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Why would the NFL delay talk of OT change for a year? | In March, there seemed to be momentum for an adjustment to postseason overtime that would allow each team to have a guaranteed possession. As recently as three weeks ago, it appeared that the momentum was still there. Now, its gone. For at least a year. Scroll to continue with content Ad With the votes not in place to implement the revision to the overtime rule, the league has kicked the matter to next year, vowing to revisit it. Not a thing. Unless, of course, one of the 2019 conference title games or Super Bowl LIV ends in a walk-off, first-drive overtime touchdown while the team that kicked off to start overtime never gets a chance to possess the ball. Either the votes currently exist to make overtime more equitable or they dont. If they dont, they dont. Of course, delaying the issue for a year is no different than voting it down completely. The Chiefs, who proposed the change in the first place, would be free to introduce to each and every year until it passes, no matter how many times it gets voted down. This outcome feels more political than anything else. Political in the sense that voting the proposal down could be viewed as a sign of disrespect to Chiefs owner Clark Hunt. Political in the sense that, by not taking a vote on the rule, the headline isnt that the NFL rejected the change. The NFL simply didnt act on it. Which could make a difference if one of the 2019 conference title games or Super Bowl LIV ends in a walk-off, first-drive overtime touchdown while the team that kicked off to start overtime never gets a chance to possess the ball. Regardless, enough people regard the current rule as inequitable to make it an issue. But not enough (at least 24 of 32 owners) believe that change is necessary. ), and hoping to advance to the next round (or to win the Super Bowl) by scoring a touchdown on the first drive. While the league waits for a year, heres some free advice: Consider a complete overhaul of overtime. Consider the XFLs two-point conversion shootout, which would be many things (exciting, compelling, efficient) and most importantly fair to both teams. | https://sports.yahoo.com/why-nfl-delay-talk-ot-163948618.html?src=rss |
Will the Radical Right Break the EU? | I summarize it this way, Le Pen said, referring to this weeks election. The European Union is dead. Long live Europe. We tend to take for granted that there is a thing called European politics. The famous question attributed to Henry KissingerWho do I call if I want to speak to Europe?not only reflects a general tendency for Americans to gloss over regional differences, but also a more specific view of Europe as a monolith, speaking with one voice. From this perspective, the formation of a European Union was all but inevitable, as disparate nationsjust like the stars on the American flagrealized their continental manifest destiny. But fear of a transnational political union was always at the heart of the European project. In 1965, less than a decade after the historic Treaty of Rome created the European Economic Community, Charles de Gaulle railed against the ambition to create a federation in which countries would lose their national personalities and everyone would be ruled by some technocratic, stateless, and irresponsible Areopagus. The prospects for deeper integration did not fare better after de Gaulles resignation. Following the Hague Summit in 1969, Europe plunged into what has been described as the Dark Ages of integration. The global economy was in the midst of a tremendous transformation: President Nixons sudden decision to go off the Gold Standard struck at the foundation of Europes economic ecosystem, based on stable exchange rates among its currencies; the oil crisis two years later destabilized the economy even further. The golden age of postwar capitalism was over, and a new generation of post-1968 radical left movements was rising to replace it. Europessimismthe sense that the era of integration had reached its endprevailed. However, a small group of businessmen was organizing behind the scenes to press ahead with Europes economic integrationand to crush a rising Eurocommunism. In 1983, Pehr Gyllenhammar (CEO of Volvo), Wisse Dekker (CEO of Philips), and Umberto Agnelli (CEO of Fiat) founded the European Roundtable of Industrialists (ERT), bringing together 17 executives from Europes largest multinationals to lobby for the creation of a single European market that would be theirs to dominate. Europe remains a group of separated national markets with separated national policies, they wrote in a memorandum. The European market must serve as a unified home base necessary to allow European firms to develop as powerful competitors in world markets. These were the champions of economic transnationalizationalbeit a very specific, and self-serving, economy. Through Viscount Etienne Davignon, a vice president of the powerful European Commission, the ERT lobbied hard to liberalize Europes economies. And these efforts met with a good deal of success: Even French President Franois Mitterrand turned against his socialist comradesand the longer legacy of de Gaullist sovereigntyto embrace rapid economic liberalization. Europe is not locked into decline, the ERT declared in 1985. The exit doors are wide open. It remains only to go through them. The very next year, Europes heads of state gathered together to sign the Single European Act: the great leap forward in Europes economic integration. The most significant legislation since the Treaty of Rome, SEA sought to strip away all regulatory barriers to create an area without internal frontiers in which the free movement of goods, persons, services, and capital is ensured. And it set a timeline for the creation of this so-called Single Market: January 1, 1993. By the time the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, the USSRs discredited communist legacy was wind in the sails of the Single Market. German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, for example, moved swiftly to bring a unified Germany into Europes economic community. We consider necessary to accelerate the political construction of the Europe of the Twelve, he said in a joint statement with Franois Mitterrand in 1990, referring to the twelve member-states that comprised the European Community. We think that this is the right moment to transform the whole of relationships among the member-states into a European Union and to endow it of the necessary means of action. On February 7, 1992, representatives of these twelve states gathered in Maastricht, Netherlands, to sign the Treaty on the European Union, following through on the promise of the SEA before it. For left-wing Euroskeptics, this is the crystallization of the neoliberal project, while for right-wing ones it crystallized the supranational federalist one, Professor Duncan McDonnell of Griffith University told me. Their reaction was: We are really ceding sovereignty. We are no longer masters in our own homes. If the crises of the early 1970s created the conditions for Europes economic integration, the crisis of 2008 did so for its political integration. Until 2008, the impressive march of European legislation had been an elite affair, conducted almost exclusively by high-ranking officials, far away from public view. Politics, even as Europes economies grew ever closer, remained national: a contest between domestic coalitions; left and right, rich and poor, north and south. The financial crisis suddenly revealed to citizens across the continent the extent to which their countries had been bound together, stripping away the language of peace and prosperity to expose an economic architecture that served some against othersand instigating a mass political movement to reconstruct it. The financial crisis suddenly revealed to citizens across the continent the extent to which their countries had been bound together. European political institutions existed long before this crisis, of course. At the Copenhagen summit of the European Council in April 1978, the nine heads of state declared the creation of a new European Parliamentthe first transnational institution of its kind. One year later, elections were held for 410 positions in the first parliament, with a healthy voter turnout rate of over 60 percent. But the new parliament was extremely limited in its ability to draft legislation, control the budget, or interfere in member-state politics. Is European Parliament a Parliament? asked political scientists Valentine Herman and Juliet Lodge in 1978. In no widely accepted comparative sense. Even the most optimistic of MEPs recognized the influence of the institution as largely advisory. It has the power to analyze, inform, and publicize, and it could give a European opinion on the great issues of the day, said Edgard Pisani, a former French minister of agriculture, ahead of the 1979 election. In the years that followed, European politics would remain second order. Across member-states, voters understood Europe through a distinctly national lens: Elections for European Parliament were an opportunity to send a signal to national parties, not to stand for a certain vision of Europes future. The European Unions unique brand of technocratic neoliberalism was a key barrier to the transnationalization of its politics. The project of economic integration required the harmonization of member-state laws in order to allow for the free movement of goods, services, capital, and laborthe four freedoms enshrined in the Treaty of Rome. In order to achieve this smooth regulatory regime, the European Court of Justice found a clever solution in the Cassis de Dijon judgment of February 1979: the principle of mutual recognition, by which, instead of integrating laws one by one, all products produced in one member-state would have to be accepted by another member-state. The result was not, to borrow terms from German political scientist Fritz Scharpf, positive integration (i.e. collaborating together to design common rules) but negative integration: stripping away controls, barriers, and levies in order to arrive at a lowest common regulatory denominator. There was very little space for a European politics to emerge within the narrow confines of this economic doctrine. And a flaccid European Parliament reflected this limitation. For decades, two groups dominated the institution: the European Peoples Party (EPP), representing Europes center-right, and the Party of the European Socialists (PES), representing its left. But these groups largely preferred to collude rather than compete, working together to maintain their duopoly on European office. Voters quickly lost interest: From its high of 62 percent turnout in 1979, participation in the European Parliament elections declined precipitously: 57 percent in 1994; 45 in 2004. The Wall Street meltdown in 2008 marked the crisis of that neoliberal doctrine. As financial contagion gripped the continent, the wisdom of the European Unions economic integration was thrown into question. The plight of the eurozone, in particularthose 19 countries that were brought into currency union with the creation of the euro in 1999 and its expansion in the years that followedrevealed the perils of purely negative approach to integration: Disparate economies were tied intimately together, but their democracies remained miles apart, pursuing national goals in line with national political priorities. The institutions that were in charge of responding to the crisis were certainly European in scopethe European Central Bank, the European Stability Mechanismbut they were not democratic: Their role was to maintain the integrity of the integration project as set out by the treaties, not to respond to voters actual needs. The post-meltdown austerity agenda of the eurozone leadership was the final turn of the screw. At a summit in March 2012the very height of the eurozone crisisall but two EU governments signed the Treaty on Stability, Coordination, and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union, which severely constrained member-states in their ability to borrow and spend on national programs. German Chancellor Angela Merkel described it as another great leap in Europes integration. But for ailing students, workers, families, and pensioners across Europe, it meant only affliction. The same European institutions that had promised to deliver prosperity were now directly inflaming poverty. The result of this crisis was a political awakening on a European scale. In cities across Europe millions of people took to the streets, speaking the same language and fighting the same enemies in the European institutions. We are not goods in the hands of politicians and bankers, the Spanish Indignados declared. We will not leave the squares until those who brought us here, go away: Governments, Troika, Banks, Memoranda and all those who exploit us, the Greek popular assembly demanded. In short, the political integration of Europeat the level of its grassroots, rather than its elite echelonswas catching up with its economic integration. Citizens across the continent were discovering that the only way to solve the problems that their countries faced was to mount a challenge to the European institutions that had helped create them. 2008 is a reckoning, says McDonnell, the Griffith University professor. The question of European integration increases in salience for all partiesradical right, radical left, even centrist parties. Nobel Prize-winning economist after Nobel Prize-winning economist had declared the creation of the euro a mistake. The appeal of escape was obvious. For political parties on either end of the political spectrum, the initial response to the reckoning was simple: Get out of the EU. With unemployment high and rising, the golden straightjacket of Europes fiscal rules lost its luster and EU membership began to feel more like captivity. These were not radical observations: Nobel Prize-winning economist after Nobel Prize-winning economist had declared the creation of the euro a mistake. The appeal of escape was obvious. The means of escape were, however, less so. The case of Greeces radical left Syriza is exemplary. The party skyrocketed to power in 2015 on the promise to confront the so-called Troika of institutions overseeing the implementation of Greek austeritythe European Central Bank, European Commission, and the IMFrenegotiate Greeces debt payments, and extricate Greece from the eurozone, if necessary. As negotiations with the Troika rattled on, Syriza put the vote to the Greek people: to accept the conditions of debt repayment, or to reject them. When, on July 5, 2015, Greece overwhelmingly voted OXI (no), Syriza found itself in a bind: roughly 60 percent of the country opposed austerity, but 65 percent of the country also wanted to stay in the eurozone. Voters were demanding change, but also demanding that change come from withinin large part, for fear of what change might look like from without. Britains attempt to leave the European Union was the last gasp of the exit movement. From the euphoric high of the Brexit referendum, the actual process of withdrawing from the EU proved bureaucratically complexdecades of economic integration had produced a sea of paperworkand diplomatically impossible, as one country battled against the overlapping interests of 27 others. Inside Britain, support for exit began to wane. And outside of it, support for exit plummeted to record lows. With exit off the table, Europes political parties had little choice but to take their battle inside the EU. And European Parliament would be their battleground. The temptation of an EU exit, throughout the period of high crisis, made for some strange bedfellows. With Europes institutions bearing down with ever greater force on the austerity agenda, enemies of enemies suddenly became friends. Following the Greek elections in 2015, for example, the radical left Syriza decided to form a government with the Independent Greeks, a nationalist outfit that shared Syrizas commitment to taking on the Troika, and little else. Allied against them were the so-called pro-Europeans, who draped themselves in the EU flag and demanded an end to populism left and right. If there ever was a political horseshoei.e., a point at which the political extremes formed a rough sort of policy continuumthe Euro-challengers and the Euro-defenders embodied it. But the debacle of Brexit has unbent this horseshoe. With their attention turned away from confrontation and toward electoral competition, the major political parties in Europe have seen their defining programmatic differences come back into sharper focus. But the result is not the return to a simple left-right dyad. Just look at the proliferation of alliances heading toward the European Parliament elections: On the right end of the political spectrum alone, we have the Alliance for Direct Democracy in Europe (ADDE), the Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe (ACRE), the European Christian Political Movement (ECPM), and the Alliance of European National Movements (AENM)all entirely separate from Le Pens Europe of Nations and Freedom. Instead, European politics is now divided across three different dimensions. The first is integration: the extent to which parties support a stronger union between European nations. At one end, many pro-European parties hope to make Europe into a single continuous space, sharing one currency, one army, and even one European president. Having a single president would better reflect the true nature of our European Union as both a union of states and a union of citizens, says Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission and member of the center-right European Peoples Party (EPP). Meanwhile, the Czech Jan Zahradil, running as lead candidate for the conservative ACRE, has called for a flexible Europe that allows for different speeds of integration and diversity of domestic laws. Forced unity will break the EU, not mend it, Zahradil has argued. | https://newrepublic.com/article/153964/will-radical-right-break-eu |
Will Oregon State receiver Jesiah Irish become the Beavers version of John Ross? | CORVALLIS Jonathan Smith had the job secured as Oregon State football coach. During the trip south from Seattle, where Smith left his previous job as offensive coordinator at Washington, to Corvallis for his introductory press conference, he had phone calls to make. One of the first went to Mount Si senior Jesiah Irish. A promising receiver who had just completed his high school career, Irish had a handful of college offers, though none from a Pac-12 school. Smith knew of the 5-foot-11, 172-pound Irish as a player who attended UWs camp. Husky coaches loved Irishs ability, but already had three receivers committed for their 2018 signing class. UWs loss became Oregon States gain. I didnt know our numbers," Smith said. "I didnt know our receivers, but I knew I wanted that guy. Irish is that guy who Oregon State hopes takes the offense to another level. He is the fastest player on the Beavers roster, which is typical for him. His mother, Naomi, says as a 6-year-old, Irish regularly beat boys two and three years older than him in track meets. Once a promising baseball prospect, Irish participated in a national baseball camp in Arizona prior to high school and recorded the countrys fastest time running from second base to home for his age group. While at Washington, Smiths offense benefited from quicksilver receiver John Ross, who went on to break a 40-yard time record at the NFL combine and became a first-round draft pick. Jonathan Smith knows the importance of speed," said Irishs high school coach, Mount Sis Charlie Kinnune. "He had just got done graduating John Ross. Asked if Irish is Oregon States version of Ross, Smiths eyes widened. Hopefully he turns out to be something like that, Smith said. Hes got a chance to be special. Prior to spring practice in March, Oregon State conducted an NFL combine-style skills day for its players. Irish stole the show, running a 4.26-second 40. Providing the timing devices were accurate, that puts Irish among the fastest players wearing football cleats, at any level. A month later in the spring game, Irish made only one catch, but it stuck with those who watched. Irish streaked down the middle of the field, blew past the coverage, then dove to catch an over-the-shoulder 40-yard pass from quarterback Jake Luton. The impact Irish could have on Oregon States offense in 2019 is widespread. He can take the top off the coverage, Smith said. It helps everything. In the run game, if you can put a guy out there who can roll, the safety better back up. You take a couple guys out of there, thats a few less guys to tackle the running back. Irish has only one goal in mind next season. I just want to help us win games. Ill do anything, Irish said. If its catching 10 balls a game, if its special teams, whatever is going to help our team win. Irish isnt always stuck in high gear. Life significantly slowed down for Irish nine years ago, when his younger brother Aidan was born. Aidan had significant health issues, starting with his birth. Aidan eventually needed open heart surgery, and he has Down syndrome. For the first 10 years of Jesiahs life, he was an only child raised by a single mother. Suddenly, Naomis attention turned to Aidan. There were grandparents nearby, and his stepfather Brandon Duffy to help out Jesiah, but life as he knew it wasnt the same. It was hard on him, Naomi Irish said. But he was really good. Jesiah was very protective of Aidan. He loves being a big brother. I think it made him a more compassionate person. The impact has gone beyond family. Jesiah regularly volunteers at Special Olympic events, particularly basketball and baseball, as well as Snoqualmie Food Bank. Hes nothing like the mean-spirited jock stereotype, Kinnune said. He has a very soft heart. Aidan calls Jesiah Bubba. Jesiah calls his younger brother his best friend. He teaches you things about yourself that you didnt know, Irish said. You learn not to take things for granted. I feel like I have a soft spot for people. I try to see the best in people. Irish may have a soft heart, but broke a few hearts once he got to high school after choosing football over baseball. Irish looked to have a future in baseball, as he played on traveling teams and was coveted for his speed. Football won out, because baseball wasnt fast enough for Irish. He claims baseball isnt completely dead to him, as he still throws on occasion, and has even talked to the Beavers baseball coaching staff about possibilities. But football is Irishs No. 1. At Mount Si, Irish played parts of two seasons with quarterback Cale Millen, now a freshman at Oregon. Irish wasnt the teams leading receiver from a statistical standpoint, but far and away Mount Sis best offensive weapon. He was our vertical threat and we used him to blow the top off zones. They all defended Jesiah and our receivers that went underneath went crazy, Kinnune said. Thats what will happen at Oregon State. The benefactors of Jesiahs speed is going to be his receiving mates. Before Oregon State got into the picture, Irishs best offer was Hawaii. Interestingly, Hawaiis receivers coach was Kefense Hynson, whom Smith landed to take a similar role at OSU. Though Hynson didnt have a role in recruiting Irish to Oregon State, he knew what the Beavers had. A friend of Hynson, who coached against Mount Si, tipped him off about Irish. Best kid he saw all year, Hynson said. When I put his tape on, he was a really good football player. Aggressive. Defensively, his film was pretty impressive I thought it was a good get for Jonathan. With a veteran receiving corps in 2018, the plan was to redshirt Irish, though he was allowed to participate in up to four games under new NCAA rules. Irish played sparingly at receiver and kick return in two nonconference games, then late in the season against Stanford and Washington. Irishs season ended abruptly against the Huskies after taking a ghastly hit on special teams. It was definitely a shock when I got hit in the UW game, Irish said. Definitely goes along with the confidence thing, knowing you can do it. Fast forward six months later to OSUs spring game, when safety Jeffrey Manning lit up Irish on a short passing play. The hit didnt faze Irish, who immediately bounced up and ran to the huddle. Hynson wasnt surprised. I always thought he was a pretty tough player, Hynson said. You could see from his high school film that he wasnt afraid of the physical element of the game. He understands football. Where Irish figures in Oregon States offensive mix for 2019 remains to be seen. The Beavers have a quartet of receivers Isaiah Hodgins, Trevon Bradford, Tyjon Lindsey, Irish capable of leading the team in receptions or receiving yards this upcoming season. What Hynson wants people to understand is that Irish isnt just a blur. Hes a pretty complete receiver, Hynson said. He wants to be great. Theres a good legacy of receivers who have played at Oregon State, and hes along those lines if he comes along and develops. -- Nick Daschel | [email protected] | @nickdaschel Visit subscription.oregonlive.com/newsletters to get Oregonian/OregonLive journalism delivered to your email inbox. | https://www.oregonlive.com/beavers/2019/05/will-oregon-state-receiver-jesiah-irish-become-the-beavers-version-of-john-ross.html |
Is Damian Lillard worth a supermax contract? | by Daniel Tran According to reports, Damian Lillard is expected to be offered a supermax contract extension from the Portland Trail Blazers worth $191 million over four years. After leading the team into the Western Conference Finals and hitting some incredibly clutch shots, Portland would be wise to lock him down for any price. Still, he didnt have the best postseason after the first round, and supermax might hamstring the franchise for future signings. If anyone deserves a supermax contract, it's Damian Lillard. After years of languishing in first- and second-round playoff exits, Lillard was the driving force that led the Trail Blazers into the Western Conference Finals. He averaged a career-high in the playoffs with 26.9 points per game, and thrilled fans with some of the most electrifying clutch play in the postseason so far. He is the most important member of the team and one of the best players in the league. He deserves a supermax deal. Lillard is good, but giving him a supermax contract would be a mistake, especially for a smaller market team like the Trail Blazers. Sinking in over $47 million per year on one player is not worth sacrificing the stability of the team. Lillard is just one player who hasn't proved he can carry a team on his own like LeBron James. Without spreading money around more, Portland won't be able to retain important role players or get another star to match-up with him and C.J. McCollum. If you take out the first-round series against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Lillard shot 39.5 percent from the field and 31.7 percent from three-point range, and also dropped from averaging 33 points per game in the first series to 24.1 points the rest of the playoffs. That is not supermax-extension-worthy play. Hopefully he learns how to shoot better than 40% in non 1st round playoff series. Barry McCockiner (@SportsTalkBarry) May 21, 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.oregonlive.com/tylt/2019/05/is-damian-lillard-worth-a-supermax-contract.html |
Are Loyalty Points Replacing Bitcoin As The Favored Dark Web Currency? | Getty . That is off of an already large increase from 2017 to 2018. With the summer travel season coming quickly, airlines and hotels are bracing for a big spike in traffic bot traffic, that is. Travel sites are the new target of choice for cybercriminals looking to take over users accounts called account takeover, or ATO attacks and steal loyalty points. Its a big business , with huge sums of money exchanged annually. According to our most recent data looking at tens of billions of daily interactions with websites and mobile apps, ATO attacks are up 65% year-over-year in 2019That is off of an already large increase from 2017 to 2018. Loyalty Points For Sale On The Dark Web Loyalty points from frequent flyer or hotel accounts are in high demand on the dark web. Cybercriminals use the points to make illicit purchases of drugs and stolen goods, as well as hack accounts of unsuspecting victims who dont realize their email and password are for sale online. It is increasingly clear that loyalty points are gaining a more prominent place as a dark web currency, alongside cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. These ATO attacks aim to drain points from accounts of legitimate users. The attackers try to break in through hospitality companies login pages on their web sites or mobile sites or via the companies native mobile application APIs. ATOs often make millions or billions of attempts to gain access using password and email or username credentials lifted from the dark web. These attacks deploy massive bot networks with thousands, and up to millions, of nodes. The nodes might be hacked internet of things (IoT) devices, compromised browsers of real users or spoofed browsers on devices operating out of a cloud server. Cryptocurrencies are coming under increasing scrutiny and regulation by governments. This has made them less attractive to criminals using crypto for hard-to-track purchases. Obscuring transactions of any real value is harder. In contrast, points transactions are lightly policed. Criminals can transfer points from one account to another easily. No special wallet software is required. Airlines and hotels are not required to disclose points transactions to the government. Internal controls on points that are transacted out of hacked accounts and into other accounts are exceptionally lax. Hospitality companies generally do not require basic security measures such as two-factor authentication (2FA) to access these accounts, even when they may hold tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in points. Points not only act as a currency on the dark web, but they also allow criminals to easily make high-value purchases out in the open. Many airline and hotel loyalty programs provide marketplaces that allow customers to purchase a wide variety of real-world goods and services from consumer electronics to Amazon and Starbucks gift cards. In essence, loyalty programs have become a type of bank account, but with no guards or alarms and locks on the vault doors that are incredibly easy to pick. Simultaneously, the available pool of stolen email and password combinations has ballooned, driven by larger and larger security breaches. For example, in January 2019, security researcher Troy Hunt reported an online trove of emails and passwords that included over 700 million records stored in clear text on a dark web site. Each year, we see one or more of these massive breaches culminating. Despite the increase in breaches, user behavior has not changed to improve security. Even though 91% of users know the risks of reusing passwords on multiple sites, 59% do so, according to a May 2018 survey by LogMeIn. Add to this is the fact the email updates from airlines and hotel chains likely are filtered or, even worse, put into spam folders, and the likelihood is fairly high that ATOs can go undetected for weeks, months or years. Users whose accounts are breached wouldnt even know the difference until they went to their accounts to withdraw and use points, only to find a zero where, once, a fat balance remained. How Travel Sites Must Fight Back The risks to travel sites go beyond monetary losses they must restore to wronged users. The average breach cost is increasing each year, according to a study by the Ponemon Institute. The average in 2018 was nearly $4 million. But the cost of what the study calls mega-breaches, where accounts stolen range from 1 million to 50 million, can cost between $40 million and $350 million. These costs include remediation of infrastructure, extra time spent by personnel and lost business due to reputation risk. The travel business does not enjoy fat margins, and brand equity is a significant part of the value of any travel firm. To protect themselves, their bottom lines, their shareholders and their customers, travel companies need to do a better job of fighting off these bot attacks and ATOs. Basic steps include enhanced password security for account holders. These might include adding multifactor authentication of any account changes, via email, text and other means. For better login security, the travel sites should make 2FA mandatory for users. The points are already in the accounts, so the likelihood that users will abandon them is small. In terms of notifying users, travel sites may want to add an option for text notifications of suspicious behavior, much like what credit cards do today. In fact, the credit card industry is a good model for the travel industry to emulate; while fraud remains a problem in the credit card sector, protections are comparatively robust and levels of fraud are lower. That said, in many cases, this lower level comes at the cost of false-positives and negative user experience. All of these steps will need to play a role in improving the security of travel and hospitality attacks in the face of ATOs focused on grabbing points. And just as Bitcoin fell out of favor as a black market currency due to systemic and security changes, loyalty points, too, will become harder to gather and more tightly policed. Until then, however, loyalty points will remain the illegal tender of choice on the dark web. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2019/05/23/are-loyalty-points-replacing-bitcoin-as-the-favored-dark-web-currency/ |
Did HP Enterprise Lose Ground To Cloud Competitors In Fiscal Q2? | 2016 Bloomberg Finance LP HP Enterprise reports its fiscal Q2 results on May 23. The companys fiscal Q1 results had beaten consensus earnings expectations comfortably despite revenues coming in below estimates. HPE has operated in a market dominated by large cloud vendors through its partnership with system integrators. The company recently entered into a partnership with Nutanix to further its hybrid cloud ambitions, and this should have had a positive impact on its top line. Also, we will be looking for management commentary around the extent of cannibalization by the companys cloud business on its hardware sales. We currently have a price estimate of $18 per share for HPE, which is around 20% higher than the current market price. Our interactive dashboard on HPEs 2019 Revenues, Earnings and Share Price outlines our forecasts and estimates for the company. You can modify any of the key drivers to visualize the impact of changes on its valuation. Also, you will find more technology company data here. A Quick Look At HPEs Revenue Sources HPE makes money through solutions that capture and analyze data across different endpoints of the network (edge to the cloud). The company reports its revenue ($30.8 billion in 2018) in four segments: Hybrid IT ($25 billion in 2018, 79% of total revenue): Segment revenue is derived from the sale of servers, storage, data center networking and professional services offerings. Intelligent Edge ($2.9 billion in 2018, 9% of total revenue): Segment revenue is derived from the sale of enterprise networking and security solutions. The segment houses the Aruba brand of offerings. Financial Services ($3.7 billion in 2018, 12% of total revenue): Segment revenue is derived from the sale of financing of customer IT consumption. Corporate Investments (Negligible revenues): This segment houses Hewlett Packard Labs and business incubation projects. Trefis Revenue trends over recent years, and expectations for fiscal 2019 HPE added $1.1 billion over 2016-2018 (at a CAGR of 2%) Hybrid IT revenue reached $25 billion in 2018 from $25.1 billion in 2016. We expect these revenues to decline further to $24.1 billion (-3.7% y-o-y) Intelligent Edge revenue reached $2.9 billion in 2018 from $2.7 billion in 2016. We expect 2019 revenue to reach $3.1 billion (5% y-o-y) Financial Services revenue reached $3.7 billion in 2018 from $3.2 billion in 2016. We expect 2019 revenue to remain largely around the same level of $3.7 billion (0.5% y-o-y) We forecast HPEs EPS figure for full-year 2019 to be $1.42. Taken together with our forward P/E multiple of 13x for the company, this works out to a $18 per share price estimate for the companys stock, which is about 20% ahead of the current market price. Explore example interactive dashboards and create your own | https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2019/05/23/did-hp-enterprise-lose-ground-to-cloud-competitors-in-fiscal-q2/ |
Could Parallel Universes Be Physically Real? | Jaime Salcido/simulations by the EAGLE Collaboration You've likely imagined it before: another Universe out there, just like this one, where all the random events and chances that brought about our reality exactly as it is played out just the same. Except right now, when you made one fateful decision in this Universe, you took an alternate path in this other Universe. These two Universes, which ran parallel to one another for so long, suddenly diverge. Perhaps our Universe, with the version of events we're familiar with, isn't the only one out there. Perhaps there are other Universes, perhaps even with different versions of ourselves, different histories and alternate outcomes from what we've experienced. This isn't just fiction, but one of the most exciting possibilities brought up by theoretical physics. Here's what the science says about whether parallel Universes might actually be real. Wikipedia user Pablo Carlos Budassi As vast as our Universe might be, the part that we can see, access, affect, or be affected by is finite and quantifiable. Including photons and neutrinos, it contains some 1090 particles, clumped and clustered together into approximately two trillion galaxies, with perhaps another two-to-three trillion galaxies that will reveal themselves to us as the Universe continues to expand. Each such galaxy comes with around a trillion stars inside it (on average), and these galaxies clump together in an enormous, cosmos-spanning web that extends for 46 billion light-years away from us in all directions. But, despite what our intuition might tell us, that doesnt mean were at the center of a finite Universe. In fact, the full suite of evidence indicates something quite to the contrary. Frdric MICHEL and Andrew Z. Colvin, annotated by E. Siegel The reason the Universe appears finite in size to us the reason we cant see anything thats more than a specific distance away isnt because the Universe is actually finite in size, but is rather because the Universe has only existed in its present state for a finite amount of time. If you learn nothing else about the Big Bang, it should be this: the Universe was not constant in space or in time, but rather has evolved from a more uniform, hotter, denser state to a clumpier, cooler and more diffuse state today. As we go to earlier and earlier times, the Universe appears smoother and with fewer, less-evolved galaxies; as we look to later times, the galaxies are larger and more massive, consisting of older stars, with greater distances separating galaxies, groups, and clusters from one another. NASA / STScI / A. Feild (STScI) This has given us a rich Universe, containing many relics from our shared cosmic history, including: many generations of stars, an ultra-cold background of leftover radiation, galaxies that appear to recede away from us ever-more-rapidly the more distant they are, with a fundamental limit to how far back we can see. The limit to our cosmic perspective is set by the distance that light has had the ability to travel since the moment of the Big Bang. But this in no way means that there isnt more Universe out there beyond the portion thats accessible to us. In fact, there's both observational and theoretical arguments that point to the existence of much more Universe beyond what we see: perhaps even infinitely more. Nicole Rager Fuller / National Science Foundation A finite Universe would display a number of telltale signals that enable us to determine that we don't live in an infinite sea of spacetime. We'd measure our spatial curvature, and could find that the Universe was shaped like a sphere in some way, where if you traveled in a straight line for long enough, you'd return to your starting point. You could look for repeating patterns in the sky, where the same object appeared in different locations simultaneously. You could measure the Universe's smoothness in temperature and density, and see how those imperfections evolved over time. If the Universe were finite, we would see a specific set of properties inherent to the patterns that the Big Bang's leftover temperature fluctuations displayed. But what we see instead are a different set of patterns, teaching us the exact opposite: the Universe is indistinguishable from being perfectly flat and infinitely large. Smoot group at Lawrence Berkeley Labs Of course, we can't know that for certain. If all you had access to was your own backyard, you couldn't measure the curvature of the Earth, because the portion you had access to was indistinguishable from flat. Based on the portion of the Universe we see, we can state that if the Universe is finite and does curve back on itself, it must have at least millions of times the volume of the portion we can see, with no upper limit to that figure. But theoretically, the implications of our observations paint a picture that's even more tantalizing. You see, we can extrapolate the Big Bang backwards to an arbitrarily hot, dense, expanding state, and find that it couldn't have gotten infinitely hot and dense early on. Rather, above some energy and before some very early time, there was a phase that preceded the Big Bang, set it up, and led to the creation of our observable Universe. E. Siegel, with images derived from ESA/Planck and the DoE/NASA/ NSF interagency task force on CMB research That phase, a period of cosmological inflation, describes a phase of the Universe where rather than being full of matter and radiation, the Universe was filled with energy inherent to space itself: a state that causes the Universe to expand at an exponential rate. In a Universe filled with matter or radiation, the expansion rate will decrease over time, as the Universe becomes less dense. But if the energy in inherent to space itself, the density will not drop, but rather remains constant, even as the Universe expands. In a matter or radiation dominated Universe, the expansion rate slows as time goes on, and distant points recede from one another at ever slower speeds. But with exponential expansion, the rate doesnt drop at all, and distant locations as time goes on incrementally get twice as far away, then four times, eight, sixteen, thirty-two, etc. E. Siegel Because the expansion is not just exponential but also incredibly rapid, doubling happens on timescale of around 10-35 seconds. This implies: by the time 10 -34 seconds have passed, the Universe is around 1000 times its initial size, seconds have passed, the Universe is around 1000 times its initial size, by the time 10 -33 seconds have passed, the Universe is around 10 30 (or 1000 10 ) times its initial size, seconds have passed, the Universe is around 10 (or 1000 ) times its initial size, by the time 10-32 seconds have passed, the Universe is around 10300 times its initial size, and so on. Exponential isnt so powerful because its fast; its powerful because its relentless. E. Siegel / Beyond the Galaxy Now, obviously the Universe didnt continue to expand in this fashion forever, because were here. Inflation occurred for some amount of time in the past, but then ended, setting up the Big Bang. One useful way to think about inflation is like a ball rolling very slowly down from the top of a very flat hill. As long as the ball remains near the topmost plateau, it rolls slowly and inflation continues, causing the Universe to expand exponentially. Once the ball reaches the edge and rolls down into the valley, however, inflation ends. As it oscillates back-and-forth in the valley, that rolling behavior causes the energy from inflation to dissipate, converting it into matter-and-radiation, ending the inflationary state and beginning the hot Big Bang. E. Siegel / Beyond the Galaxy But inflation doesn't occur everywhere at once and end everywhere at once. Everything in our Universe is subject to the bizarre quantum laws of reality, even inflation itself. When we consider that fact of nature, an inevitable line of thought emerges. Inflation isnt like a ball which is a classical field but is rather like a wave that spreads out over time, like a quantum field. As time goes on and more-and-more space gets created due to inflation, certain regions, probabilistically, are going to be more likely to see inflation come to an end, while others will be more likely to see inflation continue. The regions where inflation ends will give rise to a Big Bang and a Universe like ours, while the regions where it doesnt will continue to inflate for longer. As time goes on, because of the dynamics of expansion, no two regions where inflation ends will ever interact or collide; the regions where inflation doesnt end will expand between them, pushing these "bubble Universes" apart from one another. E. Siegel / Beyond The Galaxy There are, of course, a great many unknowns associated with this inflationary state. We don't know how long inflation lasted before it ended and gave rise to the Big Bang, and whether that duration was short, long, or infinite. We don't know if the regions where inflation ended are all the same as one another, with the same laws of nature, fundamental constants, and quantum properties and fluctuations as our own Universe. And we don't know whether these various Universes are connected in some physically meaningful way, or whether they play by their own individual rules and don't affect one another. The dream of parallel Universes, after all, is that the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics might have a place for all of those alternate realities where different decisions were made and different outcomes were achieved to truly reside. Christian Schirm Maybe. It's certainly wishful thinking to believe so. But for that to actually be our physical reality, those unknowns about our Universe need to have specific answers that may not be very likely. First off, the inflationary state that preceded the Big Bang must have lasted for not just a long time, but a truly infinite amount of time. Let's assume that the Universe inflated i.e., expanded exponentially for 13.8 billion years. That would create enough volume of space for 10^(1050) Universes just like our own, or 10100000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 Universes. That's a gargantuan number. But if it's not bigger than the number of possible outcomes, it isn't big enough to contain the possibilities that the notion of parallel Universes would necessitate. Lee Davy of flickr There are 1090 particles in our Universe, and we require that every one of them have the same history of interactions since the Big Bang that they experienced here to duplicate our Universe. We can quantify the odds by taking 1090 particles and giving them 13.8 billion years to interact. We then have to ask how many possible outcomes there are given the laws of quantum physics and the rate of particle interactions. As large as a double exponential is as 10^(1050) is it's far smaller than our estimate for the number of possible quantum outcomes for 1090 particles, which is somewhat larger (1090)! That ! stands for factorial, where 5! is 5 * 4 * 3 * 2 *1 = 120, but 1000! is 1000 * 999 * 998 * ... * 3 * 2 * 1 and is a 2477-digit number. If you tried to calculate (1090)!, you'd find that it's many googolplexes larger than a relatively mundane number like 10^(1050). FNAL / DOE / NSF It's true: both numbers go to infinity. The number of possible parallel Universes tends to infinity, but does so at a particular (exponential) rate, but the number of possible quantum outcomes for a Universe like ours also tends to infinity, and does so much more quickly. As both mathematicians and John Green fans know, some infinities are bigger than others. What this means is that, unless inflation has been occurring for a truly infinite amount of time, there are no parallel Universes out there identical to this one. The number of possible outcomes from particles interacting with each other increases faster than even the number of possible Universes arising from inflation; even an inflating multiverse isn't large enough to hold the parallel Universes you'd need for the many-worlds interpretation of quantum physics to put all of its alternate timelines. Karen46 / FreeImages Although we cannot prove whether inflation went on for an infinite duration or not, there is a theorem that demonstrates that inflationary spacetimes cannot be extrapolated back for arbitrary amounts of time; they have no beginning if so, and are called past-timelike-incomplete. Inflation may give us an enormously huge number of Universes that reside within a greater multiverse, but there simply aren't enough of them to create an alternate, parallel you. The number of possible outcomes simply increases too fast for even an inflationary Universe to contain them all. In all the multiverse, there is likely only one you. You must make this Universe count, as there is no alternate version of you. Take the dream job. Stand up for yourself. Navigate through the difficulties with no regrets, and go all-out every day of your life. There is no other Universe where this version of you exists, and no future awaiting you other than the one you live into reality. Make it count. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2019/05/23/could-parallel-universes-be-physically-real/ |
