but the Bengals could decide that theyve seen enough of him and want to move on after his contract expires. Dalton doesnt have the resume of Flacco or Stafford, but has been a solid NFL quarterback. Head coach Zac Taylor turned Jared Goff from a bust to one of the leagues best starters as the Rams quarterbacks coach and could do the same for Lock. The Bengals pick at No. 11 and would make for an interesting landing place for Lock, given the teams young offensive weapons in A.J. Green, Joe Mixon and John Ross. Packers: Lock visited the Packers last week for a top-30 visit and rumor is Matt LaFleur, the Packers new coach, is a fan. Just like Aaron Rodgers did under Brett Favre, Lock would sit behind Rodgers until the Packers are ready to move on. The Packers pick 12th, but could address a more immediate need than quarterback with such a high pick. This would be one of the best situations for Lock, especially with former wideout JMon Moore in Green Bay. Dolphins: Word out of South Beach indicates that Miami plans to tank in 2019 in hopes of landing Herbert or Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa in the 2020 draft. The Dolphins signed veteran Ryan Fitzpatrick for the year, but still need a long-term solution under center. If Lock isnt going to play for a year or two, Miami could be a good fit, but getting thrown into the fire too early could derail his development. Miami wouldnt be the worst landing spot for Lock, but there are better situations for him. Washington: Had Alex Smith not broken his ankle against the Texans, Washington would have been a perfect spot, given Smiths history of working with quarterbacks like Patrick Mahomes, Nick Foles and Chase Daniel. But with Smiths career up in the air and Washingtons lack of offensive weapons, Lock could be starting sooner than hes ready. Washington traded for quarterback Case Keenum, but he doesnt have the reputation that Smith does with mentoring. Coach Jay Gruden has a good reputation with quarterbacks and offense, but Washington doesnt appear to be a team on the verge of a breakthrough. Chargers: Locks hair will fit right in in Southern California, where he could pass for a surfer with his trademark look. Hed also fit right into a Chargers offense that is building for the future with tailback Melvin Gordon and wideout Mike Williams, both young players with strong futures. Veteran quarterback Philip Rivers worked out with Lock in California, when he was training with Jordan Palmer, and left impressed. Offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt was at Missouris pro day and also a fan of Lock. This would be an ideal situation for him, but it comes down to what the Chargers want to address. | https://www.kansascity.com/sports/college/sec/university-of-missouri/article229544049.html |
What To Expect From Harley-Davidson's Q1 2019 Results? | Harley-Davidson (NYSE: HOG) is set to announce its Q1 2019 results on April 23, 2019, followed by a conference call with analysts. The Market expects the company to report revenue close to $1.4 billion in Q1 2019, which would be an decrease of nearly 10% on a year-on-year basis. The decrease is mainly expected due to the global auto market slowdown and the shrinkage of the heavy motorcycle market in the US. Market expectation is for the company to report earnings of $0.65 per share in Q1 2019, lower than $1.24 per share in the year-ago period. In addition, here is more Consumer Discretionary data. Trefis Key Factors That May Impact Future Performance: Global Auto Market: The Global Auto market, and hence production, has been slow in the recent past. In the fourth quarter of 2018, global vehicle production was down 5% compared to the last year, with China down 15%, and the industry is expected to face these challenges in 2019, too. The US Heavy Motorcycle market is also shrinking which still accounts for more than 60% of sales volume of the company. Sales Volume: This metric has been the primary reason for the companys fall in revenue and income. The company sold 228K motorcycles in 2018, down from 262K motorcycles in 2016 (decrease of nearly 34K units). The Heavy Motorcycle market shrinking in the US is one of the reason for the fall, thus the company has started to push its focus on the untapped international markets. The company also has started investing in the light and middleweight segments, but an immediate impact is not expected this year. We estimate the volume to go down further to around 220K in 2019. Trefis has an estimate of $41 for Harley-Davidsons stock. The slowdown in the global market and shrinking of its primary market has brought the company to a crossroads, as they now focus on new segments and geographies to take the growth forward. Explore example interactive dashboards and create your own. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2019/04/22/what-to-expect-from-harley-davidsons-q1-2019-results/ |
Is TED Still Relevant? | John Winsor As a long time TED participant I always look forward to this time of year. TED provides a perspective on where the world is going. A week of thoughtful dialogue with some of the best thinkers in the world. Yet, the last few years TED has evolved into a show, where perfect presentations are given to an audience that expects the very best. Form had begun to dominate over substance. Last year it felt like much of the audience was obsessed with their own success, talking about recent IPOs and fantastical journeys, true markings of the 1%. Yes, theres always the mind-bending and paradigm shifting talks, but its missed a more human element. I entered this years TED thinking that it would be my last. Yet, from the very start this year there was a newfound humanity. Instead of the techno-optimism of past years, there was a vulnerability. There was a sense that maybe all of our hopes and dreams of technology solving all of the worlds problems was shattered. It started with a session called Truth with a rousing speech from Carole Cadwalladr on the role of Facebook in Brexit and the threat to democracy. The talk felt real, full of pauses and nervousness. It felt as if history was being made as Cadwalladr spoke truth to power, calling out Mark Zukerberg, Sheryl Sandberg and other tech executives to come out from behind their organizations and explain their actions. As impressed as I was by her speech I was equally impressed by the reaction of the audience. Changing the rules of our digital world is essential to the future of our world. From the beginning, this years TED theme Bigger Than Us, played out on stage and in the conversations that surrounded it. The next morning, Chris Andreson interviewed Jack Dorsey and in an un-TED-like moment asked the audience to take out their phones and participate in the conversation by tweeting questions that scrolled on the screens behind the stage. While not perfect it felt less like a TED talk and more like a dialogue. I was especially impressed with Chriss aggressive questioning of Dorsey. The 42-year-old Dorsey seemed completely out of place, dressed in black with a hipster stocking cap perfectly afixed low upon his head as the audience buzzed with the latest news of Dorseys 1,000 calorie a day diet and his return from a ten-day silent meditation retreat. Many in the audience were questioning how an impetuaus, self-absorbed teenager was in charge of the future of our democracy. While, unlike other CEOs of social media platforms, Dorsey did show up, but his Its hard to fix Twitter, answers seemed out of place as the audience, and the world for that matter, need action. Dorseys look and answers seemed to be the antithesis of this years TED. A ghost from the past that we all know we need to move beyond. These first two days felt as if a veil of seriousness and self-importance had been lifted and a new lightness coarsed through the audience and the stage. For the rest of the week many speakers uttered, This can be edited out after a bobble or restart on stage. There was a new sense of were in this together to figure out a new future with a sense of humility and responsibility. And, in the most unlikely session of TED, Anthony Veneziale entered the stage to give a talk on a subject picked in real-time by the audience with pre-picked slides, taking the piss out of the whole notion of what a TED talk should be. This newfound self-effacing lightness, this humor, showed a new confidence in the humanity of vulnerability and imperfection. It was beautiful to witness TED evolve and to become more human. Chris Andreson, Helen Walters and the rest of the TED staff ushered in a new era not only for the TED conference but also for the TED community. My hope is that this is the beginning of a sea change where we can all come together, not with answers being yelled from all corners of culture, but with thoughtful and profound questions being asked that we may not have the answers to but are all willing to embark on a journey to answer them. We are at an inflexion point thats bigger than all of us. Thats a dialogue and a community that I want to be apart of. I cant wait for next years TED. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnwinsor/2019/04/22/is-ted-still-relevant/ |
Who Gets To Decide If 'Curse Of La Llorona' Is Part Of The 'Conjuring' Universe? | Warner Bros. The actual figures are in, and The Curse of La Llorona earned a rock-solid $26.35 million this weekend to (easily) top the Easter weekend box office. Despite poor reviews and Warner Bros. swearing up and down that it wasnt technically part of the Conjuring Universe (the director and at least one co-star might disagree), the religious horror flick still pulled down strong numbers for a $9 million-budgeted horror flick. With a $56 million global opening, it could be about as leggy as Annabelle ($84 million domestic and $256 million worldwide) and still top $180 million global. The debate over whether or not this movie is indeed a Conjuring Universe flick is a sign of the times, since (despite the omnipresence of the MCU) this whole cinematic universe thing is relatively new. Despite every studio looking at the $1.519 billion gross of The Avengers seven summers ago and tripping over themselves to get their own cinematic universes going, the successful/functioning cinematic universe is still relatively rare. Truth be told, The Conjuring Universe, which began with James Wans based on a true-ish story of the Warrens and their ghostbusting antics, is one of the few outright successful examples. It produced one spin-off trilogy (Annabelle Comes home opens this June) and The Nun with The Nun 2 on the way. Throw in The Crooked Man and The Conjuring 3 (directed by Michael Chaves, who just directed The Curse of La Llorona), and you have a fully-functioning cinematic universe that is also a couple installments away from topping $2 billion worldwide in under a decade. To the extent that the filmmakers have discussed the connections while the studio swore otherwise, it might be a handful of intersecting factors. First, the notion of a cinematic universe is less alluring than it was seven years ago. While executives and producers once boasted about cinematic universes before even the first chapter of a Dark Universe (or whatever Hasbro and Paramount are up to) opened, its now almost considered the opposite of an enticement. In 2019, films that take place in the same universe are distanced from a successful brand. Weve now seen DC Films go out of its way to distance itself from interconnected storytelling. Justice League, The Mummy, Solo: A Star Wars Story and Transformers: The Last Knight (which bent over backward to set up a Transformers universe for spin-offs and prequels) failed hard enough to turn the concept from a selling point to a detriment. Moreover, with the poor reviews that greeted the film upon its SXSW debut, its possible that New Line and friends preferred to keep the Conjuring brand untarnished even as the lack of an explicit connection may have hurt this specific movie in terms of the global box office. The decision to keep it apart from the ongoing Conjuring franchise is an amusing, if understandable, one. As someone who rolled my eyes as folks debated whether Life might be a Venom prequel (it was not) or whether A Quiet Place shouldve been a Cloverfield movie (it earned more than every Cloverfield movie combined), I can respect New Lines insistence that The Curse of La Llorona does not count as a Conjuring film. Never mind that it has the same producers, the same 1970s period-piece settings, the same R-rated but not gore-drenched mentality and the same Catholic dogma is accepted as outright fact mentality. Never mind that it 104% takes place in the world of the Conjuring movies, including a cameo from Tony Amendola as Father Perez shown briefly with Annabelle. No, we cant say for certain whether ads explicitly shouting This is a Conjuring spin-off! would have bumped up the global debut, but its still going to be a solid hit without it. And to the extent that New Line and Atomic Robot have been hitting pay dirt in the realm of horror for a while now, there may be some value in assuring folks (be it filmmakers who want to make a horror movie with WB or audiences who want to see a horror film) that not every New Line horror movie is a Conjuring movie. After all, Blumhouse (and Platinum Dunes) make their horror flicks without tying them together. That it opened well enough anyway shows, like Lights Out, they dont need an explicit connection to rake in the bucks. That being said, maybe the answer is simpler than that. Annabelle is a spin-off from The Conjuring while The Nun and The Crooked Man are spin-offs from villains who showed up in The Conjuring 2. As much as it looks, feels and plays like a franchise installment, The Curse of La Llorona doesnt involve a baddie who was previously introduced in a Conjuring movie (or a Conjuring spin-off). So, if thats the parameter in question, that it has to be a true-blue spin-off using an element that audiences saw in a previous Conjuring Universe movie, then The Curse of La Llorona doesnt quite count. It may be splitting hairs, but there may be a desire from studios to offer at least some guidelines or rules about what does or doesnt make the cut. Its the same reason Toon Disneys Planes is not considered an official Pixar movie even while it stems from Pixars Cars. Its the same reason that, however much it fits thematically, Green Lantern is not part of the DC Films Universe. Even if Godzilla: King of the Monsters cements the MonsterVerse as a successful/functioning cinematic universe, that wont retroactively put Rampage, The MEG or Pacific Rim into that universe. We dont get to decide this stuff. It is still up to the folks who make the movie and fund the movie to decide whether a given flick counts as part of an established franchise. Yes, the movie contains characters from and references to Annabelle, but until Raymond Cruzs deadpan freelance ghostbuster shows up in a Conjuring Universe movie (which should absolutely happen), it doesnt count. All of this is mere trivia to those who are merely discussing the film from an artistic point-of-view. This only matters to folks like me who otherwise would have looked at how The Curse of La Llorona financially compares to the previous Conjuring movies and how it boosts the franchises overall global cume. A $26.25 million launch is higher than (offhand) Happy Death Day, Lights Out and Pet Semetary (while being just under the $26.4 million debut of Don't Breathe), but it would have been the lowest Conjuring debut by far. And to the extent that the reviews were worse than The Nun or Annabelle, and I would argue it was better than at least those two installments, there may have been interest in keeping the franchises critical balance sheet higher. This is more of a box office conversation than an artistic one. Its the explicit exclusion is disappointing to me, because including it would allow The Conjuring Universe to become the biggest R-rated franchise of all time (past Matrixs $1.633 billion global cume as of tomorrow). Moreover, when combined with Annabelle Comes Home (which pits Annabelle against the Warrens in a kind of Conjuring: Civil War cross-over event), the franchise would probably be over the $2 billion mark by the end of the summer. Nonetheless, I expect that milestone to be breached when The Quiet Man or The Conjuring 3 opens next year. Nonetheless, there is a case to be made that its up to the studio (or at least the filmmakers) to decide if a movie is part of a given universe. If the studio says it doesnt count, then I guess it doesnt count. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/scottmendelson/2019/04/22/conjuring-annabelle-la-llorona-box-office-warner-bros-new-line-cinema-dc-films-godzilla/ |
How Did Johnson & Johnson Fare In Q1? | 2016 Bloomberg Finance LP Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) recently reported its Q1 earnings, which were slightly above our estimates. This note details the companys performance in Q1, and Trefis forecasts for the full year 2019. ~ for more details on the key drivers of the company. In addition, you can see more of our data for Healthcare companies here. How Did Johnson & Johnson Fare In Q1 Johnson & Johnsons total revenues were flat (y-o-y) at $20 billion. Adjusted earnings came in at $2.10 per share, reflecting 2% growth over the prior year quarter. Johnson & Johnson generates its revenues primarily from three sources ~ pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and consumer healthcare. Pharmaceuticals is the largest segment for the company with annual sales of around $40 billion. It includes sales of drugs for various therapeutic areas, including immunology, neuroscience, oncology, anti-infectives, cardiovascular & metabolism, and pulmonary hypertension. Medical Devices refers to sales of devices for orthopedic, surgery, cardiovascular, and vision care. The company recently divested its diabetes care medical devices business. Pharmaceuticals segment revenues grew 4% to $10.2 billion in Q1. This can be attributed to higher sales of its oncology drugs ~ Darzalex and Imbruvica. Remicade and Zytiga combined sales were $8.5 billion in 2018. The generic competition for Remicade and Zytiga weighed on the overall segment performance. We forecast a 3% decline for the segment revenues in 2019, primarily due to the generic competition for some of its key drugs, which have lost marketing exclusivity. The company has taken price cuts to maintain Remicades leadership position in the infliximab market. However, the generic competition will likely have a meaningful impact on the drug sales in the coming quarters. Imbruvica and Darzalex are seeing growth across multiple indications, and this trend will likely continue for the rest of the year as well. The company recently received U.S. FDA approval for BALVERSA, which is used for the treatment of advanced metastatic urothelial cancer. This should aid the overall future segment sales. Medical Devices revenue declined 5%, primarily reflecting the impact of Diabetes business divesture. Within Medical Devices, Interventional Solutions, which includes cardiovascular and neurovascular devices, saw revenue growth in low teens in Q1. This can be attributed to strong growth in electrophysiology. This trend will likely continue in the near term. However, the 2019 full year figure will be flat (y-o-y), given the comparison with the prior year, which also included the Diabetes portfolio. Consumer Healthcare revenues declined 2% in Q1, primarily due to continued weakness in Baby Care. The weakness in Baby Care can be attributed to relaunch of the companys product lines in new markets. We forecast the segment revenues to grow in low single-digits in 2019. This will likely be led by Beauty as well as Baby Care, which should do well post relaunch. Beauty sales should trend higher led by Neutrogena, and the impact of Dr.Ci:Labo acquisition. We forecast the adjusted earnings to be $8.60 per share in 2019. This is derived using an adjusted net income margin of 28.6%, reflecting 120 bps growth over 2018. The company expects its gross margins to improve slightly this year, led by better product mix. Explore example interactive dashboards and create your own. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2019/04/22/how-did-johnson-johnson-fare-in-q1/ |
Did Ariana Grande Really Get Hit by a Lemon During Her Coachella Set? | Ariana Grande has dealt with a fair share of life throwing a handful of metaphorical curveballs her wayboth good and badbut things took a bit of a turn on Sunday night during her set at Coachella 2019. Grande made history at Coachella Arichella this year as she became the youngest person to ever headline the festival. She's also only the fourth woman to ever do so. Needless to say, her performance left her tens of thousands of fans at Coachella in total awe. One person, however, wanted to make a little bit of a more permanent mark on the historic show. Twitter user @KayleighPerezz caught an interesting moment on camera that shows Grande strutting across the stage towards a chair wearing her signature thigh-high boots and maroon two-piece outfit. Just as the "7 Rings" singer is about to take a step towards the mini throne, she gets hit in the chest with what looks like a lemon. Grande, being the superstar that she is, briefly peers down at the lemon as it bounces off her chest and keeps on moving. She very much so said "thank u, next" to that zesty fruit. | https://www.eonline.com/news/1034707/did-ariana-grande-really-get-hit-by-a-lemon-during-her-coachella-set |
Why has Australia fallen out of love with immigration? | But it was not a proposal to combat hate groups and Islamophobia. It was a cut to immigration. SYDNEYFive days after 50 Muslims in New Zealand were killed in an attack attributed to an Australian white supremacist, Australias prime minister, Scott Morrison, unveiled a plan he said would address a fundamental challenge to the nation. Morrison presented the move as a reaction to crowding in the nations largest cities, which has led to congested commutes and costlier housing. Now, amid a global backlash against immigration that has upended politics in the United States, Britain and much of Europe, even Australia is reversing course, turning away from a policy of welcoming skilled foreigners that helped fuel decades of economic growth and transformed a nation once closed to certain immigrants into a multicultural society. The governments plan, which had been in the works for months, is a potential turning point for a nation that has been shaped by newcomers since its days as a British penal colony and that has presented itself in recent years as a model of how immigration, properly managed, can strengthen a country. This plan is about protecting the quality of life of Australians right across our country, he said. Theres no denying the rapid pace of change, nor its benefits. Australias population has grown by nearly 40 per cent from 18 million to 25 million since the 1990s, and economists argue that the nations record-breaking 27 years without a recession would have been impossible if not for surging immigration. Such concerns are widespread as views in the country have turned sharply against population growth over the past year. There is worry, though, that these quality-of-life complaints have been amplified by or perhaps have masked a deeper ambivalence about a new wave of non-European immigration, especially from Muslim countries, along with Africa and Asia. Most of the 4.7 million foreigners who have arrived since 1980 have been skilled migrants, especially since 2004, when an average of more than 350,000 students and skilled workers arrived each year, according to government figures. According to the 2016 census, more than 1 in 4 Australians were born overseas, compared to 13.7 per cent of the population in the United States and 14 per cent in Britain. And six out of the top 10 source countries are now in Asia, with immigrants from China (509,558 people) and India (455,385) leading the way. Many Australians say it is time for these trends to end. In one recent poll, more than two-thirds said their country no longer needed more people. As recently as 2010, a majority of Australians disagreed with that statement. Morrison and his Liberal Party which has often used anti-immigrant sentiment to stir its conservative base clearly believe that immigration will be a winning issue for them in the national election May 18. The government has slowed visa approvals, and plans to cut annual immigration by 30,000 people to 160,000 a year, a reduction greater than any since the early 1980s, according to archival data. Experts examining polling data and census figures have found that Australian frustration over immigration is focused around general themes: the pace of population growth (1.6% nationwide last year, compared to 0.7% for the United States) and perceptions around who wins and loses because of it. With a landmass as big as the continental United States and one-tenth the population, Australia is one of the worlds most sparsely populated countries. It is also among the most urbanized, and it nurses a culture of high expectations; even many city dwellers expect a backyard. But Nicholas Biddle, an economist at the Australian National University who oversaw a major poll on immigration late last year, found that people living in the places most strained by population growth are not the ones most likely to demand curbs on immigration. When Biddle mapped, using census data, the characteristics of those who were opposed to population growth and immigration, for example, he found that none of the areas in the top 20% of opposition to population growth and immigration were in Sydney or Melbourne. Instead, based on the nationwide polling, the place where residents were least likely to be opposed to population growth was Surry Hills, an inner suburb of Sydney where housing prices have skyrocketed and traffic can be suffocating. During one recent evening rush hour at Central Station, hundreds of people lined up to pile onto trains as announcements implored customers to spread out along the platform. But even some of the most frustrated commuters called not for fewer people, but for improved infrastructure, microcities outside Sydneys centre or changes in workplace culture that might limit rush-hour commuting. I wouldnt want to return to the Australia of the 1930s and 40s, said Michael Monaghan, who was holding a briefcase while waiting for a train. Its just a matter of managing it. A far different sentiment can be heard about two hours north of Sydney, on the Central Coast, home to a cluster of somewhat rural suburbs and fishing towns in the top tier of opposition to growth and immigration. Some residents of the area justify their opposition by asking whether Australia has enough water to support a larger population, an element of the countrys immigration debate since the 1980s, before desalination plants became more common. The rise of right-wing politicians like Fraser Anning, a senator who blamed Muslim immigration for the New Zealand attacks, and Pauline Hanson, who once wore a burqa in Parliament to protest Islam, has pushed racism into mainstream public discussion. In the last few years, we have seen politicians state that people had a right to be bigots, said Tim Soutphommasane, a former race commissioner in Australia and a professor at the University of Sydney. Theres been a creeping normalization of far-right political ideas. | https://www.thestar.com/news/world/australia/2019/04/22/why-has-australia-fallen-out-of-love-with-immigration.html |
Can the Actor Who Ruled Ukraine on TV Do It in Real Life? | The campaign of Volodymyr Zelensky, a forty-one-year-old actor who, on Sunday, was elected Ukraines next President, in a landslide, was light on specifics. He vowed to put an end to corruption and the trade of political favors for illicit wealth, and also to bring peace to the Donbass, the region in eastern Ukraine where Russian cash and military muscle prop up two self-proclaimed separatist republics. He didnt articulate exactly how he would do any of that, or why he would succeed in accomplishing things that myriad Ukrainian politiciansincluding the countrys incumbent President, Petro Poroshenkohave themselves promised and failed to deliver. Zelenskys candidacy grew out of his role on Servant of the People, a popular Ukrainian television series, now in its third season, in which he plays an everyman hero who becomes President. (That Zelensky appears to be close to Igor Kolomoisky, a notorious oligarch who owns the network that airs Servant of the People, suggests that the answer will not be simple.) For all the ambiguity around Zelensky and his vagueness as a candidatewhich turned out to be more of an asset than a liability in the electionhe uttered a line during a debate with Poroshenko that was an acute and essentially correct summation of the race and of his own unexpected popularity: I am the result of your mistakes, he told the President. Zelensky, who defeated Poroshenko with seventy-three per cent of the vote, was indeed a product of the frustration and disappointment that have descended on the Ukrainian public in the years since 2014, when the Maidan Revolution unseated the countrys previous President, Viktor Yanukovych. The politically fatal miscalculation of Poroshenko, who was elected President half a year after Maidan, was to think that this victory, and the unifying effect of the grinding war in the Donbass, gave him the license to subsume the countrys opaque and oligarchic politics instead of eradicating it. The country had lived through a revolution, but it became clear with time that Poroshenko was doing little that was revolutionary; at best, he was a crisis manager who carried out some reform initiatives but delayed or undermined even more. During the past several months, as Zelenskys campaign gathered momentum, I found myself thinking back to the spring and summer of 2016, when I spent time in Ukraine reporting a story for this magazine, After the Revolutions,on the paths of two investigative journalists, Sergii Leshchenko and Mustafa Nayyem, who decided to become parliamentarians. They spent the early part of their careers reporting on the corruption and cynicism of Ukraines political class but, in the wake of Maidan, saw a fleeting moment for outsiders to enter politics and act as a check on the powerful. (Nayyem, in particular, was inspired by a summer course he attended at Stanford University, led by the political scientist Francis Fukuyama. Getting the dictator out is the easy part. The really difficult part is exercising power in a way that is legitimate and self-sustaining, Fukuyama told them. In Ukraine, he was certain, unless you make that transition, the Maidan Revolution is going to fail.) Just a few months after they entered politics, Leshchenko and Nayyem had soured on Poroshenko and lost faith in his will, or at least in his ability to make good on his post-revolutionary mandate. Poroshenko had reverted to the usual closed-door trading of favors and the use of the prosecutors office as a political cudgel, and he strived to stymie the work of the supposedly independent National Anti-Corruption Bureau. He did oversee a decentralization plan that gave more authority to the regions, for example, and carried out an overhaul of the state procurement system, but such reforms often seemed piecemeal and not of the scale or depth the public expected. Poroshenko played a small game, Nayyem told me, in 2016. Its not worthy of the kind of leader we wanted to see after Maidan. But, for all the unrealized expectations, the two journalists turned parliamentarians acknowledged an undeniable shift in the public consciousness: after Maidan, the ruling class had been desacralized as the population became aware of its own potency and voice. People believe now that they can change their rulers, remove a President from his post, Leshchenko told me at the time. This is one legacy of Maidan that Poroshenko could not undermine, and which paved the way for the emergence of Zelensky. You dont like one bum, so you throw him out; and, when the next guy turns out to be a bum, you throw him out, too. In the near term, this dynamic provided an opportunity for Zelensky; in the long term, it should be a warning. For now, though, Zelensky remains a blank avatar. I called Leshchenko the day after the election. During the past several months, he had advised the Zelensky campaign on anti-corruption strategies and communications with Western diplomats. He was, naturally, pleased by the outcome. Zelenskys election is a continuation of Maidan, in a new form, Leshchenko told me. When those goals were not achieved, people became dissatisfied all over again, only this time it took on a democratic form. The emergence of this dynamic in Ukraine was important to Leshchenko, perhaps even more than the particulars of Zelensky himself. Its good it happened in this way, through elections, and not with violence in the streets and people getting killed. Its a civilized example of how change can happen. (Zelensky struck a similar note in his victory speech: Look at useverything is possible, he said, addressing other countries in the post-Soviet space.) Leshchenko called Zelensky a candidate of the future, who overcame Ukraines entrenched political structures with a fluid and creative blend of messaging strategies. The former comedians social-media campaign was slick and accessible. At the same time, what allowed Zelenskys everything-to-everyone persona to hold together was his avoidance of the kind of tough journalistic questioning that would have forced him into the kind of clearly-defined positions that are bound to excite some and upset others. Still, however undefined a political leader Zelensky remains, his victory is a clear sign that the Ukrainian electorate was searching for a positive message after years of war, recrimination, and disappointment. Poroshenko bet on the pull of nationalist solidarity, playing up his role as commander-in-chief and citing the ongoing danger of Russian aggression in the Donbass. His campaign slogan was Army, language, faith. There is no small irony in the fact that Ukrainian voters have thrown out one oligarchPoroshenko has interests in everything from chocolate to media, and an estimated personal wealth of hundreds of millions of dollarsand replaced him with a supposed outsider who has ties to Kolomoisky, one of the countrys most venal and self-interested business figures. One of Zelenskys top campaign advisers was Kolomoiskys personal lawyer. During Poroshenkos time in office, Kolomoiskys fortunes waned, and he has lived in Geneva and Tel Aviv in recent years. Zelenskys election may turn his luck. A Kiev court has already moved to reconsider the nationalization of PrivatBank, once a key holding in Kolomoiskys empire. I asked Leshchenko, the former journalist, if he was concerned that he had backed a candidate no less entangled with the countrys oligarchic structures than his predecessor. Of course, its a dilemma, he told me. Or act in accordance with existing reality and try to bend it in our favor? In todays Ukraine, he told me, only a person with the backing of a media outlet stands a chance of winning a Presidential election. (Poroshenko himself controls the television station Channel 5.) In the coming months, Leshchenko told me, he will look for whether Zelensky dismisses Yury Lutsenko, the prosecutor general, who is embroiled in multiple corruption and nepotism scandals, and also whether Zelensky appoints new, young faces to key ministerial posts or relies on the familiar class of longtime political insiders. Nayyem, however, was more skeptical of Zelensky. On Sunday night, Nayyem posted some advice to the President-elect on his Facebook page. (His account was where the initial post that kicked off the Maidan protests appeared, in November, 2013.) Remember what happened with Petro Poroshenko, Nayyem wrote. Dont try to negotiate with the oligarchs, he said; instead, appeal directly to the seventy-two per cent of the population that voted for you. Whats more, he went on, tell everyone who offers their support, resources, and media in exchange for special rights and their own piece of the country, to get lost. Nayyem concluded with a few words of appreciation for Poroshenko, a figure he has spent years criticizing. The former journalist praised the outgoing President for quickly conceding defeat in the race and offered a Poroshenko postmortem: From this day forward, we are no longer hostage to his mistakes. We can only fix them. But we will build on his achievements. For them we should be thankful. A Zelensky Presidency will hold many surprises, and likely no small amount of confusion and disappointment, but, for today, it seems that Ukraine is enjoying the satisfaction of at least one hard-fought victory: voters had their say, and the incumbent made way for his challenger. And, as Zelensky must surely know, not for the last time. | https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/can-the-actor-who-ruled-ukraine-on-tv-do-it-in-real-life |
Whats Different About the Attacks in Sri Lanka? | Read: A horrific flashback in Sri Lanka It doesnt make sense, C. Christine Fair, an expert on terrorism in South Asia and an associate professor at Georgetown University, told me. She said that National Thowheed Jamath had never attacked churches previously. Moreover, Sri Lanka has generally not seen tensions between Muslims, who make up 10 percent of the population, and Christians, who are about 7 percent. Its far more likely, Fair said, that an outside group, such as the Islamic State or al-Qaeda, based in the Indian subcontinent is involved in some way. (No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack.) Rajitha Senaratne, a spokesman for Sri Lankas cabinet, told reporters Monday that there was an international network without which these attacks could not have succeeded. He did not elaborate, nor did he provide evidence. Rita Katz, the director of the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadist networks, noted on Twitter that coordinated attacks on chuches is, in fact, a hallmark of ISIS, which has carried out similar operations in Egypt and the Philippines. Although Islamist militancy has not been a big problem for Sri Lanka, ISIS has issued some of its statements in Tamil, a language spoken in the south of India and by Sri Lankas ethnic Tamils. (Most of Sri Lankas Muslims are Tamilthough the countrys Tamil population is mostly Hindu.) Graeme Wood: Why Sri Lanka silenced social media Katz also noted that Sri Lanka had been warned about the attacks by international intelligence agencies, suggesting a foreign link. All of these elementsalongside what remains an ongoing celebration campaign by ISIS supporters onlinesuggest that the group will claim responsibility, she wrote. It is not yet clear what, if any, links National Thowheed Jamath has with ISIS or other terrorist organizations. But jihadist groups have made successful inroads in parts of the world where they previously have had little influence, such as in the Philippines and Indonesia. They have used online propaganda to radicalize disaffected youth in Europe; have recruited from existing organizations, such as the Taliban in Afghanistan and Boko Haram in Nigeria; and have stepped into the security vacuum in places like Libya. Indeed, Sri Lanka acknowledged in 2016 that 32 Sri Lankan Muslims had joined ISIS, a tiny fraction of the countrys overall Muslim population, but significant enough for the countrys government to have taken notice. It is not known whether any of them has returned home, but their presence in Syria may suggest a potential communication pipeline with Islamist radicals in their native country. Additionally, operations like the one in Sri Lanka require expertise and planning. Militants have to be radicalized, recruited, and trained to carry out an attack of that magnitude. This suggests the existence of safe houses, planning cells, and bomb-making equipment and materialsall hallmarks of a well-organized group. You dont roll out of bed and decide to martyr yourself in a suicide-bombing attack, Bruce Hoffman, an expert on terrorism and a professor at Georgetown University, told me. | https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2019/04/sri-lanka-hasnt-seen-kind-islamist-terrorism/587761/?utm_source=feed |
Could Tyler Chatwood Pitch Well Enough For The Cubs To Consider Trading Him This Summer? | Roll the calendar back a year and there would have been high-fives in Theo Epsteins suite at Wrigley Field on Sunday. Instead there had to be a little relief and quietly renewed hope that Chatwood has tapped into some form he can sustain, which would make the Cubs feel a whole lot better about the three-year, $38-million contract they gave him as a free agent. But after his six shutout innings against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Chatwood shuttled back to the bullpen, which has become the most expensive in baseball due to his $12.5 million salary. He pitched poorly last season, prompting Epstein to trade for Cole Hamels, and Epstein doubled-down by then picking up Hamels $20 million option for 2019. With Jon Lester, Kyle Hendricks, Yu Darvish, Jose Quintana and Hamels healthy, the only way for Chatwood to return to the rotation is if Joe Maddon goes to a six-man mix. Chatwood got his start on Sunday because Lester is on the injured list but hes expected back to face the Dodgers on Thursday, which means Chatwood becomes an expensive insurance policy. It will be interesting to see if Chatwood can do enough working out of the bullpen to put his name in the mix of possible trade pieces. His situation seems similar to what Sonny Gray faced after floundering initially with the Yankees, and they were able to deal him to the Reds last winter. Epsteins hands were tied last off-season because he had expended his budget adding Hamels to the mix that included Darvish and Chatwood, acquired a year earlier. His flexibility next winter largely depends on whether he hangs onto free agents Ben Zobrist and Hamels and whether he can find a taker for Chatwood, who is due to earn $13 million. Chatwood was a popular addition for the Cubs because of his high spin rates. But he wound up 4-6 with a 5.30 ERA in 2018, leading the National League with 95 walks in 103 2/3 innings. He went to spring training hoping to pitch his way back into the starting rotation but wound up back in the bullpen when Maddon opted for a five-man rotation. He had been scheduled for a spot start on April 14 but that game against the Angels was snowed out. He hadnt pitched since April 10 before Sunday, when he promptly walked Arizona leadoff man Jarrod Dyson on four pitches. Boos rained down on Chatwood, as they had last season. Its not fun, Chatwood told reporters afterward. I dont think anybody likes (being booed). It kind of made me not take it for granted. Everything I do now, theres purpose to it, theres a reason why Im doing it. I had good people around me all offseason to help me get back to where I want to be, and I feel like Im on the right path. Chatwoods fastball averaged only 93 mph pitching for Colorado in 2016 but sat at 96 on Sunday, his best since late in the 2017 season. His bread-and-butter pitch was his two-seam sinker, which he threw for strikes 23 out of 31 times. Joe Maddon is enthused about Chatwoods progress. Thats what we thought (hed do) in the beginning, Maddon said. Weve talked about it a lot. As he gains feel for what hes doing, hes capable of that. Thats not a fluke. You can never have too much pitching, of course, but Epsteins phone is going to ring if Chatwood is looking like this in late July. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/philrogers/2019/04/22/could-tyler-chatwood-pitch-well-enough-for-the-cubs-to-consider-trading-him-this-summer/ |