Do The Browns Have One More Big Acquisition Left In Them? | The Cleveland Browns still have almost $14 million in cap space left, so you know what that means. General Manager John Dorsey wakes up feeling dangerous. The Browns frenetic roster re-shaper may not be done adding pieces in his busy offseason. The latest reported free agent of interest is Gerald McCoy, the six-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle who has been released by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Cleveland isnt exactly hurting on the defensive line. Already this offseason Dorsey acquired defensive end Olivier Vernon in a trade with the New York Giants, and he signed free agent Sheldon Richardson. They will join two returning starters _ defensive end and former No.1 overall pick (2017) Myles Garrett and tackle Larry Ogunjobi _ to give Cleveland a formidable front four. Adding McCoy would be icing on an already comely cake. The challenge for the Browns will be to get McCoy to buy into _ at a reasonable price _ what Dorsey and the Browns are selling. If McCoy has been paying attention to the Browns Dorsey-driven overhaul over the last year, Cleveland would have to be a team of interest for the 31-year-old veteran. McCoy was the third overall pick in the 2010 Draft, out of the University of Oklahoma, which, of course, also produced Browns long-awaited franchise quarterback Baker Mayfield. The Bucs tried to trade the 6-4, 300-pound McCoy, but could find no takers for his $13 million salary, so they released him. McCoy figures to have no shortage of suitors. In addition to the Browns, hes reportedly drawn interest from a number of teams, including the New England Patriots. For the first time in forever, however, the Browns can pitch themselves as legitimate postseason contenders, which should count for plenty, along with one of the NFLs most rabid fan bases. That, plus the massive roster upgrade orchestrated by Dorsey over the last year, would seemingly make Cleveland an attractive option for McCoy. Having the cap space to sign McCoy would also work in the Browns favor. According to spotrac.com, the Browns have the fourth-most available cap space in the league at $13.8 million, plus $33 million for their top 51 contracts. Dorsey and head coach Freddie Kitchens dont have to look far for some internal opinions on McCoy. New Browns offensive coordinator Todd Monken was formerly the offensive coordinator for three years in Tampa Bay. If Dorsey can reel in McCoy, it would give the Browns a physically and statistically impressive defensive line. In 2018, McCoy, Garrett, Ogunjobi, Richardson, and Vernon combined for 30 sacks, 36 tackles for losses and 102 quarterback hits. Although the signing of receiver Odell Beckham Jr. produced the Browns biggest headlines of the offseason, Dorsey has spent most of his time since the end of the 2018 season trying to fortify the defensive side of the Browns roster. Cleveland last year allowed the third most total yards and fifth most yards rushing in the NFL. In the Draft, Dorsey concentrated almost exclusively on defensive players, including their top pick, LSU cornerback Greedy Williams, who was selected in the second round. Five of the seven players drafted by the Browns were defensive players: two cornerbacks, two linebackers and one safety. However, of all the defensive players added to the roster during the off-season, McCoy would be the biggest, most decorated and important one of the bunch. It would give Cleveland one of the strongest defensive fronts in the league, and would be a major upgrade for a defense that in one six-game stretch in 2018 gave up an average of 31 points per game. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jimingraham/2019/05/23/do-the-browns-have-one-more-big-acquisition-left-in-them/ |
What If Presidential Hopeful Andrew Yang Is Right? | At the most recent Future of Everything Festival, presidential candidate Andrew Yang jokingly said that when the first Democratic debate takes place in Miami on June 26th Americans will be wondering, Who is the Asian guy standing next to Joe Biden? Maybe Americans ought to be paying more attention to his platform than simply his ethnicity. Ive begun to devote a little more thinking to Yang in recent months, wondering aloud where hes headed. Im also pondering whether Americansor Democrats who hold power to select their presidential candidate to confront President Trumpare ready for a GenX leader who is equal parts inspiring, whacky, creative and mathematical. I, for one, think America might want to give Yang and his platform a chance, if not a hard glance. Yang is gaining some recent headlines with his take on universal basic income (UBI). He coins it The Freedom Dividend, a $1,000/month stipend for every American adult over the age of 18. Yang believes there is a coming robot and automation apocalypse where thousands upon thousands of workers will be displaced. He may be right. McKinsey predicts that by 2030, jobs like dishwashers, equipment operators, food-preparation workers, general mechanics and truck drivers in America will witness a 31% decrease in employment due to automation. Thats a lot of people put on the streets should there be no retraining programs made available. The Freedom Dividend is a potentially positive step in the direction of helping those displaced by the coming wave of automation. Yes, of course. Its in the neighborhood of $3 trillion per year. Yang has a plan to fund it, in part, through a value-added tax (VAT). Naturally, there are naysayers. But there may not be an alternative for the US. For example, there are approximately 5 million professional drivers in the US be it driving trucks, taxis or others of its ilk. UBI just may be the answer to temporarily help the thousands upon thousands of drivers suddenly out of work. And rest assured it is coming. There are other components to Yangs platform that deserve some attention. He wants to revive the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA), an organization first commissioned by President Nixon but sunset in 1995. OTA acted as an early warning system against the undesirable side effects of developing technologies. It sure could have come in handy over the advent of Facebook and its kind. Yang also believes data ought to be a property right. His articulation suggests the following: Data generated by each individual needs to be owned by them, with certain rights conveyed that will allow them to know how its used and protect it. Its hard to disagree that our data should be in our possession, specifically as a right. Another idea that is gaining traction with the public and his ever-growing army of Yang Gang meme members is Human Capitalism. The policy itself needs additional polishing and depth. At first blush, however, Yang hints at something that might be worthwhile as society contemplates a factory reset of what it means to be in business. Yangs initial thoughts include the following: Humans are more important than money The unit of a Human Capitalism economy is each person, not each dollar Markets exist to serve our common goals and values I have written extensively about the need for corporations to shift how they operate. No longer should they be fixated on profit and shareholder return. Rather, corporations exist to serve society and its stakeholders made up of customers, employees, community and the environment. Only then does it deserve a fair financial return. Human Capitalism, as depicted by Yang, seems to be venturing closely toward this line of thinking. If so, its necessary and ridiculously overdue. The opposite of Donald Trump is an Asian man who likes math, said Yang at a recent rally. Its a joke to rev up the crowd but as a Canadian with no vote or say, I do hope Democrats take a serious look at the entirety of Yangs platform. It may be just what the country needs. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/danpontefract/2019/05/22/what-if-presidential-hopeful-andrew-yang-is-right/ |
What To Expect From Best Buy's Fiscal Q1? | Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) is scheduled to announce its fiscal first quarter results on Thursday, May 23. In fiscal 2019, Best Buys comparable sales were up 4.8% and its online sales grew 10.5% on a comparable basis, primarily due to higher conversion and increased traffic. The companys revenue grew 2% year-over-year (y-o-y) to around $42.9 billion, largely driven by the growth in domestic sales, partially offset by the loss of revenue from 257 Best Buy Mobile and 12 large format store closures in the past year. The company benefited from stronger consumer demand across the gaming and wearables categories, partially offset by lower than expected sales in mobile phones. Best Buy also reported non-GAAP EPS of $5.32 for the year, up 20% y-o-y, primarily driven by a lower effective tax rate and higher operating income. Our $75 price estimate for Best Buys stock is almost 10% ahead of the current market price. which outlines our forecasts for the company. You can modify our forecasts to see the impact any changes would have on the companys earnings and valuation and see more Trefis Consumer Discretionary company data here. Q1 Expectations Best Buy expects its top line to range between $9.05 billion and $9.15 billion in the fiscal first quarter. In addition, the retailer also expects non-GAAP EPS of $0.83 to $0.88. Further, Best Buy expects its enterprise comparable sales growth of flat to 1%. Best Buy is executing on its strategy to cut costs, optimize square footage, grow online sales, and stabilize its revenues. As a result, the companys fourth quarter marked its fifth consecutive comps and EPS beat. We expect a similar beat on Q1 revenues as well. Fiscal 2020 Outlook For full-year fiscal 2020, Best Buy expects revenues of $42.9 billion to $43.9 billion. The retailer is also calling for same-store sales to climb as much as 0.5% to 2.5%. Best Buys gross profit margin is expected to remain flat relative to fiscal 2019, as continued investments in supply chain and higher transportation costs could be offset by the higher marginal rate of GreatCall. Further, the retailers SG&A expenses are expected to grow in low single-digits, driven by continued investments in technology and wages. The retailers investments in specialty labor, supply chain and increased depreciation related to strategic capital investments, as well as ongoing pressures in the business, will be partially offset by a combination of returns from new initiatives and ongoing cost reductions and efficiencies. Explore example interactive dashboards and create your own. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2019/05/22/what-to-expect-from-best-buys-fiscal-q1/ |
Where Will Great AI Ideas Come From? | If you will tell me precisely what it is that a machine cannot do, then I can always make a machine which will do just that, John Von Neumann told a skeptical listener in 1948. More than 70 years later, the spirit of that quote seems timely in the age of artificial intelligence (AI). Every day brings about a new report on fresh AI applications, or advances in established areas like driverless vehicles. The drumbeat of new papers published on AI frameworks and libraries is unending. We can find clues, experts say, by looking in specific disciplines, some of which arent directly tied to AI at all. Sources Of Inspiration Consider the concept of generative adversarial networks (GANs). The idea emerged in a 2014 academic paper that expanded on a basic idea: An AI that attempts to fool a partner, using the mistakes of deep learning models to improve on itself. Applications have proliferated since. For example, GANs today can create convincing human faces , build 3D models, compose music and help find tumors. The papers lead author, Ian Goodfellow, reportedly came up with the idea while sitting in a pub and thinking about game theory, a sub-field of economics that has proven fertile ground for producing ideas in AI. The takeaway: Some of the biggest AI breakthroughs that will have ripple effects for months or years after their discovery emerge the old-fashioned wayfrom a researcher taking the time to think about a new way to use older ideas. The Power Of Studying The Brain Outside of academia, some companies that focus on AI research have their own methodologies for AI inspiration. For Numenta, an AI startup in Silicon Valley, its guiding principle is that future advances in AI will inevitably come about through a deeper understanding of the brain. The startup has spent years on neuroscience research, leading up to its most recent innovation: An AI technique that builds on an understanding of how the brain perceives objects. Suppose Im holding a coffee cup and I want to touch the bottom of the coffee cup. I know exactly how to move my hand to touch the bottom whether its tilted away from me, toward me or on its side. What that means is I have to be representing the coffee cup in its own reference frame, independent of my reference frame, says Subutai Ahmad, Numentas vice president of research. Yet that coffee cup insight led to a breakthrough in how AI can understand objects. Its like a tab file where every object has a location relative to an outside object, says Ahmad. An obsessive interest in fields adjacent to AI can also lead to profits. Vicarious, a San Franciscobased startup, has put years of study into mimicking the brains visual capabilities, and created an AI-powered platform it calls a Recursive Cortical Network. Cofounder Scott Phoenix says the company uses its proprietary advances to improve AIs ability to see and manipulate objects, and sells the resulting software to companies using robots for purposes like assembly line manufacturing. Other AI researchers rely on a simpler path to making AI discoveriessimply identifying areas where AI falls short. Much-hailed successes such as computers that play games like Go Dota 2 have revealed an underlying flaw: The games require too much data for learning. To get [a computer] to play a subset of Dota, they had to give it 45,000 years of training data, says Phoenix. When you look at how much training data is required to get it to work, and compare it to human training data, its off by factors of hundreds, thousands or millions. Thats where your alarm bells are going off: Is this really the right architecture for building an agent? AI As Problem Solver In industry, the bleeding edge of AI and scientific advances arent as relevant. Companies that want to replace, augment or create specific work processes should instead develop an obsessive focus on getting value from AI, according to Zia Chishti, the founder and CEO of Afiniti, which helps companies use AI to match call center workers with the right customers. Leaders at those companies dont need to know every nuance of AI. Executives need to understand that the new wave of AI and machine learning comes down to pattern recognition thats efficient and fast, says Chishti. Computers now excel at teasing out webs of connection in data thats otherwise unusable by humans, whether because its too expensive or too tedious for humans to review. Afinitis first insight was that the call centers used by nearly every consumer enterprise are ripe with these patterns, and already collect the necessary data. Customers calling into a support number usually start by making selections in a menu, indicating their needs, while the call center management evaluates its employees performance on calls of different types. In a typical call center, this data goes to waste: They run efficiently by connecting customers to the first available agent. Instead, Afiniti developed an AI that acts like a switchboard, connecting customers to agents most knowledgeable about their specific request. As simple as that idea seems on its face, Chishti says that companies often stymie similar efforts to use AI. Many enterprises start with meandering studies of their business, which only delay the process of finding specific applications. Another bad habit is over-delegation. You walk in and say, heres how we make you a billion dollars, and the CEO turns to the CTO, the CTO turns to the SVP of data, and by the time youre done with that chain, theres a janitor making a billion-dollar decision, Chishti says. By focusing on the value proposition of a new technology, top decision makers dont need to understand all the ins and outs of technologythey only need to sponsor a test of whether it works. The Characteristics Of Great Innovators One advantage shared by both basic research outfits and companies looking for value is the intense activity taking place in AI. Peoples renewed focus on AI and the eternal summer of applications and ecosystem improvements has been wonderful for us, and for everyone, says Phoenix. Specialized hardware, software frameworks and libraries, cloud services and a constant stream of published papers in AI and adjacent fields have created an unprecedented ecosystem of support. But keeping up with this deluge of information and tools, not to mention the actual work of innovating, requires interdisciplinary teams. Part of what makes the problem were solving hard is that it requires expertise in AI, machine learning, motion planning, grasping and low-level control behaviors, as well as software engineering and neuroscience. To get all those people into one place is one of the first things that makes what we do difficult, says Phoenix. Chishti says that at the end of the day, its not always clear how his employees come up with their best ideas with AI. You need to give them a ton of creative freedom because the mechanisms by which they process thoughts are typically opaque to other people, he says. But with the right focus, any company can jump into the race. The problems that even 10 years ago seemed really difficult are trivial now, and I think thats been really cool to see, says Ahmad. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/insights-intelai/2019/05/22/where-will-great-ai-ideas-come-from/ |
Can AI Crack The Code For Creativity? | In his new book, The Creativity Code: Art and Innovation in the Age of AI, du Sautoy explores the structural nature of creativity in human endeavors, and looks at areas where AI can have the most influence. Creativity is a code that evolution across millions of years has honed inside our brains, du Sautoy writes. Can we hope to crack the creativity code? To answer that question, he classifies three types of creativity, borrowing from cognitive scientist Margaret Boden: exploratory creativity, which takes what is already there and pushes its boundaries; combinational creativity, which takes two different constructs and combines them in a novel way; and, most elusively, transformational creativity, which fundamentally changes the rules of the game like a bolt from the blue. Think Picasso and cubism or Charlie Parker and bebop. Inspired by the Turing Test, du Sautoy proposes a Lovelace Test (named for Victorian-age computing visionary Ada Lovelace). To pass it, an algorithm must produce something that is new, surprising and of value. Ohand its coder must be unable to explain how the AI created it. Forbes AI sat down with du Sautoy to discuss the ways in which AI can push the boundaries of human creativity. For me, I tend towards the excitement of something passing the Lovelace Test rather than the fear. At the moment, AI is really an extremely powerful tool that can take us as humans into a new realm. The real challenge here is to try and disconnect the code from the coder. Most people would say, Come on, it was a human that wrote that code, so really we should be crediting them with the creativity. What makes the Lovelace Test really interesting at this particular time is that machine learning and deep learning are giving us the chance to create code that can evolve, can change and can start to disconnect itself from the original human coder. Possibly. If you look at music, its not going to put the Mozarts, the Beethovens, the Miles Davises out of jobs, but it might well put second-tier composers out of jobs, those who are making their way by writing music for advertising, corporate videos, computer games. Were already seeing music being written by AI which is good enoughthats the phrase I kept hearing, good enoughfor those applications. You argue that art has underlying patterns and structures which are analyzable and replicable. At first sight, it does look like a hollow exercise. We have wonderful Rembrandts. Isnt this just pastiche? But by looking at the masterworks of the past, we can get new insights that maybe we've missed. For example, by algorithmic analysis, we were able to reveal something that we didnt realize was unique to Jackson Pollocks paintings, which is that they have fractal structures. Thats what this new AI is incredibly good at: picking up patterns which are hidden in a huge, high-dimensional space. Also, of course, exposing ourselves to art of the past is how we develop as creative artists. In terms of transformational artthe things which seem to come out of nothingmany people think they are mysterious because there doesnt seem to be a rationale for it. AI can reveal that quite often there is a rationale and a pattern and a structure hiding inside it, and AI can learn to do something similar itself. Some of the really interesting examples in pushing creativity are the result of creative adversarial networks, where were capturing, in an algorithm, the way that the creative artist works. The idea is creating two algorithms which act as two mindsetsthe creator and the discriminator. And they are working together to produce something that they both judge, together, has value. You can train an algorithm to break the mold creatively, but you have to be careful that youre breaking it in such a way that something interesting comes out of it. I certainly recognize this in my own work. I work with other mathematicians around the world, and I find that by working with another person, I can make far greater progress. For example, I have a collaborator in Germany. Im this kind of mad creator, trying different things, breaking things, putting things together, and hes the discriminator, saying, No, that doesnt work or Thats not quite right. In a creative adversarial network, we have two algorithms challenging each other to go far, but not too far. Where AI seems to be struggling, surprisingly, is the written word. We have huge amounts of data available for computers to learn on, and certainly theyve been able to learn such that they can translate very effectively, but its not with the same subtlety of human translation from one language to another. What its having real trouble with across all the genres is long-term narrative and overarching structure. In music, we have the example of the Jazz Continuator designed by Francois Pachet, which can take the riff of a jazz musician and statistically analyze what they are up to and continue in the same style. So its an algorithm jamming with a human musician. Its interesting locally and quite convincing, but after a while it just gets boring because it doesnt know where its going. What were seeing is AI producing very good local creativity, but missing some sort of global creative structure. In the business world, creativity is valued in terms of innovation and thinking about how to grow and succeed. Yes, this is one place where theres huge potential for exciting developments. Actually, the definition of creativity as something new, surprising and of value comes out of the corporate world. In business, combinational creativity can be a really powerful tool. This is something that I use in my own mathematical work, to look at a way of thinking in one area which is completely different from my own, and seeing whether, through that pair of glasses, I see something new in my own area. As humans, we can often behave rather mechanistically. We get very stuck in ways of thinking, stuck in our silos. This is a chance to break out of that to help our creativity. Toward the end of the book, you come clean and admit that a 350-word section of it was written by an algorithm. You know, even my editor didnt manage to identify it. The copy editor did because the copy editor had started correcting the thing and I had to sort of stop them. I wouldnt like to say what the section is because thats fun to find for yourself. But its a great example of putting the whole thing in context. The book becomes an expression of itself somehow. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/insights-intelai/2019/05/22/can-ai-crack-the-code-for-creativity/ |
How Did Nvidia Fare In Q1, And What Can We Expect From Fiscal 2020? | 2018 Bloomberg Finance LP Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) recently reported its Q1 fiscal 2020 results, which were in line with our estimates. This note details the companys Q1 performance, and Trefis forecasts for the full fiscal 2020. In addition, you can see more of our data for Information Technology companies here. Nvidias total revenues declined 31% to $2.22 billion in Q1 fiscal 2020. This can primarily be attributed to a sharp decline in gaming, as well as absence of revenues from crypto mining processors. The companys revenue has largely declined in the recent quarters from $3.21 billion in Q1 fiscal 2019 to $2.22 billion in Q1 fiscal 2020. Earnings Per Share declined 57% from $2.05 in Q1 fiscal 2019 to $0.88 per share in Q1 fiscal 2020. The plunge in adjusted earnings can be attributed to lower revenues and lower margins, which was down partly due to lower gaming margins. Nvidias average revenue decline of 4.1% from $2.91 billion in Q4 fiscal 2018 to $2.22 billion in Q1 fiscal 2020 has been higher than that of AMD and Intel. AMDs revenues have declined at an average of 0.2% from $1.34 billion in Q4 2017 to $1.27 billion in Q1 2019. Intels revenues have declined at an average of 0.8% from $17.05 billion in Q4 2017 to $16.06 billion in Q1 2019. Nvidia generates its revenues from graphic processing units (GPUs), and Tegra processors. GPUs refer to revenue from Nvidias graphic processing units used in PCs and data centers. Tegra processor segment includes products based on Tegra SOC (system-on-chip) and modem processor technologies, which includes Tegra for automotive computers, including infotainment and navigation systems; and gaming devices. Nvidias GPU revenues grew 25% to $10.18 billion in fiscal 2019. However, revenues will likely decline 5% to $9.64 billion in fiscal 2020, partly due to lower gaming PCs and notebook sales. Also, a decline in demand for GPUs used for crypto mining will impact the sales. Crypto currencies have seen a massive decline in the recent past, and the demand for graphics cards has faded, which were earlier sought for crypto mining. The slowdown in the Chinese economy is impacting the sales of its newly launched Turing products. Trade tensions between the U.S. and China could further add to the woes. Note that China accounted for roughly 25% of the companys sales in the past quarter. Tegra processors revenue declined 2% to $1.54 billion in the last fiscal. However, the decline could be in low double-digits to $1.36 billion in fiscal 2020, due to lower shipments for gaming consoles. The decline in sales can largely be attributed to a lower shipments of SOC (system-on-chip) modules for gaming consoles. However, the companys automotive business is doing well with 14% y-o-y revenue gains in the past quarter, led by increased adoption of the companys next generation artificial intelligence cockpit solutions. These trends will likely continue in the near term. Nvidias full fiscal 2020 earnings will likely be $5.67 per share on an adjusted basis, reflecting a 15% decline over the prior fiscal. The earnings decline can be attributed to lower revenues, and an expected decline in margins, due to lower gaming margins. Average consensus earnings for fiscal 2020 ~ $5.30. Explore example interactive dashboards and create your own. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2019/05/22/how-did-nvidia-fare-in-q1-and-what-can-we-expect-from-fiscal-2020/ |
Is Buying Pinterest In 2019 Like Buying Facebook In 2012? | Pinterest is a visual discovery and bookmarking tool. It has created a niche on its own: we see it alongside Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and LinkedIn, in terms of having created a unique product with social aspects. Pinterest allows users to collect and save images within categorized boards, similar to the way that Slack discussions are organized into topic-specific channels. (We reviewed the Slack IPO filing here). Pinterest is considered social because it allows users to follow people or specific boards based on their interests, and this aspirational pinning is fun, easy, and sometimes addictive. Pinterest is a unique advertising business: not only is there high intent (i.e. collecting ideas for a bathroom remodel), but its various ad types (i.e. carousel, ecommerce) are covertly placed within the rest of the pinned images. In addition to Pinterests ads being hard to avoid, the ads are routinely pinned by users, thus increasing their reach. (We havent found many other platforms where this occurs). Pinterest is also expanding its ecommerce capabilities, including the discovery of products from photos taken by users. In our view, Pinterest is a unique property in the early stages of monetization (esp. international), similar to where Facebook was after its IPO in 2012. Unlike Facebook, however, there are really no questions around the monetization potential. (Mobile was a big question for Facebook). We are very optimistic on Pinterest in the long term, in contrast to the large unknowns around AVs, as we discussed in our Uber and Lyft AV review). Product Overview Below is what the Pinterest homepage for the desktop application looks like for one of our team members. The content suggested for browsing is tailored to several existing boards. Also note the carousel ads from blue chip advertisers (Home Depot and Walmart). Pinterest Opening up a board (called Art Deco in this case), reveals the saved pins and invites the user to explore more content of the same kind algorithmically. Users can also search textually. We can also see that this board has 13 followers who will see any new content as its added. Pinterest Clicking on More Ideas, we see an invite to shop, follow similar boards, and an ad that we can pin to save in our board or click to visit. Pinterest Scrolling down, we see two more unobtrusive but highly relevant ads, fitting not just the theme but also the color scheme of the suggestions and the board. Pinterest Financial Review After this brief product and navigation overview, let's look at Pinterests post-IPO 424 (full document) and their Q1 results (10-Q here). Pinterest IPOed about a month ago in April at $19 per share, then went up to $34 before easing into the mid-$20s after the Q1 results. (Interactive chart) Sentieo Notes from our read-through of Pinterests Form 424 filing: Pinterests own business description is centered around inspiration and discovery. Sentieo Pinterests value proposition to advertisers in clear: 250 million MAUs and 80% of US moms. Sentieo Further, Pinterest hits consumers at different stages in the shopping journey: Sentieo Pinterest is naturally a high-intent environment that is a secular ad dollar share-taker: Sentieo The growth vectors that Pinterest is listing include: on the consumer side, more shoppable products (similar to the recent Instagram ecommerce integrations) more verticals (men can be pinners, too!) more localized content more commercial content to be discovered On the advertiser side, the growth will come from better relevance, more ad products, and more native and third-party tools. As we mentioned in our introduction, these are all currently existing monetization paths. Pinterest, in our view, has a very low technological risk. Pinterests Risk Factors include a lot of the usual factors that we see in tech IPOs. We have highlighted the major ones, in our opinion: Pinterest needs the network effects of people contributing and sharing content on the platform, it depends on search engine traffic, and there might be competition. Sentieo Further down in the document, we see examples of the dependence on search: Sentieo We also see the competition around visual and ecommerce: Sentieo In our view, external competition is really the main risk factor: Pinterest has the network effects and the visual search leadership, and digital advertising in its many forms was, is and will be a share-gainer regardless of the economic cycle. We can see Facebooks Instagram launching a competitor, similar to what happened with Stories and Snapchat. We do not see this succeeding easily. Pinterest is centered around topics (the way Slack channels or Twitter lists are), unlike the personality-driven Instagram product. There is a bad precedent though: Snapchat was hit by Instagrams launch of Stories: the company had to include this in its pre-IPO filing (below), and we saw its DAU growth dampen quickly, and flatline afterwards. Sentieo Snapchats DAUs have been at 0% growth in the last two quarters, and is actually declining in North America and Europe. Sentieo And Snapchats stock never really recovered: it is down by about two-thirds from the post-IPO high and its NTM EV/Sales multiple (left axis) has compressed from over 26x to under 9x. ( Interactive chart ) Sentieo Back to Pinterest: the financials look great. We see exactly what growth investors want to see: increasing revenues (2.5x over two years) AND narrowing losses (GAAP loss reduced by 2/3rds over the same period). Sentieo Pinterests operating metrics are also going in the right direction: we can see that US growth has naturally flatlined at around 82 million (this is already very well-penetrated), but international is 2x larger already, and growing very well. Sentieo Unlike the user metrics, revenue metrics are very heavily skewed to the US: this is where the largest opportunity lies with Pinterest. There is practically zero international revenue, and dominant US platforms have demonstrated, time and again, that international user monetization is very doable. Sentieo The picture is really stunning at the ARPU level: the US monetized at $1.59 to $3.16 per quarter in 2018, while international users monetized at $0.05 to $0.09 per quarter. International monetization is lower in Pinterests comps like Facebook and Twitter as well, but it is not non-existent like we see below. Sentieo Perhaps you saw the seasonal spikes in the charts above for US users: Pinterests quarterly metrics reveal that the company was actually profitable, on a GAAP basis no less, in both Q4 2017 and Q4 2018. This confirmed our initial feeling that Pinterest is very close to profitability. Sentieo Pinterest is led by its founder, and its management team has prior experience around Big Tech. The founder and several employees came from Google, Square, HP, and Microsoft. This is the type of professional background that we like to see. Sentieo The Board consists of venture capitalists, predictably, as well as people with online media backgrounds. The governance is similar to that of other tech IPOs (ie. dual class shares). The pre-IPO shareholder composition is also typical of recent high-profile tech IPOs: founders, management and VCs. Sentieo Like we noted in our Slack post , companies are waiting for longer before IPOing: this results in multiple rounds of private financing (here up to Series H). Sentieo Since Pinterest reported results recently, we also took a look at their Q1. First, we saw that everything is going according to plan: more international markets are being monetized, and more features are being added to gain share with ad clients. Sentieo The financials also looked great: 54% revenue growth and 22% MAU growth, driven by 29% international MAU growth. MAU growth has been fairly steady in the last 4 quarters: 25%. 23%, 23%, 22%. Sentieo ARPU is also growing rapidly, both domestically and internationally: Sentieo Losses also improved as a percent of revenue: Sentieo However, the stock dropped as media reports indicated that the guidance for 2019 was light (along with the usual how can they bomb their first quarter?): Sentieo We are much more optimistic on the business in the intermediate and longer-term. This slide below caught our eye in the earnings release deck. On a running four-quarter basis, Pinterest is monetizing in the low $3s globally, and literally in the pennies for the international segment. Sentieo This really reminded us of another great advertising business that you might have head of: Facebook. In this 2012 deck, we can see that pre-IPO, in 2010, Facebook had similar US monetization numbers. Sentieo Facebook is now running US monetization at 10x roughly the ARPUs from back then. Sentieo We see something similar with Twitter, but in 2016 (around the same number of MAUs- though this is not a great metric for Twitter and the company recently switched to mDAU, monetizable DAU). US ARPUs are also similar to what Pinterest is running now. Twitters US ARPU is now 3-4x these 2016 amounts. Sentieo We can see Pinterest monetizing at levels above Twitter due to the high level of intent and lower than Facebook, as Facebook has two large monetizable properties. We can see that Pinterest is currently trading at around 15x EV/Sales on an NTM basis: Sentieo Facebook also spent a lot of time trading in the low teens on a EV/Sales basis: Sentieo What is different here is that, unlike Facebooks early years, we know for a fact that mobile is monetizable, and we know that video is monetizable, so the business risks are much lower. It really is heavily about the management team executing and following the path that has already been established by others in the space. We see a similar picture when we combine EV/NTM Sales for LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and Pinterest on the same scale: high multiples are not unusual in the early years. (Interactive chart) Sentieo This is even more clear when we align the origins (trading start) for the EV/Sales chart above. ( Interactive chart ) Sentieo Completely speculatively, we can see Facebook acquiring Pinterest: we have no special knowledge and we would guess that Facebook must have looked at doing this prior to the IPO. But we know that Facebook is a very smart acquiror (Whatsapp and Instagram being Hall of Fame acquisitions), so it is entirely possible that Facebook (or Amazon) will step in if Pinterest starts gaining more traction. This is a similar situation to LinkedIn: it became the de-facto depository for global, white collar professional information, and it was acquired by Microsoft after a short stint as a public company. We also think that Twitter will be an acquisition target if the business continues its Disney-fication, a process we discussed when we listed it as one of our top 11 long ideas in January 2019. To summarize our view, we see Pinterest as a unique advertising and potentially ecommerce property that has established a very attractive vertical, and is only now turning on the monetization machine. Valuation is not dissimilar to what we saw in early Facebook, but with substantially lower business risks: we know what works. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/alapshah/2019/05/22/is-buying-pinterest-in-2019-like-buying-facebook-in-2012/ |
Why Is Equal Representation In Media Important? | originally appeared on Quora: the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. Answer by Nancy Wang Yuen, Author of Reel Inequality: Hollywood Actors and Racism, on Quora: In 2015, the average US resident consumed traditional and digital media for over 1.7 trillion hours, an average of approximately 15 and-a-half hours per person per day. In the same year, children (eight- to twelve-year-olds) consumed an average of six hours of media a day, and teens consumed nine hours. This mindboggling amount of media consumption shapes how we see the world we live in. Though they are largely fictional, on-screen images can shape our views of reality. Popular media can have a negative impact on whites perceptions of people of color. One study found that nonverbal racial biases in facial expressions and body language, as represented on popular television shows, influence white viewers racial biases. Furthermore, a lack of contact between racial groups can lead to greater reliance on media stereotypes when formulating ideas about people outside ones race. Studies show that audiences substitute stereotypes they see on screen for reality when they have not had any direct interactions with particular racial groups. For instance, Latino stereotypes in the media can lead audiences negatively to associate immigration with increased unemployment and crime. In addition to aggravating racial tensions, the erasure and negative portrayals of people of color can adversely affect how people of color see themselves. Prolonged television exposure predicts a decrease in self-esteem for all girls and for black boys, and an increase in self-esteem for white boys. These differences correlate with the racial and gender biases in Hollywood, which casts only white men as heroes, while erasing or subordinating other groups as villains, sidekicks, and sexual objects. Studies also show how media images of Native American mascots lower the self-esteem and affect the moods of Native American adolescents and young adults, who have the highest suicide rates in the United States. The ubiquity of racist imagery can have cumulative effects on society. We cannot dismiss the medias differential portrayals of racial groups as mere entertainment if we are to take seriously their impact on our youth. (Excerpts from Introduction chapter of Reel Inequality: Hollywood Actors and Racism) 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. More questions: | https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2019/05/22/why-is-equal-representation-in-media-important/ |
What Will Data Science Jobs Look Like In The Future? | originally appeared on Quora: the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. Answer by Dan Wulin, Head of Data Science & Machine Learning at Wayfair, on Quora: Ill get into my response, but will caveat it by saying that, given this is a projection into the future, I am likely to be wrong. Hopefully the response will be somewhat thought-provoking, though. Ill start by summarizing three broader trends: Increasingly complex data science algorithms will continue to be subsumed in packages and technologies that make them orders of magnitude easier to deploy: Consider what the experience of training and deploying (at scale) something like a random forest is like today compared to ten years ago - it is orders of magnitude faster to apply, can be done with a higher degree of quality & with less technical and statistical knowledge. This is a common trend across many areas in data science. Winning companies will continue adopting machine learning, AI and related techniques in ways that influence their businesses in fundamental ways: Nothing controversial here, but leads into point #3 below. Academic programs will increasingly expose students to software engineering, statistics and other related disciplines: This a necessary outcome for graduating students to remain competitive in the job market given broader shifts to big data, AI etc. in industry. I expect more students to be exposed to statistics, engineering, linear algebra & machine learning in their coursework over time. As a direct outcome of #1 and #3, much of the work that data scientists are doing today will ultimately be transferred to less highly trained workers who have sufficient coding and statistics exposure to effectively use robust packages and technologies and build machine learning models. We are not at that point yet because many academic programs have not fully caught up to driving their students to develop appropriate technical skills, but I can see this being the norm within the next 5 years - there will simply be a higher volume of graduates coming out of undergraduate and masters programs capable of applying machine learning without being experts in the field. This is a good outcome for businesses as a whole: its not quite democratization of AI, but it does mean that companies will be able to deploy some aspects of AI in a highly cost effective way with low barriers to entry. Related, I think there are two paths that data scientist roles will ultimately evolve along. There will likely be a path which, somewhat similar to some data science teams today, involves driving highly research oriented work that goes well beyond commonly available techniques. For some business use cases, there will be strong ROI to support investing heavily in algorithms that are either based on existing algorithms but modified, or fundamentally different approaches that give a comparative advantage in the market. This will entail understanding & applying machine learning at relatively deep levels - think, for example, of the work teams are doing today in applying deep learning across a variety of use cases (autonomous driving, image classification etc) I believe the second path more directly ties with who is filling business-side management roles in cases where companies traditionally have hired MBAs. As data science continues to proliferate in coming years, there will be increasing value to being able to tie the underlying techniques to business problems in a meaningful way and technically trained individuals with solid communication skills and business common sense are probably in the best position to capitalize on this. This ultimately means that, for certain business functions, quantitatively driven Ph.Ds and masters degrees will become more common relative to MBAs than they are today. Put another way, even businesses in very traditional industries will likely begin having functions that have increasingly tech-oriented cultures & hiring profiles - in the absence of this, it will be very difficult for companies to take advantage of what machine learning has to offer. 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 and Facebook. More questions: | https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2019/05/22/what-will-data-science-jobs-look-like-in-the-future/ |
What Attributes Do The Most Successful Entrepreneurs Have In Common? | originally appeared on Quora: the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. Answer by Kyle York, Vice President, Product Strategy, Oracle Cloud, on Quora: As an entrepreneur myself and through my work as an angel investor, I have spoken with thousands of entrepreneurs throughout my career. Oracle has given me another lens at which to explore startups and their founding teams. Honestly, when I am investing in a company it isnt always the tech/product or market that is more important. It is the entrepreneurs who I am betting on. The first one is fairly straight forward: hustle. Whether youre starting a new company or even if youre working at an established one, no one is going to give you anything. You have to want it. You never have to be the smartest person in the room but if youre the hardest working one, then youll have a chance. Youll need to fight and maintain your passion in the face of immense challenges. You have to determine if it is worth the fight every single day. Another attribute that is crucial is the ability to have a vision and see out into the future but then to articulate that vision to people and take the actionable steps to accomplish it. A great example of someone who can do that is the great Bill Belichick, coach of my beloved New England Patriots. Why hes so unique is that he has been both the general manager and the head coach during this Patriots dynasty. The job of a general manager is to look out into the future and make sure the team is set up for success next year and the year after that. Yet the job of the coach is to take the talent currently on the roster and make the most out of it. For one person to simultaneously do both is impressive and is definitely the calling card of a great entrepreneur. Successful entrepreneurs need to be good translators. By that I mean they have to speak the specific languages of their diverse audiences. As a tech entrepreneur, you have to simplify your messaging, remove jargon, and demonstrate the business value of your products and services. But that doesn't mean you can shy away from the details. You have to know your tech cold, because you never know where the conversation may go when speaking with potential customers and partners. Credibility is crucial. Entrepreneurs must also know how to communicate internally as well, which can be difficult, because different parts of a business often think very differently from each other. Lastly, entrepreneurs need to have motivation and they need to identify what that motivation is early on in the process. If money is your motivator, then doing a startup might not be the best bet, as many startups fail and the short-term sacrifices are immense. I have always been motivated by a sense of community. I want to be involved in a ton of different companies and grow companies to provide jobs and better lives for the people of my community. Ive been lucky to have an impact on the New Hampshire and New England entrepreneurship ecosystem, the Domain Name System (DNS) market and cloud computing more broadly. But people are motivated in all sorts of different ways: family, legacy, etc. Find what is yours and then use your skills to go make that happen. 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. More questions: | https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2019/05/22/what-attributes-do-the-most-successful-entrepreneurs-have-in-common/ |
How Many Company Employees Can Fit Into a White-Collar Lawyer's Pool? | State and federal prosecutors often are suspicious and critical of efforts by a company under criminal investigation to control costs and centralize knowledge by establishing pool counsel to represent employees who may be called upon to be witnesses. As a result, government attorneys frequently attempt to dissuade potential witnesses (current/former employees, officers, or agents of the subject organization) from agreeing to be represented by an attorney hired by their company to concurrently represent a group of similarly situated individuals. A recent ethics opinion issued by the Committee on Professional Ethics of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, chaired by renowned ethics expert Professor Bruce Green, makes clear that although pool counsel must evaluate a number of ethical considerations, such representation often is reasonable, practical, and desirable. Hopefully, at least in New York, the Committees thoughtful and insightful analysis will allay prosecutors undue concerns. The Committees opinion brings clarity to a subject that often puts prosecutors at odds with counsel for a company and its employees. Employees who possess information relevant to the conduct under scrutiny likely will be of interest to the government during an investigation and individuals are entitled to legal counsel to answer questions such as whether and how to respond to requests for documents or testimony. For obvious reasons, businesses prefer to pay a single attorney or law firm to concurrently represent a group of multiple employees. Sometimes, because of conflicts, differing interests or subject matter areas, several different pools may be established. In fact, due to the increase of wide-ranging investigations of businesses, the use of a pool counsel has become quite common, but its validity has remained an issue of contention between prosecutors and the white-collar defense bar. The ethical question addressed by the City Bar Associations Committee was whether a lawyer concurrently may represent multiple individuals in the same governmental investigation or corporate internal investigation. The Committee distinguished the pool representation of simultaneous but separate clients from joint representation. In the former, no expectation exists that clients will coordinate strategy or decision-making each representation is unique; in a joint representation, co-clients have a common purpose and frequently strategize together (i.e., co-plaintiffs or co-defendants in a litigation or spouses or business partners engaged in a transaction regarding common property). As most experienced white-collar practitioners are aware, the concurrent nature of representation by pool counsel creates distinctive ethical questions regarding conflicts of interest and confidentiality. The Committees opinion addresses each separately and offers constructive advice for white-collar counsel seeking to undertake these important representations. Conflicts of Interest The opinion begins by noting that the determination of whether a current conflict exists or may arise later and, if so, whether the conflict is one to which a client can consent, but such a decision must be made prior to engaging a client in a pool representation. The Committee recommends that the attorney separately interview each prospective client in order to learn enough information about each clients role to make an informed decision about whether a situation is likely to arise in which the lawyers professional judgment, competence or loyalty would be compromised. Forbes The Committee noted, however, that the existence of a conflict does not automatically defeat the possible representation. Rather, the lawyer may continue with the concurrent representation of multiple clients if the lawyer reasonably believes that [he or she] will be able to provide competent and diligent representation to each affected client and each client consents. Certain conflicts, however, are non-consentable; for example, where Client A will testify against the interests of Client B. Where the prospective clients consent can be obtained, the opinion notes it must be both informed and in writing. First, the client should be given information about the nature of the representation (i.e., the pool of clients, the lawyers ongoing obligation to monitor for conflicts, and how attorney-client privilege will function), about the material risks of the concurrent representation, and existing or potential conflicts. This information should allow the client to make an informed decision about how he or she wants to proceed. Significantly, the Committee pointed out that this conversation also should include an explanation of the benefits of the pool counsel arrangement to the potential client. Among the advantages noted by the Committee are that the individuals employer is more likely to pay the attorneys fees if an individual is represented by pool counsel and that a pool attorney will acquire detailed and broad knowledge of the relevant facts by representing multiple witnesses with varied accounts of the conduct at issue. If, after receiving all of the information, the client wishes to proceed, his or her consent must then be secured in writing. The opinion notes that even when a pool attorney determines that no concurrent conflict of interest exists, the attorney still is obligated to disclose the implications of multiple representation to the clients and, although not required, should document such disclosure in writing. Finally, the opinion briefly touches upon the attorneys obligation to withdraw from representing either one or both clients should a conflict of interest arise after the representation commences. Client Confidentiality The Committees opinion then examines the treatment of client confidences in a multiple representation. An attorneys duty to maintain confidences extends to prospective, current and former clients, and covers information gained in or relating to the representation, whatever its source, that is protected by the attorney-client privilege, would be embarrassing or detrimental to the client if disclosed, or that the client has requested be kept confidential. The typical expectations regarding the preservation of client confidences that exist in the representation of a single individual do not apply in the context of a pool representation. Accordingly, due to the breadth of this obligation, a pool attorney must discuss the duty of confidentiality with a potential client during the very first meeting in order to make a reasoned assessment regarding the existence of a conflict. Specifically, the parties must sort out: 1) which client confidences the lawyer may use to benefit other clients, and 2) which client confidences the lawyer may disclose to other pool clients. According to the Committee, practically speaking, it may be difficult to represent others in a pool without at least using the information learned from all clients. Indeed, this is one of the benefits of being represented by pool counsel a lawyer with expansive and broad knowledge of the facts underlying the conduct being investigated. By its nature, a pool representation presupposes that each clients confidential information will be used for the benefit of other pool clients if the lawyer deems it necessary to competently and diligently represent another client. Critical, therefore, is that the attorney obtain the prospective clients informed consent as to the use of confidential information immediately. Questions relating to the attorneys ability to disclose one clients confidential information to another client in a pool representation may be handled differently. In its opinion, the Committee suggests two approaches. A client may agree that his or her confidential information may be disclosed to all other concurrently represented clients at the lawyers discretion, unless and until the client revokes such authorization. Or, the parties may agree that the lawyer cannot disclose confidential information unless the client gives informed consent with respect to each proposed disclosure by the attorney. Either way, a pool attorney must resolve the separate questions of both use and disclosure of confidential client information from a prospective client and obtain the required informed consent at the outset of a potential pool representation. The concepts currently embodied by the term pool counsel are not new. They appropriately have been used by the defense bar for decades. Hopefully, the Committees opinion will assist prosecutors in understanding the professionalism and legitimate benefits of such arrangements and, perhaps, help them overcome their concerns. To read more from Robert J. Anello, please visit www.maglaw.com. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/insider/2019/05/22/how-many-company-employees-can-fit-into-a-white-collar-lawyers-pool/ |
Why Do Unicorn-Entrepreneurs Like Gates and Zuckerberg Preach Innovation But Practice Imitation? | The assumption is that first-mover innovation is key to success, especially in ventures and business. One area that has seen a lot of attempts at innovation is K-12 education. One example is AltSchool, a company started by a successful tech-entrepreneur, Max Ventilla, who decided that his children were not getting a great education in Silicon Valley, and decided to start the right kind of school to enhance their innovation skills. This new private school, with annual fees of $26,000, was started with a social mission that is also promoted by Gates and Zuckerberg to promote learner-centric learning for success in the 21st century. The school and its vision are running into problems, and students are leaving. The school has raised more than $174 million, which is astounding for a startup anywhere except maybe in Silicon Valley. Investors include Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook), Peter Thiel (Facebook investor), Laurene Powell Jobs (widow of Steve Jobs), and Marc Andreessen (Netscape). Bill Gates, who has promoted educational innovation but seems not to have funded this venture, is now admitting that educational innovation is not easy (CNBC interview with Becky Quick, 5/6/19). But his thinking may have influenced this startup. #1. There is a lot of money burning a hole in Silicon Valley pockets and it is easier to get this money if you are an insider with a vision to change the world. Ventilla became an insider thanks to his software startup that he sold to Google for 5x the investment. After the sale, he wanted to change the world like the founder of Theranos. And thats what Silicon Valleys unicorn-entrepreneur-financiers want to hear when they invest a world-changing vision to do good and do well. Seek money from them if you have credibility in those circles and can spout your world-changing vision. #2. Traditional proof of venture potential is not needed. To get VC, entrepreneurs normally need to have already developed a great technology (Genentech), or proven their unicorn-strategy (eBay), or demonstrated unicorn-leadership (Bezos). But a Silicon Valley insider with a great social vision does not seem to need real proof and credibility regarding the technology or strategy, or a track record in the field. Ventilla seems to have been able to raise capital due to his vision in education (based on his opinion about his own childrens education), and his track record in a technology venture. #3. Innovation is placed on a pedestal by these unicorn-entrepreneurs and by many corporations, universities, and governments. But heres the irony the unicorn-entrepreneurs funding this venture mostly succeeded not with first-mover innovations, but by imitating and skilled execution: Gates knew computers from his high school days because his school had a personal computer when few schools did. After starting Microsoft, he found that IBM needed an operating system for its new PC. Gates bought one and licensed it to IBM. Zuckerberg developed apps in high school. When he got to Harvard, he found some students who had an idea for linking students with each other. They hired Zuckerberg to write the app. He appropriated the idea and built Facebook. He then acquired Instagram and WhatsApp. Marc Andreessen did not develop the first browser. He had programming skills, and imitated and improved on the other browsers to create the first commercially successful one with Jim Clark. Steve Jobs, arguably the greatest entrepreneur of the last 50 years, knew that he was appropriating others ideas. He boasted about it by repeating Picassos saying that good artists copy; great artists steal and we have always been shameless about stealing great ideas." He did that for the iPod, the iPad, and the iPhone. To him, imitation was acceptable if you improved others innovations, which he did with his unique skills. Many unicorn-entrepreneurs imitated and improved, which fits with the finding that 89% of first movers dont dominate. To imitate and improve, entrepreneurs need skills. According to the article, Ventilla read two dozen books on education before starting the schools. Wow! 24! Gates, when asked about his foundations investments in education, answered that progress has been slow, surprisingly slow. There is nothing surprising about this. These unicorn-entrepreneurs succeeded because they had the skills to dominate their emerging industries. Emerging technologies and industries of the 21st Century call for new skills. Innovation without execution skills makes others wealthy ask Zuckerberg. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/dileeprao/2019/05/22/why-do-unicorn-entrepreneurs-like-gates-and-zuckerberg-preach-innovation-but-practice-imitation/ |
Is Destiny 2s Zero Hour Outbreak Perfected Catalyst And Ship Worth The Heroic Effort? | Destiny 2 Bungie This is the third week of Destiny 2s surprise Outbreak Perfected quest being live, and therefore, the first time players have been able to get their hands on both the completed catalyst for the weapon, and the bonus ship that comes with puzzle solving within the Zero Hour quest. You can either do five weeks of runs of the Zero Hour quest to unlock the catalyst, or you can do three weeks with the puzzle solving for additional credit, which is probably worth doing if you have a competent team to run with and understand how to do it. Solutions are here, if you want to do that. Well start with the ship, which is uh, something. The Whisper secret ship was one of the most coveted aspects of that quest, and people still use it to this day. That isprobably not going to be the case with this giant Wall-E looking bit of nonsense. It actually can look okay with a few different shaders on it, but I think most players are disappointed by it. No one really understands why it has a Gambit logo on it when the Drifter didnt even start Gambit until after the Tower fell, which is leading some to wonder if Bungie actually swapped in the wrong ship reward here by accident. You are in the minority, Lono. But to the Catalyst, which is the reason to run this quest so many times. Yes and no. The catalyst increases Nanite damage and generates additional Nanites. Nanite damage is increased 33% in Crucible, and 25% in PvE. Keep in mind that is not gun damage but just Nanite damage, meaning the effect is not quite as severe as youd imagine. The catalyst creates essentially a second swarm if the Nanites you spawn from a previous kill, then go on to kill another target. This second swarm has fewer Nanites, about half, but it makes chaining ad kills easier. As another bonus, if Nanites attach to a target but dont kill it, even if you kill that target with a bodyshot instead of a headshot, they will release a secondary swarm regardless. If you do kill them with a headshot, it will spawn both swarms, for a whole bunch of Nanites. The problem with this is that Nanites are well and good, but they are not the primary source of damage for the Outbreak by far, so even if were getting a 25% boost to Nanite damage, its a very, very low total increase in damage overall, 3% by some estimates. So really, the catalyst makes mob clearing a little easier and Nanite spawning more forgiving. But its not exactly gamechanging, and the best benefit is still probably the fact that you can now generate orbs with the Catalyst. I think Zero Hour is fun enough to simply run multiple timesbecause its fun, so the Catalyst and ship are just a nice bonus here. Bungie took seven months to design this quest after all, so we should be nice and get some use out of it. But if youre wondering whether or not the catalyst is absolutely mandatory and will demand 3-5 heroic runs from you if youre exhausted from jumping puzzles, its probably not the end of the world if you skip it. Follow me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Read my new sci-fi thriller novel Herokiller, available now in print and online. I also wrote The Earthborn Trilogy. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2019/05/22/is-destiny-2s-zero-hour-outbreak-perfected-catalyst-and-ship-worth-the-heroic-effort/ |
Are Universities Effectively Preparing Future Training Managers For The Business World? | Getty The business world is dynamic, with the pace of change being accelerated by new technologies and disruptions. These are some of the pertinent questions of today. In an effort to master the emerging world, one would be tempted to think that universities are now hotbeds of new thinking and innovation. On the contrary, business schools around the world are still teaching 20th century management principles. To address societal and business needs of the future, universities should recalibrate their programs to regain some of the breadth they have lost over the years. With disciplines becoming rapidly irrelevant, it makes little or no sense to remain confined within boundaries that may soon cease to exist. This holds true not just for technical skills, but also humanistic issues to conclusively tackle emerging challenges. The study of technology and humanities as two different fields has fronted technology as the ultimate solution rather than a tool to serve humanity. Learning And Development Gap Organizations have an urgent need to build skills and capabilities for an ever-evolving business environment. Corporate learning and development is one of the core pillars of business today. The "2019 Deloitte Global Human Capital Trends" report indicated that the No. 1 trend for 2019 among 86% of respondents is the need for organizations to change the way people learn. A survey conducted by the Chief Learning Officer Business Intelligence Board recently discovered that "only 58% of respondents said their measurement and metrics are fully aligned with learning strategy." However, a majority of companies are unprepared to meet their learning and development needs. Business leaders know that skills shortages are a major impediment in the execution of their business strategies. With rapid technological developments, companies have come to a realization that recruiting new talent every now and then is not feasible, and the best way around this is developing it internally. With a widening skills and talent gap, learning and development managers are central and critical to the growth and development of organizations. The State Of Executive Education Studies have shown that traditional university programs do not adequately prepare business executives for current and future challenges. Executive education programs also fall short of lifelong learning, which is one of their core objectives. Top business schools now see the demand for customized cohort-based programs that address specific needs. To fill this gap, corporate universities and the personal learning cloud (PLC) are availing social and interactive platforms and online courses, as well as innovative learning tools from upstarts and institutions. The personal learning cloud, which is an assortment of innovative learning tools, offers a solution for the preparation of training and development managers. Companies can now tailor their personal learning clouds to prepare their training and development managers for the future of business. PLCs are accessible and flexible and help in training managers in the right context. Universities, business schools, training companies and consultancies have now been joined by renowned consultancy firms such as BCG and McKinsey, as well as digital startups such as Udacity and Coursera, to prepare managers for what is unfolding in the business world. Here are some methods and solutions now being utilized more: Business schools with open programs provide enormous intellectual and academic resources. Business schools with customized programs match course content to address the challenges the organization is facing and the transfer of desired skills. Cutting-edge consultancies offer highly contextualized methodology in the development and transfer of skills such as the utilization of highly applied learning tools. Corporate universities deliver content that is highly relevant to the organization and provides a context in which skills are applicable. Remote personalized platforms are a low-cost alternative that delivers functional and technical knowledge. Immediate and applicable learning tools, such as business training simulations (Full disclosure: My company specializes in them), are no longer only available to the select privileged few thanks to massively lower price points. And thanks to cloud-based learning management systems (LMS), the overall cost and manageability of enterprise-level LMS has become more approachable for companies of almost any size. Trends In Executive Education There are new and powerful trends reshaping the executive development industry. They present the private learning cloud as the preferred learning infrastructure. This has lowered the total cost of preparing executives for an uncertain future. According to one study, the number of corporate universities that provide in-house, on-demand, on-the-job education has now reached more than 4,000 in the United States and more than twice that number worldwide. There is also a decline in the standard classroom approach that is common in business schools and universities in the development of business executives. Another trend in preparing business executives for the future is the use of customizable learning environments and immediately applicable tools. This is accomplished through platforms and applications that personalize content depending on the executives role and their organizational needs. The Fourth Industrial Revolution is here, and organizations are experiencing a new set of challenges. With the demand for new skills and talents, equipping training and development managers is critical for transforming and aligning organizations for growth and talent retention. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2019/05/22/are-universities-effectively-preparing-future-training-managers-for-the-business-world/ |
Could a lack of humility be at the root of what ails America? | (The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.) Frank T. McAndrew, Knox College (THE CONVERSATION) There are a lot of reasons behind the political polarization of the country and the deterioration of civic discourse. I wonder if a lack of humility is one of them. In his recent book, The Death of Expertise, national security expert Tom Nichols described a type of person each of us probably knows: " They are young and old, rich and poor, some with education, others armed only with a laptop or a library card. But they all have one thing in common: They are ordinary people who believe they are actually troves of knowledge. [They are] convinced they are more informed than the experts, more broadly knowledgeable than the professors, and more insightful than the gullible masses Interestingly, intellectual humility has become a hot topic in the field of personality psychology. In recent years, a spate of studies have emerged that highlight the important role it plays in our knowledge, relationships and worldview. Your traits determine who you are Seeing someones personality as a constellation of traits goes all the way back to ancient Greece and Rome. Today, its widely accepted that personality traits have a strong biological and genetic basis that can be amplified or muted somewhat by experience. Dozens of different traits have been studied by psychologists over the past 70 years. The relationships among these many traits are often distilled into five dimensions that have come to be known as the big five extraversion, agreeableness, openness to experience, conscientiousness and neuroticism. Where an individual falls along each of these dimensions provides the skeleton for a personality, which can then be fleshed out with a plethora of other, more nuanced traits, like self-monitoring and locus of control. Over the past few years, one of these peripheral traits, intellectual humility, has gotten a lot of attention, largely due to some pioneering research by psychologists Cameron Hopkin and Stacey McElroy-Heltzel. A willingness to be wrong In a nutshell, intellectual humility reflects the extent to which someone is willing to at least entertain the possibility that he or she might be wrong about something. People who score high in intellectual humility tend to be more open to experience and more agreeable. Hopkin and McElroy-Heltzel saw intellectual humility as a way to explore individual religious beliefs and how people manage religious differences in everyday life. However, Duke University psychologist Mark Leary quickly recognized the potential relevance of this trait to a wide range of political and social issues and ended up conducting a series of influential studies to explore how the trait predicts our reactions to people and ideas that we disagree with. Leary found that individuals who score on the high end of intellectual humility process information differently from those who score on the low end. For example, theyre more tolerant of ambiguity and they realize that not every problem has a single, definitive answer or outcome. When they hear a claim, they are more likely to seek out evidence and prefer two-sided, balanced arguments. Unfortunately, most people do not score high on intellectual humility. Leary discovered that when he asked the following question Think about all of the disagreements you have had in the last six months. What percentage of the time do you think that you were right? the average response was about 66%. It was rare for someone to report being correct less than 50% of the time. A suspicion of so-called experts and a contempt for science and rationality is a long-standing American tradition. A new twist, however, is the splintering of news outlets and social media into echo chambers, where like-minded individuals reinforce each others worldviews, making it easier than ever to feel like youre always in the right. Were less likely to be exposed to facts or points of view that we disagree with, except when theyre shredded or dismissed within our own cyber-ecosystems. Receiving daily affirmation of our opinions and intuition from TV and the internet naturally coaxes us into seeing ourselves as being pretty darned smart. This can be especially toxic when fused with a lack of respect for expertise. What this means for our politics According to Leary, your political party or religion doesnt correlate with higher or lower intellectual humility. However, those with more extreme religious and political views do tend to score lower in intellectual humility. It is not yet clear if the average voters political views are becoming more extreme, but there is evidence that this may be true for those who are most engaged in the political process. Furthermore, many voters seem to prefer leaders who are confident, decisive and who do not change their positions on issues the very qualities that can readily be found in those who lack intellectual humility. In fact, studies have found that Republicans but not Democrats who are low in intellectual humility report being much less likely to vote for a politician who has changed his or her stand on an issue over time. So, woe be to the Republican office seeker who has changed a position on an issue in light of new evidence, as the dreaded label of flip-flopper is all but certain to be applied. Theres an irony to all of this: According to a recent study, people who possess greater intellectual humility actually have a superior grasp of general knowledge. Theyre also less likely to brag about their intellectual prowess than low scorers. This creates a quandary for politicians who score high in intellectual humility, as they may appear indecisive to others. After all, theyll tend to weigh evidence carefully and take longer to reach a decision than a leader who just goes with his gut. And because individuals who are high in intellectual humility are interested in finding out why other people disagree with them, politicians with this quality may not be perceived as team players and may be seen as too ready to compromise. In an era where a premium is placed on party loyalty and taking a hardball approach to dealing with the opposition, this may be come across as weakness. The New York Times Jeremy Peters bemoaned that political anger and moral outrage are the only things that Americans really have in common anymore. Understanding the positions of our opponents, he noted, has become a lost art. A lack of intellectual humility is clearly one of the factors that handicaps our ability to engage in civil discourse. And while there has probably never been an excess of intellectual humility in Washington, D.C., its rarely been as nakedly apparent as it is today. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here: http://theconversation.com/could-a-lack-of-humility-be-at-the-root-of-what-ails-america-116118. | https://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Could-a-lack-of-humility-be-at-the-root-of-what-13878429.php |
Will Rolling Back Vehicle Emission Standards Hurt Electric Vehicles? | Getty California may roll right over Donald Trumps attempt to reverse vehicle emission standards. It could even go as far as to ban the traditional combustion engine that runs on gasoline. Its a response to Trumps attempt to block California from going its own way mileage rules. California has been given a waiver and is permitted to set rules and regulations apart from those in the federal government. About 13 other states, meanwhile, are following Californias lead. And that means that carmakers are going ahead and designing more environmentally-friendly cars for all consumers. But Trump says that this is raising the cost of cars for everyone else and despite his sentiment of allowing the states to be used as laboratories, he has vowed to cut off California. If we lose the state vehicle standards, we have to fill up the gap with other measures, California Air Resources Board Chairwoman Mary Nichols said, as reported by the Los Angeles Times. We will be faced with dramatic alternatives in terms of tighter, stricter controls on everything else, including movement of vehicles and potentially looking at things like fees and taxes and bans on certain types of vehicles and products. California is fighting the move in federal court and it is joined by 18 other states that include Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington State and the District of Columbia. More states may get on board, all of which is meant to pressure the auto sector to support California and to invest more in electric vehicles. Those states want to set aside the Environmental Protection Agencys efforts to weaken clean car rules, saying that the agency has acted arbitrarily and capriciously and that it has failed to follow its own regulations, and violated the Clean Air Act. Together, they say that their states represent 43% of the new car market. As a result of that market power, automakers comport to their standards. The Trump administration would allow the current 35.5 mile per gallon mandate to rise to 37 miles-per-gallon by 2020. But that is short of the 47 miles-per-gallon by 2025 that the Obama administration had pushed for something for which it initially got the thumbs up from automakers. The auto industry has sent out mixed signals: it says that its bigger models are its best selling cars but yet, it is actively marketing its electric vehicles; there are roughly 50 different types of electric vehicles. California passed a law, meantime, to mandate zero-emissions cars by 2040. Colorado, too, is moving into the fast lane to get more electric vehicles on the road. If the state approves a zero-emissions standard, then 5% of all vehicles sold there need to be either hybrids or fully electric by 2023 something for which the Colorado Air Quality Control Commission just voted unanimously. The state already offers a $5,000 tax credit on top of the federal tax credit. Altogether, electric vehicles make up about 3.5% of Colorados car market. That is double from 2017 figures. Throughout the country, it is about 1.6%, which is expected to grow to be 6% in 2025. If Colorados measure becomes law, the expectation is that 6% of all cars in the state 17,000 total would be electric vehicles by 2025. By 2040, it is shooting for 940,000 electric vehicles. With that, Colorado lawmakers just voted to require utilities to file their strategies to electrify the transport sector in one year. In 2018, an electric vehicle running on Xcel-produced power meant 71% less smog-forming pollution, 99% fewer volatile organic compounds and 34% less global warming pollution, all compared to a new gasoline vehicle, says the Colorado Public Interest Research Group. For our part, automakers are investing tens of billions of dollars developing, producing, and promoting plug-in hybrid, battery, and fuel cell electric cars, says the Auto Alliance. Over 30 electric car models in all shapes and sizes are at the dealerships and on the roads in Colorado, and many more are coming soon. Simply put, no one has a bigger stake in seeing the electric car market succeed. Tesla, Volkswagen, Nissan, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, General Motors, Ford and Toyota are among the car companies selling electric vehicles. The phenomenon is driven in large part by declining battery prices and consumer demand, along with tax incentives. The potential extends well beyond the transport sector and into the power industry. This reporter visited the University of California at San Diego as part of the Microgrid Foundations annual conference. There, a fleet of electric vehicles was serving as a virtual power plant for a demonstration project sending their electrons back to the grid so that the local utility could use the power. A fleet of electric vehicles could support the grid or microgrid at night, says Sacha Fontaine, energy solutions director at Siemens Digital Grid, at the microgrid conference. Trumps attempt to rollback the vehicle emission standards is more of an inconvenience than it is a threat to the states. Thats because the momentum is with California, as an increasing number of jurisdictions are backing its legal battle to keep its waiver while other states such as Colorado want to mimic its zero-emissions rule policies that the auto sector must support if it wants to sell electric vehicles into those markets. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kensilverstein/2019/05/22/will-rolling-back-vehicle-emission-standards-hurt-electric-vehicles/ |
What's The Difference Between A Decision And A Solution? | Getty The adage goes something like this: A solution cannot present itself until the problem is first identified. As leaders, the ability to problem-solve should be a major part of our skill set. But the funny thing about problem-solving is the steps used to solve a problem dont always lead to a solution. Whether or not your decisions produce a real solution is largely out of your control. The best you can do is minimize your chance of failure, maximize your chance of success or both. The common recipe to problem-solving consists of the same basic flavors. 1. Work backward: Find the endpoint or final consequence of the problem and trace it back to its source. This is a good principle because it reveals the entire framework in which the problem plays out. 2. Explore comparable situations: As the steps in the problems cycle are examined and thought out, reminders of similar problems come to mind. Problems which are likely addressed by existing solutions. This step provides an understanding of the possibilities. 3. Analyze, strategize and plan: This is the phase to test the possibilities and hypothetical situations. As holes are poked in each theory, the least possible solutions fall away while the more possible survive. This allows execution steps to be identified and a plan to be formed. 4. Execute, review, revise and repeat: Things dont always go according to plan, so follow-up is necessary to root out whats not working and iterate with a replacement. It becomes academic quickly which, lets face it, is a red flag. If problems could be solved by such a recognizable formula, Id be on my way to the worlds annual global peace celebration in my shiny, zero-emission, zero-noise-polluting, fully sustainable flying car -- on Mars. Its not that academic formulas or problem-solving guides dont help. They do, but the devil is in the details, and not all details are created equally. For one thing, few point out the need to simplify at every step, every sub-step and the spaces between every sub-step. To find a solution, just simplify it. Simplification is a psychological double-edged sword. On the one hand, it can offer comfort and clarity. On the other, it may trigger anxiety. Especially if youre charged with solving the problem, simplifying something so anyone can understand it evokes a common job security fallacy. If anyone can understand it, why would I be needed to solve the problem? or If I speak in simple terms, will I be perceived to be simple? Take a known problem we face today: illegal fishing -- a topic Im familiar with due to my companys satellite-based maritime data tracking. Approximately 15% of capture fisheries output is caught illegally -- estimated up to 26 million metric tons annually, according to The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2016 report. That sounds like a pretty complicated problem. So, lets start the formula and work backward to understand the full breadth of the challenge: Food retail unknowingly buys and sells seafood that was illegally caught. Illegal catch is shipped all around the world without being tracked or reported. Fishermen ignore local maritime laws and take what they catch, without penalty. Remember your audience when you review the scope of the challenge again: Distribution services fill the demand with a mix of seafood products, both legal and illegal. Threatened by competition, wholesalers turn a blind eye to their sources of illegal catch. To keep their businesses alive and provide for their families, fishermen sail where opportunity leads them. Not only does it help to understand the people involved, but it also provides insight into what solutions might be more effective. So, with every problem-solving meeting you have, take a personal approach to kick start the simplification process. But dont stop there. Dig deeper into the human aspect of the situation. As soon as the situation is approached from a human perspective, so many things become clear: motivations, contexts, productive questions, actionable ideas. When you place yourself in the shoes of each group involved, the steps of problem-solving become more clear. In our fishing example, its clear those farther down the supply chain receive the effects more than cause them. So, the starting point for exploring solutions focuses on fishermen and wholesalers. In product terms, these are your first adopters. This is the group that will convert your theoretical decisions into productive solutions. Treasure them and express gratitude often because your problem-solving is not what drives the solution; that achievement is reserved for these brave souls who are willing to adopt your paper solution and make it a reality. There are those who are charged with cultivating and growing local economies who would be interested in helping reduce illegal fishing. Not just from a penal code standpoint, but to incentivize legal fishing. These are local, elected representatives, environmentalists and fishermen themselves. Identifying this group last is beneficial because the previous two groups can be leveraged to recruit those with the greatest positive impact. Its also common that these groups fall under the category of wanting to help, which is fine. But remember, its about minimizing your chance of failure and maximizing your chance of success. The two are not mutually exclusive. In the fishing example, a clear possibility lies in the realms of accountability and awareness. Weve only begun the first step of this problem-solving exercise, and yet, so many possibilities have already revealed themselves -- simply by holding on to a human perspective. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescommunicationscouncil/2019/05/22/whats-the-difference-between-a-decision-and-a-solution/ |
Can Congress Bolster Energy Cyber Protections? | One does not have to look hard to find cybersecurity in the news. From seemingly daily reports of data breaches to state-sponsored hacking, data security is quickly becoming a real-life threat for most Americans. Federal policymakers also have cybersecurity in front of mind in recent days. Specifically, some lawmakers are reacting to suggestions from a government watchdog agency that the U.S. pipeline system is vulnerable to cybersecurity threats. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report to Congress last December with a set of pipeline cybersecurity recommendations that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) could implement to strengthen pipeline cybersecurity, including an increase in the TSA workforce to enhance pipeline oversight. The watchdog agency recently released an update on those efforts on May 1, which coincided with a House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy hearing on federal pipeline safety program reauthorization. During the hearing, some lawmakers and witnesses echoed GAOs criticism on the state of U.S. pipeline cybersecurity, claiming TSA must do more to ensure pipelines are secure. The truth is, more can be done. But, much of the criticism painted a doom and gloom scenario that fails to account for updated best practices industry has already implemented, often coordinating and working in tandem with the Department of Homeland Securitys DHS National Protection and Programs Directorate. Working together through strong public-private partnerships industry and regulatory agencies have leveraged their joint cybersecurity expertise. Partnerships like the Oil and Natural Gas Cybersecurity Information Sharing and Analysis Center facilitate information sharing among more than fifty natural gas and oil companies. 2019 Bloomberg Finance LP The Department of Energy (DOE) is also doing its part by investing in research and development projects that tackle energy cybersecurity issues. For example, since 2010 the DOEs Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security and Emergency Response (CESER) R&D program has invested more than $240 million in cybersecurity research, development and demonstration projects that are often times led by industry. On the safety side, investment and communication techniques to bolster damage prevention is also top of mind. In 2017 the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), the federal agency responsible for energy transportation, released a report outlining the need for wider implementation of Enhance Positive Response reporting protocols that increase transparency and reduce damage rates while also protecting the security of this critical infrastructure. These investments of money and time make a difference. Total pipeline incidents have continued to trend downward, while at the same time, pipeline mileage and throughput have increased. Clearly, we are headed in the right direction. Those realities should lend context to ongoing conversations about pipeline security. There may well be a shortage of staff to accomplish TSAs cybersecurity mission, but defining that mission requires more than bean counting exercise. TSA needs to identify performance standards, rather than staffing levels. For example, TSA should define what core capabilities the agency needs to effectively protect the nations pipeline network, then make specific recommendations to Congress on what staffing needs exist to achieve those capabilities and how much money is required to make those hires. Others are calling for tougher regulations, a slogan often used in DC when we do not know what else to say. The regulatory process is slow, cumbersome, inefficient, and results in significant regulatory lag which can delay needed protections and stifle innovation. At times, stricter regulations are needed, but they need not always be the first step. Consensus standards and best practices are a far more nimble, quick, and efficient way to respond to emerging threats if stakeholders are willing and able to comply voluntarily. After all, we learned long ago that successful cyber strategies lie in defenses in depth and operational resiliency and redundancies. That said, if the government were to seek a more direct role, offensive counter cyber strategies should be on the table to respond to cyber actors. Since such capabilities result in punishing the person, organization, or country responsible for a cyber attack, any such decisions are most properly handled by federal authorities. Also lost in the conversation is the need to protect all energy infrastructure. I was privileged to deliver a keynote address to energy experts at George Mason University on the importance of grid security and maintaining our infrastructure. Those thoughts rang true based on a cryptic report posted by DOE which found that on March 5th an energy company providing power in several western U.S. states experienced a denial-of-service condition that knocked systems offline for more than ten hours. While DOE commentedthe incident did not impact generation, the reliability of the grid or cause any customer outages, the cyber event was serious enough to report. In that light, perhaps policymakers should redirect their efforts by enhancing penalties for anyone attacking critical infrastructure and empowering authorities to respond to any such attacks in a manner intended to deter further incursions. Reinforcing the partnership between regulators and the regulated community will continue to pay dividends. Continuing to enhance TSAs capabilities will also help enhance transportation security and safety. By working together, the public and private sectors will be able to accomplish much more than if we simply seek top-down fixes that could very well run counter to the goals we all seek to achieve. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/brighammccown/2019/05/22/cybersecurity/ |