Can University Retirement Communities Reverse Aging? | Pacific Retirement Services The U.S. population continues aging towards a Silver Tsunami, with the first of nearly 80 million Boomers now entering their early 70s, and nearly 10,000 of their subsequent cohort turning 65 each day. Despite this, over the past two years the senior living industry including Independent Living, Assisted Living, and Life Plan Communities has experienced its lowest occupancy since the end of the Great Recession. To some extent, the cause may be attributed to over exuberance among investors and developers, ahead of demand for a generation that has only recently started retiring in large numbers. But being ahead of the wave may not suffice to address the entirety of a lack of interest in what senior living has to offer. The reality is most senior housing models look eerily the same, even if beautiful. As with some major hotel chains, you could swap the signs out front and most would never notice. But theres a big difference in purchasers seeking one or two nights accommodation and someone seeking the place they will call home for most, if not the rest of their life. Further, the Boomer generation that created Baskin Robbins 52 Flavors is likely to be even more turned off when offered Vanilla as their only choice. Enter University Based Retirement Communities, or UBRCs, which offer unique and nearly impossible to replicate differentiation in an otherwise generic market. Utilizing a 5-Criteria model I developed in 2004, UBRCs can be identified at some of the nations most recognizable academic institutions, including Stanford, Notre Dame, Duke, the University of Florida, and Penn State, among others. At Arizona State University, construction is underway for Mirabella at ASU, a 20-story, $250 million Life Plan Community scheduled to open on the corner of campus in 2020. The 300+ resident community is already sold out. On an intuitive level, such appeal makes sense. The current Silent Generation of retirees provided a large influx of college students, many attending on the Gill Bill. The subsequent Boomer generation represented the most highly educated demographic in history by their mid-20s, with nearly 60% with some college experience and nearly a third holding a bachelors degree or higher. For both generations, numerous surveys have identified a common interest in active, intellectually stimulating, and most of all, intergenerational retirement environments. With the ability to cheer on the football or basketball team, attend musical, dance, or theater performances, participate in lectures and courses, while wearing an alma mater sweatshirt, a college campus checks all the boxes and more. But there may also be evidence that the appeal of UBRCs is driven by more than nostalgia. In 1981, Harvard psychologist Ellen Langer conducted the landmark Counterclockwise study in which a group of men in their 70s was taken to spend five-days in a retreat that had been set up to not only mimic 1959, but required them to actively participate as if it were. There would be no conversations about anything that took place after 1959, even as they listened to music from Perry Como, read books and magazines from the time period, and watched black and white episodes of The Ed Sullivan Show on TV. At the conclusion of their five-day stay participants experienced measurable improvement in physical strength, manual dexterity, gait, posture, perception, memory, cognition, taste sensitivity, hearing, and vision...they grew younger. While a small sample (eight men), and limited in timeframe, the study provided evidence that we may at some level actually be as young as we feel. In similar fashion, a well-documented concept called the Reminiscence Bump has found that people tend to remember events from their teens and twenties more clearly, profoundly, and deeply than from any other time in their lives, either because it is when their brains are operating at peak efficiency, they are encountering the majority of lifes memorable firsts, or a combination of both that hardwires such moments and memories heavily within their autobiographical memories. For those who left home for the first time to attend college, fall in love, and find a career, the reminiscence bump may explain their longing for all things alma mater. Which begs an interesting question. A study which needs to be done, but which in the interim may suggest the drive by many older adults to relive their college days may be more intuitive than emotional. To be clear, not all UBRCs have figured out the secret recipe for success. There can be philosophical, cultural, and business model disconnects between academic institutions dedicated to serving people in their 20s, and senior housing providers specializing in those whose most recent trip to campus may have been for their 50th reunion. Older adults assessing UBRC options would be wise to fully vet both the level of connection between the host university and qualifications of the senior housing provider. Yes, I just assigned homework. But for UBRCs that have figured out how to maximize the relationship between the host university and senior housing provider, a return to campus may do more than deliver the flavor of retirement community older adults seek. It may help them find their inner youth. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewcarle/2019/04/22/can-university-retirement-communities-reverse-aging/ |
Why are so many Charlotte restaurants closing? | Hi-Tide Poke & Raw Bar closed its doors on South McDowell Street abruptly in March [email protected] Over the last year in Charlotte, a slew of relatively high-profile restaurants and bars have either closed their doors or put themselves up for sale. To name a few: The Rogue and Babalu closed on East Boulevard last September. The Liberty closed its restaurants in South End and Blakeney last year. Also last year, Suki Akor closed its doors after only being open for a few months in uptown. Hi-Tide, Rock Bottom and City Smoke all closed abruptly last month. And Va Da Vie Gelato closed this month at Park Road Shopping Center. A few restaurants have put themselves up for sale, including Cupcrazed Cakery, Peculiar Rabbit and Red House Cafe. The number of recent restaurant closures sales seems like a lot. But industry experts say churn is natural in a rapidly growing market like Charlotte, which also continues to add new restaurants, bars and breweries. Lynn Minges, president and CEO of the North Carolina Restaurant and Lodging Association, noted that restaurants generally do have a fairly high closure rate, but that shes not aware of anything out of the ordinary happening in Charlotte. Were definitely in growth mode, Minges said of the states restaurant industry. I think probably what youre seeing is natural attrition for how businesses operate. North Carolina restaurants brought in $21.4 billion in sales last year, making it the No. 9 state in restaurant sales nationwide, according to a recent study by the National Restaurant Association. The association projects that restaurant employment will grow by 13.3 percent over the next decade in North Carolina, making it the No. 7 fastest-growing restaurant employment state in the U.S. Helping to drive growth is the regions rapidly growing population and strong economy, according to the association. The Charlotte region added 44,500 people from 2017 to last year, according to the latest census figures. An exhausting industry Restaurant operators who do close shop or sell their business face a number of headwinds that drive their decision, including personal conflicts, finances, rising rent and difficulty in adapting to customers changing tastes, industry experts say. The Rock Bottom location uptown opened 21 years ago but just didnt drive sales, Josh Kern, chief experience operator of CraftWorks Holdings, told CharlotteFive in March. Craftworks owns all of Rock Bottoms restaurants. Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery closed in late March via a notice on the door. Christine Weber CharlotteFive Other restaurants close their doors without much explanation. Some include Newks Eatery uptown, which closed in late December, and Hi-Tide Poke & Raw Bar, which closed abruptly last month after less than a year of business on South McDowell Street. Hi-Tide co-owner Michael LaVecchia, who also owns Meat & Fish Co. in the same building, could not be reached for comment. Virtually every restaurant goer has seen one of their favorite establishments cease operations. In many instances, that has to do with the landlord and operator being unable to agree on terms going forward, said Hudson Riehle, head of the National Restaurant Associations research and knowledge division. Additionally, Riehle said, in many cases, small independents will close because theres no one in the family who wants to take over the business. Nolen Kitchen closed its doors in late 2017 on Selwyn Avenue. The restaurant provided little explanation for its closure other than that its spot in Selwyn Corners had been sold. For over a year, Will Choate, a broker at New South Properties, has been marketing the roughly 4,000-square-foot Selwyn Avenue spot. The propertys owner is very particular about which new restaurant takes the Nolen spot, Choate said. (The right restaurant) drastically increases the sales of the rest of the shopping center, he said. Rob Nixon put his restaurant/bar Peculiar Rabbit up for sale recently in Plaza Midwood. In a call with the Observer, Nixon said the restaurant industry is exhausting, especially with new competition coming in the form of breweries throughout Charlotte. My partner and I are getting kinda old. This is a younger mans game, said Nixon, who said he will keep his other businesses open nearby, including Smooth Monkey, the Rabbit Hole and Jackalope Jacks. If I had the energy, Id rebrand (Peculiar Rabbit) into something completely different. (Something with) new energy and longer legs. | https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/business/biz-columns-blogs/whats-in-store/article229409929.html |
Could a computer ever rival Rembrandt or Beethoven? | Last year a portrait of Edmond Belamy sold for $432,000 (337,000). A bit steep, you might think, for a picture of someone you've never heard of. And you won't have heard of the artist either, as the picture was created by an algorithm drawing on a data set of 15,000 portraits painted between the 14th and 20th Centuries. And to be honest, it's a bit rubbish. The sale, which astonished auction house Christie's, raised many important questions. Cognitive neuroscientist Romy Lorenz says a lot depends on how we define creativity. Image copyright Reuters Image caption Chinese Go player Ke Jie was eventually defeated by DeepMind's AlphaGo AI program If creativity means finding completely new ways to solve problems, then AI has already achieved that, she argues, citing Google's DeepMind subsidiary. In 2017, one of DeepMind's AI programmes beat the world's number one player of Go, an ancient and highly complex Chinese board game, after apparently mastering creative new moves and innovative strategies within days. "Google would say that was creativity - new ways of finding solutions that it was not taught," she says. More Technology of Business Games, particularly those which take place within virtual worlds, have been the perfect setting for AI to solve problems creatively. But asking an algorithm to create without any human input at all actually yields quite boring results, argues New York-based professor of computer science, Julian Togelius. He cites Kate Compton's "10,000 bowls of oatmeal" problem, which suggests that while algorithms can now create infinite worlds, these can be tedious for humans to play in. An example, he suggests, was the hotly-anticipated release of space exploration game No Man's Sky, which offered 18 quintillion algorithmically-generated planets to explore. Image copyright Hello Games Image caption No Man's Sky uses "procedural generation" to create new worlds automatically "In No Man's Sky there are more places you could visit in a lifetime, with different flora and fauna. But that game has had mixed reviews - it's a technical masterpiece but it's not super interesting to play," he says. "These algorithms are amazing - they can do more and more. But there will always be things us humans want to put in. It's the power of the sensibility and intentionality of the human brain - that's what is hard [to recreate]." Dr Lorenz points out that true artistic creativity differs from creative problem solving in that it requires a shift in perspective that machines do not appear to have the capacity for. Image copyright Romy Lorenz Image caption Romy Lorenz says AI has no "internal world" from which to create true art "Artistic creativity is about turning an introspective thought into a medium, whether it's a sculpture or a piece of music. It's about taking an abstract form and making it concrete. "But AI has no internal world and it has no need to create its desires or fears." So rather than letting AI take complete control, results seem to be far more fruitful when human artists work hand-in-hand with machines. Musician and University of Sussex lecturer Dr Alice Eldridge suggests that we should treat AI as "just another tool that we have designed, like the wheel, or the combustion engine". Image copyright Dr Alice Eldridge Image caption Dr Alice Eldridge (l) and Dr Chris Kiefer (r) play their self-resonating feedback cellos She has helped create a cello that uses a combination of acoustics, electrification and an adaptive algorithm that makes the instrument self-resonate; or essentially, play itself. "With a classical cello you have to bring the instrument alive with a bow; a feedback cello is already singing, your job as a performer is to shape the sound - it's more like a dance than 'controlling' an instrument in the traditional way," she says. "This creates a different way of thinking about, and designing our relationships with, musical instruments, and technology in general." Mick Grierson, at the UAL Creative Computing Institute in London, believes advances in AI will "lead to better art, new types of artists and new mediums". In 2016, Nordic band Sigur Rs used his software to create a constantly evolving version of one of their singles, which the band played on a 24-hour road trip around Iceland. Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The band Massive Attack have been experimenting with AI to create unique pieces of art Individual musical elements of the song were fed through the software to make a song that, like a live performance, is subtly different with every repetition, and could respond to external prompts. Innovative composer and producer Brian Eno, who has worked with Roxy Music, David Bowie and Coldplay amongst others, is also a big fan of using algorithms to create music that constantly changes. Prof Grierson has also worked with Massive Attack on an AI reworking of their Mezzanine album, to mark its 20th anniversary. The album will be fed into a form of AI that teaches itself - a neural network - and visitors to an upcoming Barbican exhibition will be able to affect the resulting sound by their movements. While AI could be seen as yet another threat to artists' livelihoods, he believes machines will never come close to competing. "AI could be used to reduce human creativity by people who want to make money - but it's people [not technology] who are responsible for doing that. "The technology is never going to be good enough to generate better culture than people who use it to create their own." Follow Technology of Business editor Matthew Wall on Twitter and Facebooko | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-47700701 |
Why not have Lori Loughlin pay for SAT prep? | Theres a better answer than throwing actress Lori Loughlin in jail for up to 40 years for paying off people to get her kids into college. Her house alone in California is worth a reported $30 million. Locking up someone who is not a danger to society and simply did something terribly stupid to help her children further their education does not warrant jail time. She thought she could use her money to get ahead. Well, she should be forced to open the piggy bank to fix this problem. Most parents go to great lengths to help their kids and sometimes do things they shouldnt. This scam takes the cake. Massachusetts prosecutors have amassed emails, wiretapped phone calls, surveillance footage and financial records resulting in implicating 50 people involved in an alleged conspiracy to cheat the admissions process at some of the most elite universities in the country. Loughlin and her husband pleaded not guilty to charges of fraud conspiracy and money laundering. They face up to 40 years in prison a maximum of 20 years for each of the charges, along with a combined fine of $750,000. They are accused of paying $500,000 to get their daughters into the University of Southern California as crew recruits, even though the girls did not row. If they were forced to create a charity and help teens who dont have the means to really prepare for the college admissions process, then some good can come from this. Locking them up and having taxpayers foot the prison bill for two rich people who used that wealth to get ahead seems like a waste of our money. Lets face it. The whole college admissions process is broken and favors wealthy people. Whether their parents hire a variety of tutors, consultants, come from an elite high school or simply make a massive donation to the school the system needs revamping. Lets fund this change via these 50 people implicated in this scam. Combined, they could fork over a huge check and really take this terrible act and level the playing field for more high school students looking to get the best education possible. Jail is not always the answer, but making right on a bad decision can sometimes be the more appropriate solution. Money should not be used to pay off jail and wealthy people should not be able to play by a different set of rules. But for this scam a steep fine and community service do seem like the correct course. And foremost, she and the other parents need to admit guilt before any of this idea is implemented. | https://www.bostonherald.com/2019/04/22/why-not-have-lori-loughlin-pay-for-sat-prep/ |
Does the Avalanches Nathan MacKinnon agree hes one of the best players in the world? | According to Calgary Flames captain Mark Giordano the favorite to win the 2019 Norris Trophy as the NHLs best defenseman Avalanche star Nathan MacKinnon could be the worlds best hockey player, or at least the best still participating in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. For anyone who doesnt think MacKinnon is one of the best, if not the best, they might want to look at this series, Giordano said after the Avs five-game demolition of the Flames. He totally took over and you have to give him a lot of credit. Hes a tough player to play against. Connor (McDavid), Sid (Crosby), hes right up there with those two. MacKinnon responded to those comments Monday after practice, following two days off after Colorado won its first playoff series in 11 years. It was nice. Really nice of him. Hes a great defender, MacKinnon said of Giordano, 35, who has risen to stardom after being relegated to the Moscow Dynamo of the Kontinental Hockey League in 2007-08. I told him I hope he wins the Norris. Hes a great hockey player and he has a cool story as well, going over to the KHL in his mid-20s, coming back and probably going to win the Norris (this year). RELATED: Chambers: Cale Makar making seamless transition from NCAA to NHL, and impressing off the ice MacKinnon, 23 is a little more than a year older than McDavid, the two-time NHL scoring champion with the Edmonton Oilers, and eight years younger than Crosby, the three-time Stanley Cup champion with the Pittsburgh Penguins. MacKinnon and Crosby are both from Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia, and MacKinnon regards any comparison to Crosby as a huge compliment. I dont think Im at that level. I think hes top-five ever who has put on a pair of skates, MacKinnon said of his boyhood idol and close friend. Im not at that level but hopefully one day I can get close. Edmonton didnt make the playoffs and Pittsburgh was knocked out in the first round by the New York Islanders. MacKinnon had eight points (three goals) in the series against Calgary and Avs coach Jared Bednar said his center was as good defensively in the series as he was on the attack. The Avalanches Rantanen attacks from all angles Kickin it with Kiz: Young Nuggets playoff jitters make what Cale Makar is doing for Avs even more amazing Mikko Rantanen, Avalanche roll past Calgary; Colorado wins first playoff series in 11 years Brassard is back. Avs forward Derick Brassard, a February trade-deadline pickup from the Florida Panthers, is back with the team after missing the last three games of the first-round series with flu-like symptoms. I stayed in my apartment for almost three days straight, Brassard said Monday. The pace of the games, it would have hard to play. But now I have seven-to-nine days to get back to normal. Footnotes. Avalanche defenseman Sam Girard again practiced in a red non-contact sweater Monday but still hasnt been cleared for full contact. Girard also missed the last three games of the series with what is believed to be a shoulder injury. Bednar said he doesnt know when Girard will be cleared or how he might be used if hes available for Game 1 of the second round. Girard was replaced by rookie Cale Makar and having both available will force Bednar to scratch a stay-at-home defenseman (Patrik Nemeth or Nikita Zadorov) or go with an extra man on the blue line and one less forward. The Avs will practice Tuesday at Family Sports Center in Centennial but could take Wednesday off depending on when their next series begins. | https://www.denverpost.com/2019/04/22/avalanche-nathan-mackinnon-best-player-in-world/ |
Have the poorest councils had the biggest cuts? | Image copyright Getty Images The most deprived council areas of England have seen more cuts than their better-off neighbours, according to Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. He was speaking following the launch of his party's local election campaign. Spending power Councils receive their money from a mix of central government grants and money raised locally through taxes and charges. The proportion varies because richer areas can raise more tax from properties and businesses, while poorer councils rely more on central government funding. A council's "core spending power" is how much money it has to spend from all these income sources. More deprived councils generally end up with higher spending power per household because they get more money from central government to reflect the higher costs of providing services such as social care. Labour said it looked at the spending power of the 10 most deprived council areas, according to an official ranking published every few years by the government - most recently in 2015. They are: Blackpool Knowsley Kingston upon Hull Liverpool Manchester Middlesbrough Birmingham Nottingham Burnley Tower Hamlets Our analysis found that, across England, the average [median] cut to spending power was 297 per household. That is to say, half of councils had bigger cuts than that and half smaller. And there was a big range of cuts. For example, the London Borough of Hackney's spending power per household fell by 1,432, compared with only 1.78 per household in Wokingham in Berkshire. Only the Isles of Scilly had increased its spending power - by 350 per household. BBC analysis suggests that all 10 listed areas saw higher than average cuts and for nine of them, that cut was at least twice the average. Five of the most deprived councils had cuts of more than three times the average. Most of the areas seeing the biggest overall cuts were in London, followed by other urban centres like Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool. They were also mainly areas with relatively high levels of deprivation, while many of the areas with the smallest cuts were in the less deprived parts of England. This picture is backed up by research last year by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) think tank, which looked at all councils in England and found that those in more deprived areas face slightly larger cuts, on average, than those in richer areas. A study by Mia Gray and Anna Barford at the University of Cambridge also found that "more deprived areas tend to correlate with bigger cuts in service spending", while in the less deprived areas, service spending cuts tend to be smaller. Labour v Tory Labour also claimed that the government had protected Conservative-controlled councils more, while Labour-run areas had faced the biggest cuts. It's broadly true that many Labour-controlled areas have faced bigger cuts than Conservative-controlled ones. But their calculations - which did not adjust for the type of council - understated the cuts to Tory authorities. Different councils have different responsibilities - some easier to cut than others. And some people live in areas where a small district council provides some of their services, while a bigger county council pays for others. Take Horsham, which Labour names in its press release as one of the few councils to have more spending power per household this year than it did in 2010. Horsham is a district council which looks after services like bins, planning, parking and housing. But people living in Horsham will have their social care, education and public health services provided by the county council, West Sussex. To understand the cuts faced by a household in this area, you have to consider both councils together. Horsham residents - who Labour said had seen an increase in spending power - have actually faced overall cuts of 75 per household once you factor in cuts to services provided by West Sussex County Council. That is still a small cut compared with many parts of the country, but adding in the county council does change the picture somewhat. A Labour Party spokesperson said: "Our methodology and how we present our research corresponds to how official figures are presented." It's also true that many Labour-controlled councils started with considerably higher spending power, and still had higher spending power than their Conservative-controlled neighbours this year, despite having faced bigger cuts. This higher overall spending power reflects the fact that many of the most deprived council areas are Labour controlled, and those areas are allocated more money because of their higher needs. More money Prime Minister Theresa May told the House of Commons that councils in England had more money to spend this year. A Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government spokesperson said: "We are providing local authorities with access to 46.4bn this financial year to meet the needs of their residents and the most deprived areas have access to substantially more funding than the least." English councils' spending power is set to rise by 1.3bn in the current financial year - but only provided they increase council tax by the maximum allowed. That is a slightly bigger rise than in recent years, but it still means they have 4% less money to spend per household on average than they did in 2015. Since 2010, council spending power, including funding from central government and local taxes, has fallen by almost 30%. Additional reporting by the BBC England Data Unit. Read more from Reality Check Send us your questions Follow us on Twitter | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-47882478 |
Why Did Ukrainians Just Elect a Comedian President? | In the pouring rain, a young man in his twenties agrees to stop under an umbrella to share a few thoughts about Zelenskiy. Everybody has to learn sometime, he told me before his cellphone rang, darting off before I could get his name. Problem is, Zelenskiy doesnt have much time to learn on the job, as another comedian-turned-politician a few hours flight away has learned. Marjan arec, also 41 years old, became mayor of a small town in northern Slovenia in 2010 after spending years as a comedian and actor, his most famous role being that of a simple, rural everyman. Riding Slovenians disappointment with corruption, financial problems, and the incumbent party, arec was named prime minister of a coalition government in Slovenia last September. But arecs inexperience has been showing through, says Alja Pengov Bitenc, a Slovenian journalist and political commentator. Like Zelenskiy, says Bitenc, arec remained deliberately vague during campaigns, allowing him to also be a bit of a blank slate in the voters minds. Once he got into office, the moment he started taking actual positions, say, on real estate tax or pension reform, says Bitenc, some subsets of voters started souring on him. In European Parliament elections coming up in May, arecs party is projected to take only one of Slovenias eight European Parliament seats, says Bitenc. Learning by doing might make national politics seem more accessible, warns Bitenc, but it can have profound long-term negative effects. Outsiders who fail to bring the change they promise can make voters even more cynical about their countrys politics. Another comedian half a world away has had an even tougher time since being elected. Jimmy Morales has been president of Guatemala since October 2015, when he came into office making vague promises to combat corruption. With the slogan ni corrupto, ni ladrn neither corrupt nor a crook Morales used his almost fifteen years of experience starring in a slapstick comedy show to sell a simple message to Guatemalas frustrated voters. (In an eerie echo of Zelenskiys television character, in one episode on Moraless former show, his character accidentally ran for president, and won.) But Morales seems to have become the corrupt politician he pledged to never be. Hes tried to stop an anti-corruption investigation into his government (his own brother and son were arrested on fraud charges in 2017), a move some observers say amounts to a slow-motion coup that threatens to further destabilize the country. Its examples like these, and a number of other examples of so-called outsiders who have vaulted themselves into the highest officesU.S. President Trump includedthat should have Ukrainians worrying. And for a man whos pledged to combat corruption, Zelenskiys connections to controversial oligarch Ihor Kolomoyskyi dont help. Zelenskiy and his team seem to be aware of the worries; for one, theyve made a point of surrounding the rookie president-elect with a coterie of experts and advisors. Zelenskiy has also pledged to continue the countrys pro-NATO, pro-EU path, and hardly appears to be the Kremlin stooge that Poroshenkos loudest minority of supporters have made him out to be. Theres also no shortage of cautious commentators from within Ukraine and beyond who have suggested that, even if hes far from perfect, Zelenskiys presidency might not be so bad. Still, its a big gamble. So-called outsider candidates, especially in countries plagued by corruption, have a chance to try to remake their countrys politics, bridging the gap between citizens and the ossified, traditional political classes, Roberto Rodrguez Andrs, a political communications professor at the University of Navarra in Spain, wrote in a 2016 academic paper. But if they fail, Rodriguez Andres wrote, if they end up acquiring those same vices and ways of acting, if they fail to fulfill their promises of changethen there will be disappointment among a large part of the electorate that will further deepen the atmosphere of disaffectionsomething Rodriguez Andres warns is undoubtedly negative for democracy. Barely minutes after the polls had closed Sunday night, Ukraines new showman president was strutting his way past the hordes of assembled journalists and supporters, a coy showmans smirk and smile on display as he made his way toward the stage. The theme song from his television show blared in the background. In the coming weeks, as the election hangover slowly fades and Zelenskiy and his team are confronted by Ukraines many, real problems, the country will find out whether its new president can do more than just pretend to play one on TV. And if Zelenskiys comedian-turned-politician counterparts around the world are any indication, Ukraine might be in for a tough summer. | https://newrepublic.com/article/153650/ukrainians-just-elect-comedian-president |
Is Joe Biden Too Centrist For Today's Democratic Party? | A lot of energy and media coverage of the 2020 Democratic field is focused on the far left-wing. That's a key question for likely contender Joe Biden. DAVID GREENE, HOST: Here in the United States this week, former Vice President Joe Biden is expected to announce he is running for president. Just one of the many questions about his potential candidacy is whether he is too centrist for today's Democratic Party. Here's NPR national political correspondent Mara Liasson. MARA LIASSON, BYLINE: Donald Trump has a theory of the case for the 2020 election - according to his campaign strategists, any Democrat who wins the nomination will have moved so far to the left, they'll be an easy target for the president to disqualify as a Socialist. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Democrat lawmakers are now embracing socialism; they want to replace individual rights with total government domination. LIASSON: And at least right now, the frontrunner in the Democratic race is a self-identified Democratic Socialist. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) BERNIE SANDERS: Democratic socialism, to me, is creating a government and an economy and a society which works for all rather than just the top 1%. LIASSON: One of Bernie Sanders' goals is the textbook definition of socialism - he wants a government takeover of the health insurance industry, "Medicare for All." But other Democrats don't want socialism; they just want a stronger social safety net in order to reduce extreme inequality, restore economic mobility and make sure free market capitalism creates broadly shared prosperity. Democratic pollster Celinda Lake says that Bernie Sanders may be leading the pack right now, but his brand of democratic socialism isn't embraced by the majority of Democratic primary voters. CELINDA LAKE: Every single Democrat out there wants to have some kind of guaranteed medical insurance for everyone, and they want it to be affordable. Eighty-three percent want to invest more resources in infrastructure and dealing with climate change. LIASSON: The answer to those questions will be determined next year. Meanwhile, there are a lot of clues that actual Democratic voters may be less liberal than the image created by Donald Trump or the disproportionate media coverage given to the most left-leaning members of Congress. For example, a Gallup poll in December found that 54% of Democrats want their party to be more moderate; a smaller number, 41%, want their party to be more liberal. And, says Lake, there's another important data point about Democratic voters. LAKE: For the first time, people actually think that the person that they like the best might be different from the person who can most beat Donald Trump. Always before, people kind of pick their person as the person they thought was most electable. LIASSON: So right now Democratic voters are feeling a lot more pragmatic than they have in the past. And despite all that youthful energy coursing through the party, Celinda Lake points out that in primary states like New Hampshire and South Carolina, a fresh, new face might not be in demand. LAKE: In all of the early states, about two-thirds of the voters are over 50, and that older electorate likes experience. LIASSON: J. Ann Selzer, who conducts the Iowa poll, asked Democrats there whether it's important to have a younger candidate. Her poll specifically asked about Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders. J ANN SELZER: In both cases, running before and the experience in office won out over saying, the time for either of those candidates has passed. So there is no sense in this poll - and this was done in March - that Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders are too old. LIASSON: Biden's allies also have a theory of the case for 2020, and it's the polar opposite of Trump's - Biden's strategists believe the majority of Democratic voters are not living in woke-a-topia (ph). Instead of reflecting the voices of Democratic activists on social media, Biden's aides believe the Democratic voters value experience and pragmatism, and they think it's a good thing - not a bad thing - to work across the aisle. So if Biden's advisers are right, age and ideology won't stop his campaign. But as he's already seen, Biden will have plenty of other obstacles to clear. Mara Liasson, NPR News, Washington. (SOUNDBITE OF MOUSE ON THE KEYS' "PHASES") Copyright 2019 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPRs programming is the audio record. | https://www.npr.org/2019/04/22/715875291/is-joe-biden-too-centrist-for-todays-democratic-party?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=morningedition |
How can the Raiders maximize their three first-round draft picks? | As the Raiders seek what general mananger Mike Mayock called foundation players in this years draft, inspiration might be found in the only other time the team made three picks in the first round. In 1988, the Los Angeles Raiders used the sixth overall pick on receiver Tim Brown, the ninth on defensive back Terry McDaniel and the 25th on defensive tackle Scott Davis. Although Davis career ended after five seasons, McDaniel made five Pro Bowls with the Raiders and Brown is a Hall of Famer. The Raiders hold the Nos. 4, 24 and 27 selections in Thursdays first round, along with the 35th overall pick, in Round 2. At his pre-draft news conference, Mayock said the Raiders had better use their unusual position to add multiple impactful players. Over the past two decades, teams with similar assets have done so with varying success. In 2000, the Jets record-four first-round picks included defensive end Shaun Ellis and linebacker John Abraham, each of whom made multiple Pro Bowls with New York. The Jets also took Chad Pennington, who compiled a 69-61 record as their quarterback, and tight end Anthony Becht. One year later, the Rams drafted defensive linemen Damione Lewis and Ryan Pickett and safety Adam Archuleta in the first round. All three played five seasons with St. Louis, in which the Rams made three playoff appearances largely on the strength of their offense, before departing. The Vikings three 2013 first-round picks included two players no longer with the team Sharrif Floyd and Cordarrelle Patterson but also cornerback Xavier Rhodes, a two-time Pro Bowler. The Browns in 2017 drafted defensive end Myles Garrett, the No. 1 overall pick who made the Pro Bowl last season, safety Jabrill Peppers and tight end David Njoku on Day 1. The Raiders have a glaring need for a pass rusher and are expected to use at least one first-round selection on arguably the strongest position in this years class. Though Mayock said the Raiders will be ready and excited to pick at No. 4, he and head coach Jon Gruden also have maintained that trades with their first-round picks are possible. Asked how the Raiders can maximize their draft capital, ESPN analysts Mel Kiper Jr. and Todd McShay on Monday both discussed the potential for trades. Kiper said on a conference call that he thinks the opportunity may present itself there to move down with the 27th pick, and get extra picks and not lose a lot. That could be enticing for Mayock, who likes the area of the draft from picks 20-60. The Raiders dont have a pick between No. 35 and No. 106. Raiders picks Round, pick: Round 1: 4, 24, 27; Round 2: 35; Round 4: 106; Round 5: 140; Round 7: 218, 235. Read More The Raiders also have mentioned the idea of trading up in the first round, but McShay said he wouldnt package picks to move up for anyone, to be quite honest. When you look at the draft, the teams that have more picks are the ones that typically wind up winning, McShay said. So I just want more shots at it. I just want to take my hacks and bring in as many guys, quality players, as I can bring in. And my guess is that Mayock is thinking the same thing. Thats the big question. But Jon didnt bring in Mike just to watch tape for him. I think that he needs a sounding board, and I think theyre going to work together. McShay said this years draft offers depth at positions like cornerback, linebacker and tight end areas the Raiders could look to address in the late first and early second round. You could walk away with, lets say, Quinnen Williams, Clelin Ferrell from Clemson at edge rusher, a cornerback at 27 or 35, a Josh Jacobs at running back, McShay said. You just put four names in there and look at how much better that football team will be with those four names. I dont know that theres a single player that youd rather trade one or two of those additional picks to move up to get thats going to give you a better shot of improving your roster than just staying home and drafting four players in the top 35. After weeks of guarding their plans closely, Thursday should indicate whether the Raiders agree. Matt Kawahara is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @matthewkawahara | https://www.sfchronicle.com/raiders/article/How-can-the-Raiders-maximize-their-three-13787195.php |
Why do women running for president lag behind men in media coverage? | Of course, there are many factors that can determine success in politics, such as timing and novelty, and those can affect men as well. But some are beginning to wonder if gender bias is playing a role in depriving the half-dozen women candidates of the spotlight which can in turn influence their polling and fundraising numbers. Its skewing the way were talking about these candidates very early on, when the media has an outsized potential to shape primaries, says Lauren Leader, CEO of All In Together. As the 2020 Democratic field expands to 20 this week, with the expected entrance of former Vice President Joe Biden, its a quartet of white men Mr. Biden, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, former Texas Rep. Beto ORourke, and Pete Buttigieg, mayor of South Bend, Indiana who are attracting the most media attention and the most positive news coverage. And with the exception of California Sen. Kamala Harris, the record six women running for president are also generally lagging behind the men in polling and fundraising. Just a few months after the Year of the Woman brought female representation in Congress to a record high, the glass ceiling of presidential elections is looking harder to shatter. As the 2020 Democratic field expands to 20 candidates this week, with the expected entrance of former Vice President Joe Biden, a glaring discrepancy looms over the race: Its a quartet of white men Mr. Biden, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, former Texas Rep. Beto ORourke, and South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg who are attracting the most media attention. And with the exception of California Sen. Kamala Harris, the record six women running for president are generally lagging behind the men in polling and fundraising. This is particularly frustrating to supporters of Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a janitors daughter turned Harvard law professor who has dedicated her life to fighting income inequality in the United States. I Cant Believe Elizabeth Warren Is Losing to These Guys, trumpets a headline in Jacobin. Elizabeth Warren, Hillary Clinton and the sexist hypocrisy of the likability media narrative. Here we go again, offers an NBC piece. And from WBUR in Senator Warrens home state of Massachusetts: Elizabeth Warren Doesnt Have a DNA Problem. She Has A Sexism Problem. (All three pieces were written by men.) Just a few months after the Year of the Woman brought female representation in Congress to a record high, the glass ceiling of presidential elections is looking harder to shatter. Some suggest gender bias may be depriving the half-dozen women candidates of the media coverage they deserve, which at this stage in the race can dramatically influence their polling and fundraising numbers. Its skewing the way were talking about these candidates very early on, when the media has an outsized potential to shape primaries, says Lauren Leader, CEO of All In Together whose op-ed for The Hill last week, We seem to be ignoring the women running for president, got 50,000 shares in two days. By many measurements, women have a better chance than ever before of reaching the White House. Voter resistance to female candidates (based on responses to the question are men better suited emotionally for politics than most women?) has dropped to a record low of 13 percent. Thats about a 25% improvement since 2016, when Hillary Clinton got nearly 3 million more votes than Donald Trump. [The candidates] have just got to stay the course and not get sucked into feeling that they need to out-shout the men, or out-thump their chests, but look for every opportunity to reach out to voters, says Christine Todd Whitman, who overcame a 21% polling gap to become the first female governor of New Jersey in 1993. Women do that well. ... They listen sometimes in a way that their male counterparts dont. Yet when it comes to the main indicators of how much traction candidates are getting media coverage, fundraising, and polling the women are conspicuously lagging, with none doing well in all three categories. Rick Bowmer/AP Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., visits Big Cottonwood Canyon on April 17, east of Salt Lake City. Senator Warren has proposed restoring broader public lands protections for two of the state's high-profile national monuments if elected president. By the numbers Senator Warren and New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand are doing about equally badly in all three categories, but Senator Harris and Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota are getting substantially less media coverage than their fundraising and polling numbers would suggest. Senator Harris is running third in the latest Morning Consult poll and has raised more money than any Democratic contender except Senator Sanders. However, shes been mentioned only about half as many times as Mayor Buttigieg on major cable news channels recently though that was during a time period leading up to the formal announcement of his candidacy. Similarly, Senator Klobuchar came in sixth in fundraising for the first quarter but ranks 10th in recent media mentions. All most men have to do is be mayor of a small town, turn 37, and say Im running for office, says Nichole Bauer, who teaches political communication at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. Professor Bauer has run studies giving respondents the exact same information about hypothetical candidates and found they more often prefer the male version. So I know its not just Hillary hate, she says. Of course, there are many factors that can determine media coverage, such as timing and novelty, and those can affect men as well. In 2016, for example, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush outraised all 16 other candidates in the 2016 GOP primary race yet struggled to attract the spotlight. Indeed, Donald Trumps ability to dominate the news cycle was a consistent source of frustration to all of his opponents. The 16 men who ran for the nomination for the Republicans would say the same thing Im jumping up and down here, why dont you find me interesting? says Kathleen Dolan, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. You had people who had all kinds of experience who couldnt break through or crack through. So why do we expect a woman who is a senator from Minnesota to be breaking through? A question of tone But its not just the amount of coverage that matters; tone plays a big role as well. Many have seized on a recent media review from Northeastern University in Boston, which concluded that coverage of the female 2020 candidates has been more negative than that of their male counterparts. The unique words used to describe the women often had to do with controversies such as Senator Warrens Native American claims or Senator Klobuchars use of a comb to eat her salad after staffers failed to get her utensils before a flight rather than substantive policy ideas or positive traits. The studys authors noted that their initial findings were based on a very limited sample of selected articles from the top five most-read publications. I was surprised at how quick people were to use it as evidence for this kind of sexism in media coverage or the campaign, when we were trying to be very clear up top that this is only 130 articles, this is not a truly random set of news publications, its just a starting point, says Aleszu Bajak, who teaches courses on digital journalism, data reporting, and new media at Northeastern. Its a continuing research project. Wilfredo Lee/AP Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar (center right) speaks during a roundtable discussion on health care April 16 in Miami. Senator Klobuchar met with local medical professionals and advocates to talk about the cost of prescription drugs. Professor Bajak says he and student Alexander Frandsen have since nearly doubled the data set to about 300 articles and are bringing in other colleagues to help with the growing project. Weve added Buttigieg, who now seems to be blowing everyone out of the water in terms of positivity, he says but the women are still at the bottom. Many scholars who study women in politics, most of whom are women themselves, say this is partially the result of political journalists being mostly male. According to the Womens Media Center, men author nearly three-quarters of articles about U.S. elections on eight news websites, including The Washington Post and The New York Times online, CNN, Vox, and Fox. In the 14 print publications surveyed, the disparity is less glaring but still evident, with men writing 61% of articles. To some, this imbalance in the gender makeup of the press corps makes media coverage prone to framing articles from a male perspective. For example, in evaluating a female candidates qualifications, they look for someone who is strong, rational, composed, and a fighter, says Meredith Conroy, a political scientist at California State University, San Bernardino. Women can try to contort themselves into this mold, but its harder, says Professor Conroy, author of Masculinity, Media, and the American Presidency. Men are inherently more congruent with this vision of the presidency, so their male behaviors are less likely to be questioned by the press. Take the issue of how a candidate treats his or her staff a point on which Senator Klobuchar has been hammered hard. If it had been reported that Bernie had mistreated his staff, it would align with perceptions that hes just an old grumpy man and thats how he does business that hes gruff or curmudgeonly, says Kelly Dittmar, a scholar at the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University in New Jersey. Still, just because gender bias may exist, that doesnt mean it is the primary factor determining a candidates relative success or failure. Professor Dolan of the University of Wisconsin, for one, has become frustrated with how gender bias is being discussed relative to the presidential race. People cant hold two things in their mind. Once they say there is gender bias at work, then the narrative becomes that everything about their candidacy has to do with gender bias, she says. She and others point out that the current crop of women candidates may well be suffering from a range of issues, from perceived charisma deficits to serious political missteps, that have thwarted plenty of men in previous primary seasons. Politics with respect Get political stories with respectful analysis By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy When it comes to Senator Warren, her struggles can be traced to how her campaign handled the Native American controversy on the eve of announcing her candidacy, says Alex Conant, a Republican strategist who helped Sen. Joni Ernst become the first woman to represent Iowa in Congress. You have one chance to introduce yourself to the electorate, and she really screwed that up, he says. If someone is claiming that Elizabeth Warren is not breaking through because of chronic sexism, that is making an excuse for an underperforming campaign. | https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2019/0422/With-so-many-women-running-for-president-why-is-focus-still-on-the-men |