How Is Medtronic Likely To Have Fared In Q4 Fiscal 2019? | Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) is expected to publish its Q4 fiscal 2019 results on May 23. This note details Trefis forecasts for Medtronic, as well as some of the key trends we will be watching when the company reports earnings. for more details on the key drivers of the companys expected performance in Q4. In addition, you can see more of our data for Health Care companies. Medtronic reports its revenues under four segments ~ Cardiac & Vascular Group, Minimally Invasive Therapies Group, Restorative Therapies Group, and Diabetes. Cardiac & Vascular Group includes cardiac rhythm management devices for the diagnosis, treatment, and management of heart rhythm disorders and heart failure. It also includes coronary balloons, drug-coated balloons, and thoracic stent graft systems, among others. The segment revenues of $11.53 billion in fiscal 2018 accounted for 38% of the companys total revenues. Minimally Invasive Therapies Group includes devices and therapies for neurological problems and imaging systems among other products. The segment revenues of $8.54 billion in fiscal 2018 contributed 28% to the companys top line. Restorative Therapies Group primarily includes devices and implants for conditions relating to the spine, musculoskeletal system, brain, and nerves. The segment generated revenues of $8.18 billion in fiscal 2018, accounting for 27% of the companys total revenues. Diabetes includes sales of diabetes management products, which primarily consist of insulin pumps, and continuous glucose monitoring systems. The segment revenues of $2.42 billion in fiscal 2018 contributed 8% to the companys total revenues. Trefis Total Revenues for Medtronic have largely trended higher over the last few quarters. They grew from $7.37 billion in Q3 fiscal 2018 to $7.55 billion in Q3 fiscal 2019. The company saw higher demand for its Minimally Invasive, and Restorative Therapies Group products in the recent quarters. Looking forward, Medtronics revenues will likely be $8.25 billion in Q4 fiscal 2019, representing 1.3% growth over the prior year quarter, and 9.3% higher than what it reported in the previous quarter. This can be attributed to an expected steady growth in most of the companys segments. Medtronics revenues have grown at an average of 0.8% from $7.36 billion in Q3 fiscal 2018 to $7.55 billion in Q3 fiscal 2019. This has been slower than the growth seen by its peers. Boston Scientifics average revenue grew at 1.6% from $2.41 billion in the quarter ending December 2017 to $2.56 billion in the quarter ending Dec 2018. Intuitive Surgicals revenues have grown at an average of 4.3% from $892 million in the quarter ending December 2017 to $1.05 billion in the quarter ending December 2018. Cardiac & Vascular Group revenues could decline in low single-digits to $3.07 billion. While the segment should see strong growth in its drug eluting stents, a discontinued product line will likely impact the reported sales. The company is seeing strong growth for its Evolut PRO Valve, which should aid the overall segment sales. Minimally Invasive Therapies Group could see revenues growth of 3.5% to $2.12 billion in Q4, likely led by continued demand for its patient monitoring products, along with sealing instruments, and advanced stapling products. The segment has seen strong demand for its advanced stapling products, endoscopic ultrasound products, and Bravo reflux testing systems in the recent quarters. This trend should continue in the near term, and aid the overall segment revenue growth. Restorative Therapies Group could see revenue growth of 4% to $2.21 billion in Q4, led by higher demand for its brain and pain therapies, which have seen double-digit growth for the nine month period ending January, 2019. The growth in the recent quarters can be attributed to strong sales of its Intellis spinal cord stimulation platform, and StealthStation surgical navigation systems, among other products. Diabetes could grow in low single-digits to $651 million in Q4 fiscal 2019, benefiting from the expansion of 670G, which is the worlds first hybrid closed loop system that optimizes glycemic control for patients with type 1 diabetes, in international markets. Medtronics adjusted earnings per share will likely be $1.46 per share in Q4 fiscal 2019, reflecting 2.6% growth to the prior year quarter. Average consensus earnings estimate ~ $1.47 per share. This can largely be attributed to higher revenues, as well as slight improvement in margins. Explore example interactive dashboards and create your own. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2019/05/22/how-is-medtronic-likely-to-have-fared-in-q4-fiscal-2019/ |
Is it good enough for the Portland Trail Blazers to just not be good enough? | The Portland Trail Blazers may have to face the harsh reality this is the best it gets. Only one team can win the NBA title, and the Blazers simply arent good enough to be the one. They have been swept by that team in two of the past three years. Still, they reached the Western Conference finals for the first time in the Damian Lillard era, meaning their season lasted longer than 26 others. If at some point they cannot look back on this as their victory, they may be in for a career of disappointment. Scroll to continue with content Ad We put together a great season and we put ourselves in position to go to the Finals, Lillard said after Mondays series-ending loss to the Golden State Warriors. Every other team in the league would wish they could be in our shoes, not only making the playoffs but playing for an opportunity to play for a chance to go to the Finals, and we just ran up on a team who has been there the last four years. An opportunity to play for a chance to go to the Finals. There is so much to unpack in that phrase, and within are some difficult questions for a competitor like Lillard. Kevin Durant and C.J. McCollum had a fascinating conversation about this topic prior to this season, when the former asked the latter about his concerns with the rich Warriors getting richer this past summer: Why are you mad about this stuff? Bro, Im in the league, said McCollum. Im in the Western Conference. Ive got to play you mfs all the time anyway as it is, over and over again. We done got eliminated by yall a few times. I mean, you know you guys arent going to win a championship, added Durant. Story continues That is the smuggest way possible to state what this Warriors superteam has meant for many a roster, but that makes it no less true: No matter how much these Blazers improve collectively, it may never be enough to reach the mountaintop. McCollum left that conversation believing his Blazers could still win the title, and to a man his teammates left this years sweep at the hands of the Warriors sans Durant and DeMarcus Cousins, no less believing they can still take that Finals step with a pinch more improvement here and a dash more consistency there. We have to figure out ways to get over the hump, McCollum added Monday. Damian Lillard congratulates Stephen Curry on advancing to a fifth straight NBA Finals. (AP) The Blazers have done this better than anyone. They were swept by a lesser New Orleans Pelicans team in the first round of the 2018 playoffs. That is enough to make most teams re-evaluate their endgame, but the Blazers stayed the course. Most prognosticators pegged Portland to fall back to the pack, suggesting the front office should move either Lillard or McCollum and try a different path forward, but the Blazers quadrupled down on this core. Lillard extended his range to counter the threat of trapping defenses, McCollum expanded his arsenal for making teams pay when they double his co-star, and general manager Neil Olshey found creative ways to reconstruct a roster around them despite self-inflicted salary cap restraints. The result was Portlands best season since Scottie Pippen and Arvydas Sabonis wore the red and black. They won 53 games and reached the conference finals. And it still wasnt good enough. Not even close. The Blazers can convince themselves that next year will be different. Stud center Jusuf Nurkic, who missed the entirety of the playoffs, will presumably be back from his broken left leg. Zach Collins showed enough in his second season to suggest he could make a leap toward becoming a formidable cog. Maybe thats enough to avoid blowing big leads in their final three playoff losses. This is their half-full glass. Half empty, the Blazers got swept by a Warriors team that didnt have Durant or Cousins for the entirety of the series and didnt have Andre Iguodala for Game 4. They traveled the least bumpy road to the conference finals, avoiding the Houston Rockets in Round 2, and they still required career-best efforts from Lillard and McCollum to knock out their first two opponents. The pounding of the playoffs once again took its toll on their two undersized stars, and half their rotation Al-Farouq Aminu, Enes Kanter, Rodney Hood and Seth Curry can walk in July. This was their mountaintop. We can argue again whether its best for the Blazers to break this team up, but all indications are they will quintuple down, offering Lillard a supermax extension that will make him the face of their franchise through 2025. And maybe its time that we accept it is good enough to field a team that is beloved by their city and each other. The Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers have spent the past couple years prioritizing assets over culture, and it has gotten them no closer to a title than the Blazers got this season. They may well get their rings before Portland, and that is the ultimate goal in this sport, but when it comes at the expense of a miserable season for all involved, maybe there is more honor in going down with your crew. There is reason to admire Portland for hoping beyond hope that the tide will turn in its favor, so long as it keeps putting in the work. Maybe everyone elses idea of what it means to be a winner will water down the rest of the league. As superstars bounce around in pursuit of something better, theres always the slim chance that the team prioritizing continuity and camaraderie will ultimately emerge victorious. What Lillard told ESPNs Zach Lowe to start the year still rings true: I'm gonna be in my 11th year or something here, I'm gonna stick with it, and we're gonna make the Finals. ... I've treated people the right way. I've put in the work. And because of that, if it doesn't happen, I can live with it. I'll have enjoyed the ride. It's worth it." Its something to which we can all relate: You may never be the best at what you do, but you can maximize your potential, and Portland did exactly that this season. Ben Rohrbach is a staff writer for Yahoo Sports. Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @brohrbach More from Yahoo Sports: | https://sports.yahoo.com/is-it-good-enough-for-the-portland-trail-blazers-to-just-not-be-good-enough-182205840.html?src=rss |
Can Nancy Pelosi hold off the impeachment wave? | Just when it looked as if Washington polarization could not get any worse ... it did. President Trump declared Wednesday that Democrats must get these phony investigations over with before he would deal with them on legislation. Trump was supposed to meet with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer to talk infrastructure. But the president abruptly cut off the White House meeting before it started. The president was said to be enraged that Pelosi had accused him of engaging in a cover up earlier in the morning. Pelosi has been trying to tamp down growing calls for impeachment within her Democratic caucus. Say this for Nancy Pelosi: No one is better than her at keeping her troops in line and absolutely no one is more skilled at getting under the presidents skin. Some top Democrats say yes. So do some respected constitutional scholars. My column last Sunday explored those questions. Subscribe to Opinion Central. Its baaack. Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, is once again pushing a proposal that would allow bars in San Francisco, Oakland and eight other cities to move closing time from 2 a.m. to 4 a.m. Last year, the ever-sensible Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed the bill. Wiener is hoping for better luck with new Gov. Gavin Newsom. As our editorial notes, its hard to argue that this ranks with the many serious issues facing the state. Reckless saber rattling: Americans have seen this movie before, and it doesnt end well. Rhetorical bravado, dubious claims of a crisis and military manuevers bring the nation to the brink of war. Our editorial suggests the Trump administration is playing a dangerous game with Iran. Help for homelessness: Our editorial explains why San Francisco should expand the role of conservatorships for homeless people who are suffering from serious mental illnesses. Chief keeps digging, deeper and deeper: SFPD Chief Bill Scott has yet to give a satisfactory answer for a raid on a freelance journalists home that would appear on its face to be a blatant violation of the state shield law. His Tuesday news conference was a textbook example of deflection and obfuscation. Not Mayor Pete: Kudos to Pete Buttigieg for his willingness to go on Fox News for a town hall. The payoff was great for a longshot Democratic presidential candidate: He called out Fox News hosts Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham by name, handled questions with aplomb and received a standing ovation at the end of a program watched by more than 1 million viewers. Sen. Bernie Sanders had earlier participated in a Fox News town hall, with no apparent damage to his campaign and an ever larger audience (2.5 million!) to hear his message. My Sunday column explores whether Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris should have seized the opportunity to go on the network and whether the Democratic Party was right to snub Fox as a potential primary debate host. Letter of the Week Use words! I certainly share Gregory Smithsons disdain for emojis. Emojis are already overused in texts and emails, and there was even The Emoji Movie in 2017. I think that if chocolatier Milton Hershey learned of this news in the Great Beyond, the emoji hed send would be a big thumb pointing downward. And please check out our other letters of the day responding to this and other matters. You can send us a letter via this form. Where to follow us We have a new Twitter channel, Opinion Central (@sfc_opinions). Please add it to your stream. Youll catch our editorials and opinion pieces, as well as our drive-by comments on assorted subjects in the news. Follow me on Twitter: @JohnDiazChron Just a reminder The Chronicles editorials represent the collective judgment of our Editorial Board, which includes the publisher as well as the writers and editors from the opinion team. Our editors and reporters on the news side are not involved in those decisions (including election endorsements). They are charged with reporting fairly and objectively without regard to our editorial positions. It is one of the core values here at Fifth and Mission streets. Opinion Central is a thrice-weekly newsletter from John Diaz, The Chronicles editorial page editor, and the rest of the Editorial Board. Follow along on Twitter: @sfc_opinions | https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/article/Can-Nancy-Pelosi-hold-off-the-impeachment-wave-13877261.php |
Will Denvers drinkers soon be able to carry their booze from place to place? | A couple are walking around a restaurant and shopping plaza in Denver. They decide to grab some drinks. One of the two wants an IPA beer from a bar, while the other wants a merlot from a nearby winery. They cant purchase the drinks and sit together outside, so they either have to choose one or wait until the other finishes their drink. At least, for now. Denver may soon join a handful of other Colorado cities where bar patrons can take their drinks from one bar or business to another in a designated area. The example above is one often cited by advocates who want Denver to join Aurora and Fort Collins in allowing common consumption areas. In 2011, the Colorado General Assembly passed a law allowing communities to set up special entertainment districts where people can drink alcohol more freely. Denver City Councils business committee is studying the possibility of allowing the areas through a five-year pilot program. The committee will hold another hearing on the idea in June. RELATED: Denvers Dairy Block to host debut location of new retail concept Free Market Were taking this very cautiously, but were excited about the possibility, said Department of Excise and Licenses spokesman Eric Escudero. But Escudero wants to make one thing clear: This would not turn Denver into another Bourbon Street in New Orleans or Las Vegas Strip. Common consumption areas are not the same as open container across the city. Businesses that are interested in applying would have to comply with certain regulations, Escudero said, including: Show evidence of community support before applying and host a public hearing. Comply with existing laws and ordinances. Close by 2 a.m. Provide additional security and cleanup. Close roads to traffic if theyre outdoors or have them indoors. Restrict event-only common consumption areas to 15 days a year. Aurora, Fort Collins and Greeley have seen success, which prompted Denver to explore the idea. Weve had people in the community and businesses express an interest in doing this in Denver, Escudero said. With strong protections in place for neighborhoods, this new license could be a new amenity for communities who want it in Denver. Escudero believes it would benefit not only the restaurants that serve alcohol but other small businesses such as clothing stores and gift shops in the same area if they wanted to allow it. People would be able to take their drinks out of one bar and sit in common areas or visit a business within the districts boundaries. They couldnt take their drinks from one bar to another. Dairy Block in Denvers LoDo neighborhood is a mixed-use development that has shops, restaurants, bars and a hotel. When the owners planned the development, they knew they wanted to pursue a common consumption area, general manager Don Cloutier said. Everyone who leases space in Dairy Block is interested, and if any retailers arent, they can opt out, he said. If approved, customers could stroll the shops and a lighted alley outside with drinks in hand. It doesnt change the way liquor is served at all, Cloutier said. It really provides guests and visitors the opportunity to enjoy the activated alleyway and the rest of the shops. Cloutier believes people will behave themselves, and it wont be a free-for-all because of the rules that would be in place. Other districts that have expressed interest or could be eligible for common consumption areas include the Great Hall at Denver International Airport, The Source, the Santa Fe Arts District, segments of the 16th Street Mall and the Denver Center for Performing Arts. In the Santa Fe Arts District, it would allow people partaking in First Friday festivities to carry drinks in stores or galleries in the designated area. But that doesnt necessarily seem like a good idea to everyone, including Jami Fynboh, owner of mmmCOFFEE! A Paleo Bistro. Were expanding our intoxication to too many levels in the world, and I think were obviously losing control of everything, Fynboh said. Though some owners feel the common consumption areas will bring more business to the area, Fynboh called First Friday already an explosion, and she said oftentimes, people will stagger into her coffee shop while drunk or stoned, particularly homeless people. She encourages people to think of the consequences of implementing these districts. But others say the environment will be controlled and regulated it just allows people to move more freely while enjoying their beverages. Tami Door, president and CEO of the Downtown Denver Partnership, said its about having a centralized square of activity. She believes common consumption areas increase commerce, reduce crime and enhance visitors experiences. The common consumption areas will be in places with a concentration of restaurants and experiences, Door said, and they will require collaboration between businesses to create the districts. A great deal of thought goes into bringing these types of policies to life, she said. We, as a city, just need to continue to be innovative and forward-thinking about opportunities for businesses and visitors and residents in how they experience the city. Thats the experience the city of Aurora has had with its common consumption areas, according to the citys tax and licensing manager. Trevor Vaughn said the community has been appreciative of the opportunities and the ability to drink in the common areas. Aurora established two common consumption areas in 2017: The Southlands retail center with 10 liquor-licensed businesses and the Stanley Marketplace with 12 liquor-licensed businesses. I think the retail centers are far enough away from residential areas that it was a benefit to the retail centers and kind of a benefit to the communities that surrounded them there, Vaughn said. With an open dining concept, the common consumption areas add more of a social atmosphere, he said. In the Southlands retail center in the southeastern suburbs, the special drinking areas are used for events such as a summer concert series where the main street is closed, allowing people to walk around with a drink as if they are at a festival. State law allows local governments to set the number of entertainment districts, their sizes with some restrictions, and the hours they operate, Escudero said. Aurora pays close attention to whats happening in the common consumption areas and meets regularly with the associations in charge, ensuring all laws and regulations are followed, Vaughn said. So far, most if not all of the feedback has been positive, he said. | https://www.denverpost.com/2019/05/23/denver-alcohol-common-consumption-areas/ |
How Did the Far Right Take Over the Web? | The social psychologists were right. The latest episode of Crazy/Genius, produced by Patricia Yacob and Jesse Brenneman, analyzes the recent wave of internet-inspired violencefrom Charlottesville to Christchurchand asks why the web became such a fecund landscape for extremism. Hate is an ancient offline phenomenon. But something about the design of our social-media platformsand perhaps something inherent to the internet itselfhas amplified the worst angels of our nature. (Subscribe here.) The psychological roots of online hatred have three levels. At the bottom, there is group polarization and the natural tendency of moderate people to become extremist versions of themselves when they interact with like-minded peers. At the next level, there is what you might call Viral Screaming Syndromethe natural tendency of web content to veer toward high-arousal emotions, such as outrage and paranoia, to attract attention and promote social sharing. Video is really expensive to make, and reported video is really, really expensive to make, says the Atlantic staff writer Alexis Madrigal. A bunch of random, paranoid opinions to cut through the noise. Finally, the largest social-media networks have built algorithms that exacerbate both group polarization and the Viral Screaming Effect. For example, YouTube executives knew that extreme and misleading videos were racking up tens of millions of views, but the companys executives declined to intervene, because they were focused on increasing viewing time and other measures of engagement, according to a Bloomberg report in April. The No. 1 thing, though, that happens when you look into the failings of the various platforms, YouTube and Facebook specifically, is you see this kind of fractal irresponsibility, Madrigal says. They were launching in countries where they literally would have no idea what people were saying. And now theyre being asked to defend elections, theyre being asked to, like, understand deeply the social dynamics of every place in which they are. If you think the chief driver of online extremism is algorithmic, then your preferred solutions are likely to be algorithmic tweaks. Thats not enough. After all, the internets failures exist only because of the natural tendencies of group behavior. To fix social medias problems, you have to address them at the level of the group. For Whitney Phillips, an assistant professor of communication and rhetoric at Syracuse University, the ecosystem of online hate speech resembles a biomass pyramidwith apex predators, such as Alex Jones, at the top, and the rest of us playing the role of worms and fungi at the bottom. The reason that Alex Jones and other abusers and bigots have that platform is because other people engage with them, Phillips says. These messages are able to spread way further and way more quickly than they ever would have been able to do on their own because we share them. The virus of hateful extremism grows because so many people share iteven if theyre just trying to point out how terrible it is. | https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/05/how-did-the-far-right-take-over-the-web/590047/?utm_source=feed |
Is Corbus Pharmaceuticals a Buy Now? | It's been a little over a decade since Corbus Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: CRBP) picked up rights to a synthetic cannabinoid analog called lenabasum. Corbus scooped up those rights on the cheap thanks to the experimental drug's previous failure to work as a pain reliever in a mid-stage study. Corbus has lenabasum in a late-stage pivotal trial as an anti-inflammation drug for patients with severe autoimmune conditions. Success could lead to billions in annual sales, but Corbus Pharmaceuticals has been trading at a market cap of just $477 million. Doctor holding a dollar sign. More Image source: Getty Images. Here's what you need to know about both sides of the argument. Reasons to buy The ongoing Resolve-1 trial will enroll around 354 patients with systemic sclerosis, a severe and thankfully rare autoimmune disease. Around 200,000 people in the U.S., EU, and Japan are affected by systemic sclerosis, and positive mid-stage data suggests lenabasum resolves inflammation and reduces the formation of scar tissue or fibrosis. In 2016, Corbus reported data from a phase 2 study of 27 patients, spread evenly across three dosage arms, and a 15-member placebo group. After 16 weeks of treatment, all three dosage groups combined achieved an average score of 33% on the American College of Rheumatology's combined response index for systemic sclerosis (CRISS), compared to just 1% among the placebo group. Systemic sclerosis is the most advanced among four indications in which the drug is being evaluated, and the rest aren't far behind. Corbus is running a 150-patient phase 3 dermatomyositis trial to see if it can repeat results seen in a 22-patient phase 2 trial. Dermatomyositis leads to a severe rash and a lot of painful muscle inflammation. Lenabasum reduced disease activity by 9.3 points on the CDASI scale, which indicates disease severity, compared to a 3.7-point reduction for the placebo group. Last December, Corbus began a 415-patient phase 2 study with cystic fibrosis (CF) patients. Lenabasum doesn't get at the root of the problem, but it appears to reduce symptoms of inflammation and fibrosis that accelerate CF patients' loss of lung function. Finally, there's a chance that lenabasum can become a new treatment option for people with systemic lupus erythematosus, another severe autoimmune disorder that affects an estimated 550,000 people in the U.S., EU, and Japan. prescription pills stacked in shape of an upward sloping chart. More | https://news.yahoo.com/corbus-pharmaceuticals-buy-now-121700027.html |
Did the delay of the Harriet Tubman $20 bill relate to Trump? | Close video Tubman twenty not a priority of Jackson-loving Trump White House Joy-Ann Reid notes Donald Trumps affinity for Andrew Jackson and reports on Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchins wishy-washy answer about replacing Jackson with Harriet Tubmans face on the twenty dollar bill. share tweet email save Embed The launch of the Harriet Tubman $20 bill was slated for next year, which would carry some historical weight: next year is the 100th anniversary of womens suffrage in the United States. Yesterday, however, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the rollout of the new currency has been delayed until 2028 In response to questions from Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass. ), Mnuchin testified yesterday, The primary reason we have looked at redesigning the currency is for counterfeiting issues. Based upon this, the $20 bill will now not come out until 2028. The $10 bill and the $50 bill will come out with new features beforehand. As it turns out, that may not have been the only reason. According to the Times reporting, the timing of the delay and the Republican presidents tenure are not coincidental. Mr. Mnuchin, concerned that the president might create an uproar by canceling the new bill altogether, was eager to delay its redesign until Mr. Trump was out of office, some senior Treasury Department officials have said. As a presidential candidate in 2016, Mr. Trump criticized the Obama administrations plans for the bill. Its worth emphasizing that I havent seen similar reporting elsewhere, and this hasnt been independently verified by MSNBC or NBC News. That said, its also not too hard to believe. As a presidential candidate, Trump complained about putting the iconic hero on the $20 bill, saying the decision was driven by pure political correctness. The Republican suggested that Tubman slated to be the only woman and person of color on American currency should instead grace the front of the rarely seen $2 bill. Whats more, Trump has developed a fondness for Andrew Jackson, whos currently on the $20 bill, though he knows far less about the nations seventh president than he thinks he does. To be sure, the New York Times report doesnt say Trump directed the delay, only that Mnuchin feared the presidents intervention, and took steps to preempt an undue cancellation. If that is what happened, given everything we know about Trump, the Treasury secretary probably had reason to be concerned. | http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/did-the-delay-the-harriet-tubman-20-bill-relate-trump |
What if top-10 prospect falls to Heat at 13 in NBA Draft? | Riley: Not a new culture, but to tightening the screws on a culture that sometimes erodes just a little bit. Miami Heat President Pat Riley talks to the media during the season-ending press conference at the AmericanAirlines Arena on Saturday April 13, 2019 in Miami. Up Next SHARE COPY LINK Miami Heat President Pat Riley talks to the media during the season-ending press conference at the AmericanAirlines Arena on Saturday April 13, 2019 in Miami. Whats the best possible outcome for the Heat at pick No. A player who is projected to be a top-10 selection falling to Miami, similar to how Justise Winslow fell to the Heat at No. 10 in the 2015 draft. Unlimited Digital Access: Only $0.99 For Your First Month Get full access to Miami Herald content across all your devices. SAVE NOW Two candidates for that scenario this year could be Duke forward Cam Reddish and North Carolina guard Coby White. Both players are projected by almost every mock draft to be top-eight picks, but they are close enough to the Heats range that the possibility of dropping a few spots to No. 13 isnt completely out of the question. Reddish, who arrived to Duke as a five-star prospect, didnt quite live up to high expectations as he was overshadowed by RJ Barrett and Zion Williamson for most of this past season. Reddish averaged 13.5 points on 35.6 percent shooting from the field and 33.3 percent shooting on threes to go with 3.7 rebounds in 36 games as a freshman in his lone season at Duke. But on-court stats aside, Reddish has the size and length NBA teams are looking for in wing players. He measured at 6-8 and 208 pounds at last weeks Combine with an impressive 7-0.5 wingspan, and his perceived untapped potential has even brought on comparisons to six-time All-Star Paul George. White averaged 16.1 points on 42.2 percent shooting from the field and 35.3 percent shooting on threes, 3.5 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 1.1 steals per game as a freshman at North Carolina this past season. White, who considers himself to be a point guard on the NBA level, measured in at 6-4.75 and 191 pounds at the Combine with just 4.3 percent body fat. Basically every mock draft has Reddish and White as top-10 picks, which would take them off the board before the Heat picks 13th. The latest ESPN mock draft has White going to the Bulls at No. 7 and Reddish going to the Hawks at No. 8. His impressive size, open-court quickness and shot-making ability make him an ideal fit in the modern NBA game, ESPN wrote of White, and he should make strides as a passer and defender as he continues to gain strength and experience. ESPN wrote of Reddish: Reddish is one of the biggest enigmas of this draft class, as he rarely produced up to his talent level as a freshman and mysteriously missed an NCAA Tournament game. Still, his combination of size, length, fluidity and perimeter shooting ability is highly intriguing in a draft that is lacking deep star power. The Athletics latest mock draft also projects White to be drafted at No. 7 and Reddish to be drafted at No. 8. Sports Illustrateds mock draft has Reddish going even higher at No. 5 to the Cavaliers and White going to the Bulls at No. 7. Despite a disappointing year at Duke, Reddish does offer some upside with his physical tools and shooting potential, and figures to end up somewhere in the lottery, Sports Illustrated wrote. As for White, Sports Illustrated wrote: White possesses a good deal of upside, tied to his size, perimeter shooting and developing lead guard skills. BOTTOM LINE Most likely, the Heat will not have the chance to draft Reddish or White unless it trades up in the first round. Reddish and White are expected to be taken somewhere in the 5-10 range. But if one of them falls to the Heat, it would seem to be a no-brainer to pounce as both present great value at the No. 13 spot. With the uncertainty surrounding the future of the roster, fit probably isnt as much of a concern. Its about drafting the best player available who the team feels has the most upside. Reddish and White both check those boxes if they are still on the board at No. 13. 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/nba/miami-heat/article230737294.html |
Have Arizona utility regulators (finally) seen the light on APS? | CLOSE Opinion: The Arizona Corporation Commission on Wednesday showed early signs that it may no longer be a wholly owned subsidiary of Arizona Public Service. Time will tell. Robert "Bob" Burns was elected the new chairman on Jan. 7 at Arizona Corporation Commission offices in Phoenix. (Photo: Rob Schumacher/The Republic) The Arizona Corporation Commission on Wednesday did something wholly new and totally unexpected. It didnt dance on strings merrily pulled by Arizona Public Service. Oh, our utility regulators stood by APSs advertised 4.5% rate hike the one that has resulted in a third of the utilitys customers (read: 300,000 households) stuck with increases averaging 10.8% or more. But commissioners voted not to dismiss a citizen complaint challenging that rate hike. In fact, they signaled that theyre open to taking a harder look at whether APS is soaking its customers. Citizens are 'still in the game' Certainly, questions about just and reasonable rates are important questions that need to be attended to, Commissioner Justin Olson said during the four-hour hearing. Commission Chairman Bob Burns took it one step further, suggesting that its time to talk about allowing utilities to compete for customers. Maybe now the time is ripe, he said. We made a stab at it in 2013 and APS spent over $5 million to convince people that it was not a good idea. The challenge is out there and the solution, in my opinion, is there. I guess the whole idea is stay tuned. I hope APS executives are buying their Pepto Bismol in bulk. They barreled out of the room in a rush after the vote. Businesswoman-turned-utility-activist Stacey Champion, who led the citizen drive to challenge the rate increase, was upbeat if a bit puzzled by the commissions action. I wouldnt say we won, but were definitely still in the game, she told me. The most important thing is that my complaint wasnt dismissed today. And Im still an Intervenor in the 2018 rate review docket too, so can continue to raise hell with that too. APS has scored record profits Commissioners have called for a rate review to determine whether APS is scoring more than it is authorized to collect from its customers. NEWSLETTERS Get the Opinions Newsletter newsletter delivered to your inbox We're sorry, but something went wrong Our best and latest in commentary in daily digest form. Please try again soon, or contact Customer Service at 1-800-332-6733. Delivery: Mon-Fri Invalid email address Thank you! You're almost signed up for Opinions Newsletter Keep an eye out for an email to confirm your newsletter registration. More newsletters Heres a hint: Even if it the utility is collecting the authorized amount from its captive customers, its obviously far too much. The utilitys parent company, Pinnacle West Capital Corp., which derives virtually all of its revenue from APS, has seen its profits explode in recent years. Its CEO, Don Brandt, makes about $1 million a month about what the CEO of Salt River Project makes in a year. Just since the beginning of 2017, Pinnacle West has scored close to $1 billion in profits and its first quarter earnings in 2019 were through the roof. Meanwhile, customers are hurting In 2017, APSs request for a $95 million rate hike was rubber stamped. Regulators at the time asked no questions about whether the advertised 4.5% average boost in residential rates was really needed. They had no questions about the actual impact on actual customers. Had they done so, they might have learned that hundreds of thousands of customers would be paying three and four times the advertised rate increase, with some saying their rates doubled. Count Karen Desmond of Clarkdale among the stunned. I am now not able to start my oven to cook my family dinner until 8 p.m., she told the commission in a written statement. It remains to be seen whether the Corporation Commission long a wholly owned subsidiary of APS has really seen the light since last year's election, when voters bounced APS puppet Tom Forese and returned APS critic Sandra Kennedy to the five-member panel. Kennedy and Burns, who has long been questioning APS's influence on the commission, are clearly watching out for ratepayers. Time and their actions will tell. Watch, now, to see if the commission allows APS to continue collecting eye popping profits at the expense of its captive customers. During Wednesdays hearing, Olson said the average rate increase worked out to be 4.1%, lower than advertised by APS. But he also acknowledged actual impacts on varied wildly, with some customers getting a decrease and more than a thousand socked with an increase of 36%. OLSON: Our commission is needlessly costing you cash Olson who wasnt part of the 2017 commission that approved the rate increase was the lone vote to dismiss Champions complaint. But his reasons shouldnt give APS much to cheer about. Id support a motion to require the utility to come in for a rate case to address whether the rates are just and reasonable," he said. Um, I think Don Brandt may have just fainted. Reach Roberts at [email protected]. Read or Share this story: https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/laurieroberts/2019/05/23/arizona-public-service-utility-rate-own-corporation-commission/1199973001/ | https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/laurieroberts/2019/05/23/arizona-public-service-utility-rate-own-corporation-commission/1199973001/ |
Why is completely irrelevant hoops executive making $1 million annually? | Jim Haney speaks at the Division I Issues Forum at the 2010 NCAA Convention in Atlanta. (Getty) The masthead on the National Association of Basketball Coaches website proclaims the group to be Guardians of the Game. It is a grandiose statement that, in a time of crisis within the profession it allegedly serves, has many of its members skeptically rolling their eyes. The 92-year-old organization, which has 4,500 members in the college and high school ranks, has a stated purpose of working to further the best interests of the game of basketball as well as the players and coaches who participate in the sport. But many of its current and past members described the NABC as a lightweight in terms of addressing serious issues, and several were shocked to learn that longtime executive director Jim Haney has been making millions annually in a low-impact leadership role. Scroll to continue with content Ad According to the NABCs public filings as a non-profit organization, Haney made $1.17 million in 2016. From 2013-17, the most recent five years of available documents, the 70-year-old Haney averaged more than $1 million per year. Given the federal investigation and ensuing scandal that has enveloped college basketball for the past 20 months, tainting the sports coaching fraternity, several NABC members questioned what Haney is doing to earn that handsome salary. In troubled times, the one-time head coach at Oregon and former commissioner of the Missouri Valley and Big West conferences has kept a very low profile. If youre going to guard the game, lets go, said ESPN college basketball analyst and former college coach Dan Dakich. Dont just guard the game when its time to hold a banquet and hand out an award. Call out the coaches who are cheating. Condemn them. I think [the NABC leaders] have shown themselves to be weak, completely irrelevant and might as well not exist. Story continues "I could say the same about some of the quote-unquote leading coaches. I'm disappointed in our Hall of Fame coaches for not doing anything. It would help college basketball if some of these guys stood up. Got to make sure your own house is clean first, though." The first stated goal on the NABC website is to promote the ideals of integrity, sportsmanship and teamwork among men's basketball coaches and the players whom they coach. With coaches integrity under siege, their leadership has gone almost completely silent in terms of the federal trials that led to arrests, plea deals and/or convictions for four assistant coaches and several others associated with the college game. ESPN analyst and former coach Dan Dakich is concerned about the NABC's role on the basketball landscape. (AP Photo/Gail Burton) Its insanity, University of Hartford coach John Gallagher said. I mean, do you know how many coaches say, What does [Haney] do? Every time we get on a [conference] call, he says, Hold on, guys, let the process play out. I wish the organization as a whole took a stand against cheating more. On Aug. 30, 2017, the NABC announced that Haney had received a multiyear contract extension, the terms of which were not disclosed. Four weeks later, the sport blew up. The U.S. Attorneys Office for the Southern District of New York and the FBI held a news conference to reveal its investigation into corruption in college basketball and announced 10 arrests, including four Division I assistant basketball coaches. At the time that news shook college hoops, Haney issued a statement that said the allegations of recruiting improprieties across the college basketball landscape have shaken the game and the coaching profession to the core. As role models and leaders of young men, we hold ourselves to the highest standards of lawful, ethical behavior on and off the court. These actions, if proven true, are not indicative of the character of the greater college coaching community, and we remain confident in our NABC members shared commitment to integrity. The statement ended with a promise that most college coaches have found unfulfilled: Should the progression of this case ultimately indicate a pressing need for reform within our sport, the NABC will unquestionably be on the forefront of those efforts. As events unfolded, the NABC has been nowhere near the forefront. The inaction has rankled many coaches, including Penns Steve Donahue, who decided to not renew his membership after a 30-year run as a member. I dont want to be a part of an organization that supports this behavior by its members, said Donahue, the former head coach at Cornell and Boston College. Nothing has been done. We always look for the NCAA to do something, but why doesnt our organization do something? In a 30-minute phone interview this week, Haney said he could understand why coaches were rankled. He maintained that the NABC had a hand in influencing the Rice Commission and wanted to work toward solutions. He said hes long held a philosophy that you work with people and not against people, which is why, in part, he and the NABC havent been particularly outspoken. He also said the organization has followed the NCAAs lead to let the legal and legislative process play out. I think its frustrating, Haney said. I get that. I can understand why coaches are frustrated. I dont know whether its right or wrong, you try and allow due process to take its course. Thats sort of the position that weve taken. In early October 2017, when the NCAA announced the formation of the Condoleezza Rice-led Commission on College Basketball, Haney issued a statement. A month later, the NABC formed an ad hoc committee to address pressing issues facing the sport. He said at the time the organization is committed to taking ownership of the issues that impact our game and pledged to help find solutions. In February 2018, Haney issued an update on the ad hoc committees work, which included a meeting with some members of the Rice Commission. The NABC leaders in attendance for that meeting were Haney, then-Washington State coach Ernie Kent and then-NABC president Bill Self of Kansas. The presence of Self at that meeting became the subject of mockery two months later, when a federal indictment alleged that the mother of one prized Kansas recruit and guardian of another received thousands of dollars from Adidas via an AAU intermediary to secure their commitments to play for the Jayhawks. Haney called criticism of Selfs role fair in 20-20 hindsight, but said that Selfs history recruiting high-profile players gave him valuable perspective. Time will tell whether, in fact, the NCAA feels he violated NCAA rules, Haney said. I thought his perspective he brought to the discussion with the commission was very insightful and helped the commission. After the Rice Commission released its report on April 25, 2018, Haney produced another statement, plus a rambling, seven-minute video addressing the findings. And thats been about it in terms of formal statements from the NABC on the biggest scandal to hit the sport in its near-century of existence. The NABC has issued more than 70 news releases since the one in response to the Rice Commission report, and none of them has had to do with the investigation of the sport. Two federal trials laid bare the pervasive cheating schemes within college basketball, implicating dozens of schools, coaches and players. Meanwhile, Haney stayed mostly silent and far out of the spotlight. They should have a strong voice during this FBI investigation, said ESPN analyst and former coach Fran Fraschilla, a 32-year NABC member. They should be quoted every day in the newspaper and not just on the negative things, but the positive things we do in the profession. I dont know what theyre doing. I used to wonder what they did. Now I dont even think about them. A complicating factor has been the makeup of the organizations board. Leadership positions have gone to many coaches whose careers and programs ran into significant NCAA off-court issues Kelvin Sampson at Oklahoma and Indiana, Syracuses Jim Boeheim, N.C. States Mark Gottfried and Kentuckys John Calipari. That perhaps made it increasingly hypocritical for Haney to speak out. Haney acknowledged that presidents and board members getting into NCAA issues wasnt a good look for the NABC. I think thats a valid concern, he said. When those gentlemen came on the board, there were none of those negative elements or comments being made. There were no NCAA investigations taking place. Clearly if youre a member of the association and look back and see someone who sat on the board and all of a sudden theyre being penalized by the NCAA, thats not a good message. To many coaches, the NABCs general silence has come at a time when its voice is needed most. The ethical track of our profession has gone downward, not upward, said former La Salle coach John Giannini, who is the director of the center for sports communication and social impact at Rowan University (N.J.). I would say that the NABC has been really quiet throughout the FBI trials. I think an opportunity was really missed. I dont think the NABC or the NCAA has done more than the occasional lip service to do anything about it. Ethically, everyone has turned a blind eye in leadership from the NCAA to NABC. Im not saying the answers are easy. Im stunned at the lack of meaningful discussion. The new NABC president, Notre Dames Mike Brey, inherits this complicated landscape and said hes already received an earful from coaches on topics ranging from the new recruiting calendar to the NABCs lack of action in the wake of the scandal. Multiple coaches told Yahoo Sports that Michigan State coach Tom Izzo has been ranting privately about the organizations shortcomings for the past month. (Izzo declined comment, as he often does on topics that could be perceived as controversial.) Brey said hes feeling out the landscape. Im two months in, Ive heard all the concerns, and I think its a goal to get the NABC more engaged, Brey said. Its clearly a concern among the coaches, and Ive heard them the last few years. Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey is the NABC's president. Division I head coaches pay $450 in dues and full-time assistant coaches pay $140. At that level, those costs are typically covered by the athletic department or the schools basketball budget. Division II, Division III and other head coaches pay $165 and full-time assistants pay $140. All junior college coaches pay $85. High School coaches pay $40. The organizations public documents show $9.8 million in total revenue in 2017 and $8.6 million in expenses. Haney said they have at least 10 full-time employees. The most tangible perk of NABC membership is access to Final Four tickets and hotel rooms but that also embedded a scam element within the organization. One aspect that helped membership swell over the years was the ability of coaches to scalp their tickets, which was much easier when they were given paper tickets. For years, there was a teeming scalping market that centered around the coaches' Final Four hotel. I cant tell you how many guys came in on Thursday and left on Saturday with a pocket full of money, said former Vermont coach Tom Brennan. Haney said his contract was set to expire in September 2019, but the NABC board asked him to stay on with the understanding that it could put forth a succession plan at any time. He said that since 2018 hes worked primarily from a family farm in Georgia, as opposed to the organizations offices in Kansas City, Mo., in part to care for his wifes 92-year-old mother. (Haneys wife, Carol, also works for the NABC as senior director of internal operations. Her salary is not listed on public documents.) I dont set my salary, Jim Haney said. The board does. And I would just say that from their standpoint that it was appropriate or they wouldnt have done it. Along with dues, the organization also runs a preseason basketball game in Kansas City, created the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame and operates the College Basketball Experience in Kansas City. A key revenue stream also comes from a lucrative licensing agreement with the NCAA that was struck around the time that Haneys salary leaped into the millions. In 2012, Haney made $566,289 and that jumped to more than $1 million the following year. The NABCs revenue jumped $3 million from 2011-12, escalating from $5 million to more than $8 million, which hints at the financial scope of the licensing agreement with the NCAA and the reasons for Haneys raise. Haney said that theres a provision in the licensing agreement that were not allowed to speak about it. He added generally that it was a recognition that there ought to be a closer relationship between the NCAA and NABC. Haney said the two entities acknowledged they shouldnt be competing against each other on Final Four weekend and tied together the NABCs All-Star game with the other activities at the Final Four as part of working together in the best interest of the game. The agreement, according to a source, also gives the NCAA access to some high-profile NABC coaches for speaking engagements to corporate sponsors around the Final Four and occasionally during the season. When asked if brokering that agreement led to his salary jump, Haney said: I would say yes to that the agreement created choices for the board in terms of how to take this licensing agreement money and how to utilize it. Veterans of the NABC board point out that Haneys salary is comparable to the salary of former American Football Coaches Association executive director Grant Teaff. From 2012-13, public documents show that Teaff's compensation jumped from $330,426 to $1,457,094. But Haney makes more than double current AFCA president Todd Berry, who earned $416,690 in that organizations latest public filing. The NABC dues scale also is far different from the AFCA's. Berry said his organization has memberships as low as $40 and a top-end dues fee of $200 per year, less than half of the Division I head coach fee charged by the NABC. That's despite the fact that Division I football coaches make considerably more money on average than their basketball counterparts. Former St. Josephs coach Phil Martelli, a former NABC Board member who is one of the organizations directors emeritus, gave a balanced perspective on Haneys role. He credited Haney for how far hes taken the organization since Haney began in 1992, calling his role monumental in changing the course of the profession and the game. He pointed out Haneys role in bridging the gap between the coaches and the NCAA, as coaches had felt marginalized and their opinions ignored for years. He credited Haney working with the late Myles Brand to help coaches get a seat at the table. That started back in 1992, as Haney worked closely with Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski to help give coaches a voice in NCAA rules and decisions. (For example, Haney pointed out theres now two coaches on the NCAA mens basketball oversight committee, of which he serves as a non-voting member.) But Martelli also criticized Haney and the organization for being passive in recent years as the corruption scandal has roiled the sport. I think its just trying to go along to get along, Martelli said of the NABC. And thats why many coaches wondered what Haney is actually doing to earn his salary. I dont think anyone knows what he does, said Hofstra coach Joe Mihalich. I dont know. A million dollars is a lot of money. Jim Haney needs to do a better job of making people realize what he does to justify his million-dollar salary. More from Yahoo Sports: | https://sports.yahoo.com/why-is-completely-irrelevant-hoops-executive-making-1-million-annually-160116449.html?src=rss |
Is the SAT unfair? | by Jessie Blaeser Nearly all four-year colleges require SAT scores from applicants. Admissions counselors use the scores to compare students from different high schools and assess their readiness for university. But with expensive test-prep courses, tutors and more available to some students, the SAT has long been criticized for being an unfair assessment of students from different socioeconomic backgrounds. Now, the College Board plans to add an adversity score to the SAT to even the playing field. Despite former studies claiming that the SAT is an accurate aptitude assessment of students across a range of socioeconomic groups, the College Board is changing its tune. In an effort to rectify past inequities in the SAT, the College Board and colleges around the country will test the addition of an adversity score. The Wall Street Journals Douglas Belkin reports: This new number, called an adversity score by college admissions officers, is calculated using 15 factors including the crime rate and poverty levels from the students high school and neighborhood. Students wont be told the scores, but colleges will see the numbers when reviewing their applications. In short, the adversity score is meant to give context to a students overall SAT score. Although the new system is still in testing stages, the concept shows the College Board is aware of bias within the SAT, but believes it can do away with such bias in the future. There are a number of amazing students who may have scored less [on the SAT] but have accomplished more, said David Coleman, chief executive of the College Board. We cant sit on our hands and ignore the disparities of wealth reflected in the SAT. SAT to Give Students Adversity Score, ...calculated using 15 factors including the crime rate and poverty levels from the students high school and neighborhood. Students wont be told the scores, but colleges will see the[m]. https://t.co/zwb5cii9Hq pic.twitter.com/yHyOR9wOxi Nick Byrd (@byrd_nick) May 16, 2019 However, as The Atlantics Natalie Escobar points out, one additional metric cannot fix a broken system. Escobar looks to Anthony Abraham Jack, Harvard professor and author, on the topic: It is giving us a look at how poverty and inequality directly affect students college destinations, as it relates to [test scores] Jack said. When students sit down [to take] the SAT, that doesnt mean that everybodys at the same starting line. The disadvantage index on the SAT will certainly not fix the college admissions process at large, and whether it will equalize SAT scores remains to be seen. Although the effort is a positive one, Escobar warns: In the end, the College Board is in the business of selling things: the SAT, the SAT subject tests, and test-prep books. The college-preparation agency Top Tier Admissions says that it is not convinced the College Board has anything besides its own business interests in mind. Some have hope that the adversity score will fix a broken system of standardized tests like the SAT. The way i see it, the point of the "adversity score" is to try to account for things in a student's life that they have zero control over. And again, the score is trying to ensure that disadvantaged students still can compete Dike (@joshonaut14) May 16, 2019 While others have reservations about the new system, saying the lack of transparency into students scores is a red flag. Some believe the SAT is so biased, the College Board would be better off dropping the test altogether. 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.cleveland.com/tylt/2019/05/is-the-sat-unfair.html |
Should the U.S. have Universal Basic Income? | by Cait Bladt Ascendent presidential candidate Andrew Yang has made Universal Basic Income the centerpiece of his campaign. Yang is proposing a standard $1,000 credit sent to every American every month, regardless of their existing income or need. The plan, Yang argues, will help alleviate the stress of lost work due to increasing automation. Critics worry a guaranteed check every month will encourage people to stay out of the work force and will hurt the countrys morale. Yang has made Universal Basic Income his signature policy moving into the 2020 primary season. His proposal would specifically provide every household with a standard $1,000 per month. The UBI he is proposing for the United States is a set of guaranteed payments of $1,000 per month, or $12,000 per year, to all U.S. citizens over the age of 18. Yes, that means you and everyone you know would get another $1,000/month every month from the U.S. government, no questions asked. ...Andrew Yang wants Universal Basic Income because we are experiencing the greatest technological shift the world has ever seen. By 2015, automation had already destroyed four million manufacturing jobs, and the smartest people in the world now predict that a third of all working Americans will lose their job to automation in the next 12 years. Our current policies are not equipped to handle this crisis. Even our most forward-thinking politicians are unprepared. ...Andrew proposes funding UBI by consolidating some welfare programs and implementing a Value-Added Tax (VAT) of 10%. Current welfare and social program beneficiaries would be given a choice between their current benefits or $1,000 cash unconditionally most would prefer cash with no restriction. Welfare as it is currently set up is a frequently hostile and labyrinthine system which many people are never able to fully utilize. According to Mother Jones, many welfare experts believe a standard monthly income, with no strings attached, could help dramatically increase quality of life for millions of Americans. For welfare experts, this is where cash benefits can become a boon. There are certain programs in place currently, which are deeply paternalistic, that tell the poor how to spend their money, says Rakeen Mabud, a fellow at the Roosevelt Institute. That paternalism, I think, goes away to some degree, when you replace some of those programs, the cash transfer program. Theres a wealth of literature of the effectiveness of cash transfers over ad hoc [welfare] programs, says Samuel Hammond, a researcher at the Niskanen Center who studies poverty. Some more conservative experts, however, believe UBI could disincentivize workers. Per Forbes: UBI would send exactly that wrong-headed message, reducing peoples incentive to work. And it would get worse. Our concept of a dignified life is relative. Getting by on my guaranteed basic income, I will look at my richer, working peers and feel that my lifestyle is not quite dignified. So I will lobby politicians for an increase in UBI. As UBI rises, even fewer people will work; those who still work will have to be taxed more, and so even fewer people will work, and If you doubt these arguments, consider that advanced economies are already littered with young people with college degrees no employer considers usefulwhile ancient Greek literature may be a passion, it does not guarantee a job and a living wage. Joe Biden has weighed in on the issue, arguing that giving people money without making them work for it will dramatically decrease the morale of the country. Per Newsweek: Every time someone would lose a job, my dad would say, You know, Joey, a job is about a lot more than a paycheck. Its about dignity, its about respect.' Its about your place in the community. Its about being able to look your kid in the eye and saying, Honey, its going to be OK. Thats what its about. Dignity, he said. Getting an annual wage, you sit home and do nothing. You strip people of their dignity. ...Biden clarified that if there were no alternative, he might be able to get on board with the idea. Its like a rational welfare system. But I dont know anybody on welfare that says Boy, Im really proud Im on welfare, he said. So the point is we dont pay enough attention to what really is at the core of class cluelessness. We mean well, but were divided into a professional class now, and everybody else. 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.cleveland.com/tylt/2019/05/should-the-us-have-universal-basic-income.html |
What's next for St. Thomas after ouster from MIAC? | The MIAC has ousted St. Thomas from the conference. No. The NCAA says Division III schools must first reclassify to Division II, then to Division I. "Generally speaking, the process to reclassify from Division III to Division I would be a 12-year window from start to finish," NCAA spokesperson Meghan Durham said. It takes three years for schools to fully transition from D-III to D-II. The NCAA requires that schools remain a full member of D-II for at least five years before making the next move up the ladder. Reclassification from D-II to D-I entails a four-year transition period, plus an offer of membership from a conference, before attaining full D-I status. The D-II Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) would be a logical geographic fit and it expects to have an opening. Augustana announced in December that it will transition to Division I, which would leave the NSIC with 15 teams. Augustana is a member of the South Division, which includes Minnesota State Mankato, Concordia (St. Paul), Southwest Minnesota State and Winona State. While most NSIC members are state schools, five are private, as is St. Thomas. According to the league, NSIC undergraduate enrollments range from 755 (Upper Iowa) to 15,110 (MSU Mankato). The Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) could be a fit. The WIAC has won more D-III national championships than any other conference, and members' undergraduate enrollments range from 5,678 to 12,412. Though the eight full members of the WIAC are all Wisconsin state schools, the conference bylaws do not prohibit out-of-state institutions, and two MIAC schools Gustavus and Hamline are affiliate members for women's gymnastics. WIAC Commissioner Gary Karner said, "The WIAC has been in the past and remains open now to adding full or affiliate members." If the Tommies stay in Division III, the rivalry could remain intact. MIAC football teams play two nonconference games each season. If they move to Division II, however, the series which has brought the MIAC national media attention and showcases D-III football at its best would be much less likely to continue. Rachel Blount | http://www.startribune.com/what-s-next-for-st-thomas-after-ouster-from-miac/510306152/ |
How did six migrant children die on US border? | Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Jakelin Caal's body was buried in her hometown in Guatemala. The circumstances have been similar: they cross the southern US border without the proper documents, get detained by border patrol agents and, shortly after, die of health complications. Six children have died since September while in US custody. Just this week, US authorities said a 16-year-old Guatemalan migrant had died on Monday and revealed that a 10-year-old girl from El Salvador died back in September. The deaths of the six minors, five of them from Guatemala, have led to questions about the treatment provided by US authorities. However, Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) claims to be "committed to the health, safety and humane treatment of those in our custody". Previously no migrant children had died in federal custody since 2010, according to US government officials. These events have coincided with a record number of migrant families - most of them from Central America - crossing the border unofficially. Hundreds of thousands of Central American migrants have been seeking asylum in the US, fleeing extreme poverty and insecurity. Border Patrol stations have become overcrowded and temporary shelters have been created in states such as Texas. This is what we know about the deaths of these children, and why they migrated to the US. Unnamed 10-year-old from El Salvador The Salvadorian girl was in a "medically fragile" state when she was admitted in an Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) facility in San Antonio, Texas, on 4 March 2018, according to a CBS News report that quotes Mark Weber, a spokesperson for the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The migrant, who came unaccompanied, had a "history of congenital heart defects" and went through surgery that, after complications, left the child in a comatose state, Mr Weber said. Image copyright AFP/Getty Image caption A growing number of people are crossing the Mexico-US border "She was transported to a nursing facility in Phoenix, Arizona for palliative care in May after release from a San Antonio hospital," the official added. "On September 26, she was transferred to an Omaha, Nebraska, nursing facility to be closer to her family. On September 29, the child was transported to Children's Hospital of Omaha where she passed due to fever and respiratory distress." Officials are required to notify local child welfare authorities and report such deaths internally, but it's not mandatory to announce them to the public. The Consulate General of El Salvador in Aurora, Texas, told CBS News on Wednesday that they had no previous knowledge of the girl's death and said they would try to track down her family. Carlos Gregorio Hernandez, 16 Hernandez was taken into custody on May 13 at the border city of Hidalgo in south-east Texas, according to the CBP. On 19 May, the teenager was diagnosed with flu and given medicine. He was transferred to the Welasco Border Patrol Station, 25km (15 miles) east, reportedly in order for the illness to be contained. On Monday, he was found unresponsive. An official cause of death has not been announced. Image copyright CBS Image caption Carlos Hernandez Vsquez was travelling alone from Guatemala The day after his death the CBP announced the McAllen centre had been temporarily closed after a "large number" of those held began to show flu-like symptoms. The centre would not take any more migrants for the moment "to avoid the spread of illness", the CBP said. Carlos's brother in New Jersey told broadcaster CBS of his shock at his death in the country he had come to for a better life. The teenager was from the central region of Baja Verapaz, the Guatemalan authorities said. Image copyright Reuters Image caption Carlos's mother Gregoria Vasquez (R) The Foreign Relations Ministry of Guatemala issued a statement asking families "not to expose the lives of their children by sending them on an irregular trip to the United States, which is very dangerous". Under federal law, minors should normally be transferred to a Health and Human Services (HHS) shelter within 72 hours of their detention. This was not the case with Hernandez. Amnesty International condemned his death and demanded an "independent investigation" of the case. Two-and-a-half-year-old Guatemalan boy The toddler died on Tuesday, just over a month after his mother was detained with him near the Paso del Norte international bridge, which crosses the Rio Grande and connects Texas with the Mexican state of Chihuahua. Image copyright Getty Images Image caption File photo of a mother crossing into the US with her child A CBP official told BBC Mundo that three days after they had been detained on 3 April, the mother warned border agents that her son was ill, which led to him being transferred the next day to a children's hospital in the border town of El Paso. The mother and her son, whose names have not been disclosed, were released from CBP custody once the minor was hospitalised. The boy "had a high fever and shortness of breath," Guatemalan Consul Tekandi Panigua told NPR on May 16. He added that his health worsened the following days and that the consulate was still awaiting a report stating the cause of death before repatriating the child's body. Juan de Leon Gutierrez, 16 The Guatemalan teenager died on 30 April in a Texas hospital while in federal custody due to complications with a brain haemorrhage, according to local media reports. However no official statement about what led to his death has yet been issued. Image copyright Reuters Image caption "A lot of people are leaving because there are no jobs here," De Len's mother said De Len showed no signs of any medical complications when he was transferred from the Border Patrol station to a shelter on 20 April, according to statements by the Administration for Children and Families (ACF). The shelter was located in Brownsville, more than 1,000km from El Paso, where he had been detained as an unaccompanied migrant, Guatemala's government said. A day later, he started suffering symptoms such as fever, chills and headaches. Authorities then transferred him to a hospital, but he was released from the medical centre 24 hours later. When he became ill again he was taken back to a local hospital that later transferred him to a children's hospital. He remained in the intensive care unit for several days until he died. De Len was originally from a rural town located at the border of Guatemala and Honduras, a region with high levels of malnutrition and poverty. "The young people, elderly people, a lot of people are leaving because there are no jobs here," De Len's mother told Reuters. Felipe Gomez Alonzo, eight Felipe Gomez Alonso passed away on 24 December while in the custody of border authorities. He had been diagnosed with a common cold and fever. The official cause of death is still unknown. Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The boy who risked his life for an American dream The boy had travelled with his father for almost a month from his hometown in northern Guatemala, Yalambojoch, to El Paso. "(His death) has affected us greatly and even now we can't understand it. It's hard to believe it happened," Felipe's older sister Catarina told the BBC at his funeral in January. Their mother said her husband and son had emigrated with the purpose of eventually providing for the family, who did not have the means to pay for basic necessities such as firewood and electricity. Felipe's death led the Department of National Security of the United States (DHS) to announce measures for migrant children to undergo a comprehensive medical examination after being detained. Jakelin Caal, seven She crossed the border on 6 December with her father and a large group of migrants into Antelope Wells, New Mexico, a desert zone in the south-eastern US. Image copyright Getty Images Image caption A photo of Jakelin at her funeral "After completing a days-long, dangerous journey through remote and barren terrain, the child, who according to the father had not been able to consume water or food for days, began vomiting, went into sepsis shock and after receiving emergency treatment from US Border Patrol Emergency Response Technicians (EMTs), air paramedics and emergency room personnel, died", said the DHS in a statement. Three months after her death, an autopsy report said the "septic shock" had led to an infection that caused a "multiple failure of her organs". But lawyers for her family responded by saying that they would continue to demand an independent investigation into Jakelin's death. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-48346228 |
Will the Texas Legislature cut my school property taxes? | Engagement/opinion editor Shelley Kofler sits down with Jeff Law, chief appraiser for the Tarrant Appraisal District, to explain how to protest the value the county has assigned to your home. Engagement/opinion editor Shelley Kofler sits down with Jeff Law, chief appraiser for the Tarrant Appraisal District, to explain how to protest the value the county has assigned to your home. State leaders patted each other on the back Thursday afternoon and declared historic progress in the never-ending war on Texas property taxes. But dont strain your eyes looking for a tax cut on your next bill from the county. The steps announced by Republicans Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dennis Bonnen billions more in state funding for schools so local taxes can be reduced, rules to make it harder for local governments to increase revenue and big changes to how the state allocates money to school districts should slow the skyrocketing levies that homeowners are seeing. But the reality is this: In a fast-growing state, with property values soaring and an aversion to certain types of taxes, real cuts are close to impossible. Texas governments are funded primarily by property and sales taxes. A potential third major source of revenue, state or local income tax, is off the table. Texans have made it clear they dont want one, and we have no quarrel with that. The lack of an income tax is a competitive advantage for the state and a natural limit on government. Unlimited Digital Access: Only $0.99 For Your First Month Get full access to Star-Telegram content across all your devices. SAVE NOW Lawmakers also have been reluctant to tax businesses more. All that adds up to a heavy reliance on property taxes. Growth drives up property values, and Texas decades-long boom shows no signs of slowing. We just learned that Fort Worth has again moved up the list of largest U.S. cities, now ranking 13th. Tarrant Countys chief property appraiser has estimated that overall property values will rise as much as 10% once appeals are settled soon. This has made life a little easier for local governments for years. Theyve been able to spend more and reduce tax rates. Even with crafty appeals of their property appraisals, homeowners and businesses still pay more to their cities, counties, hospital districts and especially school districts. City and county leaders rightly fear the impact of tighter caps on their ability to raise revenue. Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price warns that caps could mean budget cuts of several million dollars and a reduction in all city services beyond public safety. With growth comes needs, particularly in education. We encourage school districts to look for savings, particularly in administrative costs. But more kids means more spending. Plus, Texas schools serve plenty of low-income families, and the states future depends on helping them become part of a competitive future workforce.. Property taxes just arent well-suited to fund extended, massive growth. After all, weve heard leaders claim victory before. In 2006, the Legislature slashed school tax rates by a third, replacing the revenue with increased sales and business taxes. Even now, rates are much lower than they were before the 2006 deal. But try telling that to homeowners. Few options for a long-term fix exist. State leaders pledged that more state money would continue to flow so local taxes can be cut. That should help, but a general recession or a downturn in the oil and gas industries, another major source of state revenue, could make it difficult. Appraisal reform could be another useful tool, but its a complicated issue that demands deliberate consideration. It was telling that Patrick, a longtime warrior on the tax issue, framed the matter as a dramatic cut in future tax increases. So, sure, give lawmakers credit for a step forward. Just wait to see if lasting relief materializes. | https://www.star-telegram.com/opinion/editorials/article230742564.html |
Will Republican lawmakers allocate $7.5 million to deceive pregnant women? | CLOSE Opinion: Republicans who control the Legislature want to set up a fund for 'crisis pregnancy centers,' which look like medical facilities, but aren't, luring in women to hear anti-abortion messages. Abortion-rights activists gather at a rally to protest abortion bans at Arizona State Capitol in Phoenix on May 21, 2019. (Photo: Nathan J. Fish/The Republic) At the very least youd expect people claiming the moral high ground to be honest. But, no. The Republicans who control the Arizona Legislature, along with the Center for Arizona Policy, which controls the Republicans, have been supporting a bill (House Bill 2759) to provide $7.5 million (spread out over three years) to what are known as crisis pregnancy clinics, places that are meant to look like medical facilities, but arent. Instead, the scheme is to lure pregnant woman inside then hit them with a heavy-handed anti-abortion message, sometimes using debunked or deceitful information. No. They are NOT medical facilities Again, these are NOT medical facilities. So they dont have to abide by medical ethics. Or any ethics. The bill only asks that owners have experience in marketing and serving the eligible patient population. Marketing experience. Not medical experience. At a committee meeting Democratic Rep. Charlene Fernandez said of the proposal, We are talking about $7.5 million for a half-baked idea. Theres zero reporting on this. Theres no accountability, no transparency. For every woman I know, we cant go backwards, so I vote no. Unfortunately, in Arizona, we can and often do go backwards. Danger of misinformation NEWSLETTERS Get the Opinions Newsletter newsletter delivered to your inbox We're sorry, but something went wrong Our best and latest in commentary in daily digest form. Please try again soon, or contact Customer Service at 1-800-332-6733. Delivery: Mon-Fri Invalid email address Thank you! You're almost signed up for Opinions Newsletter Keep an eye out for an email to confirm your newsletter registration. (Yeah. Rhetorical.) Reach Montini at [email protected]. Read or Share this story: https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/ej-montini/2019/05/23/lawmakers-allocate-7-5-million-deceive-pregnant-women/1208652001/ | https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/ej-montini/2019/05/23/lawmakers-allocate-7-5-million-deceive-pregnant-women/1208652001/ |
Why Are Leading Democrats Supporting Trump on Venezuela? | 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. Ramping up war fever against Iran, Donald Trump seems to have jerked his erratic attention span away from his campaign to overthrow Venezuelas Nicols Maduro. The embarrassing fiasco of pretender Juan Guaids failed coup last month temporarily frustrated Trumps search for an imperial triumph abroad to divert attention from the relentless piling up of legal troubles at home. Ad Policy But the administrations hawks, led by National Security Adviser John Bolton, special adviser for Venezuela Elliot Abrams, and Florida GOP Senator Marco Rubio, have certainly not given up. So, no one should be surprised when the blustering Trump once again threatens the Venezuelan people with war unless they rise up and throw out their president. But we might be a little more curious about the enthusiastic backing Trump has enjoyed from the prominent Democrats and mainstream media who have otherwise denounced him for undermining the postWorld War II liberal world ordertearing up treaties, disdaining democracy, and holding international law in open contempt. Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Amy Klobuchar, Kirsten Gillibrand, Richard Durbin, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and PBS commentators are among the leading liberal internationalist choristers chanting their support for Trumps right to impose regime change on another peoples country. Related Article Once Again, Mainstream Media Get It Wrong on Venezuela Michael Fox They assure us, of course, that they are not promoting war. Rather, they support the presumably more moral policy of harsh sanctions, i.e., an expectation that strangling the Venezuelan economy will cause enough pain and misery so that Venezuelans will throw out Maduro themselves. Economists Jeffrey Sachs and Mark Weisbrot estimate that 40,000 Venezuelans died as a result of US sanctions in 2017 and 2018. Trump has dramatically tightened them this year. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tells us that Trump also prefers peace, but military action is possible. And if thats whats required, thats what the United States will do. Amen, says Senator Klobuchar; you always leave things on the table, she said. History suggests that when you put guns on the table, the trigger-happy (e.g., Bolton and Abrams, an architect of the 1980s contra wars in Central America) are likely to manufacture an excuse to use them. Pompeo says Trump doesnt need congressional approval to send in the Marines, anyway. This limits regime-change Democrats to the role of softening up the public for Trumps jihad. Trump claims the support of an international coalition of the willing, which of course we also corralled for the wars in Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq. This years group includes some small client states; the newly ascendant right-wing leaders of Brazil, Argentina, and Colombia; and intimidated Europeans who will give Trump his way in Latin American to avoid his ire over their lack of enthusiasm for his warmongering against Iran and his off-again, on-again romance with Vladimir Putin. Like Trumps Democratic supporters, the Europeans say they are not necessarily endorsing war. Current Issue View our current issue But the bedrock rule of international law is clear. As the charter of the Organization of American States, which the United States has signed, declares, No State or group of States has the right to intervene, directly or indirectly, for any reason whatever, in the internal or external affairs of any other State. [Emphasis added.] The exception is self-defense. The notion that Venezuela is a threat to the United States is obviously absurd. Nor can anyone seriously believe Venezuela is planning to invade any of its neighbors. Hugo Chvez, Maduros mentor and predecessor, was a pain in the ass to the US foreign-policy apparatus: opposing the war in Iraq, selling discounted oil to Cuba, and making speeches about US imperialism in Latin America. But neither Chvez nor Maduro was, or could have been, a serious constraint on US global hegemony. As for the ominous references to Russias getting a foothold in the Western Hemisphere, the Russians have neither the capacity nor the stomach for challenging US military superiority in the region. They will continue to kibitz, but after their Cuban experience, Putin has little interest in assuming responsibility for an even larger economic basket case. Yes. And the usual examples are Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, and the current rulers of Myanmar. Nicols Maduro in recent years has certainly become an authoritarian rulerharassing political opponents, refusing to recognize the opposition-controlled national assembly, and treating dissenters as enemies of the state. But he is hardly in Hitlers class. Nor is he in the class of some of Washingtons closest friends. The US governmentfunded center-right organization Freedom House lists 13 countries where freedom is most suppressed. Venezuela is not on the list. Of the eight not in the throes of civil war, fourSaudi Arabia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistanare close allies or recipients of US military and economic aid. Thirty-six countries have lower Freedom House scores than Venezuela. Trump, who still has a cloud over his own election, claims that Maduro rigged the voting in 2018. Theres little doubt that he did, using government power to muzzle the opposition and to buy votes in a low-turnout election. But the major cause of the low turnout46 percent, down from 80 percent in the 2013 election that Maduro clearly wonwas the Trump-supported boycott of the election by some of the opposition parties. The Trump administration even reportedly threatened the leading anti-Maduro candidate, Henri Falcn, with sanctions against his businesses if he ran. And then, earlier this year, Trump declared a formerly obscure hard-right politician, Juan Guaidelected to the National Assembly in 2015 by the same system that elected Maduroas the legitimate president. For 20 years, beginning long before Maduro turned autocrat, the US government has been trying to crush Chvezs Bolivarian Revolutionincluding encouragement of a failed military coup in 2002. But Chvez remained popular because he redirected oil revenues from rich oligarchs and foreign investors to the majority of Venezuelans, who are poor. Oil money was used to provided housing, clean water, schools, health programs, music educationand yes, access to polling places in poor neighborhoods. In 2012, Jimmy Carter told his Carter Center, As a matter of fact, of the 92 elections that weve monitored, I would say the election process in Venezuela is the best in the world. The other charge against Maduro is that he has mismanaged the economy. Also true. He denied the state oil company the investments needed to maintain its production, unnecessarily alienated his creditors, and kept spending money when oil prices and government revenue declined. But Venezuela is not the first oil exporter to have been driven into a debt crisis when prices fell. Those that are not on the US enemies list, like Mexico in the 1980s and again in the 1990s, are able to refinance their debt with private banks and the IMF. But Washington has effectively blocked such aid to Venezuela, has restricted its oil markets, and has frozen its assets in the United States, handing some of the money over to Guaid. The combination of sanctions and the cut-off of credit turned a floundering economy into a drowning one. In any event, economic mismanagement hardly justifies intervention by foreigners, much less by Donald Trump, the king of corporate deadbeats. Oil may be part of the answer. Venezuela sits on the worlds largest proven oil reserves. And Guaid has promised to give control of it back to the international oil companies. The industry gives more money to the Republicans, but they spread their largesse. In the 2018 cycle, Texas Senator Ted Cruz received more money from the oil and gas people than anyone elseand his Democratic opponent, Beto ORourke, came in second. More importantly, perhaps, the industry supports the think tanks and nurtures the policy mavens who set the parameters for foreign-policy groupthink in Washington. As we have learned from the debacles in the Middle East, the lure of oil profits and the engrained habit of the US governing class of demanding the right to determine how other countries should be run is a lethal combination. No matter how often our intelligence operations flop, exposing our ignorance of what is going on in other countriesthe latest being the failure of Guaids US-supported April coup attemptthe consensus that Washington knows best remains mostly unshaken inside the Beltway. Despite the incoherence stemming from Trumps unbalanced mind and his advisers rigid ideology, they may well prevail in the short run. It is hard to imagine that Maduro can survive the relentlessly tightening economic garrote, even without a US-supported invasion from the outside. There would be more foreign investment in the oil industry, and a little more foreign aidalthough not much coming from Trump. But with Venezuelas plutocrats in charge, progress toward social equality will certainly be rolled back, leaving widespread, simmering resentment that the restored upper class will have to repressat least as harshly as Maduro has repressed his enemies. Civil war is also possible. The Venezuelan army, the more than 6 million people who voted for Maduro, and a large swath of Latin Americas population may not sit still for yet another Yankee intervention. Hope may lie in reluctance from the Pentagon, which is already feeling overstretched in the Middle East and advises caution. And when denied an easy victory, the moody Trump often gets cold feet. But the march to the brink of war often spins out of control. If we go over the edge in Venezuela, we can expect Trumps Democratic enablers to explain later why they beat the drums for regime changeas did Clinton, Biden, Kerry, and others who supported George W. Bushs Iraq War. Weve heard it before: Sorry, we really didnt mean for it to turn out that way. | https://www.thenation.com/article/venezuela-democrats-trump-sanctions/ |
Will Robert Quinn continue anthem protest with Cowboys? | After signing Robert Quinn as a free agent this spring, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said the defensive ends national anthem protests were not a concern. We all know where we stand with the Cowboys, Jones told PFT. Scroll to continue with content Ad The Cowboys are one of the few NFL teams never to have had a player protest during the national anthem. Quinn, though, has raised his fist during the national anthem as a social protest against racism and social injustice since 2016 when he was with the Rams. He did it every game last year with the Dolphins. Quinn said he has talked to the Cowboys about his protests. [But] not in too much detail, Quinn said Wednesday, via Clarence Hill of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Its a personal thing. [Ill] kind of leave it that. Quinn would not reveal his plans for the national anthem this season. Right now, I am just focused on football, Quinn said. I have been talking about it for a while. Now Im just focused on football, and we will see where it goes. | https://sports.yahoo.com/robert-quinn-continue-anthem-protest-205415572.html?src=rss |
Is it possible Kevin Durant has played his last Warriors game? | That scenario seemed like a real possibility with the grim news that Durant, who was re-evaluated by the team on Thursday morning, has not yet been cleared for on-court activities. He has been declared unlikely for at least Game 1 of the Finals against either Milwaukee or Toronto on May 30. Theres never been a point where we said hes going to play on such and such date and there still isnt, said head coach Steve Kerr, who acknowledged there was a chance Durant could get onto the court in the next week. He hasnt spent any time on the court or gone through an individual shooting workout. Theres still some work ahead. We feel like hes going to be back at some point in this series. Clearly, Durants calf strain is more serious than initially believed, when it was described as mild. He has been completely sidelined for more than two weeks and is already ruled out of a game that will take place 22 days after his injury occurred. Thats more than mild. And, it seems, more than the Grade 1 strains hes suffered in the past. Dont pretend this isnt a big deal. Both for Durant and for his teammates. The new narrative around the Warriors is that the Original Three are so locked in that they dont really even need Durant right now. They even managed to close out a series without Andre Iguodala (who, in some good news on Thursday, is expected to be ready for the start of the Finals). Dont believe it for a moment. Portland is a good team but wasnt the most daunting matchup for the Warriors, whose own backcourt strength was a better version of the Trail Blazers strength. In the Finals, the Warriors will face an athletic, generational talent in either Milwaukees Giannis Antetokounmpo or Torontos Kawhi Leonard (who currently seems hobbled). The Warriors will want their own generational superstar to match up. Some fans and media may be enamored of the idea of the Warriors winning a title without Durant, emerging from the cloud hanging over this team all season that Durant may be out the door. But the Warriors themselves have asserted they want Durant back. ASAP. Oh, man, Klay Thompson said. Just keep doing what weve been doing. Itll be really difficult without him, but its doable, if we put our minds to it. You cant just throw him out into the NBA Finals against elite talent and expect him to not miss a beat. It will likely depend on where the series stands. What Durants absence from the court has done is create a void that is again filled with speculation and theory and rumor. When he was on the court dropping 40-plus points a night in the playoffs, the story was that hes the best player in the NBA, a man in full, flexing his power. Without him on court, the talk about his future has grown louder. Durant, with apparently too much time on his hands while he rehabilitates in the training room, hooked up to stim machines and other technology, has done his part to fuel the noise. He had to know, by signing a one-year contract last summer, that the speculation would hit a fever pitch by this point. Yet he has been irritated by the discussion and clapped back on social media at those who discuss his sensitivity or his future plans. Infamous for using burner social media accounts in the past, Durant cant seem to help himself and now hes not hiding it. This week, his agent, Rich Kleiman denied that there was any kind of handshake deal or finalized plan about Durants future. That is 100 percent undecided, Kleiman said at the Wall Street Journals Future of Everything Festival. Any, Im waiting on Kevin thats the truth. When somebody gets to the level of basketball that hes at, you cant juggle focus like that. Theres so many things hes juggling, too. Hes not scripting his future while playing the way he plays and practicing the way he practices. He really doesnt know. And I really dont know. None of us know. When Durant will be back. If Durant will be back. Or if weve already witnessed his farewell. Ann Killion is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @annkillion | https://www.sfchronicle.com/sports/annkillion/article/Is-it-possible-Kevin-Durant-has-played-his-last-13884242.php |