Does Texas really need a $500m cricket stadium? | The city of Allen, a northern suburb of Dallas, occupies a special place in the history of sports stadia: it was the instigator of what once was dubbed a high school football stadium arms race. In 2012, it unveiled Eagle Stadium, the 18,000 seat, $60m home of the Allen High School Eagles. Not too many years later nearby McKinney opened a stadium for its own high schools worth $70m. Lately, Allen once again has taken center stage in a curious stadium proposal, one that until recently formed part of an ambitious multi-billion-dollar plan to spread cricket across the US. The Allen proposal calls for a $500m, 15,000-capacity stadium, the anchor of a mixed-use complex that would also include training facilities, residential and retail units, and office space. For a game not exactly part of the sporting firmament in Texass sprawling Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, thats an incredible potential investment. The Spin | Crickets American dream remains as USA welcomed back into ICC fold | Emma John Read more The aim is to establish a footprint for the worlds second most popular sport in a country that, outside of a few communities, pays cricket little heed. In the grand vision, the stadium would eventually play host to a professional team competing in a US-wide Twenty20 league. It would also stage visiting international teams and exhibition matches as well as other sports and events, according to reports. At first blush, Dallas is not exactly fertile country for cricket. Texas is Friday night lights country, Dallas located close to its beating heart. The city and its suburbs play home to franchises playing five major league sports: the big three of football, baseball and basketball, followed by hockey and soccer. It would take a mammoth effort to avert the gaze of Dallas Cowboys and Texas Rangers-loving north Texans. The Allen Sports Village, the name for the new cricket complex, has generated a lot of buzz since the plan was unveiled at the tail of end of last year. And not all of it has been positive. The stadium has incurred the wrath of local residents concerned about its impact on traffic levels and noise pollution. The future is uncertain after one of the developers pulled out, leaving the local partner and owner of the site, Thakkar Developers, to insist plans for the stadium project were still going ahead, perhaps with other investors. Meanwhile, the Allen Sports Villages national partner has talked big. Philadelphia-based businessman Jignesh Pandya aims to help professionalize cricket in the US, and has touted a nationwide plan, worth $2.4bn, to bring cricket to America. Crucially, Pandyas plan includes an eye-popping eight arenas spread across the country specifically designed for cricket. But his plan has been floating around for at least a couple of years now with few signs of tangible results. Pandya could not be reached to discuss the status of his nationwide plan, while Thakkar Developers did not respond to questions about the status of the stadium in Allen. Yet local reports have suggested a $25m economic incentive grant and tax incentives had been promised should the complex materialize. The City of Allen offered no such guarantee when asked by the Guardian what contributions would be offered by the public purse. The concept plan is currently under staff technical review with the City of Allen. Projects must go through the planning and zoning process before it is determined what, if any, incentives would be given to a developer, a statement from the city government said. Facebook Twitter Pinterest There are thriving amateur cricket leagues around America, mainly filled with immigrants from Commonwealth areas such as India, Australia, England and the West Indies. Photograph: Richard Levine/Alamy Stock Photo/Alamy Stock Photo Pandyas initial plan highlighted the eight stadium sites as Atlanta, Washington DC, Florida, Texas, New York, New Jersey, Illinois and California. Recent reports out of Atlanta suggest Pandya is leading an effort to purchase a mall site that would be turned into a similar 20,000-seat cricket stadium and mixed use development. The wider ambition of sprinkling cricket stadiums around key cities and states is undoubtedly a tall order, one that has drawn allusions to the struggles soccer confronted in the 1990s before Major League Soccer was launched. At first glance, even that might strike as slightly ambitious. But the Allen plan and the larger plan hatched by Pandya strikes on what some observers view as an important fundament to the sports growth: the growing, five million-strong south Asian community in the US. Ipsita Dasgupta, president of Hotstar International, an Indian streaming platform currently delivering Indian Premier League cricket to thousands of south Asian households across the US, highlights illuminating viewing patterns for the ongoing T20 extravaganza that so captivates India. She declined to disclose specific Hotstar US viewing figures but offered outline streaming data that superficially marries up with some of the grand stadium plans. Unsurprisingly, California (19%) and the Tri-state area (15-16%) account for the largest shares. Illinois, Texas and Florida also drew large pockets, Dasgupta says. Dallas was by some distance the biggest market in the Lone Star state and the fourth largest in the US, she adds. Dasgupta, who is Indian American tackles the question of crickets limited reach in the US asymmetrically: How does it break out of that cricket-first boxor how does it actually leverage the cricket-first box, she says. Its clear that there are three sports that are prevalent in the US and a whole bunch more that kind of play a role well before cricket will. I still think that cricket will have to be led by the south Asian and West Indian community to drive real progress. Referring to investments like the one proffered by Pandya, she adds: What you see is there is an affluent community that can move a sport in a country that theres a lot of potential in because theres such an affinity to sport in general. In the Dallas area, a burgeoning south Asian community is the sports captive audience and building block. But theres skepticism. Kuljit-Singh Nijjar, president of the Dallas Cricket League, sees a stadium as a potential catalyst for the game outside the kind of cricket-first communities that populate the grassroots leagues of the US should ground ever be broken on the development. But he believes spreading cricket in the States is still a tough task. Right now the growth is from mostly cricket playing countries. India, Pakistan, Bangladesh. Aussies, Nepalis, says Nijjar. Local parents are not interested, nobody seems to be interested in the sport. I dont see real growth in the US until we see something big happen. Like international teams traveling, stadiums. Parind Doctor, a Gujarati who came to the US to study and stayed for work, has played in the Dallas-area leagues and noted the struggle for recognition. He is ambivalent: It is going to take a gutsy investor, that is a lot of money with a lot of questions being asked, he says. To begin with, if you see a cricket stadium with people playing the game might look more attractive to people like your soccer moms. In the local leagues we play in parks. I went to the opening day of the Texas Rangers baseball season with some of my American friends recently. They all said they would love to go see a cricket game in a stadium. So it would be good for cricket in the USA but right now I dont know that the level of interest is there. Youre looking at seven to 10 years down the road with a stadium in place to see the impact, I think. In a January report in the Dallas Morning News detailing the concerns of the would-be stadiums future neighbors, Thakkar Developers CEO Poorvesh Thakkar described the enthusiasm for cricket among south Asians. North Texans may understand such a notion given the fervor with which they embrace the Cowboys. It takes an extraordinary leap of faith to imagine cricket squeezing out a space in this claustrophobic sports environment. | https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/apr/23/cricket-stadium-texas-allen |
When does a minimum wage become too high? | Enlarge this image Spencer Platt/Getty Images Spencer Platt/Getty Images Editor's note: This is an excerpt of Planet Money's newsletter. You can sign up here. It's a bold idea. It's simple. There's a catchy slogan: "The Fight for 15." Big names are lining up behind it: Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris. Even Amazon supports it. For a long time, it was pretty much gospel to economists that the minimum wage killed jobs. Economic theory preached that if you artificially increased the cost of employing people, that would naturally make employers employ less. In 1994, David Card and Alan Krueger published a study that was an earthquake for this theory. Analyzing fast-food restaurants in New Jersey, they found that a modest 19% increase in the minimum wage did not reduce employment. Since then, study after study has found similar results. Learning from the data, most economists now believe a modest increase in the minimum wage doesn't kill jobs. But there's still that qualifier a modest increase. Here's a thought experiment: let's pretend we increased it to $15 thousand an hour. Clearly, employers could no longer afford paying many of their workers. Such a policy would shutter businesses, destroy jobs, and make hamburgers insanely expensive. The real question is not whether the minimum wage kills jobs, but at what level it starts killing jobs. There's basically a magic number and, given that economies are different, there's no reason to believe that magic number will be the same everywhere. The Grand Experiment Of A National $15 Minimum Wage There are many ways to fight poverty and inequality, like taxing the rich and giving to the poor. Research finds a minimum wage is one tool that can help, but where to set it optimally is an empirical question. If we want a minimum wage that maximizes the wages of low-income workers while minimizing potential job losses, we need evidence. The federal minimum wage is currently $7.25. Raising it to $15 is a 107% increase. Congressional Democrats want to do this in phases and reach $15 by 2024. That said, it's not a modest increase. As far as evidence goes, it puts us largely in uncharted territory. The first rigorous research project that gave us a sense of what a $15 minimum wage would do centered on the prosperous city of Seattle. Starting in 2015, the city incrementally raised its minimum wage from $9.47 to $15 and beyond, and they commissioned a big fancy study to see how it worked. When Seattle increased the minimum wage from $9.47 to $11 in 2015, researchers found that, like the Card and Krueger study, there were insignificant effects on employment. Sweet! But hold your horses they found the next hike, from $11 to $13 in 2016, did hurt employment. If you look at the larger group of what we'll call low-wage workers, who make the minimum wage or close to it, they had fewer opportunities. Wages went up, but employers cut back on work hours so much so that low-wage workers ended up poorer to the equivalent of about $74 per person, per month. A follow-up study found this pain was mainly shouldered by workers without prior experience, who found it harder to get hired. The saga suggests the magic number in Seattle is around $13/hour. Yet, that's only one study in one city, and it's contentious. A recent research paper by Arindrajit Dube and colleagues, which analyzes a massive sample of 138 state-level increases in the minimum wage over four decades, confirms those earlier studies that find the minimum wage is not a job killer. That said, most of the increases in the study are what we'd call modest increases, about 10% on average. The increase studied in Seattle was 37%. But, in our quest to find the magic number, Dube's study may help. Dube believes that when setting a minimum wage, it might matter less what the exact level is and more how it compares to what everyone else is making in the same city or state. His recent study finds states can raise the minimum wage up to 59% of their median wage and not see significant job losses. Raise the minimum wage beyond this point, however, and you're in a dark abyss of evidence where it's possible that there could be sizable losses. At that point, the costs to low-wage workers could outweigh the policy's benefits. And the bigger the raise, the bigger the risk. The median hourly wage of the San Francisco Bay Area, for instance, is over $26. Dube says that's why in San Francisco and San Jose, which already have $15 minimum wages, there's not evidence of sizable job losses. In Alabama, however, the median hourly wage is only $15.77. Raising the minimum wage to $15 today would put it at 95% of this level, meaning it will affect a huge percentage of jobs and put Alabama well into that dark abyss where there could be sizable job losses. Alabama's median wage will likely grow before 2024, when Democrats want the $15 minimum wage to take effect, but it's reasonable to believe that even then, the policy could do Alabama's low-wage workers more harm than good. That's why Terri Sewell, a Democratic Congresswoman from Alabama, is urging caution in the "Fight for 15". Earlier this month, she introduced legislation that has the goal of eventually raising the minimum wage to $15 everywhere, but she wants to raise it at different rates around the country, using a formula that recognizes "that the cost of living in Selma, Alabama is very different than New York City." The evidence has her back that this approach could prevent job losses. Well, it looks even better in your inbox! You can sign up here. | https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2019/04/23/716126740/when-does-a-minimum-wage-become-too-high?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=storiesfromnpr |
Should I worry about getting breast cancer from my implants? | International health authorities now recognize that implants with roughened surfaces, both gel-filled and saline-filled, can cause a very rare lymphoma, a type of immune system cancer. Since the FDA first issued a warning in 2011, nearly 700 cases and 17 deaths have been tallied worldwide. TNS Q. I just heard that you can have cancer from breast implants. A. There is a type of cancer associated with breast implants, but breast cancer is not associated with higher rates due to the implants. If this sounds confusing, let me explain. Breast Implant-Associated Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma (BIA-ALCL) is a non-breast cancer that is associated with a specific type of breast implant. Breast implants come in different sizes and shapes, and theyre made up of different materials. While many people think silicone was a major factor in the many problems women faced with implants, almost all implants have silicone. Even saline implants have a silicone cover. Later studies confirmed that silicone did not pose significant problems, although this is a controversial topic. In 2011, the FDA identified a possible association between breast implants and anaplastic large cell lymphoma (BIA-ALCL). BIA-ALCL is not a breast cancer. Rather, it is a type of non-Hodgkins lymphoma, or cancer of the immune system, the FDA says. The lymphoma develops with textured implants. Implants may be smooth or textured. Plastic surgeons use textured implants to prevent movement and to get better implantation. Some implant recipients say textured implants feel more natural. Regardless of why they are used, they are the implants connected to lymphoma. So, the first thing to determine is if you have anything that is concerning. Typically, a patient will develop swelling after many years of having an implant. In addition, the person may have pain or discomfort with the swelling. If the swelling persists, your physician can remove some fluid and determine if you have lymphoma. If this is the case, removing the implant and removing the capsule will often be curative. If you do not have any of the symptoms and you do not know what type of implant you have, then call your doctor and ask him or her. Since you have a relationship with your plastic surgeon, she or he can advise you as to your next step. Carlos Wolf is a clinical assistant professor at FIU Herbert Wertheim School of Medicine and a partner in Miami Plastic Surgery. Follow him on Instagram @Carloswolfmd. | https://www.miamiherald.com/living/health-fitness/plastic-surgery-101/article229558414.html |
What is a bad credit score? | CLOSE Turns out millenials, you know the ones who society always shuns, are making some smart financial moves! They heck their credit score more often than Gen Xers and Boomers. Buzz60 A credit score is an extremely important financial metric as it is used for a lot of different things. Lenders use them to decide whether to give you a loan and how much interest to charge. Companies, including utility companies, use them to decide whether to do business with you and what kind of deposit will be required. Landlords use credit scores when deciding whether or not to rent to you, and employers sometimes check credit history when you apply for a job. Because credit scores are so essential to so many aspects of your life, you need to understand how they work. And, the first thing to know is, there's not just one credit score, but many. In fact, all different kinds of financial institutions and credit scoring agencies can create their own scoring models. The two most widely-used credit scoring models, however, are FICO and VantageScore. These two scoring models both have a range from 300 to 850 (although older VantageScores ranged from 501 to 990). Scores at the higher end of this range are considered good, but scores at the lower end of this range are considered to be poor. When you're working to build credit, it's helpful for you to know what's a good credit score and what's a bad credit score. This guide will help you to understand what credit scores are considered poor, and will provide some tips on how to improve a bad credit score and what to watch out for if your credit score is poor and you're trying to borrow. Generally, credit scores between 300 and 579 are considered to be very poor. Generally, credit scores between 300 and 579 are considered to be very poor. If your score is within this range, you will have difficulty finding most types of financing. In fact, you may not even be able to qualify for special mortgages, such as FHA mortgages with a 3.5% down payment, that are designed to make it easier for people to buy a home for the first time. Credit scores within the 580 to 669 range, on the other hand, are considered to be fair. This means your credit is just OK. You'll probably be able to get most types of loans, but you may pay a higher interest rate because of your lower score. Your credit isn't considered good until you have a score of at least 670 and it's not considered very good until your score hits 740. Finally, the very highest credit scores, those between 800 and 850, are considered exceptional. Unfortunately, it doesn't take much to drop your credit score down into the fair range. In fact, even a single late payment could reduce your score by more than 100 points. Repeat late payments or a history of bankruptcy, foreclosure, or court judgments is likely to result in a very poor score. Having too little credit could also result in your score being low because lenders want to see a history of responsible borrowing. If your score isn't as high as you'd like it to be, there are steps you can take to try to improve it. These include: Obtaining credit and using it responsibly You need credit in order to earn a good credit score. If a poor score prevents you from qualifying for most types of financing, look for a secured credit card you can use to improve your score. You need credit in order to earn a good credit score. If a poor score prevents you from qualifying for most types of financing, look for a secured credit card you can use to improve your score. Paying your bills on time Payment history is the most important component of your credit score. You need to always pay on time. If you build up a positive payment history and don't have any charge-offs or judgments against you, your score should improve quickly. Payment history is the most important component of your credit score. You need to always pay on time. If you build up a positive payment history and don't have any charge-offs or judgments against you, your score should improve quickly. Paying down debt and keeping credit card balances low Your credit utilization rate is also very important to your credit score. Using 30% or less of your available credit is essential to earn a good score. So if you have $1,000 in available credit, you shouldn't charge more than $300 on your card. The lower your utilization ratio, the better your score will be. Your credit utilization rate is also very important to your credit score. Using 30% or less of your available credit is essential to earn a good score. So if you have $1,000 in available credit, you shouldn't charge more than $300 on your card. The lower your utilization ratio, the better your score will be. Avoiding taking out too many new loans Each time you take out a new loan, you reduce your average age of credit. This hurts your score because a longer credit history is better. Applying for credit also results in an inquiry on your credit report, and too many inquiries can reduce your score because lenders worry you may be borrowing too much and become unable to pay all you owe. If you can stick with having a few different types of loans that you pay on time, you should be able to build up your credit score. While it can take as long as 7 to 10 years for negative information such as foreclosures, bankruptcies, and late payments to fall off your credit report, older negative events won't hurt your credit as much if your recent borrowing behavior is good. What to watch out for if you have bad credit When you borrow with bad credit, you need to watch out for people hoping to take advantage of the fact you're desperate for financing. Make sure you understand the terms of any loan you take out. You don't want interest-only loans, for example, because these will have low monthly payments but you'll never pay the balance down. Bad credit loans with very high-interest rates may also be inadvisable, as the interest may be so high that you struggle to make payments and your credit only gets worse. You should also watch out for credit repair scams. There's no easy, fast way to fix your credit and anyone who tells you differently is just trying to take your money. Don't give it to them, or you'll have nothing to show for it and they could make your situation worse if they engage in dishonest tactics such as encouraging you to apply for credit under a new tax ID number instead of your Social Security number. Don't be discouraged if you have bad credit If you have bad credit, you can work to improve it. You just need to pay bills on time and work on paying down debt. It may seem hard, but all it takes is a little time and effort. It's worth doing because improving your credit will make your financial life a lot easier. The Motley Fool owns and recommends MasterCard and Visa, and recommends American Express. Were firm believers in the Golden Rule. If we wouldnt recommend an offer to a close family member, we wouldnt recommend it on The Ascent either. Our number one goal is helping people find the best offers to improve their finances. That is why editorial opinions are ours alone and have not been previously reviewed, approved, or endorsed by included advertisers. Editorial content from The Ascent is separate from The Motley Fool editorial content and is created by a different analyst team. The Motley Fool is a USA TODAY content partner offering financial news, analysis and commentary designed to help people take control of their financial lives. Its content is produced independently of USA TODAY. 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Could Autonomous Vehicles Be Worse For Cities Than Regular Cars? | Few appear to think so. But we have a long track record of failing to anticipate the downside of mobility revolutions. Most of the scenarios proposed by advocates of autonomous mobility picture empty streets, cleaner air and far fewer injuries and deaths. Witness this picture painted in an article from Business Insider: Carbon emissions will be dramatically reduced. Traffic will disappear. Everybody will have more free time. Productivity will increase. Mobility for all people will dramatically improve. Regardless of the potential benefits, this might not sound attractive to auto aficionados. But while some may love their cars, few love the congestion and pollution they create. Lost productivity, wasted fuel, and more due to clogged freeways cost the United States, Germany and the United Kingdom a combined $461 billion in 2017. It is not unfair to say that the environmental impact of the automobile has been devastating. Auto emissions are a major cause of global warming that threatens the planets survival. Particulate from autos is singlehandedly responsible for up to 30,000 premature deaths each year in the United States, in addition to the approximately 1.25 million deaths worldwide (37,000 in the U.S. alone) from accidents. Its no wonder that some long for a world free of cars. Weve been here before. At the turn of the 20th century, serious efforts were made to ban horses from city streets. For the same reasons that people are frustrated with todays motorized vehicles: congestion, pollution, emissions and health. In 1900, the U.S. economy was horse-centric. Some 24 million horses in the country provided every type of mobility, from pulling plows, to streetcars, to delivering goods and people. By 1908, New Yorks 120,000 horses produced a staggering 60,000 gallons of urine and 2.5 million pounds of manure every day, overwhelming city streets. Traffic was disgusting and filthy and completely chaotic. Flies from horse manure spread deadly diseases, by one estimate killing 20,000 New Yorkers in 1908. Europe faced similar problems. In what came to be known as The Great Horse Manure Crisis of 1894, The Times predicted that In 50 years, every street in London will be buried under nine feet of manure. A Scientific American article claimed that the removal of horses would benefit the public health to an almost incalculable degree. Progressive citizens longed for horse-free cities, with streets, clean, dustless and odorless that would eliminate a greater part of the nervousness, distraction, and strain of modern metropolitan life. The automobile was hailed as a panacea for the equine ills of urban mobility. Horseless Age was the dream of a pro-auto magazine. Adoption was swift. In 1903, the same year Henry Ford founded Ford Motor Company, over 11,000 Americans bought cars. By 1913, when the assembly line cut the time it took to build a car from 12 hours to 2.5 hours, the number of automobiles produced unsurprisingly rocketed up to 3.6 million. The last horse-drawn streetcar in New York City was retired in 1917. In less than 20 years, mobility by horse was a thing of the past in most cities. The crisis was over, only to be replaced by one that we now know is far graver. While congestion from autos is an economic drain, which is not to be dismissed, pollution is an existential threat to the planet. Not likely. McKinsey predicts that autonomy could be widespread, delivering "seamless mobility" by 2030. Some have already said that even in the near term we need to be careful what we wish for. A report (via SFGATE) by the University of California at Santa Cruzs Adam Millard-Ball found that because cruising -- driving around empty while a passenger is at work or shopping -- will be far less expensive than parking, empty vehicles will add to traffic woes in cities by circling continuously while they wait. Simulating traffic in downtown San Francisco, Millard-Ball found that autonomous vehicles could double traffic in the city. A separate study by the World Economic Forum and the Boston Consulting Group looked at traffic in Boston and found that autonomous vehicles would increase traffic by about 5%, mostly from people using these vehicles in place of public transit. Not really. When ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft came on the scene, many predicted that the benefits would be akin to the promises of autonomous ridesharing -- reduced traffic and pollution as the use of single occupancy vehicles would decline. Instead, the opposite has happened. Ride-hailing increases traffic by 180% in already congested U.S. cities, and more than half the users arent pulled out of private cars but from public transit. Many cities and entire countries have banned or restricted these services. Another dystopian view is that with self-driven vehicles at their beck and call, people (well, Americans) will become even more sedentary, which could contribute to greater health risks. An alternative scenario that could play out is that public transportation will be gutted and only wealthy people will have access to convenient mobility, exacerbating social divisions and class wars. One thing is clear -- vehicles and technology alone do not improve mobility or quality of life for cities. Left to the market and individual choice, the likely outcome is more vehicles, more driving and a slow transition to electric cars, Dan Sperling, a UC Davis transportation researcher, wrote. Unrestrained horses, private cars and ride-hailing wore out their welcomes in cities. Vehicles alone do not provide efficient services until they are coordinated and guided. The need to move more people with fewer vehicles and lower emissions is already acute in most cities. Accomplishing this at scale represents a pivotal challenge. For autonomous vehicles to be better than what they replace for the next 10, 20 or 100 years, it is the nature and quality of the services they provide (economically, socially and environmentally) that will determine whether this exciting technology delivers all the benefits that it promises. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2019/04/23/could-autonomous-vehicles-be-worse-for-cities-than-regular-cars/ |
How Can Businesses Play A Role In A More Sustainable Global Economy? | Getty We are at a moment in history that is unprecedented. Every week, young people are taking to the streets to demand action on climate change. The 150,000 students who protested on March 15th know all too well that drastically cutting carbon pollution during the next 12 years is not just essential to stopping the worst effects of climate change; its essential to creating a sustainable global economy. We can't just fuel-switch our way out of climate change. We need a new business model that shifts the industrial approach of "take, make, dispose" to a more circular approach, where products are recycled, upcycled and reused. Businesses across the globe must innovate new ways of creating sustainable products, and policymakers must demand it from them. That means incentivizing and, in some cases, mandating that products are designed and produced with extended use and reusability as main features, not as afterthoughts. To realize the idea of the circular economy, we must change how we view "waste" and eliminate the thoughtless amounts we produce as a global society. Manufacturers and creators of products have a growing ethical business responsibility to ensure that continued reuse is the destination for what they sell, not the landfill. There is currently a significant amount of attention on this issue because of the proliferation of single-use materials globally. Images of a garbage patch twice as big as the state of Texas that is currently floating on the surface of the Pacific Ocean have been a wake-up call for many. Single-Use Waste Some preliminary steps have already sparked hope in the effort to eliminate single-use materials that end up in landfills. The European Parliament approved a measure that will ban certain single-use plastics by 2021. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation has teamed up with the UN Environment Programme to unite more than 350 organizations "on its common vision of a circular economy for plastics, keeping plastics in the economy and out of the ocean." And some of the worlds largest consumer brands have signed on, such as PepsiCo, Nestle and Unilever. If your company is using single-use materials for things like packaging, consider more innovative alternatives. For example, the Danish beer company Carlsberg is reducing plastic use with its new "Snap Pack" technology that replaced plastic wrap for its six packs. Glue now holds the cans together instead of plastic. This is a simple yet innovative idea. Other businesses can have a major impact by adopting the same or similar technologies. Businesses can also adopt practices to tackle sustainability by looking at traditional methods used across the world. Social media users on Facebook, Twitter and other platforms recently saw this point on full display when viral news spread that a supermarket in Thailand eliminated plastic wrap for produce by wrapping fruits and vegetables in banana leaves. Biodegradable products are readily available almost everywhere, even if banana leaves are not. For example, Dell began using bamboo for distribution and shipping nearly a decade ago. Bamboo is revered because it is biodegradable, compostable, durable and economical. Rwanda -- a country that was among one of the first to ban plastic bags -- is also shifting heavily toward using bamboo for packaging. Reusable Building Materials Another major producer of global trash is the building sector. According to a study done by the World Economic Forum, the building sector accounts for more than one-third of all global solid waste. Virtually all that waste ends up in landfills. As Bill Gates points out, "As the urban population continues to grow in the coming decades, the worlds building stock is expected to double by 2060the equivalent of adding another New York City monthly between now and then." With all the economic development expected in the next few decades, coupled with the challenges we already face, we cannot continue constructing buildings with materials that will eventually go to landfills. The consequences are too significant. We need to embrace -- and policymakers need to incentivize -- the concept of "design to deconstruct." This simple approach can be pivotal in moving us to a waste-free society: Construct buildings with materials that can be reused after a buildings life to construct new buildings. However, it doesnt always take new, innovative products to create sustainable buildings. Marble, spruce floorboards, matting and other buildings materials, such as stone wool (which, full disclosure, is a product solution our company offers), can all be reused to construct new buildings if they are installed to eventually be disassembled. We can put a greater emphasis on sustainability by salvaging materials to reuse before demolishing buildings to make way for new ones. Constructing buildings with reusable materials ensures fewer materials end up in landfills while improving the energy efficiency of buildings and significantly decreasing the amount of carbon pollution that goes into the air. The Bottom Line Every company can benefit from having a chief sustainability officer or sustainability team empowered to find ways to reduce waste in its supply chain. And policymakers should continue demanding more sustainable innovation from businesses to tackle climate change and waste. The bottom line is that theres an immediate need to reduce the amount of waste were producing, almost all of which will eventually impact the water we drink, the food we eat and the air we breathe. Businesses and developers are already receiving market and regulatory signals that point to investments in more sustainable products, materials and practices. The future health of global sustainability depends on it. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2019/04/23/how-can-businesses-play-a-role-in-a-more-sustainable-global-economy/ |
Why Sperm Donor Privacy Is Under Threat From DNA Sites Is There Anything They Can Do About It? | 23andMe has been used to track down donors before. An ethics professor has now sounded the alarm on DNA tracking sites' impact on donor privacy. (Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images) Getty Images When sperm donors join clinics, their critical right to privacy has always been guaranteed. But that right is being smashed by the rise of DNA tracking services like Ancestry.com and 23andMe, as people turn to the services to track down their biological relatives. That's according to professor Guido Pennings, professor of ethics and bioethics at Ghent University, Belgium, who claimed in a paper that "searches through genetic databases jeopardize the privacy of people who did and did not register on them." Sites like Ancestry.com and 23andMe use DNA samples to map out family trees. Pennings noted people conceived through donor sperm could identify their father by looking for them directly, or by finding siblings. And it's already happening. Numerous tales of children finding their real parents have emerged in the last year. The privacy risk is rising too, he noted, as reported in The Times. As more and more people use these services, the higher the likelihood that offspring could find links back to their parents. Pennings even suggested such DNA tracking services should be banned because of the impact on people's private lives. Debbie Kennett, a genealogist and honorary research associate at UCL, told The Times that Pennings' claims failed "to recognise the rights of donor-conceived individuals." 23andMe and Ancestry.com didn't respond to Forbes' requests for comment. But there's little doubt that the increasing use of such services heightens the risk of donors being found, even when they explicitly say they don't want to be discovered. Outside of simply not using any such DNA service, there's little donors can do to minimise the risk. As the databases grow, so the links between donor-conceived people and their parents proliferate. Given there's little chance of Ancestry.com or 23andme being shut down, it may be down to the donor companies to take a stance. In at least one case, the donor facility fought for its customer's privacy by taking an aggressive approach. As reported by CBS News last year, a mother of a donor-conceived child used 23andMe to find a relative of the biological father. But soon after she contacted the relative, she was sent a cease and desist letter from the donor company as well as a threat of a $20,000 fine. They also took back vials of sperm that she'd planned to use. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2019/04/23/why-sperm-donor-privacy-is-under-threat-from-dna-sites--is-there-anything-they-can-do-about-it/ |
Who Will Be Back Next Season For The Detroit Pistons? | ASSOCIATED PRESS As the Detroit Pistons look to rebuild on the fly, entering the offseason after a merciless sweep at the hands of the Milwaukee Bucks, they'll look to do so with the roster they have on hand. A middling team with one superstar, a couple good role players and a startling number of bloated contracts, the Pistons will have their hands full in doing so. We'll break down the roster and sort the players into the following tiers based on their likelihood to return next season: Lock to stay Likely to stay Neutral Likely gone Without further ado, we'll get started with the easiest tier. Lock to stay Blake Griffin Of course there's no such thing as true certainty, either in life or in basketball, but if there's anything close to it, Blake Griffin returning next season is about as close as it gets. Griffin will be entering the third year of a 5-year, $173 million contract, and while he recently turned 30, he's coming off the best season of his career. Considering the considerable price it would cost another team to acquire Griffin if the Pistons were to get anything close to equivalent value for him, it's safe to say that his highest value remains in Detroit. Likely to stay Andre Drummond With Drummond entering the third year of his 4-year (plus a player option in the fifth year) contract, his $27.09 million salary in 2019-20 is another cumbersome deal to move. The Detroit Pistons continue to plan around a core that consists of Drummond and Blake Griffin, and they aren't likely to move the 25-year-old big man for anything less than an offer that blows them away. Luke Kennard The Pistons have already rebuffed potential trade partners who were interested in taking Luke Kennard off their hands. On a team littered with players who have underperformed on expensive contracts, Kennard's rookie scale contract is a tremendous asset. Kennard is under team control for the 2019-20 season and the Pistons have a team option in 2020-21 which barring some unforeseen disaster they can be expected to exercise. Like Drummond, it would take an offer the Detroit Pistons truly can't reject to pry Kennard away. Reggie Jackson Unlike Drummond and Kennard, the tale of Reggie Jackson is more complex. Jackson's deal expires in 2019-2020, and he'll make $18.1 million in his final season. He has battled injury issues throughout his Piston tenure (and throughout his career), and has not lived up to the value of his contract. That makes any deal they might seek for him a challenge, but the fact that he has a hefty expiring contract could make him appealing for a team looking to clear a lot of salary for the summer of 2020. Whether any teams will be interested in such a deal remains to be seen, but especially if the Pistons get off to a bad start next season the organization may aggressively attempt to move him to get some value if there is any to be had. Jon Leuer Jon Leuer will enter the fourth year of a 4-year, $41 million contract. He's a rotational afterthought with the Pistons and has next to no value aside from his expiring $9.5 million salary. Bruce Brown The rookie Brown started at the two-guard for most of the season, and he's definitely made himself a valuable part of the rotation as one of the few capable perimeter defenders on the roster. Under team control for the next two seasons on a second-round rookie scale deal, there's very little reason for the Pistons to consider moving him. Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk Mykhailiuk played in just three games for the Detroit Pistons after a trade deadline deal moved him from the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for Reggie Bullock. Another player under a rookie scale contract, he could be a throw-in for a larger deal or the Pistons may opt to give him some extended run next year in an effort to see what he can provide. Khyri Thomas Thomas appeared rarely and briefly for the Pistons, mostly in mop-up duty. Thomas may have some potential down the road as a backcourt contributor, and with his status on a rookie contract makes it appealing to keep him around. Thon Maker Another player on a rookie scale deal is Thon Maker. His contract expires in the summer of 2020, so he may have additional value in part of a trade package, but in general contracts like his are worth keeping around when a player can contribute like Maker does. Neutral Ish Smith Ish Smith is a backup point guard with a well-defined ceiling. He's one of the worst-shooting guards in the NBA, and he'll be 31 when the 2019-2020 season begins. Smith's contract expires this summer, so time will tell whether the Detroit Pistons are interested in bringing him back, most likely at a steep discount relative to his last contract of 3-years, $18 million. Glenn Robinson III The Pistons have a team option worth $4.28 million for Robinson in 2019-2020. He was a rotational afterthought for much of the season, playing just 47 games and starting 18 of them. The organization may decide to save that money and send him on his way this summer, especially if they have wing targets in free agency who can improve upon his production for a similar price. Langston Galloway Langston Galloway enters the final year of a 3-year, $21 million contract this summer. Relative to his performance and production, his contract is definitely a poor value. It may be hard to trade Galloway for value alone, but his expiring contract is an amount that could fit nicely into a variety of trade packages as salary fodder. Likely gone Wayne Ellington A buyout season recruit, Wayne Ellington slotted into Reggie Bullock's starting spot at the three after Bullock was traded to the Lakers. He was signed through just the end of this season, so he'll be a free agent in the summer. Ellington is a sharpshooter on a roster that is not blessed with much long-range potency, which may increase the Pistons' interest in retaining him. Be that as it may, Ellington will probably seek a bigger deal than the Pistons prefer, and they most likely want to see if Luke Kennard can fill that role anyway. Jose Calderon It's a shame, but Jose Calderon was a disaster with the Pistons this season. He was forced into extensive action when Ish Smith missed time in the middle of the season, and Calderon minutes were bad minutes across the board. The Detroit Pistons were outscored by 14.6 points per 100 possessions when he was on the floor over more than 600 minutes. It's a virtual impossibility that the Pistons can't find somebody better to be a third point guard in free agency this summer. Zaza Pachulia As the season wore on, Zaza Pachulia's effectiveness dropped in relief of Andre Drummond. Much like Calderon, he just doesn't have what he used to have. Expect the Detroit Pistons to look to upgrade the backup center spot and graciously send Pachulia on his way. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/duncansmith/2019/04/23/who-will-be-back-next-season-for-the-detroit-pistons/ |
What are the major threats to Theresa May's leadership? | Theresa May returns from the Easter recess facing pressure from all quarters of her party to consider her position as prime minister but secure in the knowledge that there remains very little they can do to force her to go. Heres a look at the pressure points on her. The cabinet Most Tory MPs believe the only way to force May from office would be for a mass delegation of cabinet ministers to tell her that her time is up. For now, that seems unlikely Tory cabinet ministers who have an eye on the leadership are less keen to see a contest before the first phase of Brexit has been delivered. May should go today, says senior 1922 Committee member Read more Cabinet ministers are also unlikely to act as a bloc, with remainers and leavers in the cabinet showing no sign of acting together. Should May decide to agree some form of closer customs arrangement as a means of getting Labour to back the deal, then it could prompt some cabinet walkouts, such as the international trade secretary, Liam Fox. However, even two or three resignations are unlikely to persuade May to step down. Tory backbenchers For now, May is protected from a binding challenge to her leadership by a party rule that means she has a years grace after winning a vote of no confidence in December. The 1922 Committee of Tory backbenchers could change the rules to allow a challenge sooner a move which could convince the prime minister to go of her own accord. Opinion is split on the committee. Nigel Evans, the committees joint executive secretary, said the process for selecting a new leader cant start soon enough but others are known to be more cautious. Brexit: cross-party talks to restart as Tories step up efforts to oust May Read more The committee, which will meet and vote on Tuesday, could decide to scrap the grace period altogether, which would mean another vote could take place as soon as 15% of Tory MPs submit letters of no confidence. MPs including Mark Francois and Andrea Jenkyns have already submitted further letters. Tory grassroots Grassroots Conservative activists will try to press May to stand down as prime minister by forcing an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) to allow a vote of no confidence from party members. The vote would not be binding on the prime minister, but the National Conservative Convention (NCC) is obliged to hold the meeting if more than 65 Tory association chairs called for one to be held. Organisers behind the call for an EGM have suggested the threshold has already been reached. The motion drafted by the Bethnal Green Conservatives chair, Dinah Glover, says party members no longer feel that Mrs May is the right person to continue as prime minister to lead us forward in the negotiations. An extraordinary meeting of the NCC the members body comprised of about 800 senior party officers has never been called in the past and members would need to be given at least 28 days notice of the meeting. Glover said there was little campaigners could do to force the party to hold an EGM quickly but hoped that the symbolism would be enough to force cabinet ministers to act. Tory donors Donors have openly voiced their frustration at Mays leadership mostly from pro-business perspective and over fears about a no deal Brexit. On Monday, Alexander Temerko, who has donated more than 1m to the Conservatives, said both sides of the Brexit divide were angry at Mays leadership and suggested to the Times that donors give their cash not to CCHQ but to associations and MPs. Reports have suggested that the Tory chief executive, Mick Davis, a former mining tycoon, has warned about the partys lack of funds to fight EU elections. Other Tory remainer donors have also called for the prime minister to get a grip on her mutinous party. Maurizio Bragagni, whose cable company Tratos has given more than 200,000 to the Tories, and Rami Ranger, who has given more than 1m, have been among those clamouring for compromise. Other parties Mays most direct and imminent threat may be forced by parties outside her own most prominently Nigel Farages new Brexit party. Two surveys have suggested Conservative members and activists are likely to abandon the party in vast numbers in the European parliament elections in favour of the Brexit party. Tory remainers could also be wooed by Change UK or the Lib Dems. A poll of Conservative councillors found 40% were planning to vote for the Brexit party, and only 52% for the party they represent in local government. If May faces humiliation in the local elections which Tory candidates have described as looking extraordinarily bad then she could decide to go of her own accord, or that could happen after the EU elections if Farages party overwhelm the Conservatives. | https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/apr/23/what-are-the-major-threats-to-theresa-mays-leadership |
Who Will Take the Game of Thrones Throne? | The end is near for Game of Thrones, and thus the end is also near for all the speculating. We've been wondering for years, and we will soon finally find out. Assuming someone does take the throne and the throne isn't destroyed or turned to ice as the Night King zombifies all of the Seven Kingdoms, we might as well keep on guessing. Right now, just after episode two, it could be anyone's game. Daenerys just learned that Jon has a stronger claim to the throne than she does, but she also just admitted she loved him enough to postpone her throne-seeking to help him fight the white walkers. | https://www.eonline.com/ca/news/1034787/who-will-take-the-game-of-thrones-throne |
Can Cardiff City survive and Swansea City rise? | Craig Bellamy and Leon Britton in Premier League action in February 2014 - the last time Cardiff and Swansea faced each other Cardiff City are hoping for a boost when Premier League relegation rivals Brighton and Southampton play tonight. The Bluebirds are 18th, three points behind Brighton, with the Saints two points above the Seagulls. Cardiff will hope Brighton lose at Tottenham Hotspur this evening, while Southampton are at Watford. If they go down, Cardiff could renew rivalries with Swansea City in the Championship - although Graham Potter's team can still make the play-offs. A 1-0 win at Ipswich ended the Swans' worst Championship away run and revived their chances of a late push for the top six. Swansea are five points outside the play-offs with three games to play. Hull City visit the Liberty Stadium on Saturday, 27 April followed by games against Derby County and Blackburn Rovers. Swansea will need to finish their season in style and hope their five competitors in the race for the last available play-off place slip up. Brighton and Southampton's Tuesday night encounters are games in hand and defeat for either team would give Neil Warnock's side a boost before they go to Fulham on Saturday. Nine more points are available to the Bluebirds, who complete their season with games against Crystal Palace and Manchester United. Managers on the run-ins Neil Warnock's Cardiff won 2-0 at Brighton last week to revive hopes of Premier League survival Battle for Premier League survival Cardiff fixtures Brighton fixtures Southampton fixtures Tottenham (A) Watford (A) Fulham (A) Newcastle (H) Bournemouth (H) Crystal Palace (H) Arsenal (A) West Ham (A) Man Utd (A) Man City (H) Huddersfield (H) Neil Warnock, Cardiff City: "Brighton are going to play Newcastle, who have nothing to play for, so they will be looking at that game. "We have got to play Fulham and Palace at home and Manchester United and do the best we can - that's all we can do. "I would imagine we have got to get two wins and a draw. Anything is possible the way we are playing. "We are more comfortable now in the Premier League than we were at the start of the season, but it's a stiff task." Graham Potter's Swansea City have won five of their last six matches Race for the Championship play-offs Derby (6th, 67 points) Boro (7th, 67) Bristol City (8th, 66) Sheff Wed (9th, 63) Swansea (10th, 62) Bristol City (A) Reading (H) Derby (H) Preston (A) Hull (H) Swansea (A) Millwall (A) Derby (H) West Brom (H) Rotherham (A) Hull (A) QPR (H) Blackburn (A) Graham Potter, Swansea City: "The fact that we are going into the last week of the season and it's still a possibility, however slight it is, says a lot for the group. "We have had to keep going at times - we have had to come back from setbacks. "We are in good form at home. We have to win our next two games and then we'll see. "71 points might not be enough - it's out of our hands. But we have a young team who need every opportunity to get experience and learn so we will focus on the next match and try to win." Cardiff and Swansea last went head to head in 2013-14, a campaign which saw the Bluebirds relegated from the Premier League. If the bookmakers are to believed, Wales' top two clubs will be reunited next season - in the Championship. Brighton's run-in looks very demanding - the Newcastle game aside, perhaps - but the bookies believe Chris Hughton's team will survive, with Cardiff odds-on to go down. If Spurs triumph tonight, however, Warnock's men will have high hopes should they back up their recent away win at Brighton with another travelling triumph at Fulham on Saturday. In the Championship, where Norwich and Sheffield United are firm favourites for automatic promotion, Leeds and Aston Villa are the two sides most fancied in the play-offs, ahead of West Brom. Derby, Bristol City and Middlesbrough are all considered more likely to make it to the Premier League than Swansea, who are distant 100-1 shots at this stage. Then again, Swansea would have momentum on their side should they scrape into the top six by winning their three remaining regular-season games. They would not be the first team to make a spectacular, springtime push for promotion, even if the feeling is Potter's side have left it a little late. All to play for in Wales Cardiff and Swansea are not the only Welsh clubs with all to play for at this late stage in 2018-19. Newport County are one of a host of clubs scrapping it out for a place in the League Two play-offs. Michael Flynn's team are currently 11th, two points outside the top six, but have a game hand on every club above them. Unbeaten in seven matches, the Exiles host champions Lincoln this weekend before facing Oldham (h) and Morecambe (a). And in the National League, Wrexham are in the play-offs for the first time in six years as they look to return to the EFL. Wrexham face Harrogate in their final regular-season game this Saturday with the play-offs to come next week. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/48021440 |
What Does Financial Wellness Look Like At Different Ages And Career Stages? | I get some version of this question every week on our Financial Coaching Line. Employees take a Financial Wellness Assessment, report their score to me, and anxiously wonder how they are doing compared to others their age. The first thing I tell someone is that what matters most is how they are doing compared to their own goals. I cant decide someone elses life priorities for them. Financial wellness is a dynamic state of financial health. It doesnt mean that someone has a certain net worth or complete financial security. Being financially healthy, like being physically healthy, is about enjoying daily life, maintaining balance and protecting yourself against devastating risks. The second thing I say is that what financial wellness looks like is different at different ages. Whats robust financial health for a 26-year-old is different from a 45-year-old. Another way to look at it is by career stage. If someone started their career late due to military service or graduate school or is starting over after a career change, starting a family, illness or divorce, it could take a few years longer to achieve certain benchmarks. Work through this checklist by starting at the beginning (the 20s) and moving as far through the list as you can. Check off the statements which apply to you: Early Career (In your 20s) Build a strong foundation I have consistent income which covers the basics. I have health insurance. I have at least $1,000 in a savings account for emergencies. I add to my emergency savings account every month with the goal of eventually getting to 6 months worth of must-pay expenses. I have a spending plan/budget and I monitor my expenses. I know my short-term and long-term financial goals. I know my credit score and what affects it, and I work to establish, maintain or improve it. I do not carry any high interest debt. I pay my credit cards off every month. I am contributing enough to my retirement plan at work (401(k), 403(b), etc.) to get the full employer match. I am using a Roth 401(k) or contributing to a Roth IRA. I have a plan to pay back my student loans, if I have them. If Im a renter, I have renters insurance. I know my investing personality (hands on vs. hands off) and have a simple investing strategy. If Im married or living with my partner, we have full financial disclosure and agree on how we manage money together. By late 20s/early 30s, I am able to buy a first home if thats my goal. I have disability income insurance. I know the impact of fees on my investments and minimize fees when possible. Mid-Career (Ages 30 44) Balance all the real life stuff I answered yes to all the items which apply to me in early career (20s). I have a will with guardianship provisions for my kids if I have them. I own my home if that is a goal. If anyone depends on my income for their lifestyle (spouse, kids), I have adequate life insurance. I am saving at least 15% in my 401(k), including my employer match. If Im not there yet, I am using the automatic rate escalator feature in my plan to get there over time. I consistently spend less than I earn and avoid accumulating high interest debt. I have a systematic plan to save for shorter term goals, such as vacations, home maintenance and taxes. My transportation expenses (car, insurance, gas, parking) are less than 8 percent of my income. My housing expenses (mortgage/rent, utilities, insurance, maintenance) are less than a third of my income. Im maximizing tax-advantaged accounts for healthcare (HSA or FSA) and childcare (FSA) if needed. If I have kids, I know how much college may cost and I am funding education accounts even if it is only in small amounts. However, Im not funding education accounts at the expense of funding my own retirement. I evaluate my insurance coverage every year. I have run a retirement projection and I know if I am on track or not for retirement at my desired age. My investments are well-diversified and I have a consistent strategy. I have repaid my student loans if I had them. Late Career (Ages 45 54) Maximize savings I answered yes to all the items which apply to me in early career (20s) and mid-career (30-44). According to my retirement projection, I am on track for my retirement goal. I am maximizing my retirement plan contributions. If I have children in high school, I understand the college financial aid process and what affects the financial aid formula. I have a complete estate plan (will, health care directive, health care and financial powers of attorney). If Im single, Ive chosen someone who can make health care and financial decisions for me if Im not able to do so myself. I know my investment risk tolerance and invest accordingly. I monitor my investments and rebalance at least annually. I am building savings outside of my retirement accounts and I am investing there using tax-efficient strategies. I have reevaluated the pre-tax vs. Roth question given my current income and time until retirement. I know how Ill fund long term care needs in retirement. I have increased my emergency savings over time to cover larger needs, such as a longer period of unemployment or reduced income. My assets are adequately protected (umbrella liability policy, LLC for rental property, etc.) I have discussed my parents financial situation and wishes for health care with them. I know in general where I want to live in retirement. Pre-Retiree (Ages 55+) Prepare for financial independence I answered yes to all the items which apply to me in early career (20s), mid-career (30-44) and late career (45-54). If I intend to stay in my current home in retirement, I have a plan to pay off my mortgage by retirement or early in my retirement. I have a plan to reallocate my investments between now and retirement to moderate risk. I have a plan for my retirement accounts at retirement and an investment strategy for generating necessary income. If I would like to work with a financial advisor, I know how to find an advisor who is a fiduciary and works on a fee-only basis and how to check their background and credentials. I know when I want to retire, if Ill retire in stages, and what I plan to do in retirement. I have a backup plan in case I leave the workforce earlier than expected due to illness or layoff. I have purchased long term care insurance if thats how I plan to fund my long term care needs. If I plan to retire before 65, I know what Ill do for health insurance prior to Medicare kicking in. I understand the decisions Ill have to make for Social Security and Medicare. If I am eligible for a pension, I know the pros and cons of my distribution choices. If Im not planning to stay in my current home, I have a plan to move and/or downsize. If you are, great! Thats certainly not typical. If youre not, thats perfectly normal. The majority of people have areas in their financial life where they are doing well and areas which need work. Pick one thing on the benchmark list for your age group/career stage which bothers you the most and work on that. If you have a workplace financial wellness benefit at work, take advantage of it to access a financial coach to help you. Financial wellness is something youll practice your entire life, just like physical, mental and spiritual wellness. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/financialfinesse/2019/04/15/what-does-financial-wellness-look-like-at-different-ages-and-career-stages/ |
Is Tiger Woods coming back to Charlotte this year? | Tiger Woods wins the 2019 Masters in Augusta Take a look as Tiger Woods celebrates his fifth Masters win on April 14, 2019. Up Next SHARE COPY LINK Take a look as Tiger Woods celebrates his fifth Masters win on April 14, 2019. Woods, notoriously tight-lipped with his future plans, gave no indicators on Sunday at Augusta National. The 43-year-old told reporters his Masters win wouldnt affect his 2019 schedule, although he did say he planned to play fewer tournaments this year than last. Im not going to play as much as I did last year, Woods told reporters. I played a little bit too much last year because I kept trying to qualify for World Golf Championships events and the (FedExCup) playoffs. The playing schedule doesnt change. Im going to play a little bit less than I did last year. Unlimited Digital Access: Only $0.99 For Your First Month Get full access to The Charlotte Observer content across all your devices. SAVE NOW #ReadLocal In the tournaments I do play in, Ill be fully invested and committed to playing and trying to win. The only definite on Woods immediate schedule is the PGA Championship at Bethpage Black in New York, where hell continue chasing Jack Nicklaus record 18 majors. Woods previously won the 2002 U.S. Open on the same course. But with the PGA Championship moved to May the major has only been played in May four times ever, and not since 1949 that complicates any predictions about Woods future plans. There are only four tournaments between now and the PGA Championship, starting at Hilton Head this weekend. The tour then moves to New Orleans for the Zurich Classic the last weekend in April. The first weekend in May is the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow in Charlotte, which Woods played in last year for the first time since 2012. Then theres the AT&T Byron Nelson in Dallas the following weekend, and then the PGA Championship. While theres a chance Woods skips every tournament between now and the PGA Championship, it would be unlikely for him to follow a major tournament win with such an extended absence. He almost certainly will skip Dallas Woods prefers not to play the weekend before a major as well as Hilton Head this weekend. Which means... Its entirely possible that Woods next tournament will be in Charlotte. Woods won at Quail Hollow in 2007 and returned last year after a six-year hiatus, finishing tied for 55th at three-over. And while he didnt officially announce his intentions to play Quail Hollow until a week before the tournament, he was well-received by fans. After the tournament, he tweeted out how much it meant to him to return to Charlotte. Having not played at the @WellsFargoGolf in six years, it really meant a lot to me to receive so much love and support from the fans all week. I wont forget it, thanks again Charlotte. Tiger Woods (@TigerWoods) May 6, 2018 Having not played at the (Wells Fargo Championship) in six years, it really meant a lot to me to receive so much love and support from the fans all week, Woods wrote. I wont forget it, thanks again Charlotte. Now its just a matter of if that sentiment brings Woods back to Quail Hollow for the second year in a row. The Wells Fargo Championship will be played at Quail Hollow from May 2-5. Tickets are available online for the entirety of the tournament, as well as the practice rounds and other pre-tournament events. | https://www.charlotteobserver.com/sports/article229266059.html |
Will showing Kemba Walker urgency change Charlotte Hornets draft strategy? | Kemba Walker on NBA free agency Kemba Walker will factor the Charlotte Hornets ability to win sooner than later in his free agent decision. It sounded April 12th like he anticipates being in the loop about possible roster upgrades. Up Next SHARE COPY LINK Kemba Walker will factor the Charlotte Hornets ability to win sooner than later in his free agent decision. It sounded April 12th like he anticipates being in the loop about possible roster upgrades. Charlotte Hornets general manager Mitch Kupchak didnt equivocate Friday when asked how far the team would go to re-sign All-Star Kemba Walker. Well do everything that we can to bring him back here, Kupchak said. Naturally, fans are curious what that might mean: Not only what the Hornets would pay Walker, but addressing Walkers stated desire to play on a team talented enough to win consistently. Fans questions for this weeks Hornets mailbag reflect that: Q. Unlimited Digital Access: Only $0.99 For Your First Month Get full access to The Charlotte Observer content across all your devices. SAVE NOW #ReadLocal A. Great question, as far as whether the urgency to make a statement to Walker would influence a more long-term decision. Walker cant sign a new contract before July, and the draft is June 20. The Hornets can communicate with Walker along the way, and Im confident theyd keep him informed about what theyre trying to improve the roster. Im sure Kupchak would listen to trade offers for a top-3 pick. If Walker leaves, it points the Hornets toward a rebuild. Thats when a rookie with star potential would be even more valuable. So Kupchak would have to be extremely confident that trading a high pick for a veteran would both induce Walker to stay and put the Hornets in position to win in the playoffs. Thats an awfully high bar. A. No, because its impractical for the Sixers to trade Simmons, still playing on a relatively cheap rookie-scale contract, for Walker, about to make more -- maybe lots more -- than $25 million a season. The Sixers have acquired lots of big-name veterans and are sorting through how to pay them. Another player on a big contract isnt really an option for them, as far as cap management. Q. A. Thats part of the problem. Walker made only $12 million this season, one of the most cost-effective salaries in the NBA. So taking him off the payroll wouldnt offer cap relief with five other players on the books for $13 million or more next season. If Walker signs with another team, the Hornets would likely get no compensation for his departure. Sign-and-trade deals are still allowed, but they dont happen often anymore and dont offer much consolation to the team losing a top player. Q. A. He already demonstrated as a rookie hes a keeper as a backup. Its way too soon to say whether hed end up a starter. Most players enter the NBA with little college experience. Graham was at Kansas all four seasons. He had a different vibe than most rookies: more experienced, more mature in a variety of ways. That helped make him a fast learner. Well see how his development continues, but hes wired to succeed. Q. Michael Kidd-Gilchrist mentioned hes not 100 percent certain hed play next season under his contract option. I find that hard to believe. A. I think MKG was sincere when he said money wouldnt be the only factor in whether hed exercise the option for next year. Coach James Borrego chose not to play him four games this season, and that was unprecedented not only in MKGs NBA career but throughout his time playing basketball. However, if I were his agent, Id strongly advise him to ride out next season, collect his $13 million salary, and see how free-agency goes in the summer of 2020. Q. A. Those three contracts expiring in the summer of 2020 means Kupchak will have choices. In the absence of specific trade proposals, its impossible to say whats best. Trading an expiring contract would likely acquire a player with a contract beyond next season. Thats reason to be cautious. But everything at this point has the subtext of looking to give Walker more reason to stay. Q. A. Buyouts usually are player-driven, not team-driven. If a player is unhappy enough to give up some guaranteed salary in return for his release, he or his agent approaches the team. Batum is owed about $52 million over the next two seasons, and Ive never heard him indicate he wants out of Charlotte. So buyout, at least right now, doesnt sound like a solution. Q. A. Amnesty is not part of the current NBA collective bargaining agreement. At one time, an NBA team could waive a veteran and stop counting his remaining salary against the cap. Even if amnesty still existed, I doubt theyd use it on Batum now. Theyd still owe him all that guaranteed money; only the cap implications disappeared. When the Hornets used the amnesty provision on Tyrus Thomas contract in 2013, it was for a very specific purpose: signing Al Jefferson in free-agency. In the absence of such a compelling opportunity, I doubt it would happen again. Q. A. Kupchak and Borrego both pinpointed rim protection as a significant problem. I certainly agree. The Hornets flaws this past season were more defensive than offensive. Starting center Cody Zeller isnt a great shot-blocker, but having him for only 49 games contributed to the problem of shaky defense in the lane. Still, I dont know whether the needed improvement can come from within the current roster, or whether the Hornets must address this with new personnel. Q. A. Its more complex than that: Under the terms of Kaminskys rookie-scale contract, the Hornets have the choice to restrict his free-agency with a qualifying offer of about $5 million for the 2019-20 season. It wont surprise me if the Hornets make that qualifying offer, but that doesnt guarantee Kaminsky being back. He could get an offer sheet from another team, and then the Hornets would have to decide whether to match. Also, if Walker chooses to re-sign with the Hornets, Kupchak would have to make some hard choices, and they could include not re-signing Kaminsky and/or Jeremy Lamb. | https://www.charlotteobserver.com/sports/nba/charlotte-hornets/article229245899.html |
Should all public schools have Meatless Monday? | By Jessie Blaeser Students in the largest school district in the country, New York City, will now enjoy vegetarian meals in school cafeterias every Monday. Proponents of "Meatless Mondays" in public schools say it teaches students the impact small choices can have on the environment, thus empowering the next generation to create better habits. But critics argue the program could lead to protein deficiency among children and increase food waste, reversing the project's potential environmental benefits. Officials within the New York City school district are now firm believers in the power of Meatless Monday. As of fall 2019, all public schools within the district will serve up vegetarian meals to students, kicking-off each week with healthy, environmentally conscious breakfasts and lunches. NYC public schools to go meatless on Mondays Beginning in the 2019-2020 school year, every public school will offer all-vegetarian breakfast and lunch menus on Mondays. Huffpost's Nina Golgowski refers to a statement from Mark Chambers, the Director of the Mayor's Office of Sustainability, in order to explain the motives behind the cafeteria update: Meatless Mondays will introduce hundreds of thousands of young New Yorkers to the idea that small changes in their diet can create larger changes for their health and the health of our planet, [Chambers] said in a release. By enforcing this change in cafeterias across the city, students of all ages will feel empowered to take control of their futures through small, everyday decisions. Meatless Mondays demonstrate that big change is possible when everyone makes minor sacrifices. In this light, proponents of Meatless Monday say more school districts should follow in New Yorks footsteps. According to Friends of the Earth, even just swapping out one specific menu item could have huge environmental benefits. If that's not enough to convince you, keep in mind that Meatless Mondays also provide students with an opportunity to enjoy whole, healthy foods they might otherwise pass up, obviously including all manner of fruits and vegetables. As Staten Island Borough President James Oddo puts it: Look at the data. Look at the childhood obesity. Look at pre-diabetes diagnoses. Look at the fact that 65% of American kids age 12-14 show signs of early cholesterol disease. Then, perhaps you will embrace the fact that we cant keep doing things the same way, including welcoming the idea of Meatless Mondays, he said in a statement. No matter how you feel about forgoing meat, no one can dispute the obesity crisis in America. Given that public schools play a huge role in feeding children in every corner of the country, school districts have a serious responsibility to make meals as healthy as possible. If every public school swapped out a beef burger for a veggie burger once a month, it would save 300 million pounds of carbon dioxide a year Thank you NYC public schools for adopting #MeatlessMondays!https://t.co/OL3QOuo1iT Friends of the Earth (@foe_us) April 1, 2019 But not everyone is celebrating this weekly dedication to vegetarian eating. In a scathing response to the New York City school districts decision, the New York Posts Will Coggin disputes the environmental impact of Meatless Monday in schools. Instead, he says, district officials should pay attention to the nutritional impact of cutting meat from 20 percent of school lunches. Furthermore, vegetarian meals do not always translate to healthy meals for kids. Coggin writes: De Blasio argues that Meatless Mondays will also help students lose weight and get healthy. But its hard to see how. A quick look at the March K-8 menu shows that the Mondays are still packed with onion rings, grilled cheese sandwiches and mozzarella sticks. I dont eat alot of meat and my daughter is a vegan however I have 2 problems with this one is for many of these children the only time they eat is in school and meat gives protein and 2nd I dont like government dictating what my child eats Genea Anne Natale (@basicallymeee) March 20, 2019 On an international level, Meatless Monday has also been called anti-dairy and anti-livestock, with some claiming that the concept runs counter to rural life. Critics view the program as manipulative, encouraging students to adopt a vegetarian lifestyle that they would not try otherwise. Coggin also argues that Meatless Monday will only lead to greater food waste. Parents, teachers and district officials need to be realistic; kids are picky, and shoving unwanted fruits and vegetables in front of them does not necessarily mean they'll eat them. Studies show that concepts like Meatless Mondays, when applied to school meals, actually lead to more waste and noncompliance. A 2013 study of Helsinki, Finland, schools found that in some cases students were 40 percent more likely to waste food on their plate on forced vegetarian days. School lunch purchases dropped nearly 20 percent. When the cafe says meatless Monday pic.twitter.com/whm6nSXMc3 Papa Dirk (@PaysonDirk) April 12, 2019 The Tylt is focused on debates and conversations around news, current events and pop culture. We provide our community with the opportunity to share their opinions and vote on topics that matter most to them. We actively engage the community and present meaningful data on the debates and conversations as they progress. The Tylt is a place where your opinion counts, literally. The Tylt is an Advance Local Media, LLC property. Join us on Twitter @TheTylt, on Instagram @TheTylt or on Facebook, wed love to hear what you have to say. | https://www.nola.com/tylt/2019/04/should-all-public-schools-have-meatless-monday.html |
Has the R-rated superhero flick lost its powers? | Deadpool opened up the market for ultra-violent, profane superheroes, but the new Hellboys box-office nose dive shows they need more than shock value In the week leading up to the release of the new Hellboy film, Lionsgate unleashed something called a Super R-RATED Sizzle Reel! to showcase what the studio hoped to be the chief appeal of their $50m (38.1m) reimagining of Mike Mignolas comic books: a grand parade of violence, blood, gore, mutilation and foul-mouthed mischief. The montage wasnt coy about its intentions. Title cards proclaiming: Hellboy is rated R / For strong bloody violence/ Gore throughout are intercut with clips of a giant tearing a man in half, Hellboy ripping out a trolls eye and similar imagery. In an age where gleefully bloody and bad-mouthed superhero movies such as Deadpool and Logan lay waste to the box office, such an approach makes sense on paper. But the numbers are now in, and the third Hellboy movie has made $22.1m at the box office (just $12m of which was in the US), and has just a 15% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Thats not simply a catastrophic result compared to the R-rated superhero films its marketing strategy clearly aped, but compared to other adult-targeted films in general. Just by way of comparison, even the lame 2010 reboot of A Nightmare on Elm Street managed to bring in $63m during its first weekend. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Mocking the genre Deadpool. The key difference is one of tone. Deadpools key selling point was never its adult-only entry policy, but its comic tone: mocking the genre it also adored. The days of swallowing superhero content without a pinch of salt disappeared the moment Henry Cavill screeched Save Martha! at a bewildered, bat-mask wearing Ben Affleck. The great superhero success of the pre-Endgame game has, rather, been Shazam! : an energetically relaxed and family-friendly spin on the genre. With a relatively unknown lead and a hero who has not been enjoying much mainstream attention (even though he was the first superhero to ever grace the silver screen back in 1941), it still managed the crown at the box office two weekends in a row, is about to cross the $100m mark and already has its sequel approved. Movies that might seem to buck the humour trend actually pay lip service to it: Venom was a critically panned and remarkably bloody mess that tried to be dark, violent and sinister, and ended up hilariously entertaining and fun. Audience amusement doesnt have to be intentional on the part of the film-makers. But, sadly for Hellboy, it wasnt quite so atrocious to make the so-bad-its-good grade either. On the other hand, Logan wasnt a barrel of laughs, but it was meta and knowing, an audience-embracing enterprise in a way Hellboy is not. It took viewers along for the final ride of a character who had grown and changed with them. Hellboy, despite having enjoyed success at the hands of Guillermo del Toro more than a decade ago, is now disappointing audiences. It contains little of what viewers loved about the Del Toro movies, its plot is merely an excuse for possible sequels and its lead David Harbour lacks the jutting-jawed charisma of previous Hellboy incumbent Ron Perlman. As the Avengers saga wraps up, superhero movies are scrambling to plug the gap and reinvent the wheel. But simply soaking the screen in blood seems unlikely to suffice. Yet there might be hope for R-rated superheroes in the future. The James Gunn-produced anti-Superman tale Brightburn is hitting cinemas next month, promising not just blood and gore, but a subversive twist on the classic superhero origin story Superman meets Omen is the idea. idea. Also, DCs gritty take on The Joker might be headed for an R-rating surprisingly for nudity. In the best-case scenario, the teams behind both these projects long since realised that relying simply on shock value is a non-starter. While Brightburn is gearing up to be a commentary on the genre in itself, The Joker one is apparently more interested in dissecting its hero than having him perform any skybeam-related activities. If that is true, they should have probably passed on the memo to Hellboys makers before it was too late. | https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/apr/15/has-the-r-rated-superhero-flick-lost-its-powers-hellboy |
Can The Seattle Mariners Early Season Fever Dream Keep Attendance Afloat? | Getty Baseball attendance is a funny thing. After all, expectations in the off-season for how a team will fare drives season ticket sales and with it, the feeling a team may stink or be a contender can set the gate long before winters cold grasp has gave way to Spring Training and the start of the regular season. So, when the Mariners general manager Jerry Dipoto met with the front office and said that a significant change in the lineup that would see the roster younger as they headed into the season, expectations in Seattle were for a team that could lose 100 games; maybe more in 2019. Its early. Baseball is barely waking from that winter slumber at this point, but the Mariners are one of not the -- biggest surprise early on. Yes, they got swept by the Astros over the weekend, but with a 13-5 record, and the second-best record in all of baseball, what Dipoto called a reimagined Mariners lineup looks like a fever dream. It was hard seeing any effect of the off-loading of players like Robinson Cano, Jean Segura, or Edwin Diaz taking a ding out of the gate on typically rainy and cloudy Spring Saturday this past weekend. Yes, Felix Hernandez was going up against Justin Verlander and the Astros on Armed Forces Night. Based on year-over-year attendance, the Mariners are running slightly ahead of this point last season seeing 3,440 more per game for a total 30,960 over the 2018 season through Sunday. That currently places the Mariners as the seventh-largest increase in attendance year-over-year in Major League Baseball, according to Baseball-Reference. Currently the Mariners rank 17th in attendance among the 30 clubs in baseball. Below shows the Mariners paid attendance, as well as the percentage of T-Mobile Park. Currently the club is averaging 29,077 per game, or 61% of capacity: Date Opponent Result Attendance % of cap Thu, Mar 28 vs Boston W12-4 45,601 96% Fri, Mar 29 vs Boston L7-6 29,002 61% Sat, Mar 30 vs Boston W6-5 34,928 74% Sun, Mar 31 vs Boston W10-8 33,391 70% Mon, Apr 1 vs Los Angeles W6-3 14,463 30% Tue, Apr 2 vs Los Angeles W2-1 13,567 29% Fri, Apr 12 vs Houston L10-6 30,969 65% Sat, Apr 13 vs Houston L3-1 30,533 64% Sun, Apr 14 vs Houston L3-2 29,237 62% Maybe the best way to look at attendance with the Mariners is that after not being in the playoffs since 2001, its just good enough to be at the ballpark and live off hope. After all, the Mariners have been known to give some false sense of the stuff on occasion (remember, it was just last season that the team was cruising until just before the All-Star break, and from there it was a near polar opposite till the end of 2018). But, dear Seattle, lets not fight it. Go with it. Go to the Kings Court. Hang out in The Pen. Enjoy the view from Lookout Landing. And by all means, enjoy what most thought would be an abysmal season from start to finish. The Mariners and their fans have to be hoping its a sickness like this all season. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/maurybrown/2019/04/15/can-the-seattle-mariners-early-season-fever-dream-keep-attendance-afloat/ |