Is Facebook undermining democracy in Africa? | Image copyright Getty Images Facebook is under fire in Africa for undermining democracy, with critics saying the social media giant has allowed its platform to be weaponised for co-ordinated misinformation campaigns. The role of false news has taken centre stage in every single one of the continent's eight national polls this year - and last week Facebook said an Israel political consultancy was behind much of it. It banned Archimedes Group, which it said was responsible for a network of those masquerading as African nationals, and removed 265 Facebook and Instagram pages and groups involved in "co-ordinated inauthentic behaviour" mainly targeting Nigeria, Senegal, Togo, Angola, Niger and Tunisia. Nanjira Sambuli, from the World Wide Web Foundation, says it has taken Facebook too long to pay attention to this problem in developing countries. "Democracies are at risk on this continent, and unfortunately, social media platforms are fast becoming the sites of aggravation," she told the BBC. Image copyright AFP Image caption Facebook head Mark Zuckerberg met President Muhammadu Buhari in 2016 on a visit to Nigeria, where fake news has been a problem Some feel the continent's weak regulations on privacy and data protection have meant Africa has been used as a "guinea pig" for privacy violations. "We're a training ground. Once it works in Africa, they replicate that and they use it across Africa other geographies," Cameroonian tech entrepreneur Rebecca Enonchong told the BBC. Double standards She cites the Cambridge Analytica scandal as a prime example of the pass Facebook gets in Africa for the same wrongdoing for which Western regulators were less forgiving. In 2018, Facebook and British data analytics firm Cambridge Analytica were at the centre of a dispute over the harvesting and use of personal data of more than 230 million users, using it to try and alter how people voted in multiple countries including Nigeria and Kenya. Rebecca Enonchong People that use these networks actually feel that this information is coming from Facebook, not realising that it's a third party putting the information there" As a result of the scandal, Cambridge Analytica closed operations and the US Senate summoned Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to testify before Congress. As much as Facebook must comply with ethics our institutions and regulators must up their game (if they have any) and protect people's rights." Those behind the Israeli-linked Facebook pages spent about $812,000 (641,000) on the platform between December 2012 and April 2019 and gained a total of 2.8 million followers. The Archimedes Group has not returned the BBC's repeated requests for comment and has removed all instances of its work from its website. 'Darth Vader of Nigeria' Many of the now-deleted pages focused on the 2019 Nigerian elections, a review by US-based political think tank The Atlantic Council's Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab) found out. One of the pages taken down, "Make Nigeria Worse Again", appeared to be a trolling campaign aimed at Atiku Abubakar, a former vice-president and President Muhammadu Buhari's main opponent. "The page included a banner image of Mr Abubakar as Darth Vader, the notorious Star Wars villain," the researchers wrote. Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Debunking fake news in Nigeria Idayat Hassan, from the Abuja-based Centre for Democracy and Development, told the BBC it was difficult to track who had commissioned the pages as during elections "there's always a will to try and sway people along either religious or ethnic lines". DFRLab also found pages posing as disinformation watchdogs such as "C'est faux les fake news du Mali", which claimed it was founded by students in Mali but was actually run by administrators in Portugal and Senegal. The researchers speculate that it was probably a front to build its credibility as it was not linked to any party or candidate and concentrated on "fake news" about Africa or Africans. You might also be interested in: Another page removed was "Ghana 24", which claimed to be a news outlet "but amplified pro-government stories and news items" and was managed from Israel and the United Kingdom. One page removed had posts that favoured Felix Tshisekedi, the newly elected president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, and chided his opponent Martin Fayulu for refusing to accept defeat. Though the fake accounts aimed to mislead the masses in the countries involved through a systematic deception campaign, there is little evidence at this stage that they led to any change of governments. In fact, some African governments have taken advantage of the climate of misinformation. "[Some] Nigerian politicians follow the example of [US President] Donald Trump by using 'fake news' as a means of disparaging news that is unfavourable to them," Ms Hassan said. False news adverts More than 139 million people in Africa use Facebook - and almost entirely on mobile. If Facebook was a country, it would be the world's second most-populous nation. Facebook is beloved by younger Africans, many of whom receive a lighter version of it for free provided by their mobile providers. The youth, who form the majority of the electorate in most African countries, are also most likely to be influenced online. "People that use these networks actually feel that this information is coming from Facebook, not realising that it's a third party putting the information there, so Facebook needs to take responsibility for how its platform is being used," says Ms Enonchong. Image copyright AFP Image caption Analysts fear Africa has been taken advantage of because of low digital literacy levels Facebook needs to give Africa more of a priority in how people are using the product, she added. But the company dismissed that suggestion in a response to the BBC. "Facebook's commitment within the region remains strong, and over the past two years we have dedicated unprecedented resources and investments across the continent including establishing teams of product, policy, and operations experts with local language and local context expertise," it added. It described a multi-pronged approach to dealing with misinformation in Africa, including a new content review centre it plans to open in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, that will employ approximately 100 people, mostly moderating content in Somali, Oromo, Swahili and Hausa. Most of the current controversy is around Facebook and Instagram but the hugely popular WhatsApp messaging service, which it also owns, is also accused of being a big vehicle for the spread of false news on the continent - it cuts across generations and is a leading news source for older citizens. Facebook has run newspaper advertisements in a few African election cycles alerting voters about the dangers of false news and how to spot it. 'Facebook bashing not the answer' In almost every African election, citizens now fear that their government might shut down social media or even the internet altogether to safeguard against rumours and scaremongering spread on Facebook and WhatsApp. Kwabena Akuamoah-Boateng, a Washington-based Ghanaian tech academic, says just bashing Facebook is not the only answer. "If we continue to have these discussions by singling out a company, we will achieve very little in the end. Everyone has a role here. Let's take another look at government and security agencies' roles," he said. For Ms Sambuli the last week's revelations are a rallying call for initiatives like Contract for the Web, Keep It On Coalition and the UN to work together to find a general consensus on how to deal with fake news in the digital age. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-48349671 |
Is it a Cricket World Cup if much of the world is missing? | LONDON (AP) All the usual suspects have gathered for the World Cup at the home of cricket, and yet something is missing. The rest of the world. When the first ball is bowled at The Oval on Thursday, only 10 teams will be vying to be world champion, the smallest number since 1992. After the hugely popular, successful, and entertaining 2015 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, the format was slashed from 14 teams to 10. Qualifying was a prize for only two teams. No Associate members qualified. So, no Zimbabwe for the first time in 36 years. No Ireland for the first time in 12. No other recent competitors such as Scotland, Kenya, Netherlands, or Canada. Yes, more often than not those teams were fodder for the big guns, but they were improvers who delivered some of the World Cups greatest moments. The moments broadcasters love to replay during rain delays, and moments when the world took notice of the Cricket World Cup. Occasions when Ireland upset Pakistan in 2007, England in 2011 with Kevin OBriens comeback century, and the West Indies in 2015; when Zimbabwe beat Australia in 1983, England in 1992 with Eddo Brandes four-for, and India and South Africa in 1999; and when Kenya beat Sri Lanka in 2003. Add Canadas John Davison teeing off against the West Indies in 2003 with what was then the World Cups fastest century. Well, cricket powerbrokers India, England, and Australia didnt. They led a demand in 2010 for more competitive World Cups by reducing the field to the size of the Champions Trophy. That way, they could ensure that, as the favorite teams for TV and advertisers, they would be in the tournament for at least a month of the six-week saga. But at a time when FIFA is planning to add 16 extra teams to the soccer World Cup, the Rugby World Cup wants to add four, and the Olympics added five new sports, reducing numbers in crickets showpiece is contrary to administrative mantras about developing the global game. In spite of all this, the 12th Cricket World Cup ought to be a smash hit. The English hosts have done more than most to make it so. Immediately after the humiliating group-stage exit four years ago, England transformed itself by selecting short-form cricket specialists, and adopting the positive, aggressive approach of 2015 finalists Australia and New Zealand. They have not lost a home series in four years, won 57 of 86 ODIs, returned to No. 1 a year ago, and broken the world record total twice. Seven players in the England squad have scored centuries, the most of any team. Were in as strong a position as we could be at this stage, captain Eoin Morgan says. If anything will stop them, it will be the weight of expectations. England still seeks a first major ODI title. It has lost three World Cup finals and two Champions Trophy finals. It was favored at the 2017 Champions Trophy, also at home, and fell to Pakistan on a slow pitch in the semifinals. Advertising Conditions have changed. Swing and seam are less impactful as English pitches have become flatter, encouraging higher scores: 300 has become a par score for an ODI. In the England-Pakistan series this month, seven of the eight totals were 300-plus. The other was 297. India come looking for a third World Cup crown with the most experienced squad in the competition. But theres a feeling that if bowlers can get through the mighty top order of Shikhar Dhawan, captain Virat Kohli, and Rohit Sharma, then the middle order is vulnerable. Theres a wave of newcomers who are set to light up the tournament, among them Afghanistan bowling allrounder Rashid Khan, the top allrounder in ODIs already at age 20, and Jasprit Bumrah, the No. 1-ranked ODI bowler who is on track to become the fastest Indian to 100 wickets. While they make their World Cup debut, others will make their bow. This will be the last World Cup for the likes of West Indies blaster Chris Gayle, South Africas JP Duminy, Imran Tahir and Dale Steyn, Pakistans Shoaib Malik, and Bangladeshs golden generation which has yet to strike gold. Mashrafe Mortaza, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, and Tamim Iqbal beat and eliminated India in the 2007 World Cup. This is their last shot at glory. A toast for good luck. And another for absent friends. ___ More AP Cricket: www.apnews.com/cricket and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/is-it-a-cricket-world-cup-if-much-of-the-world-is-missing/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all |
What's closed on Memorial Day? | CLOSE Government offices and banks are closed for the Memorial Day holiday Monday, May 27. (Photo: Provided) Memorial Day will see most government offices and some private businesses closed to celebrate the May 27 holiday. The federal holiday was created to honor soldiers who have died in military service and is observed annually on the last Monday of May and was recognized as a national holiday by an act of Congress in 1971. It is rooted in Decoration Day, a 19th century tradition where the graves of Civil War soldiers were decorated at the end of May. Here's a look at what will be open and closed Monday: Government offices Federal, state and local government offices are closed on Memorial Day. No mail delivery on Memorial Day (Photo: Briana Sanchez / Argus Leader) Mail services The United States Postal Service will not deliver mail on Memorial Day. Most UPS and FedEx services will also be closed. FedEx Custom Critical and UPS Express Critical services will remain open; FedEx Office locations will operate on modified hours. Metro In observance of Memorial Day, Metro will operate on a holiday schedule on Monday, May 27. The following routes will detour due to events scheduled for Memorial Day: 31, 43 and 78. For complete detour details including new boarding locations, riders should visit Metros detour page and subscribe to Cincy EZ Alerts for up-to-date detour information. Banks Most banks, including Federal Reserve Banks, are closed on Memorial Day. Schools Tristate schools are closed. Stock markets The New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq and bond markets will be closed. Buy Photo Rumpke will pick up trash in all communities except the city of Cincinnati on Memorial Day. (Photo: Enquirer file/Sam Greene) Trash pickup Cincinnati residents with regular Monday trash collection and curbside recycling will be picked up on Tuesday. Collections for the remainder of the week will be delayed one day. Rumpke officials say there will be no delay in pickup in other communities. SUBSCRIBE NOW: Take advantage of Memorial Day specials Customers are reminded as summer kicks off that pool chemicals, propane tanks, and lithium ion batteries such as the ones used in yard equipment should not be put in trash picked up by Rumpke. Fireworks and charcoal should be soaked in water before being placed in the trash. Buy Photo Holiday parking rules are in effect for Memorial Day, which is Monday, May 27. (Photo: David Gifreda/The Enquirer) Parking In Downtown Cincinnati, holiday special rates are in effect at city garages and parking meters are not enforced on Memorial Day. DMV Department of Motor Vehicles offices in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana are closed. Buy Photo Courts across the Tristate are not in session on Memorial Day. (Photo: Liz Dufour/The Enquirer) Courts Tristate courts will not be in session. In Hamilton County, bonds may be posted in the Municipal Criminal and Traffic Division 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. This payout window is located on the first floor of the Hamilton County Justice Center in Room 112. Retail stores Most department stores and retail shops will be open and many will offer sales. A notable exception is Costco, which is closed on Memorial Day. Read or Share this story: https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2019/05/23/whats-open-and-closed-memorial-day/3706696002/ | https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2019/05/23/whats-open-and-closed-memorial-day/3706696002/ |
Where to for Auckland's housing market after 'exceptional' flat 3 years? | One for-sale property shows how the city's multi-billion-dollar market has changed lately. A ragged banana palm flaps in the overgrown Ponsonby back yard, a leaning clothesline spins alongside the down-on-its-luck little villa for sale - "price by negotiation". It's a phrase often heard in Auckland these days, and New Zealand's largest homeowner never considered auctioning the atypical state house in desirable O'Neill St. Advertisement The market has been so static for the past three years that the vendor didn't even consider an auction. "Within the current market, very few houses in Auckland are selling at auction so the sales method should produce a good result," a Housing NZ spokesperson says of the negotiated sale, which was due to close on Wednesday. Room for improvement at 72 O'Neill St, Ponsonby. Like all realistic vendors in this static to falling market, the state is pragmatic about the price on the unrenovated place with a $1.3 million CV . "We will be selling at market value. We tend to sell by tender, by negotiation or at a fixed price rather than at auction." The home had become vacant, the cost of bringing it up to standard was too high, "and it can't be redeveloped because there are a number of overland flow paths that traverse the site". So Housing NZ decided to quit via a negotiated price, giving it wriggle room to go below the CV. Just three to four years ago it was a very different story. Auctions were popular and the auction rooms were packed. Auckland places sold for well above their CVs, which were outdated just a few months after they were issued, sometimes in just weeks. Auckland prices were rising and the city's housing market was hot. Now, none of that is true. At Barfoot & Thompson Pukekohe on King St this month, most auction or tender notices were replaced in the window by "price by negotiation". 72 O'Neill St, Ponsonby, with its overgrown back garden. Staff say few rows are filled with potential buyers at the agency's Shortland St auction room headquarters. Numbers are well down on the highs when Chinese buyers rushed in during 2015 and Auckland prices rose by as much as 24 per cent a year. Managing director Peter Thompson says although auction numbers have fallen from two years ago, the business had expected that, "considering all the legislative changes and Government trying to slow down the market". "Also it can be attributed to changes in banks' policies," he said, citing tighter lending restrictions. But he still considers auctions important and says while places don't necessarily sell at the fall of the hammer, about half sell immediately afterwards. Auction deadlines give focus and Thompson says that in the year to March 31, the company listed 5700 auctions, about a third of all its listings. But one long-time real estate executive and agent takes a less optimistic view. "The Auckland market is bedded into its third year of going nowhere, which is exceptional," says Bayleys' Alistair Helm, who writes on Properazzi . "It's usually either up or down." In his area of Devonport, 83 places were advertised for sale in March but now that's just 59, a sign of a flat market, he says. Graphic illustration of activity. "Priced under CV is the most conspicuous trend or symptom of struggling to sell and there are not many auctions," Helm says. Three years of flat to falling Auckland house prices have also seen 503 licensed salespeople or real estate agents leave the sector, many for other careers. The Real Estate Authority (REA) says that active licensees in Auckland peaked at 6628 in October 2017, but by the start of this month the number was 6125. One real estate specialist says his ex-agent Asian migrant friends have ditched selling houses to become "part-time Uber drivers". The REA says: "comparing May this year to last year we have seen a reduction of 4.6 per cent in active licensees in Auckland with 293 less active, compared to a 1.6 per cent decline in the rest of New Zealand. The preceding year saw a 2.6 per cent reduction in Auckland, compared to a 0.5 per cent increase in the rest of New Zealand. The last two years' trend in Auckland differs to the preceding four years where active licensees increased by over 5 per cent in each year." Auckland real estate agent data. Supplied/Real Estate Authority Real Estate Institute April data showed Auckland sales volumes at an 11-year low. "In Auckland, the number of properties sold in April fell by 16.3 per cent year-on-year from 1921 to 1608, the lowest for the month of April in 11 years," says the institute. "For New Zealand excluding Auckland, the number of properties sold fell by 9.5 per cent when compared to the same time last year, from 4634 to 4192." Property data, information and analytics company CoreLogic says that in the year to March 2019, house values in Rotorua's Fordlands - supposedly the suburb that inspired Once Were Warriors - rose 23 per cent, topping the list of suburbs where prices rose in the year. Meanwhile, values in the $1m-plus Belmont on Auckland's North Shore fell the most, down 6.8 per cent. The North Shore was the area where values fell the most: Sunnynook was down 6.3 per cent, Murrays Bay down 6.2 per cent, Waiake down 6 per cent and Hauraki down 6 per cent. Helm says these areas rose fast during the boom times so it's hardly surprising they're leading the falls. Alistair Helm who works in Devonport. Photo/Jason Oxenham One Grey Lynn vendor whose family is moving overseas sold for below CV. "We knew what the market was doing. We were realistic, we didn't want to muck around," he says. As well, he remembers how little he paid for the place, so losing a few tens of thousands didn't deter him when it came to the price. One financial commentator reckons bargain hunters should now "wait till it's a wet mid-winter slow weekend afternoon and offer a low-ball price." Motivated buyers will be far more likely to lower their price expectations in such circumstances, he predicts. One east Auckland agent says births, deaths, marriages and divorce force people to either buy or sell, and accept market conditions. Places going for $1.3m only three years ago now go for $1.17m "and two-bedroom places with CVs of $800,000, you're lucky to get a 7 in the sale price, more like $690,000 now." Her area was previously popular with China-based buyers, "but they stopped, cold turkey, in November 2016 when the Chinese cracked down on the outflow of foreign money." Many Aucklanders are now nearing the point where they will have negative equity - with loans exceeding property values - she says of highly-geared recent buyers, indicating that we could be moving back towards more mortgagee sales. "It all depends on how long ago you bought. Banks tell me we're not at that point quite yet," she says. And this falling market has been great for first-home buyers, who are paying about $100,000 less for two-bedroom places than just a short time ago. Vendors must seek feedback from open-home viewers, she says, so they become completely aware of market reaction as early as possible. That forces them to be realistic about the pros and cons of their place. If they can, they might then be able to change aspects of the property, but most of all, they will become acutely aware of where the market prices their place, the agent says. 53 Williamson Ave, Grey Lynn, "price slashed" by $50,000. Photo/Bayleys One example: the vendor of a large, fully renovated character Grey Lynn villa advertised since February cut the price by $50,000, below the Auckland Council valuation. Bayleys' Andre Bodde advertised 53 Williamson Ave, which got 70 viewers. When it failed to sell at auction it was listed at $1.77m, and then the price was dropped to $1.725m. "Motivated vendor wants action," he said in his advertisement, adding that the place was just minutes to Ponsonby Rd, had the potential to add value in the future and was "gorgeous". "It's not unusual these days," Bodde says. "We've seen some properties where there's a gap between the vendor expectations and the market." Yet the America's Cup defence in 2021, historically low interest rates, pent-up demand and the axing of a potential capital gains tax are all factors cited as having the potential to drive Auckland once again. "It's the trouble getting finance," says Helm, particularly for places in the $1m to $1.5m category. "Banks are getting tighter and tighter to ensure that people can service loans and there's the possibility of new capital adequacy requirements coming in as well. It's a conundrum: it's never been cheaper to borrow - if you can afford it." Westpac's Home Truths bulletin was bullish, particularly citing the Reserve Bank's cut in the official cash rate to 1.5 per cent. "Fast forward a few months and momentum in the housing market is set to be significantly stronger, given the sheer magnitude of the mortgage rate reduction seen recently," it said on May 13. The Real Estate Institute reminds Aucklanders to have somewhat longer memories: it researched 150 suburbs in the city and documented a 92 per cent price rise in the decade to March, 2018. This latest "cooling" had not obliterated those massive gains, it says. And the slowdown had helped first home-buyers. It cited the example of Mt Albert, where prices had declined 31 per cent in the last year but said that in the decade, prices in that suburb rose 156.3 per cent, from a median $456,500 for the six months ending March 2008 to $1,170,000 to the six months ending March 2018. "Once you factor the change in median price over the past year, house prices in Mt Albert had still grown 76.4 per cent over the past 11 years. No doubt, a bit of cooling in price and an increase in the number of apartments available over the last 12 months is a relief for first home buyers or those looking to buy in zone for Mt Albert Grammar School," REINZ said. And as for the run-down 72 O'Neill St in Ponsonby, Housing NZ says after getting multiple offers, it is now in an unconditional agreement with a buyer. | https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12230480&ref=rss |
How does the reality TV show Cops stack up with real-life crime figures? | Reality TV can fail to live up to its name, conveying a version of the world that is a sidestep from the truth. And Cops was a show that was crucial to the genre its not only the longest-running reality show in history, its also one of the first. A new podcast, Running from Cops, explores how the TV show helped to shape the same criminal justice system that it depicted. Dan Taberski tracks down some of the people whose crimes and arrests were broadcast for all to see and uncovers how the show was made. While they were making the six-episode podcast, Dan and his producers created an enormous dataset about the show. They watched 846 episodes across 30 seasons of Cops and compared the numbers they found with national crime figures. I created these illustrations using the Running from Cops dataset, as well as 2016 ACS PUMS 1-year estimates from the Census Bureau, 2017 Bureau of Justice Statistics and 2017 FBI Uniform Crime Reports. It can be difficult to make some of these comparisons (US crime data on arrested suspects does not separate white and Hispanic) but some trends still appear. Youre more likely to find white police officers and white victims on Cops than you are in real life, and youre less likely to see white suspects being arrested on the show than you are in real life. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Percentage of police officers who are white on Cops compared with real life. Illustration: Mona Chalabi Facebook Twitter Pinterest Percentage of arrested suspects who are white on Cops compared with real life. Illustration: Mona Chalabi Facebook Twitter Pinterest Percentage of victims who are white on Cops compared with real life. Illustration: Mona Chalabi Cops also spent a disproportionate time showing drugs and violent crimes. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Drug crimes on Cops v real life. Photograph: Mona Chalabi Facebook Twitter Pinterest Violent crimes on Cops v real life. Illustration: Mona Chalabi You can catch up with the series and listen to future episodes here. | https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/datablog/2019/may/24/cops-reality-show-real-life-crime-figures |
What should it take to win a border poll? | The former SDLP leader Seamus Mallon believes that a simple 50% plus one majority in a border referendum would not "give us the kind of agreed and peaceful Ireland we seek". He believes there should be "parallel consent", involving a majority of both unionist and nationalist voters. Mr Mallon told the BBC's The View programme that without this change, there would be "chaos". "Unfortunately, in the pursuit of unity, it would cause further and deeper disunity because it simply makes another minority a new minority," he said. Image caption Seamus Mallon's comments have sparked controversy on social media platforms "You have a border poll, 50% plus one. "How long would peace last in those circumstances?" he added. Image caption A mock-up of what an Irish unity referendum ballot paper may look like Earlier this year, a group called Ireland's Future met at Belfast's Waterfront Hall to promote a poll for Irish reunification. Belfast-based barrister nna McHugh, who spoke at the event in 2018, said Mr Mallon's analysis is wrong. "If 50 plus one is good enough to retain the union, then it ought to be good enough in terms of a border poll," she said. "I have to say, Seamus Mallon has himself acknowledged that John Hume did not give two balls of roasted snow about his advice, and I think that is where people are at with Seamus Mallon's advice this week." 'Political giant' However, the SDLP's current leader, Colum Eastwood, has defended his former party stalwart. "I think it is a real disgrace the abuse Seamus Mallon has got over the past couple of days from political pygmies trying to attack a political giant who gave an enormous amount to this country and to peace," said the Foyle MLA. Image caption Mr Eastwood has spoken in defence of his former colleague "Some of the people attacking him could not lace his boots. "I disagree with him on the mechanism. "I think the mechanism that exists within the Good Friday Agreement is the right one." Last year, the former First Minister Peter Robinson addressed this issue and echoed Mr Mallon's warning of "chaos". Image caption Jeanette Warke is a community worker However, Jeanette Warke, a community worker in Londonderry's Fountain estate, said Mr Mallon has struck a chord. "I agree with Seamus Mallon," she explained. "He was often referred to as the wise old man from Irish nationalism, and it is very true. "That man is wise. I would agree with him 100%." | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-politics-48384795 |
What Needs To Change In Hollywood To Increase Diversity? | originally appeared on Quora: the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. Answer by Nancy Wang Yuen, Author of Reel Inequality: Hollywood Actors and Racism, on Quora: As academy award winning actress Viola Davis states, If they exist in life, then we should see it on TV. We should see it on stage or on the screen. As many people are out there are as many stories that should be being told. Despite U.S. demographic changes and an ever-expanding international box office, Hollywood remains slow to overhaul its longstanding racism. Studios and networks need to take responsibility for diversifying their ranks. To do so, they can establish specific committees, staff positions, and hiring plans dedicated to increasing representation of people of color, which research shows increases racial diversity in the workplace, particularly at the managerial level. Hollywood can hire staff who demonstrate a track record in creating content for people of color and casting them in varied and complex roles. The same applies to women and other underrepresented groups. Most companies use professional recruiters, and Hollywood can do the same across the board. Each studio and network should have several designated recruiters for diverse talent behind the scenes and designated casting directors who specialize in finding actors of color. Talent agencies should also find agents who understand how to recruit and submit talent of color. Studios should also set hiring goals to bring the numbers of people of color both in front and behind the scenes up to their US population percentage. Research shows that setting specific hiring goals aimed at increasing the number of people of color is one of the most effective ways of diversifying workplaces. Besides hiring, networks and studios can focus on retaining artists of color. They can establish networking and mentoring programs for people of color, which research finds to have a positive effect on retention. By generating inclusive social networks, Hollywood will attract more talent of color. Chris Rock attributes his own success to the willingness of established black actors, such as Eddie Murphy, Keenen Ivory Wayans, and Arsenio Hall, to take chances on him. He, in turn, helps develop other black talent. More people of color in key positions and in the pipeline will accelerate racial inclusion in the industry. (Revised excerpts from Diversifying Hollywood, Chapter 7 of Reel Inequality: Hollywood Actors and Racism) 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. More questions: | https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2019/05/23/what-needs-to-change-in-hollywood-to-increase-diversity/ |
What Is AMD's Fair Price Estimate Based On Expected 2019 Earnings? | AMDs (NYSE:AMD) stock has seen a stellar run with over a 45% surge in price year to date. While there are several factors that have led to such optimism in the company, the current price is higher than our estimate. AMDs near term growth can largely be attributed to its Ryzen and EPYC products, which are gaining market share from Intel. This note details Trefis forecasts for AMD for 2019. ~ for more details on the expected performance of the company. In addition, you can see more of our data for information technology companies here. AMD manufactures and markets microprocessors used in servers, desktops, and notebooks. It reports its revenues under two segments ~ Computing & Graphics, and Enterprise, Embedded & Semi-Custom. Computing & Graphics includes revenue from sales of microprocessors and graphics processors for desktops and notebooks. The segment revenues of $4.13 billion in 2018 accounted for 64% of the companys total revenues. Enterprise, Embedded & Semi-Custom includes revenue from the sale of embedded processors, semi-custom system-on-chip (SoC) products, development services and technology for game consoles, and server microprocessors. The segment revenues of $2.35 billion in 2018 contributed 36% to the companys top line. Total Revenues for AMD have largely trended lower over recent quarters, declining from $1.65 billion in Q1 2018 to $1.27 billion in Q1 2019. This can primarily be attributed to a decline in blockchain related demand. AMDs revenues have declined at an average of 0.2% from $1.34 billion in Q4 2017 to $1.27 billion in Q1 2019. AMDs decline rate was lower than that of Intel and Nvidia. Nvidias average revenue declined 4.1% from $2.91 billion in Q4 fiscal 2018 to $2.22 billion in Q1 fiscal 2020. Intels revenues have declined at an average of 0.8% from $17.05 billion in Q4 2017 to $16.06 billion in Q1 2019. AMDs revenues will likely grow 6.6% to $6.90 billion in 2019. Computing & Graphics segment will likely see 8% growth to $4.45 billion in 2019, led by Ryzen products, which continue to see strong demand. Ryzen is the line for the companys CPUs. AMD is gaining market share in desktops and notebooks, led by its Ryzen products. Higher demand for Ryzen has given the company room to increase its pricing, which is further aiding the margins as well. Enterprise, Embed & Custom segment could see 4% revenue growth to $2.44 billion in 2019, led by continued growth in EPYC shipments. EPYC refers to x86 microprocessors based on Zen microarchitecture targeted for server markets. The companys datacenter processors market share could increase from 4% to 10% by next year. The overall X86 market is worth $18 billion, and a 10% share will translate into $1.8 billion in revenues (28% of the companys total 2018 revenues). AMDs full year 2019 earnings will likely be $0.65 per share, reflecting 48% growth over 2018. Consensus earnings estimate ~ 0.65 Earnings growth can be attributed to higher revenues, and expected improvement in margins, partly driven by higher pricing for Ryzen and EPYC products. Our price estimate of $23 for AMD is based on a 36x price to earnings multiple, and earnings of $0.65 per share in 2019. The multiple for AMD is higher than that of Intel and Nvidia, given it could garner strong growth in the medium term gaining share in the server as well as notebooks market. Explore example interactive dashboards and create your own. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2019/05/23/what-is-amds-fair-price-estimate-based-on-expected-2019-earnings/ |
What Can Leaders Do To Fix Capitalism? | robert cicchetti, via Shutterstock The current hierarchical form of capitalism is relatively new. We need to try and work through a process of evolution. Customers employees suppliers. If anyone in that chain is taken advantage of or outright exploited then something isnt working. Something is broken. While we look to our governments to set up regulatory frameworks that mandate ethical behavior, its in the relationships between people that morality is created. And a growing body of evidence suggests that inequalities between social groups are undermining not just the chain between commercial stakeholders, but public faith in the morality of the system on which the world relies: capitalism. This month, UK think tank the Institute for Fiscal Studies published Inequalities in the 21st Century. The report warns that only one in six people think capitalism is currently working well in Britain and that more young people favor socialism. The report also warns that some question whether inequality may pose a threat not just to capitalism but also to our democratic system. Economist Angus Deaton, who coordinated the report, commented: we need to think about repairs for democratic capitalism, either by fixing what is broken, or by making changes to head off the threats. Deaton and the IFS are not the only ones with this conundrum on their minds. Another is management philosopher and Institute of Leadership & Management Companion Charles Hampden-Turner, who with professors Fons Trompenaars and Linda ORiordan has penned the forthcoming book Capitalism in Crisis: Whats Gone Wrong and How We Can Fix It. Capitalism, the authors assert, is not freedom assured by some divine, global mechanism but a set of suppositions and rules we have constructed for better or for worse. As such, they note, a crisis in capitalism gives us a chance to reconceive. We need to ask what an economy is for, and this means being radical, [by] going to the roots of what it means to create wealth. A stakeholder ethos At last years Global Peter Drucker Forum, former Unilever boss Paul Polman called for a greater connection between peoples pension pots and where they are invested. We are so removed from pension investment funds, which are among capitalisms most fervent supporters. But if employees had more choice and say over the causes to which their pension contributions are put, we may raise a different sort of consciousness that would spur changes in investors behaviour. A local outlook An interesting finding that emerged from soon-to-be-published ethical research weve carried out at the Institute was how difficult large corporations find it to properly engage with the communities in which they work particularly in terms of sourcing materials locally. But in the UK, we are seeing a movement against that particularly among supermarkets such as Morrisons, which pride themselves on selling products that have been grown or sourced locally. Organizations that are taking these sorts of ethical positions, and bringing their customers with them, are going to make the biggest changes to capitalism. A fairer rewards system Vastly skewed pay ratios between organizations lowest and highest earners are difficult to justify. The Institute recognises the multi-dimensional nature of leadership, and one of its recognised dimensions is that of Achievement. It is beholden upon leaders to deliver results and they should be rewarded purely on the strength of those results. And only after a significant timeframe for measurement has passed. Broader delegation of leadership Anthropologists who studied hunter-gatherers of 200,000 years ago believe that they lived in mobile, collaborative groups, and that leadership within those groups was distributed. So the hierarchical form of capitalism we are familiar with is relatively new. In the grand scheme of things, we are trying to work through a process of evolution. All being well, we will arrive at a system that works. We tend to forget that we learn by trial and error. Capitalism is a young form of organizing economies and other forms have also not been as successful as the visionaries who championed them may have hoped. So there will always be adjustments. But for me, rewarding the people who create value is fundamental not only to how organizations should be run but how they will survive. Invest in the long term. Think about sustainability. Be inclusive. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/katecooper/2019/05/23/what-can-leaders-do-to-fix-capitalism/ |
How Far Away Is The Blockchain dApp Environment From Fruition? | ASSOCIATED PRESS It would be hard to argue against the fact that the best current use for blockchain technology, the use that is most prevalent and popular, is cryptocurrencies. It is because of the original blockchain, Bitcoin, being built as peer-to-peer digital cash. However, a lot has happened in the last 10 or so years since Bitcoin began the blockchain journey, even so much as a second generation has been birthed in many respects, tearing open the entire ecosystem. Upon the invention of Ethereum use-cases suddenly grew in such magnitude that the technology was being labelled part of the fourth industrial revolution. Ethereum was the catalyst for this new era of functional blockchain where the technology could be aimed in a considerable amount of directions, disrupting as it goes. Part of this second generation blockchain advancement has been the building of a dApp ecosystem - the decentralised app. Because Ethereums tagline is to be the World Computer it acts as a platform for applications to be built upon it. Moreover, because this decentralised world computer is as broad and similarly advanced as traditional computation, with the added benefit of decentralisation, immutability and transparency, there is a considerable dApp ecosystem that has potential to expand and overtake much of the current app market. The current app market is vast. It has ingrained itself in the lives of almost every individual. However, it has also reached a stage where pain-points and problems are starting to show through the cracks. The importance of data protection, coupled with fiascos by the likes of Facebook and Cambridge Analytica, as well as concerns over centralised control has seen a few more eyes being turned towards dApps as alternatives to traditional apps. There is also the possibility of new applications, that are decentralised, to make our lives easier. A Brave new world Arguably one of the more popular and successful dApps, if it can even be classified as a traditional app, is the web browser, Brave. Brave is an open source and free browser from Brave Software Inc. that aims to keep data safe and provides users with the power to save or delete said information. It features a built-in ad tracker and blocker, and quite notably, Brave comes with an inbuilt BAT cryptocurrency wallet. This wallet enables users to support their favourite websites. Brave has its own native token called BAT which, after providing users with the ability to be in charge of their own data, is a huge blockchain-based benefit. This BAT ecosystem allows web users to earn for browsing Brave enabled sites with anonymous adverts from Brave. BAT currently has a market cap of $429 million with its digital token being valued at $0.33. It also allows advertisers, and publishers, clear and transparent ways in which to view and obtain their advertising revenue - a far cry from the outdated and centralised system currently employed for online advertising. Chief of Communications at Brave, Catherine Corre, explained what they believed was the secret to strong adoption and generally positive feedback on their product. Brave is allying with our users to give them what they want in ad/tracking-blocked speed and privacy, without the intolerable compromises on user experience that arise from most other browsers conflicts of business interest between what users want and what their tracking ad-tech businesses or partnerships require, Corre told Forbes. Brave blocks trackers and invasive ads by default, which otherwise slow down page load; this enables Brave to load twice as fast on desktop, and up to eight times faster on mobile. This speed advantage, along with Braves built-in privacy and security features, put the browser in a unique place to attract new users who are becoming increasingly aware of privacy scandals. Privacy may have been a niche four years ago when we started, but privacy by default is now a huge draw. Brave puts users first in ownership and control of their data. "Additionally, Brave features Brave Ads and Brave Rewards. Brave Ads reward users for their online attention with Basic Attention Tokens. Brave Rewards enables users to in turn seamlessly support their favourite content providers by donating or tipping tokens. Users who choose Brave get excited about playing a role in fixing the Web and the currently broken ad ecosystem, which mainly now benefits intermediaries at the expense of creators and publishers. While Brave cant really fall under the traditional umbrella of what a dApp is, it is clear that what they are offering, with their ERC-20-backed token, and their attention to privacy and protection of data is precisely what many see blockchain being the eventual solution for. There is growing popularity for Brave, with places such as the LA Times coming aboard recently, because they can offer many of the benefits of decentralisation when it comes to web browsing in their case. High demand, slow supply With Brave as an example of the power of blockchain in an offering that people are interested in with regards to decentralisation and privacy, it is surprising that the dApp ecosystem has not made a bigger splash. However, the entire blockchain space looks to be lagging on what it can supply, compared to the current demand. In terms of the dApp ecosystem, it is undoubtedly growing. However, it is a tricky space to be in as there are two major forces at work - new developers in a nascent market, as well as the nascent blockchain technology itself. Mark Hardman, a certified Blockchain solutions architect Ethereum Developer, spoke with Forbes about the current state of the dApp ecosystem and where it is heading. For me, dApps are what the blockchain is all about. Organisations as a whole have only really scratched the surface in terms of whats possible, and unfortunately, many people I speak to confuse Blockchain with Bitcoin, and I think the negative perceptions which surround the latter are a red herring which is suppressing the demand for Dapps in the corporate sphere, Hardman expressed. The continued evolution of the Dapp infrastructure is crucial, and occurring naturally already. Wei-Ning Huang, Co-founder and CTO of Dexon Foundation, also chimed in as they look to provide a platform for dApp developers to use. Over the past year or two, we are very thrilled to see that the dApp market is booming. However, most of the popular dApps are still gaming applications with far fewer daily active users compared to those of well-known ones. There are still not many real-world use cases for dApps that can be applied across different industries and used on a mass scale. David Kuang, a financial professional and data scientist, who works at UBS Bank as a business analyst, adds just how broad the dApp environment can be The idea behind dApp environment is quite remarkable from the innovation achievement perspective as for the first time in the history we now have a technology that allows anyone - including AI machines - the capability to build a corporation or business model via coding smart contracts without having to domicile in a specific physical location but can operate as independent entity on the blockchain - or namely the Decentralised Autonomous Organisation - DAO. Slowing the potential Like a lot of things in the blockchain and cryptocurrency space, the potential is seemingly limitless, but its application has been slow and rocky. Since Ethereum came to the fore, people have been marvelling at smart contract blockchains and their potential uses, but for a few reasons, including poor blockchain performance and a slow dApp development, nothing substantial has been released yet. The development of Blockchain technology is on a bumpy road and very controversial, adds Kuang. However, I believe it is a game changer as it would start to embed into our daily life from an infrastructural level. Imagine all of the electric appliances at home is an IoT device and backbone is support by Blockchain technology to secure its data transmission. dApp is a critical application for Blockchain technology; it provides an angle of how this technology can reshape and change the world. dApp is a direction but not a necessary nor the only direction for technological development and progression. dApp developers are seemingly working hard to integrate solutions into our lives through their creations, but it could be that the base technology needs more time to mature, as Huang explains expanding on their own developer-focused platform: One of the biggest blockers of the dApp development and mainstream adoption is the limitations of the blockchain technology. Current blockchain systems have long been hamstrung by technical bottlenecks include low TPS, low scalability, and weak security. We are committed to addressing this challenge of blockchain technology, by using an ideal platform to build trusted, real-life blockchain solutions. From this, we are advancing by seeking partnerships with various enterprises in insurance, retail, supply chain, gaming, digital asset exchanges, to help entrench this space. For Hardman, he too identifies that the blockchain platform can be a real area of growth once it manages to move beyond this pilot phase. I think that the power of blockchain technology as an enabler of dApps could start to become the real growth area, once we move out of the pilot phase that many organisations are currently in, said Hardman. This will then overtake crypto-currency as the topic of conversation, and well see a dramatic change in the ways some business processes are handled, with big cost and time savings, and a culture change, where organisations start to do business across the same infrastructure. I Think some supply chain projects are starting to give us a glimpse of that. Organisations have an opportunity to escape from the constraints they have had for decades, of silo-based data and processes, and of bloated protectionism when it comes to sharing data across corporate boundaries, so the goal is worth the effort. Chicken and egg It would appear, according to those who are on the development side as well as the blockchain platform side, there are several issues that have hamstrung the advancement and uptick of dApps. The platform itself needs a lot of work as the first smart contract platform - Ethereum - has been under heavy scrutiny in the past for its performance to the point where it has begun its move to change its algorithm to address some of these concerns. However, the developers of dApps on these platforms also suffer from issues that are removed from just blockchain performance. The world of cryptocurrencies and blockchain is still quite niche, and a little controversial in terms of its adoption. So, although these dApps can offer a new era of applications that have the added benefits of decentralisation, transparency, immutability and digital tokens, most people are still more comfortable using traditional apps and their dangers of data misappropriation - for now, anyway. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/darrynpollock/2019/05/23/how-far-away-is-the-blockchain-dapp-environment-from-fruition/ |