What About Winegrowing In Hudson Valley, New York? | Susan H. Gordon First there was New York. The Hudson Valley, expanding upward after a 45-minute drive north out of Manhattan, became the United States first wine region when, lore says, French Huguenot settlers planted grapevines more than 300 years ago in what is now Ulster County. In 1982, the zone earned itself an AVA: the Hudson River Region, today rich in quality hybrids and suitable vinifera. The Hudson River Regions southern border lies that short drive from the city. The AVA then expands for 2,240,000 acres contained by Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New Jersey state lines and sweeps both banks, at points steep and palisaded, of the Hudson River: its a two-hour longer drive to the wineries of the denominations northern reaches in Columbia County, land along the way in fluctuating usage under towns, farmland, diary, apple and peach orchards, forest, hiking trails. Just 159 of those acres are under vine (think now of the Finger Lakes 9,400 acres of vines on 2,560,000 acres of AVA land and Long Islands 2,500 vineyard acres on 748,800 acres AVA). The Hudson River Region makes 10% of the states wine, and with 35 wineries, takes up about 10% of that category, too. Like the rest of New York state, its planted to an assortment of grapes: vinifera statewide tried and true like Cabernet Franc, site-specific successes like Gamay and Albario, lets-see plantings like Syrah; and longtime hybrids including Baco Noir, Noiret, Chelois, Seyval Blanc. All of those are available in quality bottlings. Fifteen years ago, everyone went out to the Hamptons, and the wine industry had an opportunity to really respond to that, says Lee Campbell, NYC wine consultant and Hudson Valley native. Now many more people are going up north, and I think were going to see a real building of momentum in the wine industry up there as a response to that. Youve got world-class chefs like Zak Pelaccio, youve got Brooklyn hipsters like Sarah Suarez and her husband Nick of Gaskins. Its all about trying to create a larger ethos. Wine cant exist on its own. It needs context and it needs a real touristic push, and I think people are starting to get more keen on the Hudson Valley as a serious place to buy real estate or to spend weeks in the summertime. That serious place is also the states most soil-diverse, with a macroclimate array worthy of that: The Hudson River Region has been referred to as one of the most complex geological regions in the world, notes the New York Wine & Grape Foundation website. The grape lands in the area are in a geological division known as the Taconic Province. Glacial deposits of shale, slate, schist and limestone. While the Hudson delivers Atlantic ocean breezes here and its own waters serve as a warmer counterpart to winters freezing air temperatures, these wines are also shaped by New Yorks shortest growing season. With spans of 180 to 195 days, the AVAs longest seasons are, for scale, the Finger Lakes shortest. It is possible on a late March drive past sun-strewn still-leafless trees on curvy two-lane roads to suddenly wonder if youve noticed a few pretty snowflakes then watch them gather rapidly into snowstorm complete with icy roads flanked by Columbia Countys soft and blurry slopes. Scenic, but not a helpful weather clue: a half-hour drive south, same county, not a trace of white. A note about those hybrids. Throughout the eastern states, cold-hardiness is an issue. Grapes like Baco Noir, Noiret, Cayuga, Vignoles have been grown here for decades, making them if not exactly native, at least on their way to becoming traditional grapes, shaped by and shaping back the Hudson Valley, crucial components of these lands expressions and sustainability. In the right hands, they are made into complex, ageable wines that show off this tricky climate just as seriously as the vinifera white and red here does, ever more elegant and convincing tastes of the river regions makeup these days. Alcohol levels tend to 10% to 13%. When I was growing up, essentially all I knew about was Brotherhood, Cascade and Warwick, says Campbell. Millbrook came on the scene a little bit later and was sort of the cool kids, because they were trying to be a little bit more sophisticated and global and certainly more designed in terms of their space. But at the same time nobody outside of the area really took these wines seriously. Today there are a lot more wineries and vineyards to think about. Recently I visited a few. While many supplement their local bottlings with at least one offering of Long Island or Finger Lakes grapes, including varieties difficult to grow where they are, all references below are to these producers Hudson River Regiongrown wines, and all to be taken seriously. The New York State Wine Farm License program was launched by New York governor Hugh Carey in 1976. It issued its first permit to Benmarl vineyards and winery in Ulster Countys town of Marlboro on the rivers west bank in the AVA"s southern portion, land under vine since at least the 18th century, owned then by Mark Miller and bought in 2008 by the Spaccarelli family. Americas oldest professional vineyard, write Tessa Edick and Kathleen Willcox in their 2017 Hudson Valley Wine: A History of Taste & Terroir. This particular region had been growing grapes since 1772, and when it was incorporated as the Village or Marlborough in 1788, the powers that be selected a cluster of grapes as its symbol. Appropriately early-ripening Baco Noir: Benmarls oldest were planted in 1964 and line the long driveway onto the farm which today is complete with winery, caf, bed and breakfast, sheep, chicken; jaggedly hilly grounds with rambling views of the river and more plots. Today the Spaccarellis own 37 rocky marly acres, a great portion of which forest, with six acres currently allotted to vineyards. Second-generation Matt Spaccarelli makes the wines for both his familys winery, and his own project with partner Casey, Fjord, which includes an Albario, delicious and reflecting both site and vintages (floral and lime-zest tinged 2016; sharply floral beeswax and quince 2017; 2018 bottled in February is softer than those years, aromatic, sage, tarragon, hay, lemon), and a Cabernet Franc spontaneously fermented in the years extreme cold does not step in to stop that process. A 2014 was rich and ripe; very cold year 2015 more linear, a gamey, umami cherry; 2016 smokey with a pretty VA lift. Seyval Blanc 2017 is concentrated white flowers, green tea, lime: It pretty much cold-settles itself, says Spaccarelli of how easy it is to work the hybrid here. I tasted a tank sample of its behavior in 2018 which was a difficult and rainy vintage throughout New York: taut, tasty savory lemon. Miller had first planted Benmarl with hybrids and vinifera, but soon concentrated on hybrids with a point to prove: their outstanding quality when coming from these soils. Todays Benmarl label carries on that mission, backing up that Baco Noir (2015 is spontaneously fermented, a year in old French barrique, minty red and black fruit, almost Italian with its touch of sour, earth, gentle warmth; no fining or filtration and the winter cold helps with that) with estate-grown Traminette and Muscat Ottonel, and Cabernet Franc, too in 2019, theyll harvest for the first time Blafrankisch and Saperavi, planted in 2016. Fjord takes on the experimental vinifera side full on, renting area vineyards to grow Albarino, Cab Franc (also turned to ros) and Riesling, and managing one site to source Chardonnay. A steep new estate plot where a tiny grove once stood will be planted, terraces as Miller had too, next spring, perhaps with Gamay, maybe both Chardonnay and Pinot to start an estate sparkling program: I think the soils and the vineyard's east-facing slope might give us a bit more hang time/ripening time before the acids start to drop, Spaccarelli wrote to me. Another handful of acres will likely be cleared soon after, granting a total of 12 to 15 acres of vines. There used to be more dairy farms in the Hudson Valley. What was once Dutchess Countys Wing Dairy farm is now the vineyards and winery of Millbrook, whose first commercial vintage was 1985. Founder John Dyson worked with Keuka Lakes Dr. Konstantin Frank to first plant vinifera here, and in the early days they worked 30 varieties, saw what fared best in these glacial soils, gravelly clay loam on the flatter expanse you drive past on the way in, shale on the hillsides that envelop you once there, and arrived at seven suitable ones, as follows. From Lollipop Hill, a glance from the tasting room window, single-site Tocai Friulano (2017 is yellow fruit, sweet sage, the varietys recognizable umami meatiness). A slope beyond holds a plot of Chardonnay, farther up Riesling, keep going to Cabernet Franc, then Pinot Noir. An earlier attempt to grow Pinot Meunier didnt work, but any grapes that can grow in the Alps can grow in New York State, says general manager and VP, David Bova. The hills, gentle and well defined, rise 800 feet above sea level. The stumbling fields reach 600 feet; Chardonnay, Riesling, Cabernet Franc, Grner Vetliner grow there. Gamay was planted in 2016, and seems to be doing well: the first vintage will be 2019. With 35 acres of vineyards, more than a fifth of the Hudson Valleys wine is Millbrook estate. The dairy tanks are still here, turned sideways and repurposed into horizontal fermenters for more skin contact during Pinot Noir and Cabernet Franc fermentation. Insistent extraction carries positive and enticing meaning in the short then chilly Hudson Valley season: enough color and all the flavor. Bigger wines are impossible, anyway. For a check into what happens with such fruit, there was a vertical tasting of Pinot Noir, some single site, across four of the naught years (balsamic, menthol, cherry, chile pepper, blood orange) and landing at a 1993: savory fruit, umami, earth, blood orange, acidity and tannins made delicate but otherwise little touched by time. Bernardston soils. On another once-dairy farm close by, snow covered that March day, Hudson-Chatham makes wines from estate plantings and those of its winemaker Stephen Casscles, whose 2015 Grapes of the Hudson Valley And Other Cool Climate Regions of the United States and Canada catalogues in detail the grapes they grow. Casscles considers these regional hybrids to be heirloom varieties, grapes like Chelois (profile is bergamot, round sweet red cherry, smoke, iron), De Chaunac, Chambourcin and the hard-to-find Leon Millot, planted from cuttings he got from Philip Wagner. (Wagner, points out Hudson-Chatham c0-owner Carlo DeVito, helped establish East Coast winemaking and championed hybrid grapes throughout most of the 20th century, until his death in 1997). Casscles grows about 5 acres, vines about 25 years old. He had worked for years for Millers Benmarl. On the estate North Creek site, theres a lot of shale, and a lot of river stones from melting periods of the Wisconsin Ice Sheet, over tens of thousands of years ago. Its the same weather here that Millbrooks vineyards get, DeVito says. These blocks share land with the winery and are all hybrid, planted in some cases with cuttings from Casscless vines, 5 acres on this 14-acre farm. In 2006, we started with hybrids to survive winter, and to survive us, says DeVito, new to wine when he began the project 12 years ago by planting grapes like Chambourcin Chelois, Seyval Blanc and adding to those in 2009 then 2015. Over the next three years, hell keep going: Saperavi, Leon Millot, Vignoles and Frontenac Gris (or Traminette), and, maybe, Gamay vines will make their way to his lineup. Today he grows his vinifera, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Gamay, on the Hudsons eastern bank, a stones throw from the Rip Van Winkle bridge, he says. And sometimes turns to techniques like whole-cluster and ripasso to play with what this climate gives. They have several Baco Noir bottlings. The 2015 Baco Noir Reserve from the Casscles vineyard is intense floral and ripe red fruit, smoke, juicy with a bitter freshness. 2016 Baco Noir North Creek Block Three: mineral, red fruit, black pepper and floral, spicy, complex, chewy. A 2016 Chardonnay, almond and tangerine and rosemary caramelized peach. A 2016 Seyval Blanc North Creek Block One has about a day of skin contact for a dusty honey sweep, barely ripe lemon- lime. None of their wines are filtered (just cold weather exposure for an approximation of fining) or undergo malo-lactic conversion. Two bottles of Chelois: a 2015 Casscles vineyards macerated about 6 days, black tea and bergamot. A 2016 North Creek Chelois fermented for 10 to 12 days. A 2016 Leon Millot Casscles is peppery red raspberry and currant, driving acidity. And a hybrid field blend: 2016 Block Two Baco Chelois, Chambourcin and De Chaunac, cofermented then one-and-a-half years in old French and American oak, is both plush and fresh. For a check on ageability: 2013 Baco Noir Block Three is tawny in color and juicy and deep in taste: stewed fruit, dried mint, minerality, some balsamic. All are picked and pressed by hand. An hour drive west across the river, Whitecliff grows Pinot Noir on their limestone site in Middlehope. Theres enough air drainage there, explains, owner Michael Migliore, that the ground doesnt freeze out. They take deep understanding of their soil mixes, which include New York's unique Knickerbocker, as starting point. They're also currently expanding to 10 acres of vineyard in Upper Hudson, on their now-six-acre Olana site (this sits right underneath where [Hudson River School painter] Frederic Edwin Church was painting 200 feet above the river, says Migliore) planted to grapevines like Gamay, Cabernet Franc, Pinot Noir. For ever more knowledge of their areas soils and macrolimates, theyre growing, observing, more than 20 varieties: within the four acres to come, once a cherry farm and to be terraced upon expansion, theyll try Syrah, Petite Verdot, Cabernet Sauvignon. A 2016 reserve Chardonnay was tropical fruit and stoniness, chalky acidity. A 2016 reserve Gamay bottled after 10 months in American and Hungarian oak, one-fifth-to-one quarter new (as are all the reds) is bright red fruit and purple flowers, smokey and juicy. Cabernet Franc harvested in difficult 2018 from the Olana site where a constant wind dries off any rain and the Catskills Mountains four to five miles away stop any thoughtless hail, tasted from barrel with another six months to go before bottling, was gorgeously juicy and chewy, dark fruit. Stephen Osborn of Stoutridge takes another approach. With a rallying cry of terroir through genetics, he works with Hudson Valley's hybrid grapes only and sources from within two miles of his Marlboro winery. He ages his wines for years before releasing, a three-part testament to his own particular understanding of this land planted with the grapes he sees most natural to it: he was a color chemist before turning to wine, and a color-taste synesthete. That looks like it might taste interesting, he says double-facetly of his wines. No fining, no filtering, no added sulfites, barrel aging for micro-oxygenation, further time in bottle for addition of reductive notes. High acidity is an expectation, both in the grapes he buys and the wines he makes of them for tasting many years later. They taste like food. Im counting on the part of your brain that knows when something is nutritious, Osborn says. Of current releases, a 2012 blend of Seyval Blanc, Vidal Blanc, Cayuga, six months sur lies, one year in 700-gallon foudre, the rest in bottle, is cidery and nutty, practically chewy, The 2010 will be released next; its developing more slowly. A 2008 Niagara (a North American vitis labrusca native) is full-force grapiness with a sharply lifted green-yellow fruit center: its 12.5 abv, says Osborn, lets you know its a late harvest Niagara. Also 2008, a 10.5% abv Noiret was released last year and is peppery, bright, currant and black olive, a light VA lift, acidity, earth, delicateness and a chalkiness I cant place and that Osborn says is fine tannins. I think that were all fighting to be recognized for quality says Kimberly Peacock at vinifera-only Tousey in Columbia County. She (Danish mother and upbringing, Hudson Valley father who owns the farm next door) and winemaker husband Ben (English) arrived here ten years ago and make their wines from two sites across 15 acres: Riesling, Cabernet Franc, Pinot Noir on the steep banks of the Hudson River from vines planted in the 1960s and 70s, and Chardonnay from the Green Dale vineyard that they took over from Millbrook, who planted it 25 years ago, and which has five fewer growing degrees days than the river site does. And, its more humid on the river, they remind me. That Chardonnay is grown in sandy loam and comes in the now-standard two offerings, one fermented in oak and one that has seen no oak at all. Both are delicious, fitting expressions of the region. I tasted 2017. The no-oak is savory lemon lime, green apple, unripe peach, chalky. The other with a startlingly similar structure, oak well-integrated but not into some rich, creamy fruitiness: this ones lean with a wood presence that is both quietly vertical and there. Its fermented in Virginia oak barrels. They looked to vinifera, the Peacocks explain, because having not grown up with hybrids we didn't connect to them. They picked the grapes they knew, and knew could grow here. In the cellar, they think Europe first, but for wine profile references the focus is on what their Hudson River Region plots are giving. I want to get as much fruit out of this as possible, says Ben about their Pinot Noir. We think its one of the main grapes here, and for a difficult wine it seems to be fairly consistent. That ones first vintage was 2010. I tasted the 2013: cool, elevated, requisite tar and licorice, mushroom, sweet cherry. The 2017 Pinot Noir is raspberry and unripe black cherry; raised in third and fourth use French oak barrels. A 2013 Riesling comes with the required funk, a little weight and dryinness, lemon, guava, licorice. The 2011 Loic is their first blanc de blancs, all Green Dale vineyard Chardonnay, disgorged in 2014 for brioche, sharp lemon, meaty, sharp and focused and such a precise expression of this region that I cross out my note about its touch of French charm. Theyre part of the regions Cabernet Franc Coalition, and, very much behind it," says Ben, "but everyone has a grape they dont get along with in the winery, and here its Cab Franc." The end result works anyway, and reflects the years well: a 2017 example from the Green Dale site is spicy fruit,ball point pen, earthwormy, says Ben of its pretty and distinctive version of the variety's characteristic green-pepper side. With a year's age added, its 2016 counterpart is more complex and concentrated, and fruitier. Late last month at the 2019 Grand Tasting, New York States wineries annual come-together, held in the fittingly grand Rainbow Room on the 65th floor of 30 Rockefeller Plaza, Hudson Valley was as much part of the family as the better-known Finger Lakes and Long Island and quietly enticing Niagara Escarpment. Worldly wines all, but Hudson River Region bottles have a special connection to the city: many of its sommeliers and restaurateurs are already buying a lot of their produce from these areas; [the wine is] a natural extension, Campbell reminds me. Fjords 2015 Cabernet Franc has just landed at Manhattan's Corkbuzz, orderable by the glass, a local taste settling naturally, easily into New York Citys global wine market. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/susangordon/2019/04/15/what-about-winegrowing-in-hudson-valley-new-york/ |
Why Has Outrageous Anti-Semitism At A UNC/Duke Conference About Gaza Been Ignored By The Media? | Getty A few weeks ago there was a major conference, Conflict Over Gaza, sponsored by the Duke-UNC Consortium for Middle East Studies and UNC Global. One of the presenters at this high-profile conference was the Palestinian rapper Tamer Nafar. He told the audience that he wanted to sing them a song, but that he needed their help singing it, because I cannot be anti-Semitic alone. Just to make sure his intentions were clear; he told the audience not to think of Rhianna. Instead, while singing, they should think of Mel Gibson, the notoriously anti-Semitic actor who claimed that Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world. The audience sang along and laughed. This should have been a hard story to miss. The performance was captured on video and reported by the local ABC News affiliate. The UNC Interim Chancellor, Kevin M. Guskiewicz, issued a condemnation: A performance during a recent conference held on our campus contained disturbing and hateful language. Like many members of our community, I am heartbroken and deeply offended that this performance happened. I stand steadfast against Anti-Semitism and hate in all its forms. The Carolina spirit is not about hateful language that divides us, but about civil discourse that advances ideas and knowledge. We must continue to aspire together to that ideal. Duke University also denounced the statement. So, at a high-profile academic conference co-sponsored by two major universities, a speaker indulged in explicit anti-Semitism, with the audience participating, that was captured on video, leading both universities to publicly condemn the performance. Yet, this drew no mention from any of the major news outlets. The New York Times, the Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, and almost every other major media outlet simply ignored it. Anti-Semitism is a subject that often makes the media nervous and this shows in their reluctance to report on it. As the conservative political commentator Ben Shapiro has pointed out, on the same day the that the extremely widely publicized fake attack on Jussie Smollett supposedly occurred, a real hate crime occurred. It was a horrific attack of a Hassidic man in New York. It was caught on tape in all its brutality. There was virtually no coverage of the real hate crime, despite the dramatic video footage. Of course, its not that the media never covers issues of anti-Semitism. The tragic mass shooting in Pittsburgh was widely covered and there have been stories about the surge in anti-Semitic attitudes both here and in Europe. As noted below, the New York Times has reported on the statistical increase in anti-Semitic attacks. Nevertheless, the threshold for reporting on specific incidents of anti-Semitism seems to be quite high, which distorts public perceptions. As reported in the New York Times, the number of hate crimes in New York against Jews are far, far higher than the number of hate crimes against African Americans or against Transgendered people: there have been four times as many crimes motivated by bias against Jews 142 in all as there have against blacks. Hate crimes against Jews have outnumbered hate crimes targeted at transgender people by a factor of 20. This is despite the fact that the Jewish population of New York City is much smaller than the African American population. Based on most media coverage, very few people would guess that. Of course, New York is not the whole country, but it is the media capital of the world and one think that this sort of modern-day Pogrom would draw much more attention. I have previously posted about the relationship between unbalanced criticism of Israel at universities and anti-Semitism. The issue is complicated. Of course, not every critic of Israel is an anti-Semite. But when the media simply ignores explicit anti-Semitism at a prestigious, high profile conference about the Gaza Strip (where there was, as one might expect, a great deal of strongly worded condemnation of Israel) it buries an ugly connection. This lack of scrutiny leads to a lack of reflection. UNC Globals response to the fact that it provided a major forum for anti-Semitic speech was to dodge all responsibility. Rather than apologizing or expressing regret, it opined: Conferences such as this are organized by scholars who have academic freedom to develop the programming and invite their selected speakers and performers. UNC Global supports faculty in hosting these conferences without endorsing the beliefs of speakers or performers. It is certainly true that academic freedom grants broad protection, even of hateful speech. In an earlier post, I wrote that allowing anti-Semitic speakers on college campuses at least has the benefit of calling attention to the continuing existence of anti-Semitism, which is important because universities are too often reluctant to acknowledge its presence on their campus. But the worst-case scenario is where universities use their academic freedom to give forums to anti-Semitism and the media ignores it. The answer isnt more censorship by or of universities. Universities have the right to bring anti-Semitic speakers to campus. But the media must do a better job of holding them to account when they do. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/evangerstmann/2019/04/15/why-has-outrageous-anti-semitism-at-a-uncduke-conference-about-gaza-been-ignored-by-the-media/ |
Can Bernie Sanders make peace with grudge-nursing Democrats? | Hard feelings linger in campaign politics. After every primary cycle, theres always bad blood because people spill a lot of blood in the process, said former Democratic National Committee chairwoman Donna Brazile, a Fox News contributor. Unfortunately political wounds dont heal as quickly as physical wounds. WATCH THE BERNIE SANDERS TOWN HALL ON FOX NEWS CHANNEL ON MONDAY AT 6:30 PM ET. Look no further than the 2020 Democratic presidential fight. Three years after Democrats witnessed a vicious presidential primary battle between eventual nominee Hillary Clinton and one-time longshot Bernie Sanders, there are concerns that a revival of the war of words between their two camps could do damage to the party in 2020. I think theres a small segment of people in both camps who harbor significant resentment, a veteran Democratic campaign strategist told Fox News. The strategist, who asked for anonymity to speak more freely, warned that there are Bernie people who have constantly attacked Clinton and there are Clinton people who resent the primary of 2016. I think this is a lingering problem thats going to find its way into the 2020 nomination process. BERNIE SANDERS POLICIES NOW BACKED BY 2020 DEM FIED Sanders and Clinton tried to bury the hatchet in the summer of 2016, in hopes of putting to rest a bitter and contentious primary fight for the Democratic presidential nomination that saw Sanders blast the partys establishment favorite. But the delicate peace between the independent senator from Vermont and the former U.S. secretary of state was tepid at best. And following Clintons shocking loss to GOP nominee Donald Trump in the 2016 general election, Clinton and many of her top staffers blamed Sanders and his legions for her defeat. Fast forward to 2019 and the ill will lingers. Some of Clintons top aides from her 2016 campaign took aim at Sanders earlier this year, as he came out of the gate on a roll following the February launch of his second straight presidential campaign. Ex-Clinton staffers savaged Sanders over his use of private jets during the 2016 general election while he was stumping across the country for the Democratic nominee, as detailed in a Politico article. BERNIE'S BIG BUCKS: SANDERS HAULS IN $18.2 MILLION Explanations from the Sanders camp that the senator needed to fly private jets in order to keep a non-stop itinerary of nearly 40 rallies in 13 states during the closing weeks of the 2016 campaign didnt fly with some of those Clinton aides. Royal Majesty King Bernie Sanders would only deign to leave his plush D.C. office or his brand new second home on the lake if he was flown around on a cushy private jet like a billionaire master of the universe, Zac Petkanas, the Clintons 2016 campaigns director of rapid response, said. The spokesman for the Sanders 2016 campaign fired back, claiming that members of Clintons team are some of the biggest a--holes in American politics. You can see why shes (Clinton) one of the most disliked politicians in America," Michael Briggs added, speaking to Politico. Sanders did himself no favors in an appearance earlier this year on The View. Asked if he would be asking for advice from the 2016 nominee as some rivals for the nomination have been doing Sanders answered, I suspect not.Hillary and I have fundamental differences. Longtime Clinton spokesman Nick Merrill took to Twitter to punch back. I dont know who our nominee is going to be but I am damn sure that beating Trump & getting America back on the right footing is going to require a unified Democratic Party, so crap like this 613 days before Election Day is irresponsible, counter-productive, & sets us all back, he tweeted. IT'S BIDEN, SANDERS AND BUTTIGIEG IN LATEST NH 2020 POLL The war of words is worrying some longtime Sanders supporters in New Hampshire, where the senators crushing victory over Clinton in the February 2016 primary rocketed him into the bloody battle with the eventual nominee. They need to learn the lessons of why they lost what should have been an easy victory and just live with it so we can win [in 2020], urged former state Sen. Burt Cohen, a member of the Sanders steering committee in the Granite State. We have to keep our eyes on the prize, which is saving America from Trumpism, he added. Carrying forth 2016 bitterness does no good. The call for unity to oust the Republican president from the White House in the 2020 election was echoed by Kathy Sullivan, a former longtime New Hampshire Democratic Party chair who for the last decade served as a Democratic National Committee member. I think that everyone wants to beat Donald Trump and thats the most important thing. I think most people would say thats over and done with and lets focus on 2020. Lets not hurt ourselves, noted Sullivan, who backed Clinton in the 2016 primary. Judy Reardon, a veteran Granite State-based Democratic strategist who also supported Clinton last time around, said shell back whomever wins the nomination. People like me who supported Hillary Clinton are very practical and will support the Democratic nominee for president. To the extent there are hard feelings, I dont think theyll impact how people vote. | https://www.foxnews.com/politics/can-bernie-sanders-grudge-nursing-democrats?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+foxnews%2Fpolitics+%28Internal+-+Politics+-+Text%29 |
What's it like dining at Canada's new $500 per person sushi restaurant? | The stereotypes most commonly associated with North Americans abroad have never sat well with me. And yet, I have found it nearly impossible to shake our preceding reputation in Japan where my very presence too tall, loud and probably lost somewhere always feels boorish. My heels hang off the ends of the required pairs of slippers, my voice solicits judgmental side-eye stares at quiet sushi counters and, even after multiple trips to Tokyo, I still struggle with figuring out how to get the hi-tech, multi-setting toilets to work. Of course, Japan remains an incredible place to visit, and feeling a little out of place is a small price to pay for an outstanding experience. But running up a narrow flight of stairs between a pet shop and an artisan candle boutique in Torontos Yorkville neighbourhood, Im once again confronted by this feeling of being in the way. At the top of the stairs awaits Sushi Masaki Saito, Torontos newest sushi temple where everything from the $100,000 hinoki wood sushi counter to the sleek cedar wall paneling has been imported from Japan. Walking into the restaurant feels like being transported to Shibamata, a non-touristy neighbourhood on the eastern tip of Tokyo known for its quiet streets and old-world character. But instead of being made to feel like an uncultured outsider, each diner can relax and feel at home thanks to the environment cultivated by Chef Masaki Saito. After being awarded one Michelin star in 2016 at his restaurant Sushi Ginza Onodera in New York City and another in 2018 at just 30 years old, Chef Saito has come to cook in Toronto on a permanent basis. But make no mistake, his prices reflect these accomplishments: two set menus range from $380 to $500 per person before drinks. At a recent media preview, Saito begins an 18-course omakase by shouting Kampai while toasting a champagne flute filled to the brim with gold-flecked sake. He follows this with a selection of appetizers, including three pieces of sweet and mild grouper sashimi and crunchy sea grapes, plus impossibly buttery mackerel (skewered and grilled over traditional binchtan charcoal until its outsides were kissed with smoke). There is also slow-cooked abalone whose texture is so pleasantly slippery it could be mistaken for silken tofu and rare black throat sea perch which was grilled over charcoal and served skin side up so that its luminescent silver scales lit up the room like a disco ball. Accompanied by a selection of chilled sake, I could have easily left satisfied after the appetizers. But Chef Saito was just getting started. Preparing for the nigiri portion of the meal, he begins by joking with the seven diners seated at the sushi counter (the restaurant only seats two rounds of seven per night). When asked why he doesnt have an Instagram account, he answers bluntly: I have too many girlfriends so they cant all know what Im doing. Unconcerned that the restaurants PR persons face had flushed, he dispenses airy bites of Hokkaido uni onto the tops of our hands as we slurp them back. He then retrieves a hulking slab of candy pink bluefin tuna bought from the famous tuna auctions at Tokyos Tsukiji Market. Everyone begins snapping photos of the prized fish as Chef Saito takes advantage of the interactive moment. He positions the fish up to his ear like a glorious and inordinately expensive telephone that was communicating something only he could hear. This is Wagyu beef, he says, letting the room fill with amazement. Just kidding, its Bluefin tuna, he corrects eventually, emitting a booming laugh as he begins slicing off several pieces of fish. Even more standard protocol is abandoned during the nigiri portion of the meal. Instead of placing the nigiri onto the counter and allowing each guest to pick it up (as is typical for most omakase chefs), he serves each piece directly from his hands to ours like customized communion wafers. The method makes each bite feel like a handmade gift. But it isnt all hand-fed sushi as Chef Saito is also quick to accommodate personal preferences. After overhearing that Ive never enjoyed wild sea eel, otherwise known as anago, he serves anago nigiri cut into two miniature portions on a plate so that I can proceed at my own pace. This is beginner sushi, he jokes. Given the high price point, its easy to view the opening of Sushi Masaki Saito as yet another sign that Toronto has become a city that only accommodates the outrageously wealthy. However, nothing about Sushi Masaki Saito has been designed for the everyday. A meal there is a celebration of excellence. Where other formal omakase experiences are often plagued by nervous or flat energy, Chef Saito creates an atmosphere that inspires diners to enjoy omakase-style dining like Canada has never seen before. And besides, its still cheaper than a trip to Japan. | https://nationalpost.com/life/food/whats-it-like-dining-at-canadas-new-500-per-person-sushi-restaurant |
Will Watertown become a train town with railroad turntable to accommodate steam engine No. 576? | CLOSE Will Watertown become a train town with railroad turntable to accommodate steam engine No. Andy Humbles, USA Today Network - Tennessee Watertown is compared by many to a fictional Mayberry with its population of about 1,500. Except for about eight Saturdays a year when up to 550 visitors come to town. Buy Photo Riders unload from a Tennessee Railway Museum excursion train that traveled to Watertown in February. Many businesses in the small Wilson County town rely on the train and special events, which Watertown hopes to enhance with the acquisition of a turntable for a steam engine locomotive being renovated by Nashville Steam. (Photo: Andy Humbles / The Tennessean) Those are days Watertown stores are gladly overwhelmed by riders from Tennessee Railway Museum excursion trains that come and unload passengers who crowd the small town square and sidewalks and even form lines to get in local stores and restaurants. We do about a weeks worth of business on (train) Saturdays, said Misty Hardy, co-owner of Lulus Cafe, one Watertown business with a line of customers from the train earlier this year. Buy Photo Businesses like Lulu's Cafe see lines on Saturdays when riders come into Watertown from the Tennessee Railway Museum excursion trains. The city hopes to enhance its tourism by becoming the primary destination for steam engine No. 576, which is being renovated. (Photo: Andy Humbles / The Tennessean) But now, Watertown hopes to become more of a train town than it already is. The anticipated renovation of a rare steam engine locomotive that has been displayed for decades carries hope it can take us to the next level, Hardy said. Watertown all in on No. 576 The No. 576 steam engine train had been displayed since 1953 in Nashvilles Centennial Park until its move Jan. 13 for the Nashville Steam Preservation Society to begin an estimated four-year renovation project. But a running No. 576 will need a place to go and a way to turn around since the steam engine will need to operate moving forward both directions, unlike many of today's trains. Historic Watertown has acquired a 110-foot railway turntable, nearly obsolete today with trains able to go backward but vital to an operational steam engine. The turntable equipment has been turned over to the city, which was the plan according to Historic Watertown member John Jewell. Its going to be huge for Watertown and Wilson County, Tennessee Central Railway Museum President Terry Bebout said. Not only because there arent many steam engines that operate in the United States, but to see a turntable is also historical because they arent used much. Buy Photo Historic Watertown has acquired a turntable that will give a steam engine locomotive that is being renovated a landing spot to turn around. (Photo: Andy Humbles / The Tennessean) Historic Watertown raised $65,000 to bring the turntable to town from Atlanta. CSX donated it, and the city contributed $5,000. I think it will draw a lot more tourism to Watertown, said Zack DuBois, a rider of a recent excursion train to Watertown with his wife, Monica. I think it would expand the town and make it grow. The turntable and equipment are resting in Watertowns city park, across the street from the train station and near where they will be installed for the steam locomotive. The investment continues with additional fundraising and grant applications necessary to make the turntable operational, though a cost estimate isnt certain, Historic Watertown President Susan Thornton said. Another $16,000 donation will allow for engineering work to begin, Jewell said. A steering committee for the turntable also will be selected. Buy Photo Steam locomotive No. 576 was recently moved from Centennial Park in Nashville, where it was displayed for 65 years. (Photo: Shelley Mays / The Tennessean) Its a piece of history, excursion train rider Herman Bodkin said. The fact that you have a roundtable here to actually watch the locomotive turn around would be rather interesting. A railway museum centered around the turntable and the potential for different displays in Watertown are also part of the long-range plan, Jewell said. Nashville is such a behemoth when it comes to tourism that day trips could easily be attached to any of those tourism packages, Jewell said. And weve got experience with the railroad just bringing a train out here and setting up these events." Watertown already a train town The excursion train trip from Nashville to Watertown is about 45 miles, 90 miles round trip, which makes the town a half-day journey, leaving time for other activities. NEWSLETTERS Get the Daily Briefing newsletter delivered to your inbox We're sorry, but something went wrong Start your day with the morning's top news Please try again soon, or contact Customer Service at 1-800-342-8237. Delivery: Daily Invalid email address Thank you! You're almost signed up for Daily Briefing Keep an eye out for an email to confirm your newsletter registration. More newsletters The ride provides views of open land as the train moves into Wilson County and offers passengers a glimpse of what it was like to ride the rails 75 years ago, Nashville Steam Preservation Society Communications Manager Joey Bryan said. Watertown has experience organizing activities and events in conjunction with the excursion trains, like its mile-long yard sales and music festivals. We dont have an interstate, no Providence. What we have is that train its our thing to bring economic activity to Watertown, Thornton said. We have a lot of turnover in businesses here because they cant make it. This could open some tourism doors; it could be a serious gain. Buy Photo John Jewell is with Historic Watertown, which has acquired a railroad turntable that will allow for a steam engine train that is being renovated to turn around. The city also hopes it can create a railroad museum around the turntable. (Photo: Andy Humbles / The Tennessean) No. 576 was initially moved Jan. 13 from Centennial Park to the Nashville & Western Railroad in preparation for another trip to the Tennessee Railway Museum, where it now is and will stay for the restoration work. Reach Andy Humbles at [email protected] or 615-726-5939 and on Twitter @AndyHumbles.     <!--iframe-->   Read or Share this story: https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/local/wilson/2019/04/15/why-watertown-has-gone-full-steam-ahead-nashville-locomotive-no-576/2875546002/ | https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/local/wilson/2019/04/15/why-watertown-has-gone-full-steam-ahead-nashville-locomotive-no-576/2875546002/ |
What Makes The Greek Alphabet So Fascinating? | originally appeared on Quora: the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. Answer by Mary Norris, Author, Greek to Me: Adventures of the Comma Queen, on Quora: There is a theory that the Greeks developed their alphabet around the same time they wrote down Homer. They saw the need to preserve the Iliad and the Odyssey and to spread these epic poems as widely as possible. Up till then, poetry had been an oral tradition, a performance, and writing made it possible to transmit Homer to faraway places and to the future as well, which is far away in time. The forms of the letters go all the way back to the Phoenicians, and the first two letters, alpha beta, which came into English from Greek through Latin, have not changed in all that time. That the alphabet has survived, in one form or another, for so long is a testament to its usefulness and durabilityto the genius of it. The Phoenician alphabet was all consonants. The innovation of the Greeks was that they used some of the symbols for vowels. This made the written language more expressiveit put the human soul into it. In order to speak, we need to breathe out, exhale, and make sounds using our throats and the resonant chambers in our heads as well as our lips and teeth and tongue. The vowels are the breath of the alphabetthey could be said to carry the human voice. They sing. In our time, email was an innovation, and before that the fax machine, and before that the telegraph (the Twitter of its time). The evolution of the alphabet as a way to record human speech was the beginning of civilization, in a way. This supple group of 24 symbols (in the Greek alphabet; the Roman alphabet has 26) made it possible for humankind to address the future and look back at the past. The other thing I think is amazing about the invention of writing is that it was originally done on clay, so it is as if we inscribed poetry into the earth itself. This question originally appeared on Quora - the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. You can follow Quora on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+. More questions: | https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2019/04/15/what-makes-the-greek-alphabet-so-fascinating/ |
What Can The United States Learn From The Tech Industry In China? | originally appeared on Quora: the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. Answer by Connie Chan, General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz, on Quora: There are two primary concepts that I think the US can learn from China. The first is the idea of the superapp, where a company incorporates various business models and seemingly unrelated services into one app to maintain user mindshare and facilitate more transactions. There are many examples of superapps in China: Meituan, WeChat, Alipay are just a few. We are already starting to see early signs of this phenomenon coming to the US -- the best example is Instagram incorporating more commerce and payments. The second major learning from China is the idea of mobile-first. China leapfrogged the PC, meaning many netizens in China were exposed to the Internet via a smartphone not a computer or laptop. As a result, China has become a mobile-first or even mobile-only society, and developers typically design for the mobile experience before the PC one. This shift in prioritizing mobile above PC results in products that utilize phone-specific features such as the microphone, GPS, and the front and back camera. The mobile-centric approach is what has led to innovations such as the proliferation of QR codes, the rise of mobile payments, and the popularity of livestreaming. This question originally appeared on Quora - the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. You can follow Quora on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+. More questions: | https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2019/04/15/what-can-the-united-states-learn-from-the-tech-industry-in-china/ |
What Are The Biggest Problems With Healthcare Today? | originally appeared on Quora: the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. Answer by Eric Topol, Founder & Director of Scripps Research Institute, on Quora: I call that Shallow Medicine for which there is a dedicated chapter in my new book, Deep Medicine: How Artificial Intelligence Can Make Healthcare Human Again. This refers to current medical practice: there is insufficient data, insufficient time, insufficient context, and insufficient presence (of doctor to patient). We dont have all the relevant data for each when they are seen. Patients dont even have all their data, because it is spread across many different doctors and health systems and hard to get to. And the data from one hospital or clinic is in different formats from the next. The average clinic visit in the United States lasts only 7 minutes for an established patient or 12 minutes for a new patient. During that very limited time, there is little eye-to-eye contact because the doctor is preoccupied entering data at a keyboard. In that minimal time with distraction, diagnostic errors are all too commonover 12 million serious diagnostic errors a year in the United States. If a doctor doesnt think of the diagnosis quickly, in the first 5 minutes, the error rate is over 70%. Unnecessary lab tests and scans are ordered way too often, leading to vast waste, with the lack of time to adequately reflect about the patients story and data. Patients feel shortchanged that their doctors are not really present, not attentive, not listening, and have the sense theyre not really cared for. Reciprocally, doctors feel rushed, unable to execute their charge of caring for their patients which is why they entered the profession, and we are at peak levels of burnout and clinical depression. And burnout leads to a doubling of medical errors, which promotes burnout, a vicious cycle that has to be broken. This question originally appeared on Quora - the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. You can follow Quora on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+. More questions: | https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2019/04/15/what-are-the-biggest-problems-with-healthcare-today/ |
Which Happens First? Tiger Catches Nicklaus, Or Nadal Or Djokovic Catches Federer? | ASSOCIATED PRESS After winning the 2006 US Open, Roger Federer went into the locker room at Arthur Ashe Stadium and had a glass of champagne with his friend Tiger Woods. The two men had much in common then. Federer, the Swiss tennis star, had accumulated nine Grand Slam titles, and was five shy of Pete Sampras' then-record 14. Woods, the American golf phenom, had piled up 12 major titles and stood six shy of Jack Nicklaus' all-time mark of 18. "More and more often over the last year or so, I've been compared to Tiger, what he's doing on the golf tour, what I'm doing on the tennis tour," Federer said then. "This was the day when we finally got to meet and chat. I asked how it was for him in golf. It's funny, he knew exactly how I had felt out there on the court. "That's something I hadn't felt before. You know, a guy who knows how it feels to feel invincible at times, and to have the feeling like there's nothing wrong any more. The way I was feeling in the fourth set, for instance, I guess that's the same as him on the final round and coming down the 18th fairway. He knew how that felt for me in that fourth set." Graphic via telegraph.co.uk Now, nearly 13 years after that historic first meeting, both men are significantly older and in different places on the list of all-time major titles winners in their respective sports. After winning the Masters at age 43 on Sunday, Woods now has 15 major titles, three shy of Nicklaus' 18. The 37-year-old Federer, meantime, sits atop the all-time list of men's major winners in tennis with 20. While no other active golfer is anywhere near Woods -- Phil Mickelson is second with 5 -- Federer has two fellow all-time greats hot on his trail. Rafael Nadel, 32, sits second all-time with 17, while Novak Djokovic, 31 ranks third with 15. Most Majors Golf/Tennis: Federer - 20 Nicklaus - 18 Nadal - 17 Woods - 15 Djokovic - 15 Sampras - 14 https://t.co/2aQx3hnjee Adam Zagoria (@AdamZagoria) April 14, 2019 So these numbers beg a few questions. Woods now needs three more majors to tie Nicklaus, and he's already been installed as the favorite at the PGA Championship, which begins May 16 at Bethpage Black, where Woods captured the 2002 US Open. The US Open beginning June 13 is at Pebble Beach where Woods won his first title in 2000 by 15 strokes. I really havent thought about that yet, Woods said of the Golden Bears record, per GolfDigest.com. Im sure that Ill probably think of it going down the road. Right now, its a little soon, and Im just enjoying 15. Woods should have another 20-30 chances to compete for major titles, depending on how long he plays the game. Tiger is now the favorite to win the PGA Championship pic.twitter.com/HbRr1nxcIB Adam Zagoria (@AdamZagoria) April 15, 2019 Of course he's not the same guy he was in his mid-20s when he won four straight majors in 2000-1. Anyone who thinks he can reel off a run like that at 43 is probably delusional. This is a man who's had four back surgeries and multiple knee surgeries as well. Yet Woods' fellow golfers believe he can now threaten Nicklaus. This puts 18 [majors] into real reach, Rickie Fowler said according to GolfDigest.com. I thought the first one would be the hardest. Curtis Strange said on ESPN that Woods will have his best chance at the US Open. "If you do press me, I like Pebble Beach this year," he said. "It's a golf course he lapped the field in years ago. He loves it and he's had good success there." As for the tennis courts, Nadal remains three behind Federer with Djokovic five back. These are three of the greatest -- if not the three greatest -- men's players of all time constantly trying to one-up each other. The Spaniard has won the French Open 11 times and figures to be the favorite there for the next several years. When last we saw Nadal he was withdrawing before his semifinal match with Federer at Indian Wells in March with a knee injury. Nadal will return this week at Monte Carlo on clay, where he has won 11 times, including last year. Djokovic, who has won the last three major titles before failing to reach the quarterfinals at Indian Wells and Miami, will also be in Monte Carlo as the No. 1 seed. Federer will return to the clay this year in Madrid in May, and the entire "Big Three" will play the French Open beginning May 26. "I think Rafa is always a very clear favorite on any clay court in the world, and it doesn't change," Djokovic said this week at Monte Carlo. "He's still there. I mean (it) obviously depends how he's feeling physically. I have seen him (training) here, he's been here a few days. Seem like he's fine." Djokovic is already imagining a potential French Open final against Nadal, where still more history would be on the line. Djokovic would be trying to win his fourth straight major and his 16th overall, while Nadal would be seeking his 12th French Open and his 18th major. "That would be the match of the season, yes," Djokovic said. If we get there, both men would be one match -- and one title -- closer to Federer's 20. Yet Federer has looked impressive himself this year, becoming the only man to win two titles so far in 2019, winning at Dubai and in Miami on hardcourts. If he plays like that during the grass court season, a ninth Wimbledon title and 21st major seem within reach. When all's said and done, it says here that Nadal has a better chance to catch Federer than does Djokovic, or Woods does of catching Nicklaus. But history is unfolding before our eyes, and if Sunday teaches any lesson, it's that anything is possible. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamzagoria/2019/04/15/which-happens-first-tiger-catches-nicklaus-or-nadal-or-djokovic-catches-federer/ |
What's the Second Best Performing Asset Since 1999? | Last week the world got its first look ever at a black hole, one of those cosmic bodies so supermassive and powerful that not even light can escape its pull. These things literally destroy all matter that comes within their reach, making them the trash compactors of the universe. Some of you reading this right now can probably point to a few investments you made over the years that had more in common with black holes than you would care to admit. Gold, Im happy to say, is not among those investments, despite all the negative press it sometimes gets. The evidence keeps rolling in that the yellow metal has historically been a wise investment. Because it has a negative correlation with the market, gold has helped investors diversify their portfolios and improve their risk-adjusted returns. Back in January, I shared several charts showing how the price of gold has beaten the market over several time periods, including the 21st century (so far). Take a look at the chart below, using data released last week by JPMorgan. For the 20-year period ended December 31, 2018, gold as an asset class had the second best annualized returns at 7.7 percent. Only REITs (real estate investment trusts) did better at nearly 10 percent. U.S. Global Investors The S&P 500, by comparison, returned only 5.6 percent on an annualized basis, but thats after it underwent two huge pullbacks that greatly impacted performance. Bondswhich include Treasuries, government agency bonds, corporate bonds and morecame in next at 4.5 percent. Not bad, considering the asset class has lower overall volatility and risk than equities. In last place is the average investor with a lackluster 1.9 percent. You shouldnt be. Quantitative analysis of investor behavior, conducted by research firm DALBUR, has shown time and again that everyday retail investors regularly lag the market, in good times and in bad, by an alarmingly wide margin. Last year they lost approximately 9.42 percent, or more than twice as much as the S&P did. This is due mainly to bad timing. Instead of taking a buy-and-hold approach and riding out short-term volatility, many investors tend to sell at the absolute worst time. And thats often after missing the rally and buying at the peak. I shouldnt have to tell you that this strategy, if it can be called that, is like a black hole for your money. Dont get me wrong. Trading can be fun and sometimes very profitable. But its not investing. If you insist on trading, I believe its still crucial to maintain a sizeable allocation in high-quality stocks and bonds, exercise discipline and allow your investment to compound over time. And as always, I recommend the 10 Percent Golden Rule, which you can learn about by clicking here. Ray Dalio Remains a True Believer in Gold Someone who follows the Golden Rule, with his own and other peoples money, is Ray Dalio, the billionaire founder of the worlds largest and most successful hedge fund firm, Bridgewater Associates. Last year the firms flagship Pure Alpha strategy delivered an incredible 14.6 percent gain (compared to average investors return of negative 9.42 percent, remember). This was not only Bridgewaters best performance for the year since 2011, but it also helped keep Dalio atop the list of the most profitable hedge fund managers. If you drill down into Bridgewaters SEC filing for the fourth quarter of 2018, youll find that Dalio holds significant positions in gold across all tiers in the industry. These positions include physical gold (via SPDR Gold Shares and the iShares Gold Trust), senior gold miners (Barrick Gold, Newmont Mining, Goldcorp, etc. ), junior gold miners (Yamana Gold, B2Gold, New Gold, etc.) and gold royalty and streaming companies (Franco-Nevada, Wheaton Precious Metals and Royal Gold). As many of you know, I like to get access to the precious metal market with royalty companies. Back in January, Paradigm Capital showed that this small group of companies crushed all other tiers in the gold mining industry, delivering an unbelievable 16 percent in compound annual growth from 2004 to 2018. Thats Ray Dalio-caliber performance. U.S. Global Investors Dalio Sounds Off on Capitalism While on Im the topic of Dalio, the multibillionaire recently had some choice words to say about capitalism. In a lengthy post on LinkedIn, which you can read here, Dalio shared his belief that it is no longer working as it should for most Americans. As such, he argues, capitalism must be reformed. In one of the more eye-opening segments of his essay, Dalio says that political divisiveness and the widening opportunity gap in the U.S. is creating what he sees as eerie similarities between now and the late 1930s: Disparity in wealth, especially when accompanied by disparity in values, leads to increasing conflict and, in the government, that manifests itself in the form of populism of the left and populism of the right and often in revolutions of one sort or another. For that reason, I am worried what the next economic downturn will be like, especially as central banks have limited ability to reverse it and we have so much political polarity and populism. This definitely isnt cheerful bedtime reading. Im not asking you to agree with Dalio herehe doth protest too much, methinksbut if his thoughts resonate at all with you, I believe its even more reason to make sure youre invested in gold. Central Banks Continue to Gobble Up Gold On a final note, the price of gold crossed above $1,300 an ounce again last week following news that China increased its gold holdings in March for the fourth straight month. The Peoples Bank of China raised reserves to 60.62 million ounces, or 1,885 tonnes, as trade tensions between the U.S. and the Asian giant continue to drag on. This puts it on course to overtake Russia and Kazakhstan, the top buyers of the yellow metal in 2018. China wasnt alone, however. Global central banks bought a net 51 tonnes of gold in February, the largest monthly increase since October 2018, according to a recent report by the World Gold Council (WGC). U.S. Global Investors Central banks gold holdings have grown by 90 tonnes in the first two months of the year, compared with 56 tonnes in the same period in 2018 (and the highest level of growth since 2008), writes the WGCs Krishan Gopaul. This shows that collectively, central banksmostly from the emerging marketscontinue to accumulate gold at a healthy pace. For full disclosures pertaining to this post please click here. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2019/04/15/whats-the-second-best-performing-asset-since-1999/ |
How far did LSU baseball fall in the polls after a tough week? | Last week, LSU propelled itself into the top-10. This week, it lost three games and fell out of the top-10 in all but one poll. The LSU offense got shut down in a 7-2 loss to Southern on April 9. Then, after Zack Hess, Zach Watson and Chris Reid all went out this weekend in Columbia, Missouri, LSU lost the final two games to Missouri to lose the series. It was a rough week for the Tigers, but it didnt fall as far in the polls as some might have expected. Eric Walker struggles, LSU offense no-hit through 5, injuries mount as LSU loses series to Mizzou LSU was no-hit through five innings, and Eric Walker allowed six runs in four innings. Baseball America: No. 15 (Previous: No. 12) D1Baseball: No. 14 (Previous: No. 9) Perfect Game: No. 10 (Previous: No. 8) | https://www.nola.com/lsu/2019/04/how-far-did-lsu-baseball-fall-in-the-polls-after-a-tough-week.html |
Can Tiger Woods catch Jack Nicklaus at Harding Park? | Short answer: Its possible, sure, but dont count on it. Two of the next five major championships will unfold in Northern California. The U.S. Open returns to Pebble Beach on June 13-16, and then the PGA Championship comes to Harding for the first time in May 2020. Woods, now with 15 majors in hand, owns triumphant history at four of the next five venues. He won the 2002 U.S. Open at Bethpage Black in New York, site of next months PGA; he won the AT&T Pro-Am and U.S. Open at Pebble in 2000; Sundays victory gave him five titles at Augusta National, annual host of the Masters; and he won the American Express Championship in 2005 (and went unbeaten in the 09 Presidents Cup) at Harding Park. The only exception: Woods hasnt played in a tour event at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland, host of this years British Open. So its logical to expect him to contend in this upcoming stretch of majors. But its also unrealistic to expect him to win three of the next five, which is what he needs to pull even with Nicklaus 13 months from now in San Francisco. Woods played terrific golf, obviously, in his latest triumph at Augusta. He mostly stayed in play off the tee, deftly recovered when he did get in trouble and putted much better than he had all year. Still, winning a major championship these days, given the staggering depth of talent on the PGA Tour, is extraordinarily difficult. Only one player, Rory McIlroy, managed to win four majors in the not-quite-11 years since Woods previous title in 2008 and Tiger needs four more majors to pass Nicklaus. Woods is still 43, still nursing a surgically repaired back, still likely to often struggle with his putting. Stuff happens. When he won his 14th major in June 2008, several golf writers predicted he would catch Nicklaus within two years (guilty as charged), maybe even at Pebble Beach for the 2010 Open. Stuff happened, and he stopped winning majors. Hopefully were wrong about this, because it would be incredibly cool for Woods to arrive at Harding Park next May with a chance to catch Nicklaus. That would lift a landmark event for the Bay Area into a landmark event for all of golf. Other random observations in the wake of an electric Masters: Woods can blame only himself for the daunting competition he faces. His wild success in the early 2000s made golf more appealing and more athletic, and lured players such as Dustin Johnson, Bubba Watson, Brooks Koepka and Tony Finau. Those guys might have pursued another sport, but they wanted to be like Tiger. So they chose golf. If it seemed like Woods conquered nearly every top player to win Sunday, well, thats because he pretty much did. Based on world ranking, it was the strongest group of players in contention at a major in nearly 20 years, according to the 15th Club, a London-based company that analyzes golf performance. Six players who finished in the top 10 also were in the top 10 of the world ranking; two others were in the top 15; and the final two were in the top 25. Woods earned this win, in other words. Lets end the traditional Butler Cabin ceremony. Sundays painfully awkward, sedate session sucked the energy out of one of the most scintillating days in golf history. As stirring as it was to see Woods complete his remarkable comeback, this ranks as his third most-significant major victory in my book. Put it behind the 1997 Masters (12-shot win at age 21, to become first African American champion at Augusta) and 2000 U.S. Open (15-stroke victory at Pebble, the most dominant performance ever). That says a lot about his astounding career. Ron Kroichick is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @ronkroichick | https://www.sfchronicle.com/sports/article/Can-Tiger-Woods-catch-Jack-Nicklaus-at-Harding-13769190.php |
Where In the World Is The Bachelorette? | So far, we don't know exactly where in the world Hannah has been, but Fleiss has posted plenty of pictures of Hannah smiling in various cold-looking locations with beautiful scenery behind her, and we're just imagining that there are going to be a lot of hot tub opportunities this season of The Bachelorette. The first promo for the season made it clear that the Hannah we're about to get to know is very different from the beauty queen/beast we've seen so far, and while we'll have to wait to find out exactly what that means, we don't have to wait to meet the guys who will be competing for her heart. ABC released the names and pictures of all the contestants a whole lot earlier than usual, giving us all ample time for social media stalking. You can find all of the guys and everything we know about them right here. For a little behind the scenes look at Hannah's time on the show so far, scroll down! | https://www.eonline.com/ap/news/1032873/where-in-the-world-is-the-bachelorette-hannah-brown-travels-the-world-in-behind-the-scenes-pics |
How Has Walgreens' Revenue Performed And What Is Its Potential? | Walgreens (NYSE:WBA) reported revenue of $127 billion and earnings of $4.70 in 2018. The revenue consists of four key components: Retail Pharmacy USA- Pharmacy Drugs (sale of prescription drugs in US) Retail Pharmacy USA- OTC & Other (sale of healthcare and retail products) Retail Pharmacy International (sale of prescription drugs and provision of pharmacy-related services) Pharmaceutical Wholesale (distribution of prescription medicines to pharmacists) As we detail below, we expect Walgreens to grow by 6.3% in revenues and reach $135 billion in 2019. In addition, here is more Consumer Staples data. Trefis Total Revenue: Walgreens has seen a steady growth in revenues and has increased from $116 billion in 2016 to $127 billion in 2018. We expect the revenues to grow in 2019 by around 6.3% and reach $135 billion, led by an increase in Retail Pharmacy USA- Pharmacy Drugs segment. Retail Pharmacy USA- Pharmacy Drugs: Retail Pharmacy USA- Pharmacy Drugs segment has been the highest contributor to Total Revenue over the years. The revenue has increased from $56.8 billion in 2016 to $65.3 billion in 2018. Trefis estimates the segment to continue growing at a good pace as the company is set to increase its share in the retail prescriptions filled in the US, and post revenue of approximately $72 billion in 2019. Retail Pharmacy USA- OTC & Other: Retail Pharmacy USA- OTC & Other segment has been quite flat over the years. The revenue has just increased from $27.26 billion in 2016 to $27.29 billion in 2018. Trefis estimates the segment to grow slightly as the company is set to add more retail drugstores in the US and post revenue of approximately $28.13 billion in 2019. Retail Pharmacy International: Retail Pharmacy International segment has seen negative growth over the years as the average revenue per store metric dropped. The revenue decreased from $12.8 billion in 2016 to $11.8 billion in 2018. Trefis estimates the segment to have a small growth as the average revenue per store metric starts to stabilize and post revenue of approximately $12 billion in 2019. Pharmaceutical Wholesale: Pharmaceutical Wholesale segment has seen fluctuating growth over the years. The revenue increased from $20 billion in 2016 to $22.7 billion in 2018. Trefis estimates the segment to consolidate its existing services and post revenue of approximately $22.9 billion in 2019. Explore example interactive dashboards and create your own. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2019/04/15/how-has-walgreens-revenue-performed-and-what-is-its-potential/ |
Is France The Sleeping Giant Of European Blockchain And Cryptocurrency? | Getty The Blockchain and cryptocurrency space has never really radiated strongly from any one country in Europe, barring perhaps Switzerland with its progressive cryptocurrency valley, Zug. But the Swiss have always marched to their beat and been rather happy to remains neutral and passive. In the east, there is Japan and South Korea pushing the boundaries of Blockchain and crypto adoption and use; the United States is starting to come around with individual states pushing their forward-thinking agendas - such as Wyoming. Even in Africa, countries like South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya and a few big hitters on the continent are starting to break new grounds in this technological space. As is Australia with its firm, but fair, rules and regulations. However, Europe remains faceless in terms of one nation grabbing the baton and running ahead. Many would be looking to significant countries such as the UK, Germany, and of course France. With regards to France, the only blockchain and cryptocurrency news that has come out of her is from the anti-establishment yellow vest protesters, and tobacco shops where Bitcoin can be bought, but other than these token appearances, not much is being done in France to push the boundaries. The Paris Blockchain Week This perception is about to be tested as the capital, Paris, embarks on the Paris Blockchain Week Summit on Tuesday, 16 April. These sorts of conferences and summits are springing up more and more frequently, but this will be one of the bigger ones for Paris, and France. It will go a long way in determining, on a larger scale, the real interest of this burgeoning ecosystem in the country. To determine the success of a significant city conference, one needs to determine if the general public has the same interest and enthusiasm as those trying to grow and expand the ecosystem within the country or city. Karim Sabba, co-host of the Paris Blockchain Week Summit, explains his view of the Parisian people and their approach to the technology: The general public in France is particularly inquisitive and enthusiastic when it comes to cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology, says Sabba. "We have seen this first-hand during 'CryptoMondays' events. 'CryptoMondays' is an event we started running in Paris after being contacted by the CryptoMondays founder Lou Kerner. We ran regular CryptoMondays events where we brought in some of the top talents in the blockchain. We have successfully built up the largest CryptoMondays community in the world with over 2500 active members. This served as a stepping stone to the Paris Blockchain Week. After experiencing the interest of the general public first-hand, we knew that there would be an appetite for such an event. Many of these smaller interest groups are popping up across the world. In London, United Kingdom, Blockchain dinners are being run and sponsored to get like-minded and influential blockchain figures in a room together to discuss and debate the path for the technology. Figures such as powerful blockchain influencer Thomas Power, as well as IBCS Group Founder and Author Brian Marcel, have combined to put on these intimate dinners which have been inundated with interest from blockchain enthusiasts in London, and soon further than the reaches of the capital in the United Kingdom, and even globally. Beyond the man in the street The Paris Blockchain Week Summit is however aimed at more than just tickling the fancy of the everyday man in the street, blockchain growth and adoption needs to come from companies, corporations, as well as through education and learning of regulators and governments. From our experience, we have seen an extremely positive attitude to adopting blockchain technology from corporates in France, adds Sabba. Corporates such as HSBC, BNP, and the four major public auditing firms are all members of the French Digital Asset Association reflecting their drive to both understand blockchain technology and implement it in the right ways. Seminars, training, and conferences are a big part of the activities of the French Digital Asset Association, and we have always experienced a willingness to gain a deep understanding of the technology from the corporates that are members of the association." We are fortunate that this drive has also been reciprocated in government. We have very forward-looking members in parliament such as Jean-Michel Mis and Laure de La Raudire who have been pushing forward legislation to accelerate the adoption of blockchain technology. The recently passed PACTE law is going to make it even more attractive for corporates to start experimenting with the technology as they will now have a regulatory framework with which they can comply. A new form of drive There is no getting away from the fact that Bitcoin, and its rise to $20,000 in December of 2017, helped drive the adoption, interest, as well as, unfortunately, greed in the blockchain space. Much of that growth was necessary to help accelerate the technology, but it was also a double-edged sword as it created a speculators' bubble and a lot of scams and bad actors. Now, with the bubble having popped, and a rebuilding phase coming in, conferences, dinners, meetups and discussions are seen as much smarter, and more sustainable, way of reinvigorating the space. Conferences such as the Paris Blockchain Week play a big role in driving blockchain adoption at usage, said Sabba. At face value, there is plenty of well-known speakers delving into hot topics. This does a lot to increase awareness about the technology and improve the understanding of the general public. But behind the scenes, we get a commingling of business people, founders, developers, investors, and corporates. This is where the partnerships are formed for the businesses that are going to drive blockchain adoption and usage. At the moment, blockchain companies are struggling to secure high-quality development talent. There is intense competition from more traditional industries and start-ups in the crypto world can struggle to compete with the lucrative compensation packages offered in these industries. Conferences such as the Paris Blockchain Week allows founders to pitch their vision and the possibility to come to an arrangement that is beneficial to both developers and themselves. We are excited to be facilitating these kinds of partnerships, and we will be right in the centre of the conference ourselves to experience it all take place. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/darrynpollock/2019/04/15/is-france-the-sleeping-giant-of-european-blockchain-and-cryptocurrency/ |
Will Story Help Macy's Launch An Exciting New Chapter? | Macys.com Last week Macy's launched STORY concept shops in 36 stores across the United States. The new "narrative-driven retail experience" occupies about 1,500 square feet in most stores. The move comes less than a year after Macy's acquired the STORY brand and made its founder Rachel Schechtman its brand experience officer. This is the latest step in Macy's attempts to become more relevant and remarkable after years of declining market share and lackluster profitability. Similar to the original STORY boutique that opened in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood in 2011 , STORY at Macy's will focus on one merchandising theme at a time, and completely change every few months. The first installation is called "Color" and features some 400 curated products from brands like MAC Cosmetics, Crayola, and Levis Kids, as well as dozens of other small business partners. More than 300 color-themed community events are planned to help customer activation. In a press release Jeff Gennette, Macys, Inc. chairman & chief executive officer, commented that the discovery-led, narrative experience of STORY gives new customers a fresh reason to visit our stores and gives the current Macys customer even more reason to come back again and again throughout the year. Macys.com In a Forbes post last year after the STORY acquisition was announced I expressed two fundamental concerns about the new partnership. One was whether Schechtman and team were going have the room to truly innovate and to do so quickly. My fear was that Macy's historically go slow culture might stifle the necessary creativity and decisiveness. The fact that STORY at Macy's is a fully realized and well executed concept that was brought to life in less than a year is encouraging. Credit should be given to Gennette for his willingness to experiment aggressively. The second was less a concern, but more of a cautionary warning. Even if STORY proved to be successful in its initial roll-out and gets scaled to most of the chain, it seems obvious that it will barely move the dial on financial performance or, more importantly, do much by itself to accelerate Macy's move out of what I call the boring middle. Yet, as every journey must start with the first step, it is potentially an important piece of a broader renaissance that necessarily will take a lot of time and considerable investment. A visit to the STORY shop at Macy's in Dallas' Northpark Mall over the weekend reveals both the opportunity and the challenges. STORY's visuals are eye-catching and easily seen from the other side of the vast store which is situated in one of America's most productive malls. The merchandise presentation is eclectic and fun, albeit seemingly a bit random. Two associates stand ready to help, though I am the only potential customer on a Saturday afternoon. There are a lot of interesting impulse and gift items, but it's hard to understand a cohesive value proposition that will drive meaningful incremental traffic given the frequently changing theme. Macys.com Most striking to this observer is how out of place STORY seems--and how it calls attention to much of what is decidedly mediocre at a much better than average (in my experience) Macy's location. STORY's bold design stands in stark contract to the rather stark and neutral visuals of adjacent departments. Most apparel and accessory sections throughout the store are swimming in a sea of sameness: rack after rack and tables stacked high with mostly uninspiring fashion, virtually every one topped with a promotional sign offering 25-50% off. While STORY's layout is relatively cozy and invites exploration and discovery, the rest of Macy's main floor looks like just about every other moderate department store in just about every city I have been to in recent years, e.g. sprawling and unmemorable. After visiting STORY I was reminded of a time, many moons ago, when as a young management consultant getting paid far more than I was worth, I splurged on some large and rather expensive stereo speakers (note to Millennials: that was a thing at one point). As soon as I had my bright and shiny new toys wired to my old equipment, I quickly realized that what I already owned paled in comparison. It wasn't long before I felt compelled to upgrade the whole damn system. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevendennis/2019/04/15/will-story-help-macys-launch-an-exciting-new-chapter/ |
How will George R.R. Martin's final "Game of Thrones" books end? | Anderson Cooper speaks with George R.R. Martin, the creator of "Game of Thrones" about the television show surpassing his book series. Below is a transcript. George R.R. Martin: I published a fifth book in 2011, when the series was just going on the air. So, I was, like, five books ahead. I was completely confident that I would have the entire series finished, and "Winds of Winter" and "A Dream of Spring" would be out before they-- they got to them. George R.R. Martin: Two more books. Yes. Anderson Cooper: You-- you had once been quoted saying, that you would find it alarming if-- if they caught up, if the series got ahead of you. George R.R. Martin: Well, I didn't-- yes, I was-- I was-- (LAUGH) it w-- it was a blow when-- the series caught up. I didn't think it would happen. George R.R. Martin: Yes. And, you know, the major beats. I mean, obviously, we're talking here about a-- several days of story conferences taking place in my home in Santa Fe, New Mexico. But there's no way to get in all the detail, all the minor characters, all the secondary characters. George R.R. Martin: The series has-- has-- been extremely faithful, compared to 97 percent of all television and movie adaptations of literary properties. But it's not completely faithful. And-- and it can't be. Otherwise, it would have to run another five seasons. Anderson Cooper: And in essence, what's-- by the time the series is finished and your other two books are finished, y-- essentially it's gonna be two se-- different-- George R.R. Martin: Yeah. Anderson Cooper: Two different versions. George R.R. Martin: But, you know, I think that's true of every adaptation. We got all these Spidermen. They're-- they're similar, but they're also different. Things happen to one that never happen to the other. Things are resolved differently. The girlfriends are shuffled and reshuffled. The-- the primary beats are there, the character is there, but it's a question of-- what are the choices you make to tell the story, which are partially dictated by your-- your medium. George R.R. Martin: I don't think Dan and Dave's ending is gonna be that different from my ending because of the conversations we-- we did have. But they may be on certain secondary characters, there may be big differences. And, yeah, some of the people will have that. There will be a debate, I'm sure. I think a lot of people, who-- say, "Oh, Dan and Dave's ending is better than the one George gave us. It's a good thing they changed it." And there will be a lot of people who say, "No. Dan and Dave got it wrong. George's ending is better." And they will all fight on the internet. And there will be debate. And-- that's fine. I mean, it-- you know, the worst thing for any work of art, be it a movie or a book is to be ignored. (LAUGH) The video above was edited by Will Croxton. | https://www.cbsnews.com/news/how-will-george-rr-martin-final-game-of-thrones-books-end-60-minutes-2019-04-15/ |
Can the Arizona Diamondbacks get more than five innings out of Robbie Ray? | Diamondbacks pitcher Robbie Ray exits a game against the Rangers in the sixth inning of a game April 10 at Chase Field. (Photo: Joe Camporeale, Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports) In five innings of work last week, pitcher Robbie Ray displayed all the reasons he has excited, tantalized and, at times, tormented the Diamondbacks and their fans the last four-plus seasons. The mid-90s fastball. The complementary breaking pitches. The ability to take control of a game with his left arm. The problem was all of the above attributes left the ball park after the fifth inning. Again. Rays velocity dipped, he gave up a couple of hits and manager Torey Lovullo had no choice but to end Rays evening of work. Its been a recurring theme for Ray, 27, since coming to Arizona prior to the 2015 season via a three-way trade with the Yankees and Tigers. Stay in the know. Subscribe to azcentral.com today. In three starts this season, Ray hasnt lasted beyond one out in the fifth inning. The Diamondbacks have been competitive in every game, but if they are going to be better than average this season, they need Ray to consistently pitch deeper into games. Ray knows this, of course, and believes hes better prepared to deliver than any other time in his career. He started throwing off a mound earlier this off-season than ever before, the equivalent of a dozen or so bullpen sessions, and arrived at spring training, he said, ready to throw in a game, day one. Ive never done that, said Ray, who is scheduled to start Tuesday against the Braves. I like the way I came into camp. My velocity was there, no real issues of trying to build up innings. Where spring is usually used to work on pitches, I didnt have anything to work on. A lack of control has been Rays biggest issue over the years. His 28.8 strikeout percentage since 2015 ranks in the top 10 among starters, but so does his 10.6 walk percentage. Ray walked 10 batters in his first two starts this season, escalating his pitch count and leading to early exits. Against the Rangers last week, however, he walked only one batter. But 10 strikeouts led to a high pitch count and a resulting decrease in velocity. By the fifth inning or so, Ray has difficulty overcoming trouble. Against the Rangers, third baseman Eduardo Escobar made an error in the fifth inning, and Ray said afterward that running the bases in the fourth inning took something out of him. Get crucial breaking sports news alerts to your inbox. Please try again soon, or contact Customer Service at 1-800-332-6733. Delivery: Varies Invalid email address Thank you! You're almost signed up for Sports Breaking News Keep an eye out for an email to confirm your newsletter registration. More newsletters Still, he had thrown only 83 pitches in those five innings and could get only one out in the sixth. I thought those first five innings were pretty clean, Lovullo said that night, but we want him to pitch deeper into games. We know hes capable of doing that but his pitch count just ran up that one inning. If Ray is capable of consistently doing that, he hasnt shown it. That creates a challenge for Lovullo in deciding if Ray has hit a speed bump or a wall during a game. Ray considers himself a strikeout pitcher, which is nice, but that means more pitches and earlier exits. Ive gotten into situations where thats hurt me, he said, but Ive also gotten situations where, bases loaded, nobody out and you punch out the next three guys. Robbie Ray has a 3.52 ERA over 15 1/3 innings this season for the Diamondbacks. (Photo: Rob Schumacher/The Republic) Endurance, Ray said, isnt an issue. Maybe, but Ray is not going to do that. Im a max-effort pitcher, he said. I throw every pitch as hard as I can for as long as I can. Ive never been a guy who can sit there and sink the ball and cut the ball, change up. Ive never been a finesse guy. Maybe way later in my career thats something Ill have to dabble in. This season really, the first half of this season is pivotal for the Diamondbacks and Ray. If he pitches well, the Diamondbacks likely will be in contention and Ray will remain in Arizona. If he doesnt, or if the Diamondbacks struggle in the first half, Ray would an attractive trade target for a contending team. What the Diamondbacks need to find out is if Ray is a young player going through growing pains, or if this who he is: a power pitcher who struggles to last beyond the fifth inning. Rays answer to those questions is be patient. Its coming. Honestly, this is as good as Ive felt early in the year. Ive got nothing but high expectations for myself. Reach Kent Somers at [email protected]. Follow him on twitter @kentsomers. Hear Somers every Monday between 4 and 4:30 p.m. on The Drive with Jody Oehler on Fox Sports 910 AM. Support local journalism. Subscribe to azcentral.com today. Watch the Shot Clock | https://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/mlb/diamondbacks/2019/04/15/arizona-diamondbacks-pitcher-robbie-ray-enigma-strikeouts/3476609002/ |
When does Knaus Berry Farm close for 2019? | Knaus Berry Farm famous cinnamon rolls are almost back Knaus Berry Farm, famous for its house-made cinnamon rolls in the Redland, reopens for the 2018 season on Oct. 30. Here's what you need to know before you go: Up Next SHARE COPY LINK Knaus Berry Farm, famous for its house-made cinnamon rolls in the Redland, reopens for the 2018 season on Oct. 30. Here's what you need to know before you go: Its the saddest time of the year, Miami. Knaus Berry Farm is closing for the summer. The Redland favorite for its cinnamon rolls, fresh baked bread and strawberry shakes (and you-pick strawberries) is closing April 20 as the growing season comes to a close. That means theres still time to stock up on cinnamon rolls, which keep great frozen in the freezer for the six months until the farm reopens in October. Unlimited Digital Access: Only $0.99 For Your First Month Get full access to Miami Herald content across all your devices. SAVE NOW #ReadLocal But dont wait until Saturday, cautions a Knaus spokesperson. Annually four-hour-long lines are common the weekend it opens and on the last day. Instead, they recommend coming during the week from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. If they wait to come Saturday, its going to be a long wait, an employee at the farm, Isis Cousino, said. Those who rather make an afternoon of it Saturday, come prepared. Bring lawn chairs, sunscreen and hats, a good book and a charged phone (maybe even a backup battery). Read our locals tips for how to do Knaus Berry Farm like a pro. 15980 SW 248th St, Homestead | https://www.miamiherald.com/miami-com/restaurants/article229290689.html |