Are Aretha Franklin's Homemade Wills Valid, And What Happens Next? | Aretha Franklin's Estate is about to get a whole lot messier. The news broke this week that three handwritten, homemade documents that appeared to be written by Aretha and intended to be wills have been discovered in the home of the late Queen of Soul. In the nine months since Aretha Franklin died, it had been widely reported that Aretha did not have a will or a trust. So this news is likely to cause a shake-up in the estate probate court proceedings. BLOOMBERG NEWS It appears that two of these documents might qualify as valid wills under Michigan law. The first was dated June 21, 2010 and the second one dated March 31, 2014. An additional, one-page note written and dated later in 2010 also states that it is a will, but it does not include any provisions about who is to receive her property, administer her estate, or other of the key clauses to an actual will. You can read all three of the purported wills, here. On June 12, 2019, Oakland County Probate Court Judge Jennifer Callaghan will hold an initial court hearing to determine if any or all of the three documents are valid wills. This will be a preliminary hearing at which it is anticipated that one or more attorneys for Aretha's four sons (each has his own attorney, except for Clarence, who is represented by his guardian) will object to the admission of one or all of the documents. It has been reported that at least two of the sons intend to object to the admission of the documents as valid wills. Traditionally, contested legal issues like this will not be resolved at the initial court hearing. Instead, the judge will likely give the parties and their attorneys time to investigate the documents, conduct discovery (including the right to take depositions, issue subpoenas, etc. ), try to negotiate a resolution, perhaps attend mediation to try to reach a settlement, and finally, return for another, longer court hearing at a later date during which the court will likely hold an evidentiary hearing to resolve the dispute about whether the documents are valid wills. In doing so, two key Michigan laws will govern the issue. The first sets forth the rule in Michigan for whether a document constitutes a valid "holographic" will. A holographic will is one where the material portions are in the will creator's own handwriting, as contrasted with a traditional will prepared by an attorney. To be a valid holographic will in Michigan, it must be in writing, signed by the person who created it or at her direction, and dated, along with the requirement that the signature and material portions be in the person's own handwriting. Finally, there must be a finding that the document was intended to constitute the person's will. In this respect, Michigan law is similar to the laws of other states. The second Michigan law that comes into play is under a statute that is not as common in most states, and which permits documents that are intended to serve as wills to accepted as valid, even if the regular statutory requirements were not met. So, even a document that is "not quite a will" can be accepted as a valid will, if there is clear and convincing evidence that the document was intended to be a will. In other words, if someone forgets to date a will, or even - under the right circumstances - not sign the will at all, this law means the document can still be accepted as a valid will. Many states do not follow this particular law, instead insisting on the will "formalities" to be in place. Under either statute, the court can, and likely will, hold a trial and listen to the testimony of professionals who worked with Aretha, and others, about what her wishes may have been, and whether she intended these documents to serve as her wills. The language of the wills themselves will be closely analyzed to determine if they truly due express her intention for who is to receive her assets and how they are to receive them. Based on our analysis of the documents themselves, the June 2010 document certain appears to be a valid will. It details Aretha's intention that it serve as a will, how her assets are to be divided among her four sons, and it is both signed and dated by Aretha. So, unless there is compelling evidence offered that the document was not written by her or was not intended to be her will, the document itself likely will be proof enough to be admitted as a valid will. The March 2014 document is murkier. It is unclear if it is signed. A marking that may have been Aretha Franklin's signature appears on the last page, but it is messy and hard to read. But, under Michigan's "not quite a will" law, the language of the document might be enough to qualify as a valid will, because it, arguably, contains an expression of her intent to create a will. It also, like the 2010 document, directs how her assets are to be divided between her four sons. But, it could also be argued that the 2014 document was merely Aretha's notes -- found in a notebook -- about what she might like her will to read, but she never got around to creating an actual new will. It certainly was not as detailed or clear as the 2010 document. Accordingly, it is hard to predict if the 2014 document will be treated as a valid will. If it is, it would replace any inconsistent terms in the 2010 will. While both documents are generally consistent, expressing an intention to share assets among her four sons, there is at least one big difference that could be very significant. Once the court decides if one or both documents are valid wills, that will not end the legal trouble. To the contrary, then the estate proceeding will really get interesting. Parts of them are very hard to read, and some provisions are crossed out and changed in the margins. Right now, her niece, Sabrina Owens, is the person with authority and control over Aretha's estate, including managing all of the estate's assets. But the 2014 will appears to appoint Aretha's son, Kecalf, in that position - but with some cross outs, a blank line, two questions marks, and a note in the margin to "fill in" the blank. The suggests that Aretha's wishes as to who would fill this all important position were not clear, and she may not have made up her mind. That will most likely be a tough question for the court to decide. And how that question is determined could have long term impact on Aretha's legacy, including deciding how her image, likeness, performances, and royalties are managed. The key lesson from all this should be obvious. No one should rely on homemade wills. They are far more likely to cause confusion and trouble than a proper will prepared with the help of an experienced estate planning attorney. Anyone who wants their heirs to avoid probate court should consider using a revocable living trust. Almost everyone who may die with investments, real estate, or other assets of value would benefit from a well-drafted trust. Trusts are not just for the rich! They are for anyone who wants their loved ones to avoid the mess, costs, and aggravation that often happens in probate court. Considering the assets, wealth, debts, and complexities that Aretha Franklin had, it is a shame that she never signed a trust. It would have avoided most, and perhaps all, of the courtroom drama that is about to begin over her estate. And, above all else, do not hide your will in a locked cabinet or under a couch cushion, like Aretha did! Wills and other estate planning documents do no good if no one can find them. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/trialandheirs/2019/05/23/are-aretha-franklins-homemade-wills-valid-and-what-happens-next/ |
Is Artificial Intelligence Really Disrupting Travel? | Getty We have been hearing for months that AI will kill millions of jobs that technology will take over all aspects of the travel industry and so on. Lets take this onslaught of information and clinically dissect it to get a clearer view of how the travel industry will be affected. We can broadly define the core aspects of the travel industry in three main categories: preparation, buying and the actual experience itself. 1. Preparation Assume you want to go from New York to London on vacation. If you are bringing your family of four or five people, you will likely end up searching for hours on various search engines like Kayak or Expedia to get the right itinerary and number of stops, book the nearest airport, etc. This is a time-consuming and frustrating part of the vacation planning process. Finding the right prices, times and quality is the primary challenge every vacation traveler faces online. This applies to everything, from flights to booking hotels. This might come as a shock to people, as technology has proliferated across all aspects of the travel industry. But companies have put too much focus on technology and have forgotten that customer service is very important. Try to speak to a customer service representative at one of the many online travel agencies (OTAs). Wait times for these agencies can be brutally long, especially during emergencies. AI will hopefully solve some of these issues. Specialized algorithms can seamlessly transition between humans and systems when an OTA is handling an irate customer. Googles data shows that 36% of consumers are willing to pay more for these personalized experiences. However, a poor customer experience will not be fully saved by new technology at least not immediately. 2. Buying There are so many prices and restrictions when making a travel purchase, and customers feel helpless in most cases. We are seeing that because of these reasons, many customers are switching back to travel agents. Offline travel agents, with the help of the latest technologies, can do a better job of providing higher levels of customer satisfaction. AI will make this transformation much easier for travel agents. If someone is looking for a plain booking from point A to point B, OTAs do a decent job. But when someone has to book a complex trip with more than two or three passengers, it becomes harder and more expensive to use an OTA. Consumers use a staggering 38 sites before they pick a package. Imagine the frustrations and challenges a consumer has to go through before they book. OTAs websites have also introduced dynamic pricing models, where prices fluctuate due to demand. While this can be a boon to customers in some regards, it still causes great confusion. 3. Travel Experience Technologies that were meant to help have made travel more painful than ever. Imagine traveling on busy holiday seasons across the world. Long lines, overbooked flights, tired counter staff members and old legacy technologies create havoc before the travel even starts. We dont even want to discuss the hazards of security check-in lines and other headaches. After all that suffering, when you finally board the plane, travelers are thrown into more misery hard seats, no elbow room and every seat is full. U.S. domestic flights have even removed onboard TV screens. None of these technology revolutions is going to change air travel in the near future. AI will improve some areas of travel, but it will not impact most others. The Future Of The Travel Industry The FAA forecasts that the number of U.S. airline passengers will increase from 840.8 million in 2017 to 1.28 billion in 2038, a growth of more than 50%. Imagine how much more torturous travel will be in the future if we dont upgrade the support systems involved, especially those in airports and on airlines. With this kind of expected growth, AI will probably help some areas of travel even further but don't expect any miracles here. Unless space travel takes off, be ready to stand in long lines and eat some peanuts. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2019/05/23/is-artificial-intelligence-really-disrupting-travel/ |
Are Microgrids Powered By On Site Green Energy The Next Big Thing? | Getty Given the spate of natural disasters and the impact that they have had on delivering electricity, microgrids that encircle specific campuses are gaining in popularity. They offer a Swiss-Army knife of possibilities -- everything from greater reliability to cleaner power to economic development. Consider IIVI Incorporated makes 3D sensing technologies and it wants to reduce its carbon footprint by installing a microgrid at its New Jersey manufacturing facility: It is using a localized grid because the electric utility is unable to supply the amount of power it needs to keep up with its growth. That is also happening at hospitals, universities and technology companies enterprises that cant afford a loss of power for minutes much less several days. Those microgrids are designed to work in unison with distributed energy resources like solar panels and battery storage as well as fuel cells -- the types of 21st Century technologies that are not just more reliable but potentially, much cleaner. As for IIVI Incorporated, Bloom Energy built it a 2.5 megawatt power system in nine months. Its solid oxide fuel cell technology takes natural gas or a biogas and converts it into electricity. And the company says that its capacity factor actual output in relation to its nameplate capacity is 90% compared to about 25% for solar energy and 40% for wind power. We are converting the chemical energy from methane in a single step to electricity, says Asim Hussain, vice president of commercial strategy for Bloom, in an interview. When you do it in a single step, it is far more efficient. This is not a traditional combustion system. We emit a lot less CO2 and compared to the U.S. grid mix of energy resources, we reduce emissions by 50%. Hussain, who spoke to this reporter on the sidelines, was a panelist at the Microgrid Knowledge 2019 conference in San Diego this week. The fuel cell and the microgrid can be independent of the central grid or they can be set to kick in when the utility-provided power goes out. They are different from on site distributed generation that directly burn fuels that are used to power whole campuses. The fuel cell efficiency rate is between 40% and 60%, say experts, meaning that for each unit of energy that is input, roughly half is returned in the form of power. But if the waste heat is captured in a co-generation plant, then those efficiencies are about 85%. Fuel cells work by combining hydrogen and oxygen. That process requires other fuel sources to break apart the elements. Right now, hydrogen is produced mainly from natural gas using steam reformation, which does nothing to limit the reliance on fossil fuels or the infrastructure that must carry them. The end product, however, is emissions free. There are no smog forming particles, says Hussain. We are producing electricity far more efficiently than combustion-based plants. And we are using it on site, meaning that we do not lose it on transmission. This allows us to reduce greenhouse gas levels. Saving Money and Energy According to Navigant Research, about 500 new microgrid projects have been deployed around the world in the last six months. A key reason for on site generation and microgrids is that total annual cost of power interruptions to the U.S. economy is around $200 billion. It is about being reliable and resilient, or quickly coming back from an outage. The biogas that Bloom uses to create electricity is also known as renewable natural gas, which is produced from any organic material found in landfills, sewage treatment or bio-digesters. It is a substitute for fossil fuels in microgrids. Bloom is working with Southern Company to power a biogas pilot at a landfill. The company says that its 50 kilowatt Bloom Energy Server began in February and is delivering renewable baseload power into the local grid. Ebay installed about five Bloom Boxes on its main campus. It says that it is now using 15% less electricity, saving it many thousands of dollars. Staples and WalMart are doing something similar with the fuel cell maker. Meantime, the city of Phoenix, Ariz. is taking raw biogas produced at its wastewater treatment plant and cleaning it before it is compressed and injected in natural gas pipelines. The city is converting an existing resource into energy that would otherwise get sent into the atmosphere and create greenhouse gas emissions. If you want to island (to break free from the central grid) you need some form of combustion process to sustain a lengthy outage, says Michael Bakas, executive vice president of Ameresco, in an interview with Microgrid Knowledge. So far thats meant using fossil fuels. Solar and solar storage will not carry you through. You need a peaker plant or a cogeneration plant. The conversion process has a cost associated with it, which means that renewable natural gas is more expensive than natural gas. But Bakas points out that using cleaner energy provides not only an environmental benefit but also an economic one, as the cost of the technology falls. We are not back up on only, adds Blooms Hussain. We are always on. We are meant to serve all the time. Look at the cost per kilowatt hour. That is where we are competitive. Do not just look at the cost of capital. Whether it is increased sustainability or improved reliability, American enterprise is driven to search out new technologies. And oftentimes that involves using solar photovoltaic, wind turbines, and fuel cells. The more clean energy resources are brought on line, the more that those technologies will improve and prices will fall, all of which will compound the environmental benefits. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kensilverstein/2019/05/23/are-microgrids-powered-by-on-site-green-energy-the-next-big-thing/ |
Who Will Win The China-US Showdown Over Rare Earth Metals? | Getty The recent visit by Xi Jinping to a rare earth metals processing facility represents a new strategic shift by China in the ongoing trade dispute with the US. The US has targeted Huawei Technologies, Chinas largest tech company, which it accuses of industrial espionage. In response, Chinese authorities are exploring ways to hit back. Restricting the supply of rare earth metals to the US is one way to retaliate. Rare earths are a group of seventeen chemical elements. They are critical to many modern technologies, including consumer electronics, computers and networks, communications, clean energy, and national defense and are used in the manufacturing of hundreds of products, including GPS equipment, MRI machines, batteries, phones, and computer hard drives. Rare earths are not rare in the sense that there are small quantities in the earth's crust. There happens to be an abundance around the world. Rather, the elements are both economically and environmentally costly to mine. The refining process is expensive, laborious, toxic, difficult and dangerous. China is willing to do it; the US is not. That is the main reason why 85% of global production takes place in China, despite having only 37% of global reserves. The refining process has migrated to territories like China that have lax labor and environmental regulations. In fact, there is only one active US mine that extracts rare earth materials, located in San Bernardino County, California. The ore is not processed in the US. It exports the raw material to China for refining. As part of the trade war, those shipments are now subject to Chinese imposed tariffs, putting further pressure on the ability of the US to access finished rare earth products. The US imports 80% of the rare earth metals it needs from China, according to the US Geological Survey. The total economic value of these imports was just $160mm in 2018. Access to rare earth metals is vital for many US manufactured products, but the cost of the inputs is insignificant. The economic cost of an attempt by China to restrict supply would likely come in the form of production delays, not in the form of higher prices or inflation. The US must have seen this coming. After all, China has restricted rare earth supply before to try to settle disputes. China blocked exports to Japan in 2010 in response to an ongoing maritime dispute. Supply was ultimately restored after a successful case was brought to the WTO. The US began addressing its vulnerability long before its trade war with China got nasty. The President signed an executive order in December 2017 designed to break the countrys dependence on foreign minerals. Also, a bill with bipartisan support was presented last month by three US Senators with a goal to re-establish a domestic supply chain by allowing the development of technologies to extract rare earth elements from coal and coal byproducts. China may try to mask its aggression to the US by labeling rare earth supply as strategic to its own domestic supply chain. Chinas technological goals outlined in its China 2025 plan will ultimately require a growing supply of rare earth elements. To support its 2025 objectives, China may restrict exports of rare earth metals to all countries -- not just the US -- as a matter of domestic security. This strategy would also limit the ability of other countries to turn around and resell rare earth stocks to the US. The downside to China of restricting global supply is that it would help build the case that it is an unfair trading partner. If China does move forward with any form of supply restriction, the result would be disruptive, but not debilitating. There is already broad-based support for the Presidents trade stance with China, and further explicit tactics by China to expose US vulnerabilities will likely be met by additional moves by US authorities to reduce long-term dependency on China. Yes, it would take time to ramp up processing facilities and advance new technologies, but it is a matter of will, not a question of capability. A showdown over rare earths is not a game changer. And a threat is not the same as an action. It does highlight, however, that the two sides are moving further apart in finding an end to their trade war. Banning Huawei from US technologies and China holding the US hostage over rare earth metals only adds to the issues that need to be negotiated. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/garthfriesen/2019/05/23/who-will-win-in-the-china-us-showdown-over-rare-earth-metals/ |
Does Trump Have an Off-Ramp on Iran? | The Trump Administrations pronouncements on Iran have gyrated at a vertiginous pace in recent days. On Sunday, after a golf game at his club outside Washington, D.C., the President returned to the White House and unleashed his fury on Twitter. If Iran wants to fight, that will be the official end of Iran, he vowed. Never threaten the United States again! On Monday, a calmer Trump told reporters that Washington had no indication that anythings happened or will happen. Any provocation would be met with great force, he added, yet he would also certainly negotiate if Iran called. Then, on Tuesday, the acting Defense Secretary, Pat Shanahan, declared that the (still unspecified) threat from Tehran had been contained. Weve put on hold the potential for attacks on Americans, Shanahan told reporters. Our posture is for deterrence. I just hope Iran is listening. Were in the region to address many things, but it is not to go to war. A showdown may seem less imminent, but the dangers still lurk. Americans are nervous. The majority now believes that the two nations will go to war within the next few years, a new poll by Reuters/Ipsos reported this week. Its up eight per cent from a similar poll a year ago. The numbers may reflect the rhetorical drumbeats of war more than a real understanding of the threat on the ground, since the Administration has refused to explain it. Fears may well rise further. On Thursday, the Pentagon reportedly proposed to deploy a military surge of five thousand to ten thousand U.S. troops to the Middle East, as well as more warships and Patriot missiles, to deter Iran. They would join a growing array of American military mighta battleship-carrier strike group led by the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln, a bomber task force including B-52s, and marines who specialize in expeditionary warfarenow being deployed off the Iranian coast. Its no longer a slow creep. President Trump will insure that we have all the resources necessary to respond in the event that the Islamic Republic of Iran should decide to attack Americans or American interests or some of our great soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, who are serving in that region, or the diplomats serving in Iraq or elsewhere, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Fox & Friends, on Thursday. The exact force posture, the President is looking at every day. The President, Pompeo said, is determined to change the course of that regime. Iran has countered with its own provocative rhetoric. On Monday, the Iranian foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, responded to Trump on Twitter. @realdonaldTrump hopes to achieve what Alexander, Genghis & other aggressors failed to do. Iranians have stood tall for millennia while aggressors all gone, he wrote. #EconomicTerrorism & genocidal taunts wont end Iran. #NeverThreatenAnIranian. Try respectit works! On Tuesday, President Hassan Rouhani distanced Iran from engagement. Todays situation is not suitable for talks. Our choice is resistance only, he said. And, on Wednesday, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei vowed that Irans youth will witness the demise of the enemies of humanity, meaning the degenerate American civilization, and the demise of Israel. He also publicly criticized his own President and foreign ministera rarity in Tehranabout how they handled the 2015 nuclear deal, produced after two years of tortuous talks with the worlds six major powers. Iran seems as divided as Washington at a critical time. Meanwhile, Tehran still has its own array of troops and proxy militias across the Middle East; many are positioned in the same arenas as U.S. troops. The question amid the buildup and rhetorical flames is how to prevent a showdown either soon or a few years down the road, and how to eventually de-escalate. As tensions flared between the two nations, I called on John Limbert, one of the fifty-two diplomats taken hostage at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran after the 1979 revolution. Weve had a running conversation about the Islamic Republic since I covered his four hundred and forty-four days in captivity. Limbert is a scholar of Iranian politics, history, and culture; he often invokes lines from the great Persian poetsHafez, Rumi, and Saadiin his elegant Farsi. I asked him how we ended up in yet another Iran crisisand why Washington and Tehran have still not figured out a way to deal with each other. Part of it is that we havent engaged much for forty years, he told me. We assume the worst about the other, and our assumptions become self-fulfilling prophecies. One of the core unanswered questions in Washington, he noted, is whether Irans bad behavior is any different or worse than its targeting of U.S. facilities, personnel, interests, or allies over the past four decades. Before Trump, six U.S. Presidents struggled to read Iran, Limbert noted. Estrangement produced misreading, mixed signals, missed opportunities, and outright blunders. Without formal contact, the state of play often swung between hostile actions and diplomatic overtures. The two governments were perpetually out of synch. The pattern, the former hostage said, reminded him of a line from the twentieth-century Iranian poet Shahriyar: You came to me at last, O love of my life. But why now? The Reagan Administration engaged in a secret arms-for-hostages swaptrading weapons that Iran needed to fight Iraq in their eight-year war, in exchange for Irans help freeing Americans seized by Hezbollah, an Iranian proxy in Lebanon. Top U.S. and Iranian officials travelled to each others capitals to negotiate. But tensions flared, too. Irans allies bombed two U.S. embassies and marine peacekeepers in Beirut, killing hundreds, and Irans navy dropped mines in the Persian Gulf. The U.S. Navy shot up Iranian naval vessels and downed a passenger plane, killing hundreds. In his Inaugural Address, President George H. W. Bush made an offer to Iran. There are today Americans who are held against their will in foreign lands. . . . Assistance can be shown here and will be long remembered. Good will begets good will. Good faith can be a spiral that endlessly moves on, he said. President Hashemi Rafsanjani orchestrated the release of the remaining U.S. hostages in Lebanon. Iran later complained that the good will was never reciprocated. During the Clinton Administration, Iran offered Conoco, an American company, the largest oil contract ever tendered, a move to open a commercial channel with a country still publicly dubbed the Great Satan. President Bill Clinton, under congressional pressure, responded by imposing an embargo on all oil imports, trade, and investment. In 1998, President Mohammad Khatami called for a dialogue among civilizations to bring down the wall of mistrust. Two years later, Clinton lifted sanctions on Iranian carpets, pistachios, and caviar. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright expressed regret for the C.I.A.s role in the 1953 coup in Iran that had ousted a democratically elected Prime Minister and allowed the Shah to return to the Peacock Throne from temporary exile. Politically, the timing was off on both countries overtures. After the 9/11 attacks, in 2001, the George W. Bush Administration worked closely with Iran on Afghanistan. They even shared intelligence. Tehran was pivotal in convincing its local ally, which had led the fight against the Taliban, to accept the U.S. candidate in a new government. Months later, in his State of the Union address, in 2002, the President labelled Iran as one of three nations in an axis of evil. In 2003, after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Iran offered a grand bargain to resolve all differences. The White House did not respond. In 2004, the American and Iranian ambassadors in Baghdad were authorized to meet, but nothing came of it. Iran provided war matriel to proxy militias in Iraq that were linked to the deaths of more than six hundred U.S. troops between 2003 and 2011. In an address during the Persian holiday of Nowruz, in 2009, President Barack Obama said that his Administration is now committed to diplomacy that addresses the full range of issues before us and to pursuing constructive ties among the United States, Iran, and the international community. He achieved the biggest breakthrough of any President, during two years of direct talks that produced the Iran nuclear deal, in 2015. The deal limits various parts of Irans controversial program for between ten and twenty-five years. Its still in effect, despite Trumps withdrawal, a year ago. The other five major powersBritain, China, France, Germany, and Russiastill support it, and Iran has complied, according to more than a dozen reports from the International Atomic Energy Agency. Obamas calculation was that removing the most dangerous flash point and establishing a diplomatic channel would open the way for talks on other issues: Irans missiles, support for extremist movements, human-rights violations, and meddling in the Middle East. Yet he didnt make further inroads in his last few months in office. At the U.N. last fall, both Trump and Rouhani signalled, albeit from different positions, that the diplomatic door was still ajar. Rouhani offered talks based on the original nuclear deal; Trump offered talks based on a new and different pact to include all issues between the two nations. Nothing happened. The President has since accelerated his maximum pressure campaign. The irony in Trumps recent Twitter tantrums is that, years ago, he predicted that Obama would be the one to attack Iran. In 2011, he tweeted, In order to get elected, @BarackObama will start a war with Iran. In 2012, he wrote, Now that Obamas poll numbers are in tailspinwatch for him to launch a strike in Libya or Iran. He is desperate. On September 16, 2013, he tweeted, I predict that President Obama will at some point attack Iran in order to save face! On September 25, 2013, he rubbed it in. Remember what I previously saidObama will someday attack Iran in order to show how tough he is. Instead, two days later, Obama telephoned Rouhani while he was attending the opening of the U.N. General Assembly, in New York. It was the first direct contact between Presidents of their respective countries since the Revolution. One of the many tragedies in the tortured situation today, Limbert noted, is the two countries common history. For all their differences, the United States and the Islamic Republic are both the products of revolutions steeped in religious values that ousted long-standing monarchies. In 1946, President Harry Truman issued an ultimatum to Joseph Stalin that forced the Soviet Union to end its occupation of Iran after the Second World War. It was the first crisis of the then new United Nations. It helped Tehran reassert its sovereignty. For decades afterward, Tehran and Washington remained pillars of each others foreign policies. After the Islamic Revolution, in 1979, relations started off well, too. The countrys first leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, wrote to President Jimmy Carter five days before returning to Tehran from fourteen years in exile, You will see we are not in any particular animosity with the Americans. The U.S. continued selling arms to Iran until the takeover of the American Embassy, ten months later, after Washington agreed to take in the ailing former Shah. The revolutionaries feared that the United States intended to restore the monarchy a second time. Forty years later, relations are still haunted by those ghosts, Limbert told me. Theres an obliviousness to each others historyand to what the other may think, he said. The current suspicion, distance, and disdain make the prospect of finding an off-ramp in the current crisis seem more remote than ever. | https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/does-trump-have-an-off-ramp-on-iran |
What Happens Now to the Child Soldiers of ISIS? | The Yezidi boy known as S. was abducted by ISIS at the age of 9 and returned to his family at 12, a different person. This story was produced in partnership with the Pulitzer Center. Raised in northern Iraqs small Yezidi religious minority, S. was 9 years old when the so-called Islamic State killed his father and brother, kidnapped him and turned him into a child soldier. He witnessed unspeakable violence, saw friends tortured and was beaten by the teachers who indoctrinated him into the groups severe version of Islam. Three years later, when his mother ransomed him back from ISIS for $10,000, he was returned against his will to a family he barely remembered. He tried repeatedly to run back to his former captors. He threatened his sisters with a knife, calling them infidels; hit his mother, saying he wasnt really hers; and more than once tried to set fire to his uncles house. Brainwashed by ISIS with a combination of savage cruelty and lionizing praise, S. was wracked by interior conflict, a lonely pariah in a family alien to him, lashing out violently at the slightest provocation. President Donald Trumps declaration of victory appears premature, given how much of the conflict exists not on battlefields but in the minds and souls of individuals. Thikran Kamiran, now 19, was deemed too young to be executed with the men of his village. Newsha TavakolianMagnum Photos for TIME In wars between countries, the losing side retreats to its borders. But since the late 1990s, the U.S. has been locked in wars against terrorist groups with no fixed address. The territory ISIS briefly did claim as a state served to enhance its attraction as something more difficult to confront: a global movement. The terrorists separated Yezidi children from their families, sometimes killing their parents in front of them. In the soil of that trauma, they planted the idea that the boys were the future army of ISIS, indoctrinating them with the arrogance of conquerors. They laced the boys food with Captagon, an amphetamine, to dull their fear and trained some as suicide attackers. Many more were sent to the front lines where fighting was bloodiest, forced to wear suicide belts at all times, with instructions to blow themselves up if the enemy got too close. A photograph of Kamiran, as an ISIS fighter, among family pictures at his home. Newsha TavakolianMagnum Photos for TIME Each of these boys could grow up to become a threat to thousands, and each must be healed. In Iraq, some 1,500 Sunni Muslim children ages 13 to 17 are being held, charged with being members of ISIS, according to Human Rights Watch. Hundreds of others have returned to live with relatives, bearing the scars of battle, inside and out. The Yezidi boys like S. now occupy the gray zone between guilty and forgotten. No one experienced the violence of ISIS as they did. It came from every side. Kamiran in Duhok in February. Newsha TavakolianMagnum Photos for TIME The Nineveh Plain, which extends north and east of the city of Mosul, has for centuries been a kind of showcase for ancient faiths: Assyrian, Chaldean, Syriac. Yet there the perhaps half-million Yezidi believers were such frequent targets of persecution that the groups elders speak of 72 genocides even before ISIS swept over the entire region in 2014. The extremists displaced around half the Yezidis, killing, capturing and enslaving more than 6,000, according to Hussein al-Qaidi, director of the Kurdish governments kidnapped affairs department. As ISIS retreated from its last redoubt, around 3,000 were still missing. Some survivors tell how their Arab neighbors joined ISIS to seize their lands, kill their loved ones and drive them out. Hundreds of thousands now live in refugee camps, in the homes of relatives or in drafty, half-constructed buildings at the edges of Kurdish towns and villages. They say they dont trust the Iraqi government to protect them from the next attempt at genocide, and many are seeking sanctuary in Canada, Germany, Australia or anywhere else that will have them. The scattering will make it harder for their tribe to survive. The ancient Yezidi religion is inherited through birth, based on bloodlines via the father, and the tribe is divided into three castes that cannot intermarry. Shrinking the available pool makes the survival of the faith even harder one more reason the boys who were taken, then brought back, need to be healed and woven back into the fabric of their community. Boys and young men have little to do and lots of time to think at the camps around Duhok, where some of the roughly 250,000 Yezidis have been displaced from their homes, afraid to go back. Newsha TavakolianMagnum Photos for TIME TIME met a number of survivors, interviewing several older boys extensively about their time with ISIS. Those under 18 were asked limited questions, with guardians or caregivers present. Every boys story starts the same way. They tell you the moment ISIS attacked and their fathers, brothers or uncles were taken away. Sometimes they were permitted to stay with their mother and sisters for a while, but somewhere along their journey, moved like cattle from schoolrooms or wedding halls, they were singled out and taken away with other boys for religious indoctrination and military training. Around the age of 13, the unlucky ones were sent to fight. Thikran Kamiran, 19, described the moment ISIS arrived in his large northern village and tricked his grandfather, the village leader, into gathering everyone together in the school courtyard, allegedly for safe passage out if they chose not to convert to Islam. ISIS fighters led the Yezidi men and older boys away in three truckloads, supposedly carrying them to safety at nearby Sinjar mountain. Thikran, then 15, was with his mother and sister, cowering in the school courtyard, when they heard thundering volleys of gunfire in the distance. The ISIS fighters told the panicked women and children that it was just animals, but everyone knew their husbands, brothers and sons had just been killed. The ISIS fighters saved Thikrans grandfather for last, letting him listen in horror to that gunfire and realize hed led his people into a trap, before taking him outside and shooting him too. Khayri Abdullah Massi ransomed family members, but his wife went back to raise the child she had by her "ISIS husband." Newsha TavakolianMagnum Photos for TIME Thats the day Thikran learned to hide his anger and fear. He was taken with his mother and sister to the ISIS stronghold of Tal Afar, and sent to an Islamist school to study the Quran from sunrise to sometimes well after sunset. He said he learned to recite the Quran and ISIS ideology better than his peers so well that his ISIS overseer offered to make him an instructor, though he turned that promotion down. He said his scholarship is why he never had to fight. We converted to Islam and told them We will obey you, he said. I made that sacrifice to protect myself and my family. He doesnt feel guilty for playing along, he says; he feels nothing, a frequent answer from many of the boys. Burying anger, pain and fear was a survival skill. Reactivating emotion means facing grief over loved ones killed, guilt over anyone they may have killed or whatever else they did to remain alive. So they stay numb. The Yezidi child soldiers were often grouped together with others of their tribe, yet ISIS trainers also worked to break down any connection among them, by putting one of them in charge of their unit and making him responsible for meting out vicious beatings for infractions like failing to reassemble a weapon fast enough. Shalal, 15, and his sister Rawa, 12. "ISIS told us about heaven, told us we were on a good path," he said. Shalal was 11 when he was taken and indoctrinated in a military training camp. He added, "it affected our minds." Newsha TavakolianMagnum Photos for TIME Two cousins, both 16, explained how they were trained in an all-Yezidi unit, then deployed to the Line of Paradise ISISs name for the Syrian front lines where many Yezidi boys were sent as cannon fodder, surrounded by enemy troops and hammered from above by airstrikes. The cousins say they had to wear suicide belts much of the time, packed with metal intended to kill attacking troops if they overwhelmed the Yezidi front line. Many Yezidi boys got detailed lessons on how to kill. In some camps, the student soldiers were forced to watch instruction videos on beheading, from how to lift the prisoners head by his scalp to where to cut the throat. Yezidi boy returnees described learning how to remove hands, arms or legs as punishment for crimes like theft. One described an operating-theater-like room where they watched a limb removed from an anesthetized patient. Some boys were also taught how to crucify those found guilty of disobeying ISISs dictates, a punishment several boys say happened almost weekly. The dead were left rotting for days in public squares or busy intersections, wearing a sign describing their crime usually refusal to convert. Subha, 35, and the hands of her children: Fahad, 15; Fahdi, 13; Linda, 10; Liza, 7; and Salam, 5. Photographed in February, they were captured by ISIS in 2014 and held as slaves until recently escaping the battle in Baghouz. Fahad, who had been trained as a fighter, led the way to safety. Newsha TavakolianMagnum Photos for TIME Amid these horrors, the boys were offered grandiose metaphysical escape. Their captors told them that their Yezidi families were destined for hell, but that they were the righteous ones who would inherit the caliphate. ISIS told us about heaven, told us we were on a good path, said ISIS escapee Shalal, now 15, his voice still high and childlike. He was 11 when he was taken, along with his mother, younger sister and brother, and indoctrinated in a military training camp. It affected our minds, he recalls. Whenever we talked to our families, we would tell them what ISIS told us, that they needed to become Muslims too. As coalition bombing intensified against ISIS, Shalal decided it was time for his mother, sister and brother to escape the groups self-declared capital, Raqqa. He reached his father by telephone back in Iraq, who arranged for a smuggler to meet the boy and his brother Hachim, now 7, at the front lines. It was very scary, Shalal recalls, describing how he guided his brother through bushes in the dark. Shalals mother and sister were smuggled out later for roughly $10,000 each. The familys escape was in part the result of the bizarre economy of ISISs wartime loss of territory. In its waning days as leaders of a would-be state, ISIS had a sort of Craigslist of captives it was offering for sale cashing in on the victims it had seized during its march across Syria and Iraq. The government of Kurdistan, in northern Iraq, set up a $10 million fund to help pay for the return of kidnapped children. Many, including Shalals father who ransomed them and now cares for them all, are still waiting to be reimbursed. Clothes dry on a fence at a camp for displaced Yezidis near Duhok. Newsha TavakolianMagnum Photos for TIME Physical deliverance for the Yezidi boys was just the beginning of the journey back. Shalal was aggressive and angry when he first returned, said his father, who had narrowly escaped capture himself while traveling for business. Now he seems quiet and subdued, sitting next to his father as he describes his time with ISIS, looking down at the floor of their unfinished house and playing with his smartphone. He wont give many details about what else he saw or did as a fighter for the group. His father, a teacher who studied psychology, insists his son is fine and doesnt need counseling. But as the boy listens to his older cousin Ashrawe describe fighting for ISIS, his far-off gaze suggests otherwise. Ashrawe manned checkpoints in the middle of some of the fiercest fighting in Syria, and he was badly wounded in a mortar strike that killed two other boys in his unit. His leg still hurts from embedded shrapnel. He also came back with a young Yezidi wife given to him by ISIS. But at 18, with no job, he struggles to take care of her, so he too relies on his uncle the psychologist, for food and the shelter of the incomplete concrete apartment block they live in, its windows just blank holes open to the chilling February wind. The family is also dealing with another tragedy of the war. Shalals mother had a child by an ISIS fighter while in captivity. Shalals father had refused to take the child in, so she left the infant at an orphanage in Mosul where other former ISIS children were being sent, when she was rescued from ISIS along with her daughter and sons. Torn by the memory of the abandoned child, her husband said, she chose late last year to leave her family and go back to find her baby. Father Patrick Desbois is on a mission to heal the boys, and to keep them from hurting anyone else. The Catholic priest has recorded interviews with more than 100 Yezidi survivors, focusing primarily on the children. Newsha TavakolianMagnum Photos for TIME The familial trauma has been made worse by a quirk of the Iraqi constitution. Under that document, children born of ISIS fathers, or an unknown father, are automatically registered as Muslim. That registration in turn automatically switches the mothers religion to Islam as well. Yezidi elders call this genocide by constitution and have appealed to Iraqi officials in Baghdad to change it. Yezidi elder Hadi Babashekhi, son of the Yezidi religious leader Baba Shekh, claims that his community is finding a place for children like Shalals halfsibling. But other Yezidi community leaders, and former Yezidi slaves, say the community rejects such children, so an unknown number of former ISIS slaves like Shalals mother are forced to choose between their faith and family, or exile with their child born in captivity. Shalals father is angry and resentful, frequently bringing up what he says is his wifes betrayal, when asked about his son, one more emotional weight for Shalal to bear. Handprints of worshippers who came to pray at the Yezidi holy site of Lalish, tucked within a valley north of Duhok, in February. Newsha TavakolianMagnum Photos for TIME When the fight against ISIS was on the