Is there time for another Brexit vote? | The latest delay to Brexit has energised those campaigning for another EU referendum. The extension to 31 October gives them more time to make the case for a so-called People's Vote. But if a referendum is to be held between now and then, they need to win the argument fast. Within a few weeks, the Halloween deadline - already challenging - would become a nightmare to meet. That is not to say there cannot be another referendum; just that such a vote may require more time. A further UK request to EU leaders to extend the Brexit process under Article 50 could be put to their June summit and may well be approved. Without that, the six-month period that has already been granted provides minimal time to organise a referendum that meets established standards. The watchdog for referendums and elections, the Electoral Commission, is not keen on rushing these things. "We have recommended that legislation should be in place six months before referendum polling day," the commission told BBC Scotland. "This would provide enough time for electoral administrators to plan and for campaigners to make their arguments to voters." Reality Check unpacks the basics. For that test to be met, the legislation for another EU vote by October would already need to have completed its passage through Parliament. It is, of course, for the UK government and MPs rather than the watchdog to decide. The commission's interim head, Bob Posner, has said his team would work with MPs to deliver a referendum in the "tightest possible timescale". By side-stepping commission recommendations and speeding up the law-making process it is possible to organise a referendum more quickly. Academics at the University College London's Constitution Unit concluded that the minimum time required would be 22 weeks. They argued that shortening the timescale further would raise questions about the legitimacy of the referendum. They also acknowledged that the process could take longer where there is significant dispute in parliament, which happens to be the prevailing climate. It is also the case that the Electoral Commission wants to toughen the rules for any further referendum, rather than cutting and pasting from 2016. The commission said it had made recommendations designed "to ensure there's greater transparency for voters when it comes to digital campaigning, more real-time reporting of spending and an increase in the sanctions we can issue. "If there is to be legislation for a referendum, we would want to work with parliamentarians to see these changes made", the Commission said. Timescale for referendum Despite these complicating factors, let's take 22 weeks as a guide. If the vote was held on the last Thursday before exit day - 24 October 2019 - that would require the legislation to be introduced to parliament by 23 May. (By coincidence, 23 May is the date pencilled in for the European Parliament elections in the UK). This timetable would require MPs to sit into August - two or three weeks after they might normally expect to break for summer. It would mean the referendum campaign clashing with the party conference season. It would also leave less than a week to act on the referendum outcome. Time enough to cancel Brexit if the decision was to remain in the EU. Not much time for the UK and European parliaments to ratify a Brexit deal should the referendum endorse the terms of departure. Please upgrade your browser Your guide to Brexit jargon Use the list below or select a button Above all, this timetable suggests referendum supporters have exactly one month to persuade the UK government of their case after parliament resumes on 23 April. In reality, it is probably less than that because there would need to be some time for officials to draft the referendum bill. The legislation for the 2016 vote would be a useful starting point but there would need to be changes. The 2016 question, for instance, would probably need to be different. Then, voters were asked: "Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union?" Presumably a future question would need to reference the Withdrawal Agreement Theresa May has negotiated with the EU. It might also need to reference the Political Declaration on the proposed future relationship, which may be subject to change in the coming months. There are certainly those who want to test public support for this package against remaining in the EU on existing terms. Others would want leaving the EU without a deal and trading on World Trade Organisation terms on the ballot paper. Others would prefer a multi-option vote. Even agreeing the basics could take more time than a tight referendum timetable would allow. If the process was speeded up further, corners would need to be cut. That would mean less time for parliamentary scrutiny and less time for the Electoral Commission to test the intelligibility of the question or decide on official campaign groups. Those advising the People's Vote campaign acknowledge that "no-one would want any of these stages unduly rushed". Image copyright House of Commons Image caption The SNP's Westminster leader, Ian Blackford, described lack of time as a "ridiculous excuse" for not holding a second referendum However, politicians who champion putting the Brexit question back to the public are confident it can be done before the end of October. In the Commons, the SNP's Westminster leader, Ian Blackford, described lack of time as a "ridiculous excuse". He cited the speed with which the referendum on Scottish devolution was held after the 1997 general election. That referendum took place just nineteen weeks after Tony Blair won power. But the circumstances were quite different. Then, the Labour government had won a landslide and the referendum had been a manifesto commitment. Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Scottish devolution vote from the archive Today, Theresa May does not have a Conservative majority in the Commons and both the Tories and Labour are deeply divided on Brexit. The devolution vote also took place a few years before the creation of the Electoral Commission and new campaign standards. The prime minister has said she believes it is important to deliver on the result of the first vote. Talks between her government and the Labour Party to search for a Brexit compromise are continuing. Labour retains a public vote (another referendum) on its list of Brexit possibilities but has not made it a red line in negotiations. The idea of another referendum has not yet secured a majority in parliament. It was defeated by 280 to 292 when MPs last voted on Brexit options. It would have had a simple majority if all Labour MPs had followed party instructions to vote for it. Even a couple of SNP MPs have - so far - withheld support. Image copyright Getty There may be further opportunities for parliamentary debate and it would not take many MPs to switch sides for a majority to be achieved. Even then, there is no guarantee the prime minister would throw government weight behind a referendum and risk deepening divisions in the Conservative party. With political will, of course, anything is possible and a parliamentary majority for another referendum on an accelerated timetable may yet emerge. Unless that shift in Brexit politics comes within a matter of weeks, another referendum - if it is to happen - would almost certainly require more time. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-47937629 |
Is Legislation The Only Hope To Fix Social Media's Ills? | Getty Not a week goes by that there isnt yet another story about the evils of social media, from enabling genocide to helping terrorists to human trafficking. A story earlier this month about Facebooks use in advertising child brides and the companys response that it was entirely unaware of the practice reminds us how little the companies are aware of how their products are being used and the monumental task of policing the online world. Perhaps most of all, these stories remind us of the lack of incentives for social media platforms to care, since they profit monetarily from evil. It is impossible to design technology that can be used only for good. All scientific advances can be used either to improve the world or to harm it. Technology creators can create incentive structures and design principles that encourage certain uses of their tools, but in the end, bad actors will always find ways of repurposing even the most benign and beneficial advances for evil. Earlier this month The Daily Beast reported the use of Facebook by certain communities to advertise child brides for sale, capturing yet another way in which Facebooks platform supports human trafficking. While the company did not respond to a request for comment, a spokesperson commented to The Daily Beast that it was unaware that its platform was being used in that way. Facebooks ignorance to the myriad ways its platform is being misused reflects the simple fact that there are no incentives for it to do better. Across the world, the company bears almost no legal responsibility for the misuse of its platform. In fact, Facebook actually earns a monetary profit from the sale of child brides on its platform through all of the advertisements that are consumed in the process. Yet, when asked again and again whether it would consider refunding the revenue it earns from human trafficking, terrorism, hate speech and genocide, the company has met each request for comment with either silence or no comment. Facebook is increasingly acting as a marketplace for illegal and unethical transactions across the world, earning a monetary commission on those activities through its ad revenue. When a child bride is sold on its platform, all of the users viewing, commenting and engaging with that sale are shown ads that earn Facebook money. In short, like any marketplace, Facebook profits monetarily from the human trafficking it facilitates. The fact that Facebook has refused to date to commit to either refunding the revenue it earns from such activity or to donate those funds to organizations that combat such activities, reminds us that social platforms have no reason to deter such use of their tools since they benefit them financially. This failure of moral leadership is one of the reasons that countries across the world have stepped forward so aggressively of late to explore new legislation that would incentivize social platforms to finally take action against the misuse of their platforms that they profit from. For example, recent proposed legislation in the United Kingdom would make social media executives personally liable for certain misuse, providing a strong incentive for them to finally take action. Though, in reality, it is unlikely that such strong legislation will survive industry lobbying. Unsurprisingly, Facebook did not respond to a request for comment on the legislation. Putting this all together, it is clear that the current system of self-regulation and total immunization of social media platforms from any responsibility or consequence of the misuse of their platforms simply isnt working. Beyond half-hearted public relations efforts, the companies have taken few real steps towards combatting misuse and their refusal to commit to refunding the money they earn from such misuse serves as a stark reminder of the very real financial counterincentives to regulation. In the end, until companies take responsibility for their platforms and invest seriously in combatting misuse, governments have no choice but to step in with new legislation that will finally force companies to act. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kalevleetaru/2019/04/15/is-legislation-the-only-hope-to-fix-social-medias-ills/ |
What if winter lasted for years like it does on 'Game of Thrones'? | Winter is not coming to the northern hemisphere and we have our planet's tilt to thank. Earth's axis is slightly tilted as it rotates around the sun. This means that the sun's rays don't hit our planet equally: If the rays directly hit the northern hemisphere, it spells winter for the southern hemisphere, and vice versa. Because the Earth is titled, as it orbits the sun, certain latitudes of the planet receive more or less sunlight during each season. It depends on how it happened, said Christopher Walcek, a senior research associate at the University of Alabany's Atmospheric Sciences Research Center. In other words, to answer the question, you'd need to know what caused winter to last for years. It could happen (though it wouldn't) if our planet fell into an orbit farther from the sun (nope) or stopped orbiting entirely in mid-February (this might happen just kidding). Let's say the latter happened, and the northern hemisphere wound up permanently tilted away from the sun. In that case, in the northern hemisphere, the days would be short, the nights would long and you'd have a high frequency of snowstorms.. Because the warmer weather wouldn't roll around to melt the snow, it would begin to accumulate, Walcek told Live Science. After just a couple of years, lingering winter weather would cause major ecosystem changes, he said. Deciduous trees and plants that normally sprout in the spring wouldn't do so; this would have ramifications for the rest of the food chain. "Bears and squirrels wouldn't be able to eat and would starve, deer would similarly be culled," Walcek said. As animals adjusted to reduced sunlight and availability of energy, "populations of [every species] would be reduced to a much lower level," he said. For example, many animals spend the months of winter preserving their energy through various means as food becomes scarce. Take frogs and turtles. They survive the winter season by lowering their metabolic rate so that they don't need to eat. These animals pretty much become "behaviorally inactive" during this time, said Jon Costanzo, an adjunct professor of biology at Miami University. But "there are limits to how long they can survive without feeding," he said. If winter went on and on, frogs and turtles would deplete their energy reserves and, being unable to feed, die of starvation. Or, metabolic waste products that accumulate in the body during the winter would build up, reaching toxic levels. "Frogs and turtles that live in seasonally cold places are very well-adapted to survive the winter, even a particularly long one," Costanzo told Live Science. "However, it is doubtful that they could survive a hibernation that lasts multiple years." Winter in Westeros is long, but it does usually end after a couple of years. That would look like an ice age , Walcek said. But even ice ages have seasons, so let's imagine a seasonless ice age. Within hundreds of thousands of years, huge ice sheets and glaciers would form over massive parts of land, and would plow over villages and valleys, the researcher said. "If you stop [the Earth's rotation] in the middle of February, here in the northern hemisphere, probably within about a thousand years you'd see huge ice sheets form over Europe and over Canada." Places like New York City would likely be on the edge of an ice sheet . There would be "huge changes to the whole food chain of every animal and plant," Walcek said. People would take more to hunting, leaving behind hopes of growing plants under packs of snow, he said. But physics won't allow this to happen so... happy spring! Editor's note: This article was corrected on April 14 to clarify that the Earth's tilt does not change as it rotates the sun. Originally published on Live Science. | https://www.foxnews.com/science/what-if-winter-lasted-for-years-like-it-does-on-game-of-thrones |
What can the Miami Marlins do with Wei-Yin Chen? | Marlins manager Don Mattingly talks about pitcher Wei-Yin Chens return from the disabled list Miami Marlins manager Don Mattingly talks about pitcher Wei-Yin Chens return from the disabled list on Saturday, April 28, 2018. Chen will start Saturday's game against the Colorado Rockies. Up Next SHARE COPY LINK Miami Marlins manager Don Mattingly talks about pitcher Wei-Yin Chens return from the disabled list on Saturday, April 28, 2018. Chen will start Saturday's game against the Colorado Rockies. Miami Marlins manager Don Mattingly waited as long as he could before he made the move. But as Saturdays four-and-a-half hour marathon against the Philadelphia Phillies turned to the 14th inning and the rest of his available bullpen options already used, Mattingly had no other choice. Wei-Yin Chen made his way to the mound. The starter-turned-relief pitchers first three outings of the year were not great, to say the least. Unlimited Digital Access: Only $0.99 For Your First Month Get full access to Miami Herald content across all your devices. SAVE NOW #ReadLocal His fourth was more of the same. Chen gave up a two-run home run from Jean Segura off Wei-Yin Chen one at-bat after an Andrew McCutchen triple, who missed a home run of his own down the left-field line by a few feet to seal the Marlins 3-1 loss. Chens pitching line for the season is tough to read: five innings, 12 hits, 13 earned runs allowed and a 23.40 ERA with seven strikeouts and five walks over four relief appearances. The rest of the Marlins bullpen has a collective 3.68 ERA over 51 1/3 innings, including six scoreless innings on Sunday leading up to Chens turn on the mound. I think theres too much in my head, Chen said through a translator after the game. Ive been paying too much attention to what adjustment I should make or my mechanics, but now I just want to try to do my best to execute on every pitch, so even though I allowed a home run, I feel much better. I feel like Im being much more aggressive on the mound and thats a good thing. Marlins manager Don Mattingly added: Hes battling. Its where were at with him right now. Well, its a tricky situation. Chen, who is due $20 million this season and $22 million next year, is not a prototypical reliever by any sense of the word. He relies primarily on a four-seam fastball that sits in the low 90s, a mid-80s slider and a low 70s curveball. But with the Marlins wanting to give its young core of starting pitchers Jose Urena, Trevor Richards, Pablo Lopez, Sandy Alcantara and Caleb Smith as much experience as possible, the bullpen is where Chen will be staying. I think his stuff is what it is and hes going to have to get the ball to certain parts of the plate and mix, Mattingly said. Obviously he hasnt been able to do that and be effective. The Marlins also have to think long-term. If an injury were to happen in the starting rotation or a starter has a bad outing, they need a backup plan. Right now, thats Chen. In the meantime, the Marlins are holding out hope that Chen will turn his production around. Well continue to give him time and give him the weapons to be successful, Marlins president of baseball operations Michael Hill said. Hes been a successful pitcher in the major leagues before. We know he can help us win baseball games. Thats our job, to get him straight and get the ship righted and get him back to helping us win baseball games. Sports Pass for $30 per year Get unlimited access to all Miami Herald sports stories and videos for $30 Subscribe now #READLOCAL | https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/mlb/miami-marlins/article229016789.html |
Why doesn't Whittaker's make Easter eggs? | The Porirua-based chocolate manufacturer produces mini slabs, king-size chocolate bars, snack-size chocolates and a hollow chocolate kiwi available around Easter but it has never created a traditional oval chocolate egg. Whittaker's first introduced its dark chocolate and milk chocolate kiwi-shaped chocolate figurine in 2016 and since then have become a staple in supermarkets' Easter assortments. The Herald asked Whittaker's to discuss the question and its views on the traditional Easter egg, but the manufacturer turned down the request for an interview. Advertisement Instead, the company said its hollow chocolate kiwi was its "own twist on the traditional bunny and egg". "At Whittaker's we have always done things our own way. As a proud New Zealand company, we wanted to celebrate our national kiwi icon and create our own twist on the traditional bunny and egg." Whittaker's Easter egg is shaped as a Kiwi. Photo / Whittaker's Facebook Whittaker's said the chocolate kiwi is "nestled around an Easter egg", and that the shape was a link to its partnership with Kiwis for kiwi, a kiwi hatchery and charity which supports conservation, which it donates a portion of its profits to from the sale of the figurine each year. Chris Wilkinson, managing director of First Retail Group, said one reason Whittaker's doesn't produce a traditional shaped Easter egg like other chocolate manufacturers such as Cadbury was that the process for making eggs was complex. "[It] often requires more manual inputs, while the market is limited to a short season. Issues of packaging and freight are also tricky for these products," Wilkinson said. "Whittaker's is highly automated with its efficiency driven through specialisation into a limited format of chocolate-based bar products. Adding a line specific to a product of limited demand, would not make sense when the company continues to grow its market locally and internationally." Whittaker's, therefore, may not be interested in creating an Easter egg-shaped product, which could get in the way of wider growth opportunities through exports, he said. Costs associated with leftover product after Easter and difficulties around freight and transportation could also be determining factors, he said. "For Whittaker's there may be demand, but they won't want to cloud their core ranges, or want to get into the competition for shelf space." Foodstuffs spokeswoman Antoinette Laird said there would be strong demand for an egg-shaped Whittaker's product but acknowledged the company had likely deliberately not created one. "It's likely Whittaker's have chosen to stand out from the crowd with their chocolate Kiwi," Lair said. "It's highly likely we'd consider ranging a Whittaker's Easter egg if they went down that path." Countdown operator Woolworths NZ said it would consider stocking a Whittaker's egg-shaped product if it decided to make one. | https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12222694&ref=rss |
Should the Phoenix Suns pick Zion Williamson if they land top pick? | They lost the tiebreaker to Cleveland for the second-worst record. Looking back at that late win over the Cavaliers, it snapped a six-game skid for Phoenix, but continued what winded up being a 10-game skid for Cleveland that led to them having the same record as the Suns. Still, Phoenix has the same 14 percent chance as the New York Knicks and Cleveland Cavaliers to land the top pick that everyone and their mama is saying should be Williamson. That consensus doesnt guarantee Williamson will become a future Hall of Famer, or even an All-Star, but he clearly has undeniable talent comprised in an athletic and powerful, 6-foot-7, 285-pound frame. Hes a defensive tackle/end with handles, a 3-point shot and will be an instant box-office hit whether he ends in NYC, Northeast Ohio, the desert or somewhere else. Decisions. Decisions. Decisions. CLOSE Phoenix Suns interim general manager James Jones talks about his 'long-term plan' with the franchise. Duane Rankin, Arizona Republic This will be the first major one for James Jones to make as a general manager without the interim tag with new senior vice president of basketball operations Jeff Bower assisting him. The May 14 draft lottery will set the stage for what Phoenix will do next. Just because Patrick Ewing will be in there representing the Knicks as he was their top overall pick the last time they won the lottery doesnt mean theyre a lock to win it this time. After all, Ewing usually came up short in Chicago, especially when Michael Jordan was in town. If Phoenix doesnt land the top pick and the lottery falls directly in line with the records for the first three picks, Morant would likely fall right in their lap. Get crucial breaking sports news alerts to your inbox. Please try again soon, or contact Customer Service at 1-800-332-6733. Delivery: Varies Invalid email address Thank you! You're almost signed up for Sports Breaking News Keep an eye out for an email to confirm your newsletter registration. More newsletters Cleveland has its future point guard in Collin Sexton. He isnt a true playmaker, but plays with a fierceness thats a good starting point for become a star in this league. Decisions. Decisions. Decisions. Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at [email protected] or contact him at 480-787-1240. Follow him on Twitter at @DuaneRankin. Support local journalism. Start your online subscription. | https://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/nba/suns/2019/04/15/phoenix-suns-if-no-1-should-suns-take-zion-williamson-nba-draft/3480280002/ |
Did police follow protocol in fatal Charlotte NC shooting? | Body cam video shows CMPD officer shooting, killing man at Charlotte Burger King Video shows Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Wende Kerl fatally shooting Danquirs Franklin on March 25, 2019. Up Next SHARE COPY LINK Video shows Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Wende Kerl fatally shooting Danquirs Franklin on March 25, 2019. It could be months before authorities determine whether to criminally charge officers involved in a deadly shooting at a west Charlotte restaurant. But several use-of-force experts interviewed by the Observer on Monday said that the available facts suggest the shooting was legally justified. Still, several of those interviewed raised questions about whether police officers could have taken steps to avert bloodshed on March 25, the day Officer Wende Kerl killed 27-year-old Danquirs Franklin in the parking lot of a west Charlotte Burger King. Franklin had a gun when he was shot, and CMPD released body-worn camera footage from that confrontation on Monday. Kerl and another officer instructed Franklin to put the gun down more than 15 times in the roughly 40 seconds before the shooting. Then, Franklin reached his right hand toward a pocket and pulled out a gun by the barrel. He did not appear to be pointing the gun in the moment before he was shot; instead, he appeared to be lowering it toward the ground, the video showed. Some community activists say they believe the evidence shows that, in the moment before he was shot, Franklin was trying to comply with the police command to drop his gun. Unlimited Digital Access: Only $0.99 For Your First Month Get full access to The Charlotte Observer content across all your devices. SAVE NOW #ReadLocal Seth Stoughton, a former police officer who is a professor at the University of South Carolina School of Law, said he believes the video raises some serious questions about the officers tactics. Well-trained officers know they should use distance and cover to reduce the potential threat from armed suspects, Stoughton said. In this case, one of the officers was standing less than a car-length away from an armed subject with nothing but air between them for more than 30 seconds, he wrote in an email to the Observer. When officers are in safer positions, they have more time to assess situations and make decisions, Stoughton said. If, for example, the officers had taken positions of relative safety, they might have been more comfortable waiting to see if Mr. Franklin was going to put the gun on the ground the way that they had commanded him to, rather than shooting him at the moment they did, Stoughton wrote. Other experts weigh in Eugene ODonnell, a former police officer and current professor at the John Jay School of Criminal Justice in New York City, agreed that the officer who fired was in a totally exposed position. But, he said, the officers might not have felt they had the luxury of taking cover because they might have had reason to believe there was an imminent danger to others. Police responded to the Burger King after two women separately called to say they saw an armed man there. One of them told a police dispatcher he was pointing his gun at employees. By law, police officers can use deadly force if they have reason to believe that they or others face an imminent threat of death or serious bodily harm. SHARE COPY LINK Kenneth Williams, professor at South Texas College of Law in Houston say police followed protocol in the shooting of Danquirs Franklin. Williams viewed the body camera footage released by CMPD in the March 25, 2019 shooting. Emanuel Kapelsohn, a firearms and police use-of-force instructor from Pennsylvania, said that its usually impossible to tell whether a police shooting was justified simply by watching a few seconds of video. But based on the video and the facts so far, he said, I think theres a very strong likelihood that it was legally justified. Police knew the suspect had gone to a public place brandishing a gun, Kappelsohn said. And they knew he was not complying with their orders. The officers command him again and again and again to drop his gun, he said. But Franklin did not immediately drop the gun, the video showed. All you have to do is open your hand and let gravity take over, Kappelsohn said. Thats all you need to do to get a gun on the ground. Instead he holds the gun between him and the man in the car. If the suspect had shot the man in the car, all of us would be saying, Why didnt the officers save that man? SHARE COPY LINK Video shows Danquirs Franklin putting gun down before Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Wende Kerl fatally shoots and kills him. Kenneth Williams, a law professor at South Texas College of Law who has studied and written about police uses of force, agreed that the video and initial facts suggest that prosecutors would have difficulty proving that Kerl violated the law. Based on what Ive seen, my opinion is that this was a justified shooting, he said. ODonnell was more definite: I dont think theres any doubt that (the shooting) is legally justified. Two others Stoughton and William Terrill, a professor in the School of Criminology & Criminal Justice at Arizona State University said they did not have enough information to assess whether the shooting was justified. Leaning on the justified side, Terrill wrote in an email to the Observer. The officers are aiming at Mr. Franklin, but there was the very real possibility that their bullets would have gone past (or through) him into the Burger King behind him, he wrote. SHARE COPY LINK Danquirs Franklin was killed outside the Burger King on Beatties Ford Rd. He lived a difficult life, but people like his grandmother and his teachers pushed him forward. CMPD expects to present its facts on the case to the Mecklenburg District Attorneys office within two weeks. The district attorneys office will then assess whether officers actions merit criminal charges. Kerl will remain on administrative assignment until that time. | https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article229247059.html |
Could The Release Of The Mueller Report Change President Trump's Narrative? | NPR's Audie Cornish speaks with New Yorker staff writer Susan Glasser, about how President Trump has bounced back up in the polls since the release of the summary of the Mueller report. AUDIE CORNISH, HOST: President Trump's take on all this - no collusion, no obstruction, complete and total exoneration. And we know all that because that's what the president tweeted shortly after Attorney General William Barr released his four-page summary of the Mueller report last month. We're going to tackle some of these questions with Susan Glasser. She writes the Letter From Washington column for The New Yorker. Welcome to the studio. SUSAN GLASSER: Thank you so much. GLASSER: Well, that's right. There's obviously not a lot of nuance that can be conveyed in either a four-page letter or a 140-character tweet. And President Trump has been very clear in trying to establish a political narrative around what the attorney general has characterized as the findings in the report. Remember, President Trump has had such a consistent approval and disapproval rating. Basically, people's minds are made up about the president. CORNISH: Right. We've had, you know, some time since then. GLASSER: Well, that's right. I mean, look. Consistently, surveys have shown that people in both parties want the report released. It took a little bit of time, but you have seen Republicans migrating around to the narrative that the president has offered for them that, in fact, this report does offer exoneration and vindication. But interestingly, the president himself appears to be somewhat more nervous and concerned about what is actually in this report than he was initially. Remember, there was this sort of jubilance. The president was in Florida at his golf club when the initial reports about the report came out. And he exclaimed with what clearly was a great relief that he was off scot-free. There was no collusion. Now he's back to criticizing - just this morning, again in a tweet - the Mueller team, who has written this report, as if they were partisan, angry Democrats. And you hear increasing calls on the Republican side that they should investigate the investigators. CORNISH: Right. This is questions about whether or not the investigators surveilled the Trump campaign, whether they overstepped in doing so. GLASSER: Well, there was already a very, very robust debate that's only likely to grow about 2020 and how best to confront and to run against Donald Trump. And I think this will help to answer some of that debate a little bit, what we find out this week. CORNISH: That's Susan Glasser, staff writer at The New Yorker. Thank you for speaking with us. GLASSER: Thank you. Copyright 2019 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPRs programming is the audio record. | https://www.npr.org/2019/04/15/713616813/could-the-release-of-the-mueller-report-change-president-trumps-narrative?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=allthingsconsidered |
Will Tiger Woods' Masters win be the spark golf needs to diversify? | Like his hero Sifford, Woods will soon be the recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The announcement came less than 24 hours after his triumphant return to glory at The Masters. And just as Presidents Obama and Trump the two men who honored the golfers could not be more different, so too are the circumstances surrounding Woods and Siffords recognitions. Apropos that the very tournament that refused to allow one medal winner in is where the other announced both his arrival and his return. Im no medium but one must assume Augusta National co-founder and chair Clifford Roberts, who once said as long as Im alive golfers will be white and the caddies will be black, is rolling over in his proverbial grave. Of course, Woods is a self-described Cablinasian so perhaps Roberts revolutions are tempered a bit. | https://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-tiger-woods-masters-comeback-20190415-story.html |
Whats on the minds of Quebec business leaders? | Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton recently conducted a Leger survey to determine whats on the minds of Quebec leaders. They asked 300 small and medium enterprise (SME) leaders about their most pressing business issues. Here are the main findings. According to the survey, 62 per cent of SME leaders are looking to grow their businesses through strategies such as product and service diversification (37 per cent), strategic partnership development (31 per cent) and new market expansion (27 per cent). The survey also revealed, however, that their expansion plans were surprisingly limited in reach, since companies dont expect to grow internationally. One in 10 enterprises has already proceeded with some form of market expansion, most notably to the United States (55 per cent). Another one in 10 expects to extend its reach outside Canada in the next five years. This suggests that the remaining businesses have no intention to capitalize the potential that lies across the border or overseas. In a globalized economy, international markets offer tremendous opportunity. Quebec SMEs remain focused on local growth, though the whole world is within reach. There is a lot of genius in Quebec SMEs and they can afford to take more space in global markets, said Emilio B. Imbriglio, president and chief executive officer at Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton. What makes this finding even more interesting is that 81 per cent of those businesses who did pursue international growth found their efforts paid off. The next three years will be critical, said Imbriglio. Companies slow in adapting their businesses to digital are unlikely to attain their full potential. Not surprisingly, the biggest challenges that Quebec companies expect to face in the next three years are related to workforce issues, with 48 per cent of respondents citing recruitment as their top concern and 23 per cent concerned with retaining their people. Already, businesses are investing in employee training (83 per cent), because they know that a lack of qualified workers not only has an impact on day-to-day operations, but it also impedes innovative growth. The labour shortage is real. Businesses must come up with creative solutions to address the situation. An option often overlooked is seeking specialized talent from abroad, through temporary immigration, said Marc Audet, president of AURAY Sourcing, an international recruitment firm. Innovation, digital transformation, labour shortage these are just some of the issues that Quebec businesses are grappling with in their quest to remain competitive in a global economy. Given the stakes, it makes sense for them to partner with external specialists who have a proven track record in developing modernization and growth strategies. Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton is a leading Canadian business consulting firm that helps clients achieve their full potential, both locally and globally. Recognizing that innovation and education are key for Quebecs economy, this year Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton created the Person of the Year awards in conjunction with the John Molson School of Business. The contest celebrates talented people who are building leading-edge companies, next-generation leaders and real collaboration between academia and the business world. The winners will be announced on May 9. Visit rcgt.com/awards for more information and to see the nominees. This story was created by Content Works, Postmedias commercial content division, on behalf of Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton. | https://montrealgazette.com/sponsored/business-sponsored/whats-on-the-minds-of-quebec-business-leaders |
Can European banks be saved by a fresh round of deal making? | There's a mooted capital raising for Deutsche Bank before any possible consolidation with Commerzbank. Meanwhile, Italian lender UniCredit is waiting in the wings let alone any other rival jumping on the bandwagon. European banks have found themselves wedged into the same category as basic resources back in 2015: uninvestable. The European Central Bank (ECB) folded and conceded its current hand of cards meant no chance of hiking its benchmark interest rate for the foreseeable future, delivering a dose of realism. The loser wasn't the ultra-dovish ECB President Mario Draghi, but bank investors stuck in a much dreaded value trap. Hope vanished for a long-awaited expansion in net interest margins (NIMs) for banks in 2019, which is essentially the profits that these banks make and is usually much better if rates are higher. One banking commentator told CNBC this month that investors should forget about European banks' NIMs expanding for a few years now. To be fair bank bosses are trying everything. UBS resorted to verbal kitchen sinking recently, telling investors it had been saddled with the worst start to the year in many years. Others are keeping a brave face, Santander is steadfast it can deliver lofty ROTE (return on tangible equity) targets of 13% to 15% in the medium term, up from 11.7% last year because it has done it before in the face of headwinds. Then there is all the noise of consolidation driven by the German lenders Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank. Typically, this news flow would mean "game on" for buying on mere consolidation hopes. Just not in European banks where merger and acquisitions have been slim. Any sector action and that's being kind using the word action can be viewed as recovery after freefall last year. There is a long laundry list of fears around the banks which can be best summarized as a lack of growth. Perhaps. Without growing capital, banks could be forced to sell assets or raise more capital. Activists have called for smaller investment banks at Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse and Barclays so any extra business even from ill-fated mergers would be welcome. | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/16/can-european-banks-be-saved-by-a-fresh-round-of-deal-making.html |
Should Manchester United Have Waited Until The End Of The Season To Appoint Solskjaer? | Getty When Marcus Rashfords penalty crashed against the back of the net to complete a dramatic comeback against Paris-Saint Germain last month, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer became Manchester Uniteds new permanent manager. It would be another 22 days before he was formally unveiled at Old Trafford, but the thrilling fashion in which Solskjaer had guided his team to this victory over the French champions, finally convinced the United board he had passed his audition. The Norwegian had taken United to the quarter-finals of both the FA Cup and now the Champions League, as well as wiping out the 11-point gap that had separated them from the top four in the Premier League table. He had won 14 of his 19 games in charge of United with a style of attacking football that reconnected the club to their adventurous traditions. After that win in Paris, United would lose 2-0 to Arsenal, and 2-1 to Wolves in the FA Cup, which was thier worst performance of Solskjaers reign. It was a clear show of faith that United handed him the United job immediately after these two defeats, but he had proved he deserved the role. Getty However, since Solskjaer was appointed Uniteds permanent manager the uncomfortable truth is his side have not played well yet in a single game. The Norwegian has presided over four games, which has seen his side suffer two defeats and grasp two highly fortunate and narrow wins. In Solskjaers first game, against Watford at Old Trafford there was a hope his appointment would inspire an impressive display, but United put on a strangely lethargic display, and stuttered to a 2-1 win. Solskjaer knew what he had witnessed was not good enough. The feeling in the dressing room after was almost like a funeral, he said. They were all sat there, it was very quiet, they were all disappointed in their performance at full-time. Its not like jubilationThey all know that this was a below par performance and we can play so much better and they can do better. But three days later they failed to do this and fell to another defeat to Wolves at Molineux, their second there in just 16 days, when they lost 2-1 despite taking the lead after 13 minutes. Solskjaer suffered another defeat in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final when Barcelona triumphed 1-0 last week. The frustration for Uniteds manager is Barcelona were poor, but his side couldnt summon up a single shot on target to leave them with much to do in the second leg. Getty On Saturday evening, once again United fortiuously triumphed 2-1 at Old Trafford against West Ham, when they could so very easily have lost. United didnt score from open play, instead needing two penalties from Paul Pogba, and at 1-1 in the second half were grateful to see a shot from Michail Antonio smash against the cross bar before minutes later David De Gea made a wonderful save from the same player's header. These stumbling performances make it natural to question whether United acted too hastily in appointing Solskjaer as permanent manager. This is not to raise doubts about him getting the role, that would be plainly ridiculous after four games, but rather the timing of the appointment. Since he arrived in December the successful dynamic at the club has been a hungry manager and group of players wanting to prove themselves, which drove them all to an initially impressive set of results. Getty Most players in the squad were transformed; they were suddenly more committed, more clinical, and more energetic. They now wanted it. There was no pressing need for it, and may have caused players, even subconsciously to ease up, and thus create this mini-slump. Solskjaer has noted his players recent decline in energy levels and performances, and raised concerns about his squads overall fitness. Beginning on Tuesday night, with Uniteds trip to Barcelona for the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final, Solskjaer has the biggest stage of all to show there is no validity to any of this. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/sampilger/2019/04/15/should-manchester-united-have-waited-until-the-end-of-the-season-to-appoint-solskjaer/ |
Where do Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffett and Bill Gates rank among all-time richest Americans? | 24/7 Wall St. reviewed lists of the wealthiest people in American history, both those living and deceased, to determine the richest Americans of all time. Among them: Sergey Brin and Larry Page, who co-founded Google. (Photo: Ralph Orlowski / Getty Images) America is often referred to as The Land of Opportunity, offering people of all backgrounds and levels of education a chance to succeed and build a fortune through hard work and innovation. Throughout U.S. history, people have become titans of industry and gained recognition through their accomplishments and industry-disrupting ideas. These figures often rose to prominence by undercutting and outmaneuvering the competition to dominate their industry. Names like Rockefeller, Carnegie, and Astor are still prominently displayed on street addresses, performance centers, and municipal buildings because of the indelible impact those people have had on American history and the economy. Reviewing the industries that these business magnates dominated to obtain their wealth can be an interesting way to map the trajectory of the U.S. economy over time. Here's a list. Moneyed millennials: Zuckerberg is the richest millennial entrepreneur in the world. See the rest of the list. Many of the richest Americans of all time made their fortunes at a time when the U.S. was expanding rapidly and building up its infrastructure. During the second half of the 19th century John D. Rockefellers oil and Andrew Carnegies steel fed Americas voracious appetite to expand. But many Americans also resented the success of the top 1%, branding them as robber barons and arguing their fortunes were made on the backs of their employees. Today a new class of mega-billionaire has made its money through the internet and related technologies. Jeff Bezos is worth more than $150 billion thanks to his e-commerce giant, Amazon. Mark Zuckerberg one of the 30 richest millennial tech entrepreneurs created Facebook and became a self-made billionaire at age 23. He was at the time the youngest person to ever do so. NEWSLETTERS Get the Managing Your Money newsletter delivered to your inbox We're sorry, but something went wrong A collection of articles to help you manage your finances like a pro. Please try again soon, or contact Customer Service at 1-800-872-0001. Delivery: Fri Invalid email address Thank you! You're almost signed up for Managing Your Money Keep an eye out for an email to confirm your newsletter registration. More newsletters 24/7 Wall St. reviewed lists of the wealthiest people in American history, both those living and deceased, to determine the richest Americans of all time. We converted the estimated net worth of those who have passed away into current U.S. dollars. Real-time estimates came from Forbes. Jim Walton. (Photo: walmartcorporate / Flickr) 30. Jim Walton (b.1948) 2018 estimated net worth: $46.6 billion Source of wealth: Walmart Birthplace: Newport, Arkansas Jim Walton is the youngest son of Sam Walton, Walmart's founder. Jim no longer sits on the company's board, instead focusing on Arvest Bank, which is owned primarily by the Walton family. 29. John Insley Blair (1802-1899) 2018 estimated net worth: $47.7 billion Source of wealth: Railroads Birthplace: Belvidere, New Jersey Before the advent of cars and airplanes, railroads were the dominant way to move goods and people across the country. John Insley Blair was said to have been the largest owner of railroad property in the world at one point and he served as president of 16 railroad companies at the same time. 28. Cyrus H.K. Curtis (1850-1933) 2018 estimated net worth: $48.3 billion Source of wealth: Publishing Birthplace: Portland, Maine Recognized as a member of the Advertising Hall of Fame, Cyrus H.K. Curtis is considered the "founder of the modern magazine." Curtis launched magazines such as Ladies' Home Journal and later bought other publications including The Evening Post and The Philadelphia Inquirer. Charles and David Koch. (Photo: Matthew Stockman / Andrew Toth / Getty Images) 27. Charles & David Koch (b.1935, b.1940) 2018 estimated net worth: $52.0 billion Source of wealth: Koch Industries, multiple industries Birthplace: Wichita, Kansas Charles Koch and his brother David own more than 80% of Koch Industries, the conglomerate started by their father, Fred. Koch Industries produces a diverse array of products, including chemicals and consumer goods. 26. William Weightman (1813-1904) 2018 estimated net worth: $52.7 billion Source of wealth: Pharmaceuticals Birthplace: Waltham, England William Weightman moved to the U.S. at the request of his uncle, a chemist. In the country, Weightman launched a company that developed a new synthetic treatment for malaria He parlayed his windfall into a vast portfolio of real estate holdings in Philadelphia. 25. James G. Fair (1831-1894) 2018 estimated net worth: $53.8 billion Source of wealth: Mining industry Birthplace: Clogher, Northern Ireland James G. Fair moved from Northern Ireland to the U.S. as a boy, and traveled to California during the 1849 gold rush to seek his fortune. Fair proved himself adept at understanding the state's geologic formations and over time secured a leadership position at the Hale and Norcross mining company. He later helped the mining company find the Big Bonanza, the discovery of which in 1873 represented the largest cache of gold and silver in U.S. history. 24. Sergey Brin (b.1973) 2018 estimated net worth: $54.0 billion Source of wealth: Google Birthplace: Moscow, Russia Born in Moscow in 1973, Sergey Brin and his family immigrated to the U.S. to escape the Soviet era discrimination against Jewish people. He and Larry Page, a Stanford computer science student, created Google as a project. Their mission was to create an internet search engine that would rank the results according to what was most popular. Brin has been a billionaire since 2004, when Google went public. Russell Sage. (Photo: Pirie MacDonald / Library of Congress / Wikimedia Commons) 23. Russell Sage (1816-1906) 2018 estimated net worth: $54.5 billion Source of wealth: Stock trading Birthplace: Verona, New York Russell Sage was born into a poor family, but he used his financial skills to build a fortune. He initially owned a shop, then used the profits to try his hand at other ventures. He later moved to New York City, where he became a stock trader. Some of his innovative trading methods including using puts and calls are still employed on Wall Street to this day. 22. Larry Page (b.1973) 2018 estimated net worth: $55.2 billion Source of wealth: Google Birthplace: East Lansing, Michigan Larry Page is the son of a computer scientist and a computer programming teacher. He and Sergey Brin invented the search engine Google while studying at Stanford University. 21. Moses Taylor (1806-1882) 2018 estimated net worth: $55.4 billion Source of wealth: Citibank Birthplace: N/A Moses Taylor's father was a close associate of John Jacob Astor, who had bought City Bank of New York, now Citibank, after the panic of 1837 and put the younger Taylor in charge. After Moses achieved success, the Taylor family donated some of his fortune to open Moses Taylor Hospital in Scranton, Pennsylvania. The hospital was founded to treat the families of workers for DL&W Railroad and Lackawanna Iron and Coal Company, for which Moses Taylor had served as a director. 20. Michael Bloomberg (b.1942) 2018 estimated net worth: $59.4 billion Source of wealth: Bloomberg L.P. Birthplace: Boston, Massachusetts Michael Bloomberg worked on Wall Street at the beginning of his career but eventually created his own information technology company to serve the financial industry. His company quickly became successful thanks to the Bloomberg Terminal, which in 1981 began offering traders a computerized way to collect, analyze, and share data. Bloomberg eventually served as a three-term mayor of New York City. Andrew Mellon. (Photo: Keystone / Getty Images) 19. Andrew Mellon (1855-1937) 2018 estimated net worth: $64.3 billion Source of wealth: Banking Birthplace: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania The son of wealthy banker Thomas Mellon, Andrew Mellon eventually took over his bank. The younger Mellon proved he had a keen eye for recognizing emerging technologies. He helped found the Aluminum Company of America and the Gulf Oil Corporation. He later served as a U.S. Treasury secretary for more than a decade. 18. Larry Ellison (b.1944) 2018 estimated net worth: $65.3 billion Source of wealth: Oracle Birthplace: New York City, New York Larry Ellison founded Oracle software company in 1977. The company got its big break in 1981 when IBM opted to use Oracle's database management system. Oracle is now one of the largest software company in the world. 17. Mark Zuckerberg (b.1984) 2018 estimated net worth: $66.0 billion Source of wealth: Facebook Birthplace: White Plains, New York Mark Zuckerberg's rise to prominence is well known. While at Harvard, he created the social media juggernaut Facebook. Despite the company's recent problems with the security of its data, Zuckerberg is the nation's wealthiest person under 40. Henry Ford. (Photo: Getty Images / Getty Images) 16. Henry Ford (1863-1947) 2018 estimated net worth: $68.3 billion Source of wealth: Automobiles Birthplace: Dearborn, Michigan Henry Ford became one of America's most famous entrepreneurs due to the dominance of the Ford Motor Company. Ford was able to make cars efficiently and inexpensively after inventing the moving assembly line. By 1918, nearly half of all cars on American roads were Fords. 15. Marshall Field (1834-1906) 2018 estimated net worth: $76.3 billion Source of wealth: Department stores Birthplace: Conway, Massachusetts A hard-working salesman, Marshall Field earned a fortune from his eponymous chain of department stores. He started a job at a Chicago mercantile house as a teen and worked his way up the store ranks to become a partner of the firm. He eventually bought out his partners and renamed his enterprise's stores Marshall Field and Company. 14. Jay Gould (1836-1892) 2018 estimated net worth: $79.6 billion Source of wealth: Railroads Birthplace: Roxbury, New York Many 19th-century industrialists were notorious for their unscrupulous business practices and derisively called robber barons. Jay Gould may have been one of the most despised of this set because of his business practices. He reportedly issued fraudulent stock to buyers and bribed legislators to ensure that the sales went through. He rolled much of his profit into purchasing part of the Union Pacific Railroad. Warren Buffett. (Photo: Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images) 13. Warren Buffett (b.1930) 2018 estimated net worth: $85.1 billion Source of wealth: Berkshire Hathaway Birthplace: Omaha, Nebraska Known as the "Oracle of Omaha," Warren Buffett is a modern-day legend of investing and business diversification. He created his company, Buffett Partnership, in 1956 and quickly became a millionaire. He then purchased a textile company called Berkshire Hathaway but ended its textile division and purchased varied assets. Shares of Berkshire Hathaway are now among the most coveted stocks on the market. Buffett is also known for generous donations to charity; he has given away more than $32 billion. 12. Friedrich Weyerhaeuser (1834-1914) 2018 estimated net worth: $92.7 billion Source of wealth: Lumber Birthplace: Saulheim, Germany Friedrich Weyerhaeuser left Germany at age 18 and began working at a sawmill in Illinois. After the economic downturn of 1857, Weyerhaeuser bought the mill and expanded his empire. He purchased logging operations around the Mississippi River. In 1900 he set a record for engaging in the largest private land transaction, when he bought 900,000 acres in Washington. 11. Bill Gates (b.1955) 2018 estimated net worth: $99.3 billion Source of wealth: Microsoft Birthplace: Seattle, Washington After founding Microsoft, Bill Gates ranked as the wealthiest person in America for more than 20 years. He famously dropped out of Harvard to create Microsoft with partner, Paul Allen. The company transitioned from making computing machines to also offering software. Today Investopedia ranks it as the world's largest software company by revenue. 10. Alexander Turney Stewart (1803-1876) 2018 estimated net worth: $101.7 billion Source of wealth: Department stores Birthplace: Lisburn, Ireland Alexander Turney Stewart slowly transformed his $3,000 inheritance into one of the largest retail empires in U.S. history. Born in Ireland, Stewart traveled to America to sell dry goods. He became one of the first retailers to offer standard prices instead of haggling with customers. Stewart's company became so large, it won a contract to supply uniforms for Union soldiers during the Civil War. Andrew Carnegie. (Photo: library_of_congress / Flickr) 9. Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919) 2018 estimated net worth: $102.7 billion Source of wealth: Carnegie Steel Company Birthplace: Dunfermline, Scotland At a time when considerable portions of America's new transportation infrastructure were being built, Andrew Carnegie's company supplied the needed steel. Carnegie Steel Corporation used technologically advanced methods to make prodigious amounts of steel and it owned the requisite raw materials to make production cheaper. In 1901 Carnegie sold his company for $200 million and focused on philanthropy. He once wrote the "man who dies rich dies disgraced." 8. Stephen Van Rensselaer (1764-1839) 2018 estimated net worth: $102.7 billion Source of wealth: Inheritance, real estate Birthplace: New York City, New York Stephen Van Rensselaer was born into considerable wealth. His father died when he was just 5 and left him a large amount of land and holdings. Stephen Van Rensselaer decided to rent out much of this property and at one point reportedly had as many as 100,000 tenants. 7. Richard Mellon (1858-1933) 2018 estimated net worth: $104.7 billion Source of wealth: Banking Birthplace: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania In 1882 Richard Mellon and his brother Andrew took over a bank run by their father. The pair also made money from the steel and coal industries, as well as the new burgeoning railroad business. Andrew ended up entering politics, becoming Treasury secretary, while Richard remained in the private sector. 6. Stephen Girard (1750-1831) 2018 estimated net worth: $122.0 billion Source of wealth: Shipping Birthplace: Bordeaux, France Though he was born before the founding of the United States, Stephen Girard became one of its most important early business tycoons. He amassed a fleet of trading ships and invested much of his money in the First Bank of the United States. He eventually bought the bank's assets and used them to lend millions of dollars to the young country. during the War of 1812, keeping its government afloat. John Jacob Astor. (Photo: nostri-imago / Flickr) 5. John Jacob Astor (1763-1848) 2018 estimated net worth: $140.3 billion Source of wealth: Fur trading, real estate Birthplace: Waldorf, Germany John Jacob Astor personifies the American success story. He moved to America from Germany with no money and started a fur trading business that flourished. After selling his trading enterprise, he invested in New York City real estate. At one point, his company owned hundreds of Manhattan properties. 4. Jeff Bezos (b.1964) 2018 estimated net worth: $151.6 billion Source of wealth: Amazon Birthplace: Albuquerque, New Mexico Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has seen his net worth skyrocket over the past year as his company continues to dominate the online shopping marketplace. However, Bezos' net worth is about to take a hit. On April 4, Bezos' ex-wife MacKenzie announced that the pair had completed negotiations for their divorce. The settlement would leave MacKenzie with 25% of the former couple's Amazon shares. 3. Sam Walton (1918-1992) 2018 estimated net worth: $171.6 billion Source of wealth: Walmart Birthplace: Kingfisher, Oklahoma Walmart is America's largest brick-and-mortar retailer, and its success has largely been guided by the influence of its founder, Sam Walton. He expanded his first retail efforts from overseeing a single Ben Franklin franchised store in Arkansas into managing 15 outlets. After he butted heads with the chain's management, he decided to open his own stores. The first Wal-Mart opened in 1962, and by 1976 the company was worth more than $176 million. 2. Cornelius Vanderbilt (1794-1877) 2018 estimated net worth: $208.4 billion Source of wealth: Shipping Birthplace: Staten Island, New York Cornelius Vanderbilt first made his fortune ferrying goods on the rivers surrounding New York City. He later helped establish the railroad industry as a means of transporting goods to the West in the mid-1800s. John D. Rockefeller. (Photo: Hulton Archive / Getty Images) 1. John D. Rockefeller (1839-1937) 2018 estimated net worth: $257.3 billion Source of wealth: Standard Oil Birthplace: Richford, New York John D. Rockefeller is one of the most successful businessmen of all time. He established a standard for the quality of oil and strived to run his company, Standard Oil, at peak efficiency. It's possible that Rockefeller was the first billionaire in the U.S., but he certainly was the wealthiest American ever. His fortune has been estimated to be about one/sixty-fifth of the U.S. gross domestic product. 24/7 Wall Street is a USA TODAY content partner offering financial news and commentary. Its content is produced independently of USA TODAY. Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2019/04/16/30-richest-americans-of-all-time/39338941/ | https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2019/04/16/30-richest-americans-of-all-time/39338941/ |
Whos picking these chumps for Trumps Cabinet carousel? | 2018 Washington Post file photo Judging by the record of personnel failures, whoever selects President Donald Trumps Cabinet members should be the next one fired. Hes doing a historically awful job of finding honest, ethical and skilled employees who can perform in the demanding jobs and satisfy a mercurial boss. President-elect and candidate Donald Trump promised to have the most talented, smartest and best Cabinet in history. We have by far the highest IQ of any Cabinet ever assembled, Trump asserted the day before his inauguration on Jan. 20, 2017. Trouble is, of those named to the new presidents Cabinet by that day, 12 of them are gone already, not counting six of his top 10 senior advisers. That amounts to record turnover six times the two-year turnover rate of presidents Clinton, Kennedy and Nixon, three times the cabinet turnover rate of Reagan, 12 times the rate of either Bush and faster than the zero turnover during the first two years of the Obama and Carter presidencies. Unlimited Digital Access: Only $0.99 For Your First Month Get full access to Miami Herald content across all your devices. A few months later, she decided to depart to great words of presidential praise. No media drama for Obama, no resume smudge for Sebelius. The Founding Fathers argued over establishing a presidential advisory council. But they couldnt agree, so they left it open, subject to Senate approval. George Washington wanted advice on interesting questions of national importance. So, he chose a pretty high IQ Cabinet of four, including Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton. Like most things in government, the number grew over time to 15 with seven other cabinet-level positions such as UN ambassador that come and go at the table. Interior arrived in 1849, Agriculture in 1879, Veterans Affairs 1979, Homeland Security 2001. Of course, every president is entitled to surround himself with his own Cabinet appointees, subject to Senate confirmation. But Trumps secretaries were dispatched over a love of private charters, too much spending on personal perks, fudging expense accounts and annoying the boss who hand-picked them. This rapid reality-show turnover of Trump Cabinet contestants has implications for government operations and the presidents agenda far beyond nameplates in cabinet meetings. The Republican-controlled Senate must set aside its normal business, including confirming hundreds of lifetime judicial appointments, to argue for months over often controversial Cabinet nominees, some of which have ultimately been withdrawn. The crucial departments involved are left without full-time management driving Trump policies and regulations. This opens the door to non-appointed government employees slow-walking Trump policies or even subverting them. Currently, three important departments including Defense and Homeland Security are run by acting secretaries. Even Trumps third chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, is acting. Trump likes the uncertainty. There will always be change, Trump declared last month. And I think you want to see change. Certainly, he does. Change can be good, giving new minds opportunities. It can also be pointless. Last fall, Trump tweeted that he wanted an abrupt withdrawal from Syria of all U.S. troops. That forced the resignation of the star of Trumps Cabinet, Gen. James Mattis, who not only disagreed but wasnt consulted. Weeks later, Trump quietly adopted Mattis policy of partial withdrawal anyway. Many of us have experienced demanding bosses who, like Trump, believe that peremptory decisions, chaos and fear bring out the best in frightened workers. Well never know the untapped talent that declines his appointments. To be honest, the minority of 2016 voters who marked the box by the Trump-Pence ticket are getting exactly what they wanted: an unorthodox, tough, even crude-talking Oval Office occupant whos riding through the Washington swamp shooting up the town and its normal protocols and behaviors. Even some non-Trump fans silently enjoy seeing the perennially smug, self-important Washington establishment and media riddled with bullet holes. At some point, however, youd think the delicious satisfaction of in-your-face-buster would give way to the hard, necessary realities of actually governing. Last fall, though, American voters reverted to their preferred style of divided government, with each party controlling, or at least in charge of, one chamber of Congress. During these hyper-partisan days when political compromise and accommodation seem seditious, that virtually guarantees unproductive gridlock, which may be just fine with many. Getting nothing much done can seem better for now than letting the other side have much of anything. The country will have to wait 81 weeks to see if, collectively, it still likes this set-up and this presidential style enough to keep Congress as is and extend Trumps White House lease. Or maybe by then the country will prefer a different style, a respite from tumult with perhaps a familiar Democrat who promises calm with change or maybe try yet another younger inexperienced face with enough empty voids in personality for us to fill in whatever we want to see. The choice will be fairly stark and the results likely close again since Trump shows no sign of moderating his positions or behavior to expand support. It worked for him once. | https://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/article229275389.html |
Will upbeat economic data make China tap the brakes on monetary easing? | SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Chinas bond market sold off sharply this week as a slew of unexpectedly strong economic indicators prompted investors to ask if countrys latest round of monetary easing may be drawing to a close. FILE PHOTO: Headquarters of the People's Bank of China (PBOC), the central bank, is pictured in Beijing, China September 28, 2018. REUTERS/Jason Lee The first sign of trouble came when Chinese 10-year Treasury futures for June delivery, the most-traded contract, fell as much as 0.7 percent in initial deals on Monday. While they recovered slightly by Tuesday afternoon, they were still down 0.6 percent from Fridays closing price. The yield on benchmark 10-year government bonds has risen more than 7 basis points so far this week, according to Refinitiv data, the latest stage of a rout that has pushed the yield up around 33 basis points since the end of March. At 3.40 percent, the 10-year yield has now retraced to levels last seen in December. The latest selling pressure came after robust March credit data on Friday raised hopes that Chinas economy may be starting to stabilize. Hit by a multi-year financial deleveraging campaign and the trade war with the United States, Chinas economic growth slowed to a near 30-year low of 6.6 percent in 2018. Data due on Wednesday is expected to show the weakest first-quarter economic expansion in at least 27 years. But March readings to be released at the same time (0200 GMT) are expected to show faster growth in industrial output, investment and retail sales, suggesting a flurry of policy support measures in recent months are starting to kick in. The stronger-than-expected credit expansion together with a rebound (in the) inflation reading reinforced market concerns that China may put easing monetary policy on hold, said Tommy Xie, head of Greater China Research at OCBC Bank in Singapore. Chinas campaign to shore up slowing growth has seen it roll out billions of dollars worth of additional tax cuts and infrastructure spending this year. That fiscal stimulus has been accompanied by five cuts to banks reserve requirement ratio (RRR) over the past year as the Peoples Bank of China (PBOC) worked to encourage lending and reduce borrowing costs for small and private firms. Economists polled by Reuters before Fridays credit data had expected three more RRR cuts this year in the current quarter and the next two, in line with previous surveys. Many had penciled in the next cut for this month, though Xie said after the strong lending data that there was no urgency to roll out more measures at the moment. A summary of a quarterly meeting of the central banks monetary policy committee published late on Monday suggested a more cautious approach. The PBOC said it would maintain control of money supply floodgates, a term absent from the previous quarters statement. When the central bank reiterates risk prevention, the easing cycle of monetary policy might be ending, said Qu Qing, chief economist at Jianghai Securities. The policy signal conveyed by the PBOC meeting suggested that tightening is on the way, and a near-term reduction in reserve requirement ratio (RRRs) or interest rates is unlikely, he said. Nomura said in a note on Tuesday that there is much less room for easing and stimulus in China this time because of surging debt, but added it would be too early to start withdrawing easing measures as a sustainable recovery is still in question. Still, expectations of tightening pushed benchmark five-year interest rate swaps (IRS) up to a high of 3.25 percent on Tuesday, up from 3.12 percent at last weeks close. Frances Cheung, head of macro strategy for Asia at Westpac in Singapore, also cautioned that any signs of a bottoming out in the economy were preliminary. At this junction, policymakers would not want to suffocate growth and would not like to see funding costs materially higher, she said. However, some traders and market watchers said that liquidity conditions were likely to tighten in mid-April as companies make first-quarter tax payments, boosting demand for cash and sucking funds out of the market. Such liquidity concerns earlier this month had prompted some analysts to predict an imminent cut to banks reserve requirements. Iris Pang, an economist at ING in Hong Kong, said she maintains her expectation for an RRR cut this month. As trade war uncertainties linger on, there is a need to keep the fast yuan loan growth to help small private firms survive. An RRR cut is needed to facilitate fast credit growth, Pang said in a note. China may not need such fast ongoing credit injection into small private firms. That said, we believe that the central government will allow speedy credit growth to continue for some time, at least until it is satisfied that the job market is stable. Investors looking for indications of a policy shift will be closely watching the PBOCs actions when medium-term lending facility (MLF) loans with a value of 366.5 billion yuan ($54.65 billion) expire on Wednesday. A total of 1.1855 trillion yuan worth of the loans is due to mature in the second quarter, according to Reuters calculations based on official data. | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-markets-easing/will-upbeat-economic-data-make-china-tap-the-brakes-on-monetary-easing-idUSKCN1RS0V0?feedType=RSS&feedName=businessNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2FbusinessNews+%28Business+News%29 |
What Does Julian Assange's Arrest Mean For WikiLeaks And U.S. Elections? | What Does Julian Assange's Arrest Mean For WikiLeaks And U.S. National security officials say they're confident that foreign activity will continue through 2020, but no one knows how familiar it may look, how much it may evolve or whether a WikiLeaks without Assange could play a similar role. The answer, cyber-observers say, is probably yes ... but. "WikiLeaks does have a reputation for credibility," said Jake Williams, founder of the cybersecurity firm Rendition Infosec. "They also have a reputation for being a mouthpiece of the Russian government." WikiLeaks, by its account, is bigger than Assange, claiming more than 100 staffers around the world. But he is its best-known staffer and public face, and he has been taken out of the loop for now. Assange has been charged with helping a then-U.S. Army intelligence soldier, Chelsea Manning, access U.S. government systems to download secret material. WikiLeaks then published huge numbers of those documents. Assange would need to be extradited from the United Kingdom to the U.S. to face the charges. That process, and then his eventual trial, could mean months or years during which he would be absent from the workings of the site he launched. The Streisand effect Even so, the degree to which the arrest of Assange renews attention on the legacy organization, rather than on just him, may increase its profile, Williams said. He likened it to the way Barbra Streisand wound up drawing more attention to her beachfront mansion by trying to suppress photos of it. "Taking him out of play may actually have the Streisand effect, where more people are now aware of [WikiLeaks] than would have been before," said Williams. Even so, more people than ever also may become aware that WikiLeaks served in 2016 as a fence for the Russian military intelligence agency GRU. The agency used cyberattacks to steal data from Americans, which it then gave to WikiLeaks to release based on its reputation as an independent arbiter of secrets. The operatives used WikiLeaks to release troves of embarrassing emails: a data dump that led to the resignation of Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz and a dramatic shift of media focus for much of the 2016 presidential race. American intelligence officials have been clear that efforts to affect elections in the U.S. have not stopped. "We assess that foreign actors will view the 2020 U.S. elections as an opportunity to advance their interests," Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats told a Senate committee this year. "We expect them to refine their capabilities and add new tactics as they learn from each other's experiences and efforts." The kind of phishing attacks that led to those data breaches remain among the most popular forms of cybertactics, and there were attempts to use them in 2018 too. Then-Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., said Russia sent her staff fake emails last summer in an effort to gain access to passwords. WikiLeaks has long been seen as the gold standard for releasing secret information. The site has built a broad reach, worked with many legacy media organizations and generally made a strong effort to protect sources, Williams said. The organization may even use Assange's arrest as a way to raise money, said David Fidler, a cybersecurity expert at the Council on Foreign Relations. "Those who support what WikiLeaks has done in the past will take [this] as a call to arms, as a rallying cry, that it ought to double down on the mission that Assange and the other founders of WikiLeaks originally created," Fidler said. "I could see them using Assange as a sort of whistleblower or martyr figure to increase the scale of what they're trying to do." WikiLeaks still retains a lot of goodwill around the world, based on the revelations that came from those documents, which may motivate fellow travelers into those same kinds of disclosures in the future. But because of WikiLeaks' real or perceived ties to the Russia government, both Fidler and Williams said that if an adversary wanted to push information into American discourse and have it taken seriously leading up to the next election it might use a different route from WikiLeaks. That could mean creating a new avenue, like Russian operatives tried to do with the website DCLeaks, or using established social media or other websites. "I probably would avoid WikiLeaks and likely use another distribution method," Williams said. "What that is, is still yet to be determined." | https://www.npr.org/2019/04/16/712666465/what-does-julian-assanges-arrest-mean-for-wikileaks-and-u-s-elections?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=news |
Is Silicon Valley Coming For Rose? | The early backer of Facebook, Airbnb, Lyft, and Spotify wants to cash in on rose all day. Founders Fund, the San Francisco based venture capital firm founded by billionaire Peter Thiel, announced Tuesday that it has led a $7 million investment round in Bev, a woman-run canned rose startup based in Los Angeles. Other private investors include DJ duo The Chainsmokers and Facebook's vice president of social good. It's now the firm's first-ever investment in an alcohol company. But partner Lauren Gross says it's really a bet on Bev's 28-year-old founder and CEO Alix Peabody. "We're founder-driven," Gross recently told Forbes. "While we're often rooted in hard tech, we truly are a generalist firm. It's really about investing in any founder that can build in any sector." Gross says Peabody stands out for being particularly "bright and authentic." Alix Peabody is Bev's 28-year-old founder and CEO. Bev Peabody's story starts four years ago, after a stint at hedge fund Bridgewater and later a New York City tech startup. At 24-years-old, she then suddenly went into organ failure. As her health started to stabilize, she decided to freeze her eggs. But since the lengthy process can cost tens of thousands of dollars and is rarely covered by health insurance, Peabody needed to make money quickly. She started hosting ticketed parties aimed at women looking for a safe space to unwind and made enough to cover her medical bills. She realized she could be onto something: "There are so few products that are emotionally branded and speak to women in an authentic way. It's an industry that is so male-dominated. Whether I wanted to or not, I decided I had to go into this space." When it came time to start making a product in 2017, Peabody then found out about a long-forgotten $30,000 retirement account that Bridgewater had set up for her. After discovering it, she cashed it out, taking a tax penalty and using the remaining $20,000 to fund her first production run. Cans of Bev's rose come with the slogan "Break The Glass" down its side. Bev Today, Bev sells just one kind of canned rose, though Peabody plans to launch more drinks soon. Eventually, that could mean ones either low-in-alcohol or even those completely free of it. "I want to build a product for any type of woman who wants to have fun any time she wants to," she says. Currently only sold online, Peabody will use much of the recent funding round to go towards building out sales teams in Nashville, Austin and New York. But Founders Fund, she contends, has signed on for far more than just a direct-to-consumer alcohol company. She says she eventually envisions Bev opening up permanent social spaces, like female-only social club The Wing. "What I'm really trying to build is a company that could fight with the likes of Budweiser," Peabody says. "Were trying to build the foundation that over time can be of that scale and can build out a voice for women in the space where there hasn't been one." | https://www.forbes.com/sites/chloesorvino/2019/04/16/is-silicon-valley-coming-for-rose/ |
Could As J.B. Wendelken be this years Lou Trivino? | Perhaps it should have been evident when J.B. Wendelken was a small child that eventually hed be throwing things for a living. Thats what he did all day long, according to his mom. He just threw everything, Penny Wendelken said. If he could pick it up, it was thrown. We thought, Lets try baseball. Its something of a surprise, then, to learn that Wendelken, now the As latest on-the-rise young reliever, arrived at South Effingham (Ga.) High School as a catcher. Former South Effingham coach Ron Womack said, We had him catching a bullpen when he was in the ninth grade, and when I saw the way the ball was coming out of his hand when he threw back to the pitcher, I said, Do you pitch? He said, Sure. And we pretty much got rid of his catching gear that day. Wendelken, 26, showed so much promise with the As from late August through September, when he worked eight scoreless outings, that hes being compared to Lou Trivino, who came out of nowhere as a rookie to claim a setup role last year. We all talk about it like Can J.B. step in and be this years Trivino? pitching coach Scott Emerson said. That would be a good thing to do and a good thing for us to have. I think he can; hes a confident kid. He wants the baseball. He wants to pitch. ... Hes coming into his own. Hes got a good attack mode. Hes not afraid. And weve put him in more high leverage situations. Its like, OK, lets see what this guy is made of. Womack said that Wendelken has thrived in difficult spots relished them, really. We could tell right away J.B. had all the intangibles you want, especially the way he was able to handle himself in tough situations, Womack said. His first varsity game in 10th grade was a big game against our main rival. We were up a run and he came in with men on base and struck out both men he faced. We knew we had someone with some mental toughness. Hes a fighter. Hes always been that guy who wants to be in in a key spot, Me versus you. Im going to get you out. Earlier this month, that me-versus-you moment came against another South Effingham grad, Houstons Josh Reddick; Wendelken got the former As outfielder to ground out. Womack had a photo of the matchup blown up and placed it in the baseball teams locker room. After requiring 18 months to come back from his 2016 Tommy John surgery Wendelken incurred a stress fracture in the tip of his elbow while rehabbing, prolonging the process he put up an 0.54 ERA in 13 appearances last year. This spring, he struggled, his ERA soaring to 9.95, until he realized his curveball was coming out of his hand more like a slider to the point it was even registering on pitch trackers as a slider. After an adjustment, he was back on track. In eight games this season, he has a 3.65 ERA, with 14 strikeouts in 12 innings. His effectiveness with men on base is particularly reminiscent of Trivino: First batters have one hit in nine plate appearances against him and opponents are batting .083 against Wendelken with runners in scoring position. Trivino, though, sees Wendelken forging his own path, not following some sort of Trivino-esque pattern. Hes dominated at just about every level hes been, Trivino said. Hes his own pitcher, and hes had success before. Hes been impressive to watch. Wendelken would love to get to Trivinos level, but he knows theyre very different pitchers; Trivino has a nasty cutter and sinker, and Wendelken is more the classic fastball-changeup-curveball pitcher. Lou is an absolute freak of nature, theres no way around it, Wendelken said, I know Im a generic pitcher, but I feel like I bring hitters a little bit of variety. I hide the ball well, I take advice from people, Im twisting things into it that could help my game. Trivino and Wendelken are good friends, and they are very much alike in that theyre chatterboxes who enjoy a good joke. He has the gift of gab, so do I, Trivino admitted, as closer Blake Treinen chimed in with a laugh: They run on at the mouth. Both of them. Unsurprisingly, Jeffrey Benjamin Wendelken has long been that way, according to his mom. J.B. was never quiet, Penny Wendelken said. He was always full of energy, hes always been talkative. We had to keep him active and busy. Baseball was perfect. He took to it naturally. We were like, This is where he belongs. Susan Slusser is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @susanslusser | https://www.sfchronicle.com/athletics/article/Could-A-s-J-B-Wendelken-be-this-year-s-Lou-13770033.php |
Why do I get sick and tired of every job after two years or so? | Q: Im experiencing the classic symptoms of burnout in my job, and I notice this in a lot of my jobs after a while. I start out loving them and then after a couple of years start feeling totally unmotivated. Eventually I get stressed to the point where I dread going into work in the morning and hate my co-workers. I dont know why I do this. I try to practice self-care and all that jazz, but something isnt working. For what its worth, I am in a high-stress field, but plenty of other people dont get burned out. A: Well, sure. And plenty of people drink kombucha without a full-body revolt (though I cant see how). But its not about everybody else. Youre an individual with your own interests, strengths and challenges. It could be that something in this field or the stress of it makes it hard for you to set limits. Or that the work environment itself in terms of people, hours or expectations is something that would wear down most people over time. But the fact that you love it at first before things go south suggests this could be fixable. Youll need more insight (perhaps with help) into exactly whats happening whether your self-care isnt as sustaining as you think, the jobs arent as good a fit as you hope, or your personality is simply better suited to change every couple of years. (No crime there.) Q: I recently tried to help a co-worker find a way out of her situation after she complained about her landlord and shady things he was doing. I asked my husband, an attorney, for advice and even found resources for her. I put it all together in an email and I felt really good about it, but she got weird and said I overstepped my bounds. Now I feel really awkward about the situation and she has been acting lukewarm toward me lately. I was only trying to help and honestly I thought shed be appreciative. Now she acts like I was invading her privacy when she was the one who brought it up in the first place! I cant seem to get past the weirdness and my own frustration. A: For sure, it stings to put effort into helping someone only to find out you offended them instead. I cant be sure where things went off course here, but if you want to clear the air, Id recommend addressing it without further delay. Youll have a delicate balance to strike between groveling with an undue apology versus defensiveness that misses what exactly went wrong in the first place. Start neutrally and respectfully: I understand I upset you and you felt I overstepped my bounds. I thought I was helping, and Im truly sorry it came off that way. I know now and it wont happen again, and Im really hoping we can go back to how things were. Dr. Andrea Bonior, a Washington, D.C.-area clinical psychologist, writes a weekly relationships advice column in The Washington Posts Express daily tabloid and is author of The Friendship Fix. | https://www.seattletimes.com/explore/careers/why-do-i-get-sick-and-tired-of-every-job-after-two-years-or-so/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all |
Can microplastics now travel in the air? | Getty Images Microplastics have been a big issue for a while. They end up in the sea and even inside the creatures who live there. But now it seems that microplastics have travelled even further. Researchers at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow and EcoLab in France have found microplastics in a remote area of the Pyrenees mountains between France and Spain. There aren't many people in this region, which suggests the particles were transported by wind, through the air, from more populated areas at least 59 miles away (95 kilometres). Microplastics are very small pieces of plastic waste that include plastic fragments and fibre. They are usually produced as plastic slowly breaks down. Getty Images Some of the fibres found were so small that they could be inhaled. The study collected samples over a five-month period and recorded average daily counts of 365 pieces of plastic per square metre. Scientists are still unsure of the distances microplastics can travel, but they think fragments could be travelling through the atmosphere over distances of at least 60 miles. Getty Images According to lead researcher Steve Allen 'the likely culprit is single-use plastic packaging' although researchers are still not certain. They say the findings are worrying and we need a global approach to managing single-use plastic. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/47946210 |
Will the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame welcome Oasis? | CLEVELAND, Ohio There is an impressive list of bands newly eligible for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame this year, including Sleater-Kinney, At the Drive-In, Korn, Portishead, Weezer and Oasis. You could make a case those other bands are better than Oasis. But none of them have that larger than life status the Gallagher brothers carried during their heyday. Oasis rode a hype train during the early 1990s that billed them, at least in the UK, as the next Beatles. Brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher didnt shy away from it. And, for at least a few years, Oasis lived up to the hype. ) are classics. They rank among the 50 best albums of the 1990s. If youre wondering if having two essential studio albums is enough to get you into the Rock Hall, it was for some of Oasis contemporaries like Green Day, Red Hot Chili Peppers. Lack of longevity But those comparisons dont hold up when you look at overall careers. Other 1990s acts like Green Day, the Chili Peppers and Pearl Jam stayed strong for multiple decades. Oasis run was essentially over by 2000 when Standing on the Shoulder of Giants failed to match the commercial success of 1997s polarizing Be Here Now. Of course, longevity isnt a deal breaker when it comes to the Rock Hall. Due to Kurt Cobains death, Nirvana released just three studio albums. But thats Nirvana, a band that changed the course of modern rock music. For as flashy as Oasis was, it not have been the most important band during the Britpop boom of the early to mid 1990s. Blurring the lines Oasis rival Blur has been eligible for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame since 2015. The band, which many music fans and critics consider Oasis equal, has failed to earn a nomination. Where Oasis crashed and burned due to the Gallagher brothers ongoing beef, Blur released three essential albums during the 1990s and remained relevant, both as a band and through leader Damon Albarns side projects, into the 21st century. Record sales The Rock Halls two main criteria for induction are influence and significance. While two bands like Oasis and Blur may be on equal footing when it comes to the former, Oasis moves ahead in terms of the latter. The band has sold 75 million records worldwide, which is on par with The Police, Def Leppard and Black Sabbath -- British acts that are in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. History not on their side Smashing Pumpkins, Sonic Youth, Soundgarden and Alice in Chains. Theyre rock bands who were dominant in the late 1980s and/or early 1990s that have yet to earn a nomination for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Those acts are in the top tier of rock bands from that era the Nominating Committee will likely consider. Oasis probably falls into the next tier that includes the likes of No Doubt, Tool, Dave Matthews Band and The Flaming Lips. Its subjective. But when it comes to this years ballot, its hard to imagine the Nominating Committee brushing aside one of those acts or someone like Rage Against the Machine, Nine Inch Nails and Janes Addiction in favor of Oasis. | https://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/2019/04/will-the-rock-roll-hall-of-fame-welcome-oasis.html |
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