battlefield, there was no shortage of resources: through fiscal year 2019, the U.S. military has committed $54 billion to the war effort, according to a Brown University estimate. But its a different story now that the contest has moved into the personal space, where funding for social services and counseling is hard to come by. The Yezidi boys have a certain amount of help from their faith. The religions leadership passed a decree in 2014 that forgave their people for the sin of being forced to convert, or for being raped, or for being forced to kill and maim for ISIS. With that came the offer of a ritual of return that includes a rebaptism ceremony for men, women and children to cleanse them of the sin of whatever they were forced to do. We will slowly, step by step, convince those children to put the Yezidi communitys humanity back into their heart, because there is no more peaceful religion than Yezidi, says Babashekhi. The rebaptism takes place at the Yezidi holy site of Lalish, tucked within a valley north of Duhok, a scenic city encircled by mountains in Iraqi Kurdistan. All members must visit at least once in their lifetime to submerge themselves in the 4-to-5-ft. deep well inside a small, worn stone shrine, sacred to Yezidis. Judge Ayman Mostafa is trying to build a case against ISIS for war crimes to the Kurdish High Commission on Recognition of Genocide. He has no power to indict or prosecute its fighters. A genocide charge can be brought only by a U.N. body. Newsha TavakolianMagnum Photos for TIME Adult survivors say the ceremony helps, but others say it is not enough to stop the nightmares or flashbacks or to purge the guilt a child feels, which can be channeled inward into depression and outward to rage. Duhok also happens to be the home of one of Iraqs only child and adolescent mental-health centers. But counselors there explained they dont have the funding or the staff to seek out the children and treat them on a regular basis the kind of treatment thats needed to undo how these children were conditioned to kill. Calling it brainwashing is to underestimate what has happened to the kids, said one of the only other child psychologists there, Galavej Jafaar. Another psychologist, Araz Adil with the Kurdish nonprofit SEED, said, When they arrive, everyone gives them so much attention. After a while when they stop getting that attention, their symptoms start to appear, and you see PTSD, depression and anxiety, and thats when they have a longing to go back. The boys recovery from trauma has immense implications not only for the individuals but also for international security. Yet the matter is muddled by conflicting agendas. Yezidi elders downplay the risk, while Baghdad, though obligated by international convention to rehabilitate child soldiers, ignores Yezidi boys and jails Sunnis as young as 13. Theres also uncertainty about the numbers involved. Out of the roughly 6,400 Yezidis taken by ISIS, 1,855 children had returned as of mid-February. Of the boys, around 300 ticked the box on the form admitting that they had fought for ISIS. But al-Qaidi of the Kurdish governments kidnapped affairs department thinks the number is much higher. Some 1,200 kids between the ages of 13 and 17 were taken to the military bases to be trained to be fighters, he said, citing interviews with hundreds of returnees. Those kids who are still in captivity and being trained are a threat to the whole world These kids, ideologically and practically, have been prepared to attack, al-Qaidi said. They are made into a bomb, ready to be triggered by ISIS. A man mourns at a Yezidi cemetery in Duhok, where many Yezidis killed by ISIS are buried, in February. Newsha TavakolianMagnum Photos for TIME Father Patrick Desbois, a Catholic priest who runs a nonprofit called Yahad-in Unum, has recorded interviews with more than 100 Yezidi survivors, focusing primarily on the children and how they were trained to believe they would carry on after the ISIS territorial caliphate is gone. The French clerics Yezidi team keeps track of new arrivals. For interviews, a cameraman, photographer, translator, Desbois and a former Belgian police investigator all pack into a tent or drafty sitting room and start the questions. Was the suicide belt you had to wear heavy? Desbois will ask. Desbois says he uses some of the accounts to explain to officials from other Western countries that the children they are welcoming could be dangerous if not carefully deprogrammed and healed. He tells the story of one boy now resettled in the West whose socialmedia posts swing from anger that ISIS killed his mom to slogans that ISIS will rise again. As evidence that his program can rehabilitate the lost boys of ISIS, the priest offers the story of another returnee. At a camp near Duhok, the boy rounded up former child soldiers and started a gang that built several improvised explosive devices. The bombs were spotted and the plot foiled, and the Yezidi community and Desbois nonprofit intervened to keep the child from going to jail. After counseling and sport and art therapy, Desbois says, the child has returned to his community. The best deradicalization program is a successful integration program, says David Manicom, Assistant Deputy Minister at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship in Canada. He declined to say whether the 1,400 mostly Yezidi survivors of ISIS the country has taken in included child soldiers, but noted that trauma is so common that therapists have learned not to leave a child alone with an adult for any length of time, because of how violently it upsets the child living with memories of abuse. Questions of justice, meanwhile, remain unresolved. In northern Iraq, Judge Ayman Mostafa is trying to build a case against ISIS for war crimes to the Kurdish High Commission on Recognition of Genocide. But he has no power to indict or prosecute its fighters, and a genocide charge can be brought only by a U.N. body, which Iraq regards coolly because it will not consider capital punishment. All the while, thousands of ISIS fighters have simply returned to the fabric of their old lives, living openly in Mosul and Tel Afar. Thats one of the main reasons that hundreds of thousands of Yezidis wont go home they know who awaits them there. The Yezidi boys know it too. Sairan Khalaf speaks Kurdish; her daughter, 11, knows only Arabic after three years of captivity. Newsha TavakolianMagnum Photos for TIME For his part, S. no longer tries to run away from home. Months of slow, careful attention from a team of therapists working with him and his mom have brought him a long way. The first time I met him, he ran away, said Adil, the psychologist from the Kurdish nonprofit SEED. The second time, he was beating up his mother violently. Adil worked to teach S. about where his own emotions were coming from how a surge of adrenaline fuels a faster-beating heart, stoking emotion and driving his anger higher. The idea was to return to S. the control of his body and mind that ISIS had taken from him. At the same time, his mother was taught not to respond to her sons violence with more of the same. Most tribal families in Iraq hit their children to discipline them, Adil explained. Both the mother and the child learned how to express their emotions without physically hurting each other. Now her almost teenage son still gets angry but doesnt hit her, the mother said. She compliments him on keeping his control. He in turn compliments her for the verbal praise. The work is not done. S. still holds some of the values ISIS taught him, telling his therapist, Men and boys we are one lot. Women and girls are worthless. But a year after his return from ISIS, he helps around the house and tells his mother that hes glad he came back, because hes the only man the family has left. Contact us at [email protected]. | http://time.com/longform/isis-child-soldiers-yezidi/ |
Who wants to be Britain's next prime minister? | LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Friday she would quit, triggering a contest next month that will bring a new leader to power who is likely to push for a cleaner break with the European Union. Below are Conservatives who have either said they plan to put themselves forward or are widely expected to run for the leadership: Planning to run: BORIS JOHNSON, 54 The face of the official campaign to leave the European Union, Johnson resigned as foreign minister in July in protest at Mays handling of the exit negotiations. Johnson set out his pitch to the membership in a speech at the partys annual conference in October - some members queued for hours to get a seat. He called on the party to return to its traditional values of low tax and strong policing. Last week the BBC reported he had told The British Insurance Brokers Association: Of course Im going to go for it. On Brexit, Johnson used a newspaper column in April to argue for a standstill arrangement a managed no deal that would give us time to negotiate an FTA (Free Trade Arrangement) and to solve the issues raised in Northern Ireland. He is the bookmakers favorite to succeed May. ESTHER MCVEY, 51 The pro-Brexit former television presenter, who resigned as work and pensions minister in November in protest at Mays exit deal with the EU, has said she plans to run. McVey told Talkradio: I have always said quite clearly that if I got enough support from my colleagues, yes I would (run). Now people have come forward and I have got that support, so I will be going forward. RORY STEWART, 46 A former diplomat who once walked 6,000 miles across Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Nepal, Stewart was promoted to International Development Secretary this month. Educated at the exclusive Eton College, Stewart was first elected to parliament in 2010 and backed remaining in the EU in the 2016 referendum. He opposes a no deal exit and has been a vocal advocate of Mays deal with Brussels. I do want to bring this country together ... I accept Brexit, I am a Brexiteer, but I want to reach out to Remain voters as well, he told the BBC. Expected to run: MICHAEL GOVE, 51 Gove, one of the highest-profile Brexit campaigners during the 2016 referendum, has had to rebuild his cabinet career after falling early to May in the contest to replace David Cameron, who resigned the day after losing the referendum. Seen as one of the most effective members of cabinet in bringing forward new policies, the high-energy environment minister has become a surprise ally to May and has backed her Brexit strategy. Gove teamed up with Johnson during the 2016 Brexit campaign only to pull his support for Johnsons subsequent leadership bid at the last moment and run himself. He has not yet said whether he plans to run. JEREMY HUNT, 52 Hunt replaced Johnson as foreign minister in July and has urged the Conservative membership to set aside their differences over Brexit and unite against a common foe - the EU. Hunt voted to remain in the EU in the referendum. He served six years as Britains health minister, a role that has made him unpopular with many voters who work in or rely on the state-run, financially stretched National Health Service. Asked at a lunch with journalists in parliament if he planned to run for leader, he said: Wait and see. On Brexit, he said: I would always prefer to leave with a deal because I think there will be disruption without a deal ... it would potentially be very significant and that is something I think anyone sensible would wish to avoid. But added: If there was a binary choice between no deal or no Brexit, I would choose no deal because I think the democratic risk of no Brexit ultimately is higher than the economic risk of no deal. ANDREA LEADSOM, 56 A pro-Brexit campaigner, Leadsom made it to the last two in the 2016 contest to replace Cameron. She withdrew after a backlash to an interview in which she said being a mother gave her more of a stake in the future of the country than her rival Theresa May. Former British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson speaks in Parliament in London, Britain, March 12, 2019, in this screen grab taken from video. Reuters TV via REUTERS Leadsom quit as Leader of the House of Commons on Wednesday, saying she did not believe the governments approach would deliver on the Brexit referendum result. She has previously told broadcaster ITV she was seriously considering standing to replace May. On Brexit, she said the deal May had negotiated did not deliver a truly sovereign United Kingdom, and that she opposed a second Brexit vote. DOMINIC RAAB, 45 Raab quit as Mays Brexit minister last year in protest at her draft exit agreement saying it did not match the promises the Conservative Party made in the 2017 election. Raab served only five months as head of the Brexit department. He had held junior ministerial roles since being elected in 2010. Raab, a black belt in karate, campaigned for Brexit. Asked if he would like to be prime minister, he said: Never say never. On Brexit, he has advocated another attempt to renegotiate the customs and border plans relating to Northern Ireland, but has also said that he would be prepared to countenance leaving the bloc without a deal. SAJID JAVID, 49 Javid, a former banker and a champion of free markets, has served a number of cabinet roles and scores consistently well in polls of party members. A second-generation immigrant of Pakistani heritage, he has a portrait of late Conservative prime minister Margaret Thatcher on his office wall. Javid voted Remain in the 2016 referendum but was previously considered to be eurosceptic. He has not said whether he plans to run but is considered to have been setting out his stall in speeches and media interviews. DAVID DAVIS, 70 Davis, a leading eurosceptic, was appointed Brexit minister to lead negotiations with the EU in July 2016 but resigned two years later in protest at Mays plans for a long-term relationship with the bloc. He ran for the partys leadership in 2005 but lost to Cameron. PENNY MORDAUNT, 46 Mordaunt is one of the last remaining pro-Brexit members of Mays cabinet. She became Britains first female defense secretary this month. A Royal Navy reservist, Mordaunt was previously international development minister. Many had expected her to join the wave of resignations that followed the publication of Mays draft withdrawal deal. AMBER RUDD, 55 Rudd resigned as interior minister last year after facing outrage over her departments treatment of some long-term Caribbean residents wrongly labeled illegal immigrants. She backed Remain in 2016 and has opposed a no deal exit, meaning she could win support from pro-EU Conservative lawmakers. But she struggled to retain her seat at the 2017 election and has one of the smallest majorities in parliament. MATT HANCOCK, 40 Health minister Hancock, a former economist at the Bank of England, supported Remain in 2016. First elected to parliament in 2010, he has held several ministerial roles. JUSTINE GREENING, 50 The former education minister told ITV she would consider running. Greening supports a second Brexit referendum. Many thought she might join several of her colleagues in quitting the party to form a pro-EU group in parliament earlier this year. LIZ TRUSS, 43 Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Truss has held several roles in government including environment minister and justice minister. She backed Remain in 2016 but has said she has since changed her mind on Brexit. GRAHAM BRADY, 51 Brady is chair of the 1922 Committee of Conservative lawmakers. It would take an awful lot of people to persuade me. Im not sure many people are straining at the leash to take on what is an extraordinarily difficult situation, he told BBC Radio. KIT MALTHOUSE, 52 A former deputy mayor of London, Malthouse became a Member of Parliament in 2015. He is a junior housing minister and helped author the so-called Malthouse Compromise plan to replace the unpopular Irish backstop in Britains EU exit deal with alternative arrangements to avoid a hard border. The Sun newspaper reported he was setting up a campaign team. Slideshow (2 Images) JAMES CLEVERLY, 49 Cleverly was appointed a junior Brexit minister last month, having previously been deputy chair of the Conservative Party. He had a career in publishing before being elected to parliament in 2015. The Sun reported he was planning to run for leader. | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-eu-leadership-factbox/who-wants-to-be-britains-next-prime-minister-idUSKCN1SS26V?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Reuters%2FworldNews+%28Reuters+World+News%29 |
Where are the 2015 and 2016 Golden State Warriors now? | Click through the slideshow to see where members of the 2015 and 2016 Warriors are now. Click through the slideshow to see where members of the 2015 and 2016 Warriors are now. 1 / 12 Back to Gallery The Golden State Warriors' dynasty of the late 2010s can be definitively broken into two periods: "Before Kevin Durant" and "After Kevin Durant." When Durant joined the Warriors in the summer of 2016, it sent shockwaves through the rest of the roster that forced a number of fan favorites and key contributors from the 2015 and 2016 NBA Finals teams to look for opportunities elsewhere. ALSO: These old Warriors takes look hilariously terrible in 2019 As of now, just six members of the original group that went to the NBA Finals in 2015 remain on the Warriors' roster: Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, Andre Iguodala, Shaun Livingston and Andrew Bogut. Bogut is somewhat of an exception since he left the team in 2016 and didn't return until earlier this year. Many players from the first two Warriors teams that went to the Finals this decade are now playing overseas, while a handful others have some interesting retirement stories. Click through the slideshow above to see where the 2015 and 2016 Warriors are now. Eric Ting is an SFGATE staff writer. Email: [email protected] | Twitter:@_ericting Start receiving breaking news emails on floods, wildfires, civil emergencies, riots, national breaking news, Amber Alerts, weather emergencies, and other critical events with the SFGATE breaking news email. Click here to make sure you get the news. | https://www.sfgate.com/warriors/article/Where-are-2015-2016-Warriors-now-Barnes-Barbosa-13877768.php |
Was Flint special prosecutor Todd Flood fired, or did he quit? | CLOSE Flint Special Prosecutor Todd Flood discusses the significance of a plea deal reached Tuesday with Daugherty Johnson, the city's former utilities director, who pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor. Paul Egan/Detroit Free Press LANSING You can't fire me I quit. That appeared to be the message from Flint special prosecutor Todd Flood in an exchange of emails with a top official in the Attorney General's Office. A Free Press request under Michigans Freedom of Information Act for records related to Floods departure as the prosecutor of Flint water crisis criminal cases produced two emails: One from Michigan Solicitor General Fadwa Hammoud to Flood with the subject heading, Notice of Termination, and another from Flood to Hammoud titled, Resignation. The Hammoud email, dated April 14, states: In accordance with the expressed desire of Attorney General (Dana) Nessel to bring in house all pending criminal matters, we will be terminating the Flood Law PLLC contract effective April 16, 2019. Buy Photo Royal Oak attorney and former Flint special prosecutor Todd Flood. (Photo: Junfu Han, Detroit Free Press) The email from Flood to Hammoud was sent April 16, but references a notice that Flood said he gave Hammoud on April 12. Following up with what I sent you on Friday, due to personal (redacted), I need to resign from my position at the Attorney Generals Office, Flood wrote. The AG's Office said it redacted protected health information from the email and said it had no record of April 12 communications between Flood and Hammoud that were subject to FOIA. Flood, a Royal Oak attorney, said on his Facebook page April 17 that he'd had a stent placed in one of the two arteries on the right side of his heart two weeks earlier. "I am compelled to share my cardiac episode for the simple reason we all need to listen to our bodies," Flood said in the Facebook post. He said that in the future, "I will be working on finding the balance in life that keeps me healthy." Hammoud said in late April, responding to questions about Flood's departure, that it recently became clear that discovery was not fully and properly pursued from the onset of this investigation," and the decision to terminate Mr. Floods contract reflects our ongoing commitment to execute the highest standards in the prosecution of the Flint water crisis." More: Flint water scandal special prosecutor out after 3 years More: U-M's 'Flint' monologue play gives a voice to the pain, truths of a city betrayed But Hammoud's email to Flood, sent on a Sunday afternoon, cited no reason for terminating the contract other than Nessel's desire to handle all pending criminal matters in-house. "Thank you for all the hard work on the Flint Water Crisis investigation and prosecution," Hammoud said. "We expect that you continue to assist this office in the orderly transfer of evidence and answer any questions asked by the prosecution team. You should complete any pending assignments as soon as practical." Courtney Covington, a spokeswoman for the Attorney General's Office, said Flood was given verbal notice of his termination on Friday, April 12, and told he would receive a follow-up email over the weekend. Flood had not said anything about resigning the previous week and "Flood's contract was terminated," Covington said. Flood, in his email to Hammoud, said: "My heart remains with the people of Flint." "As you know I have killed myself throughout this case and it is insanely hard to let go," Flood said. "But I have gone through and continue to go through (redacted) that prevent me from giving my all to this case." Flood said in the email that he informed Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton, who worked closely with Flood on the Flint cases, about his pending resignation during the week of April 12. Leyton could not be reached Thursday. The Free Press requested through FOIA written evaluations of Flood's work and Nessel's office said none were performed. "However, after Solicitor General Hammoud took over these cases and began her comprehensive review, it was clear they were not handled properly by Flood," Covington said. "That ultimately led to his termination." Flood said he'd been humbled to work on behalf of the people of Flint, and "I'm not going to comment on my resignation as the special prosecutor." Flood was appointed by Nessel's Republican predecessor, Attorney General Bill Schuette, in 2016. Fifteen people have been charged in how Flints water became contaminated with lead as well as a related outbreak of Legionnaires disease in 2014-15. No one has been convicted of a felony. Seven people, including key environmental regulators, have pleaded no contest to misdemeanors, and their records will be wiped clean. Flood's firm, which included a team of lawyers and investigators, was paid $8.5 million in total, Covington said. Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @paulegan4. Read more on Michigan politics and sign up for our elections newsletter. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Read or Share this story: https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2019/05/24/flint-special-prosecutor-todd-flood/1209843001/ | https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2019/05/24/flint-special-prosecutor-todd-flood/1209843001/ |
How many ways can restaurants possibly twist a basic Caesar salad? | When I started working in restaurants 10 years ago, I began with salad. Every day, Id sift through premixed baby lettuce leaves to trace the sources of slimy rot and babysit vinaigrettes as they emulsified in blenders. Id go to bed with the stench of Caesar salad clinging to my fingertips, a fishy smell that felt futile to get rid of when I reapplied it at work. Every evening, I felt the sting of vinegar and lemon juice as it slipped into the crevices of my bleach-cracked hands. And Ive seen and made so many Caesar salads in my life, learned all of the little tweaks that chefs would throw at it to make the recipe theirs, even when most of them would shrug when I asked why it was on the menu. You gotta have a Caesar, theyd say. For customers new to the restaurant or the cuisine, a Caesar performs the relief of running into an old friend at a party where you dont know anybody. That need for familiarity means you can only stretch a Caesar so far before its main purpose becomes obscured. Nigella Lawson might have pushed it too far with her so-called Riff on a Caesar Salad, which features baked romaine wedges and eschews dressing for a squirt of lemon juice and a sunny-side up egg as the final garnish. But Ive seen other Bay Area restaurants mess around with it, too. In Mill Valley, the Mexican-inspired Playa serves a Tijuana Caesar ($13) in a built-up form encircled by shaved cucumber. Yoshis marries the cursed oriental salad with the Caesar, dressing its rendition ($11) with miso and tamari oil and garnishing with wonton chips. At Angler, chef Joshua Skenes version ($15) swaps romaine for long, yellow coraline chicory leaves visually, a cross between endive and frisee and croutons for toasted breadcrumbs nestled in their crevices. In general, restaurant cooks stretch the salad out, but not too much. At one restaurant, I would slice and bake frozen pancetta roulades to make huge porky chips to place on top of the Caesar. At another, Id toss pinches of ground and rinsed anchovy, minced preserved lemon and poached garlic into the bowl with each order. Two more sleazers, the expediter would shout, and Id respond in kind. Theres always a bit of jokiness in the kitchen around the salads: Its said that newbies to the salad station at Zuni Cafe are told, Welcome to Caesars Palace! Its comfort food, at its core. And its been a part of the American food scene for almost 100 years now. Herb Caen introduced The Chronicles readers to the magnificent Caesar salad on Aug. 27, 1946, in a column about Los Angeles: Hollywood is now dotted with some good restaurants. ... (T)here is one item featured at all of these places which you must order to show that you know your way around the silverware. As he recalled, the main ingredients in the classic Caesar were romaine, some sort of dressing in which coddled eggs figure prominently and garlic croutons. At the time, it was typical for Caesars to be made table side, with the salad chef equipped with more gadgets than Doctor Kildare might summon for an operation in the final scene. By then, the Caesar had already been well-established, with its best-known incarnation invented by restaurateur Caesar Cardini at Caesars Grill, the film industrys favorite road-trip destination, in Tijuana, around 20 years prior. In that article, Caen mentions that in some places, the salad is called the DiCicco salad, named after film producer and alleged mobster Pat DiCicco. (More vegetable trivia: He was the cousin of producer Albert R. Broccoli, whose family claims to have invented the eponymous vegetable back in Italy.) Cafe Zoetrope, director Francis Ford Coppolas Italian restaurant in San Francisco, purports to serve the same recipe as the original: The menu ties it to a San Franciscan Caesars Grill, one of the buildings original tenants, a claim repeated by Chronicle reporter Jim Walls in 1959, though I could find no evidence tying Cardini to that restaurant. (According to my Chronicle archive searches, a woman posted a classified ad in our pages stating that she lost her purse at Caesars Grill in 1911, when Cardini would have been a 15-year-old boy living in northern Italy.) Heres a further complication: In a 1984 article in The Chronicle Food section, reporter Barbara Hansen credits a woman named Beatriz Santini with inventing the prototype in Austria in 1918, six years before Cardini first served it in Tijuana. Her son emigrated to Mexico and ended up working at Cardinis restaurant, where the salad quickly jumped from staff meal to the menu. Santini had whipped up the salad to remind him of home. Even from the beginning, it was comfort food. But what I can say about Zoetropes rendition, which is priced at $12, is that its certainly straightforward, with raw chunks of romaine leaves, the typical tangy dressing rendered creamy with egg, aromatic garlic croutons and shaved Parmesan. But there are two deviations, the latter of which would have insulted Mr. Cardini: the salad is not tossed table side, and you get the option of adding anchovy fillets on top. Even Zoetrope couldnt resist switching it up a little. You can throw pepitas on it, swap kale for romaine, deconstruct it or make it flashy in some other way, but its still just a Caesar salad, a symbol of culinary conformity that appears on restaurant menus with the air of a stalker hiding outside ones window. Turn around and youll see it lurking on your neighbors table. For 100 years, garde manger chefs have gone home with the scent of lemon and anchovies wafting from their clothes and fingernails, and perhaps that will remain the case for 100 years more. Regardless of how trends have shifted, what new flavors have been introduced to the American palate from miso to preserved lemon youve gotta have a Caesar on the menu. Soleil Ho is The San Francisco Chronicles restaurant critic. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @hooleil | https://www.sfchronicle.com/restaurants/article/How-many-ways-can-restaurants-possibly-13885480.php |
Why do some people say boys shouldn't cry? | Ant Middleton, presenter of SAS: Who Dares Wins, has been criticised for encouraging his son not to cry in front of others. Ant is the Chief Instructor on the show which sees people to take on physically and mentally difficult challenges similar to activities Special Forces soldiers undertake. He stated on This Morning that his son was called a "crybaby" at school and as a result he encouraged his son to "hold in his emotions" and to cry privately at home with Ant instead. Getty Images Ant Middleton is a former soldier and currently is the presenter on the TV challenge programme SAS: Who Dares Wins In a previous interview on podcast Happy Mum, Happy Baby, he spoke about the way he treats his son and daughter differently. "I avoid eye contact because the moment he sees my eyes he will start crying, but if it was my daughter I would probably run over to see if she is okay." Many people think that this is part of a negative stereotype about boys, and that boys should not be encouraged not to cry. But Ant went on to say, "I don't teach them not to cry, because we all cry, I cry! I teach them to hold that emotion to get the job done." There are three reasons why people cry. To keep your eyes healthy - throughout the day we produce tears which stop your eyes from drying out. These tears are known as basal . To protect your eyes - these are often reactive to environment changes, for example when you get dirt in your eyes or you're near some chopped onions . These tears are known as reflex . To express emotion - this can be a reaction to any extreme emotion. Humans are thought to be the only animals to have this ability. These tears are known as psychic . Psychologist Dr Virginia Eatough found that, from studying adults, the most common reason people cry are when they are stressed and upset. She says that crying encourages emotional bonding with loved ones. Some people say they also feel better after they cry - this may be because psychic tears release a natural painkiller in the body. Others say they feel relieved when they release emotion they may have been bottling up. However, some people find crying uncomfortable - they may fear being judged by others or appear being weak or vulnerable. Throughout history, emotional tears have been considered a weakness in many cultures, and it is often seen as a more feminine thing to do. In the past, masculinity - behaviour associated with men and boys - suggested that all boys should be strong, brave and confident, and boys should not act in a way which is considered 'feminine'. "Boys don't cry" "Man up" "Don't act like such a girl" "Crybaby" Boys are often told that it is better to control emotions and to be brave when they are going through a difficult time. Across the world, research have shown that women are more likely to cry than men when they are frustrated, angry or sad. According to one study by Professor Ad Vingerhoets, women cry between 30 and 64 times a year, whereas men only cry between 6 and 17 times. But research also shows that holding back tears can have a negative effect on how boys express themselves, and that it may lead them to 'bottle up' how they feel rather than ask for help. Disney / Pixar In the Pixar film Inside Out, the characters Joy and Sadness discover the importance of balancing and expressing these two emotions In her study of how humans cry and react to crying, Dr Virginia Eatough found that there were psychological pressures on men that made them feel like they were unable to cry. She also found that men felt uncomfortable by others crying while women are more likely to feel empathy and understanding. Crying can act as a form of communication - it lets others know what we are feeling is important. For example, if you cry happy tears, it often means that you are feeling lots of joy and maybe even relief. If you cry when you're feeling sad or if you've been injured, it can alert others to the fact that you need some support. Let us know in the comments. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/48379047 |
Why did BYU play the third round before the first round in golf championship? | CLOSE FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. The NCAA Div. I Men's Golf Championship is underway. Well, for one team at least. On a day where the other 29 teams competing for a national title at Arkansas' Blessings Golf Club played a practice round, the BYU Cougars played not their first nor their second, but their third round. Because third round play is scheduled for Sunday, a day where the Cougars don't compete due to religious reasons. So as soon as the morning practice round finished, BYU hit the course to play their third round on Thursday evening, just as they did at last year's NCAA Championship at Oklahoma State's Karsten Creek. Golf ball on the 9th hole green during the final round of the Zurich Classic golf tournament. (Photo: Stephen Lew, USA TODAY Sports) Leading up to this year's tournament, BYU played as individuals in practice to try and find the right pace and rhythm to produce the feel of a normal round, but that appeared to be easier said than done. The Cougars struggled Thursday, shooting 21-over par as a team. "We played as a solo leading up to this tournament to try and get into a rhythm and I didn't do a very good job with that today," said BYU's first man out Rhett Rasmussen, who shot a 7-over 79. "I started off horrible, wasn't playing my own game and got off to a bad pace, but (playing as a solo) wasn't the reason. It's just a good, tough course." The team struggled with finding rhythm as individuals at last year's championship as well. Before coming to Arkansas, BYU's Director of Golf Todd Miller had one message for his team: take your time. "Take some deep breaths, take some time, don't feel like you're in a rush," Miller advised. "Talk to the officials, try to create some kind of normal atmosphere for yourself." Longtime head coach Bruce Brockbank said it was on he and Miller to try and slow the pace and help the player's find a rhythm, while also noting how he and the team learned a lot from last year's tournament. "What we challenged the kids to do was embrace this," Brockbank said of his team's unique challenge, pointing out how they'd rather play a normal schedule "but that's not the way it is." "You have to learn to be very patient," said Brockbank. "It's a great experience for them, they just have to keep it in perspective and not get too frustrated." While the team thinks playing a normal round the rest of the way will help, they refused to use their situation as a crutch or make excuses. Ask any one of them and they'll tell you: We just didn't play well. "It shows you a lot of character, the guys were working hard and it just didn't happen," Brockbank said of his team. "The best thing we can do is come out the next two days and see if we can shoot some good scores. We're definitely better than what we did today." The Cougars will be back out on the course Friday afternoon at 2 p.m. CT alongside Clemson and Georgia. | https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/golf/2019/05/24/ncaa-championship-golf-byu-third-round-sunday/39511655/ |
How is Arizona preparing kids for life after foster care? | CLOSE Kiana Barroso, 21, of Valley Farms, Arizona, was in the state's foster-care system from 11 until the time she aged-out when she turned 18. David Wallace/azcentral.com Opinion: The statistics paint a grim outlook for kids in foster care. But Arizona is trying to change that. For many of Arizonas 14,500 foster youth and more than 440,000 foster youth nationwide life after leaving foster care can offer few guarantees. Childhoods filled with challenge constant movement, chronic health problems, poor education, even neglect and abuse typically yield difficult prospects in adulthood, with a potentially lifelong impact. With May marking National Foster Care Month, lets recognize that we can do better by these young people. Indeed, in Arizona, we are making meaningful progress. Twice as many Arizona kids have jobs Ongoing employment is essential to healthful adulthood. But nationally, about six in 10 former foster youth are unemployed one year after leaving care; about half are jobless after five years. Nearly 24% of former foster youth experience homelessness; by comparison, less than 1% of Americans are homeless at some point in any given year. Even more disturbingly, nearly two-thirds of male former foster youth and three in 10 women spend time in jail after age 17. Less than 1% of the U.S. population is imprisoned. There are hopeful signs in Arizona. According to the Annie E. Casey Foundation, 88% of former foster youth in Arizona are employed full- or part-time by age 21; across the country, the figure is 49%. We need to build that trend keeping in mind that 68% of Arizona jobs will require a post-secondary education by 2020. For young people and foster youth especially university and college campuses are places to begin appreciating all the positive possibilities of adulthood, including fulfilling employment, and to learn how to realize those possibilities. The next step: Help with college Yet, just 50% of foster youth complete high school by age 18; of these, just two in 10 enter college. Only 3% of former foster youth aged 25 and older have a bachelors degree, vs. 31% of Americans generally. NEWSLETTERS Get the Opinions Newsletter newsletter delivered to your inbox We're sorry, but something went wrong Our best and latest in commentary in daily digest form. Please try again soon, or contact Customer Service at 1-800-332-6733. Delivery: Mon-Fri Invalid email address Thank you! You're almost signed up for Opinions Newsletter Keep an eye out for an email to confirm your newsletter registration. More newsletters In Arizona, we strive to do more. At Arizona State University, First Star, a national non-profit, offers an innovative college preparatory program giving high school-age foster youth support and skills needed to successfully move on to higher education and adulthood. Across the 12 U.S. university and college campuses with similar First Star Academy programs, approximately nine in 10 graduates successfully advance to college. With immersive residential summers, monthly school-year sessions and dedicated mentoring, First Star leverages the Access ASU programs demonstrated success in preparing Arizona high school students to enter ASU and ultimately the workforce. WellCare Health Plans recognizing that education leading to employment is critical for personal health and well-being is providing new funding to dramatically broaden First Stars impact. WellCares support will help First Star build beyond its current student cohort from Maricopa County and recruit students from across Arizona. Everyone has a stake in the future of foster youth and failure to help has a cost. If our young adults cant reach their full potential, the human cost is profound too. Scott Cummings is the state president of Care1st Health Plan Arizona, and Edmundo Hidalgo is vice president of outreach partnerships at Arizona State University. Read or Share this story: https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/2019/05/24/foster-care-children-need-extra-help-heres-how-arizona-giving/1214017001/ | https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/2019/05/24/foster-care-children-need-extra-help-heres-how-arizona-giving/1214017001/ |
Does a hit song really need 9 writers? | Image copyright Atlantic Records Image caption Rudimental, Dan Caplen, Jess Glynne and Macklemore - just some of the writers on These Days Rudimental's uplifting dance track These Days has been named the most-performed song of 2018 at the prestigious Ivor Novello Awards. A major international hit, it topped charts across Europe, and became the UK's fifth best-selling single of 2018. But their prize had to be shared between nine writers - a phenomenon that's become increasingly common. According to research by Music Week, it took an average of 5.34 people to write last year's Top 100 biggest singles. That's up from 4.84 in 2017, and 4.53 the year before. "It's a sign of the times," says Jamie Scott, who wrote the first draft of These Days in a shed at the bottom of his garden. "You go into a [songwriting] session and there are five people in a session and, if everyone is doing a great job, then there's going to be five people on the credits. "And if they're not, then next time there are going to be four people in the session." Scott says songwriting teams have blossomed because streaming services demand a constant supply of new material: An artist who wants to stay at the front of fans' minds needs to put out more new music, more frequently, than at any other time in pop history. "You need songs out there - literally one a month for streaming," he says. "It's a business and people want a great product. That's what we're here to do - and that's why you'll find six or seven or even 12 writers on a song." It can go even higher than that. Anne Marie's 2002 has 18 writers; Drake's Nice For What lists 22; and Travis Scott's Sicko Mode credits a staggering 30 people, each of whom receives a wafer-thin slice of the royalties. Song 'skeletons' To be fair, all of those tracks contain samples and/or lyrical fragments of other songs, whose writers receive a mandatory credit in the post-Blurred Lines era of copyright litigation. But co-writing culture is so ingrained that even singer-songwriters like George Ezra and Lewis Capaldi take a helping hand in the studio, albeit on a more one-to-one basis. "I often write with other people and I always enjoy it," says James Blunt, whose last album had collaborations with seasoned hitmakers like Ryan Tedder (Adele, Beyonce) and Johnny McDaid (Ed Sheeran, Snow Patrol). "I still write very much from the heart but it's nice to have someone to show me the elusive fourth chord - otherwise I'd always just be repeating the same three." For pop star Dua Lipa, working with co-writers helped her learn her craft at the start of her career. "I was always able to write - essays and poetry - but I never really sat down to write a song," she says. "So when I started going into the studio, I learned a lot from the co-writers that were coming in to help me - the bones of how to write a proper song. "But now I feel able to take the lead." Image copyright Dua Lipa / Instagram Image caption Dua Lipa and Silk City's hit single Electricity credits 10 writers - but she wrote the bulk of the song in the studio with Mark Ronson and Diplo Songwriting sessions aren't for everyone, however. After making two records in a Glaswegian basement, pop trio Chvrches attended a songwriting camp to see if it could bring a new dimension to their third album, 2018's Love Is Dead. "These guys were writing a track and we were bouncing ideas around when a couple of producers came in and kind of sprinkled a chorus on," recalls singer Lauren Mayberry. Are they coming back?' "But no, they'd left like 'Boof! There's your chorus. Goodbye'. "That song did not make it any further." Personal touch Let's Eat Grandma, whose psych-pop opus I'm All Ears was up for album of the year at the Ivor Novellos, have also shunned writing camps. "When that many people get involved, everyone is almost competing for their ideas to be heard," says singer Rosa Walton. "It makes it hard to be honest and open." "If you've got really personal songs, you don't really want to share them with people you don't know that well," agrees her bandmate Jenny Hollingworth, "because then you can't really be yourself." That's exactly why Olly Alexander (largely) avoided co-writers on Years and Years' recent album Palo Santo, "I don't really want to sing a song someone else has written," he says. "I have to be the person who writes the lyrics and who writes the top line [melody]. "I wouldn't feel comfortable otherwise." Dance producer Jax Jones, who's scored top 10 hits with Breathe and You Don't Know Me, says the proliferation of writing credits often obscures the fact that songs originate with one or two people, who will ultimately take the lion's share of royalties. "When I've had experience of writing in LA, you might get a killer song but as a producer, I'll be like, 'Alright, I need a better part here'. "And I know someone who's incredible at writing a verse, or a bridge, so I'm going to call them and get them involved. "But that's traditional record making," he argues. "Quincy Jones works like that, Kanye West works like that. It's amalgamating all these incredible talents, and that's why you get incredible records." That's pretty much a template for how These Days came together. It was originally written by up-and-coming R&B singer Dan Caplen in a session with the team behind One Direction's Drag Me Down - Jamie Scott, Julian Bunetta and John Ryan. He sent it to his label, who passed it on to Rudimental. The band liked the song and did some additional production work, earning each of their four members a share of the rights. Finally, US rapper Macklemore was asked to contribute a guest verse - resulting in a ninth, and final, credit. Caplen admits the figure looks ridiculous but says the song "needed a little Midas touch to make it what it is today". Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Dan Caplen says any hit single needs the "perfect mix" of hard work and inspiration In general, however, Caplen prefers to work with a smaller team. I say three or four maximum," says the 27-year-old. But the real question is whether the climate of co-writing genuinely affects what we hear. "A film isn't necessarily more enjoyable if it's based on a true story. Likewise, a song isn't necessarily any better or any more heartfelt, or convincing, because it was written by the singer," wrote Bob Stanley in his peerless history of pop, Yeah Yeah Yeah. And Natasha Khan, aka Bat For Lashes, argues the modern hit factory isn't too different from the 1960s, when teams like Dozier-Holland-Dozier wrote timeless soul classics in the back room of Motown Records. "Five writers seems like a lot," she says. "It feels like it's manufacturing something. "But if a great pop song comes out of it then, why not?" Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email [email protected]. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-48395059 |
How Can Every Democrat Be a Progressive? | Defining the word progressive is a lot like defining pornographyyou just know it when you see it. Or so Walter Mondale suggested while stumping for Jimmy Carter at a rally in Syracuse in 1980. At a time when the president was taking heat from liberal critics, Mondale reassured the crowd that he knows a progressive when he sees one. In todays Democratic primary field, everybody claims to see a progressive looking back at them in the mirror. Bernie Sanders has perhaps the soundest claim to the title; he co-founded the Congressional Progressive Caucus in 1991. But Kamala Harris also brands herself a progressive prosecutor; Cory Bookers progressive record is unimpeachable, says his spokesperson; and even Joe Biden claims the most progressive record of anybody. The most consistent thing about the political application of the word may be its inconsistency. The progressive tent has sheltered Theodore Roosevelt, who championed a progressive income tax while bringing progress to the Philippines, along with the water cure and concentration camps. The socialist Eugene Debs, who went to prison for protesting World War I, was called a progressive, as was the bigoted Woodrow Wilson, who took the United States into World War I. Later, liberals and Communists both laid claim to the term, so progressive might have described both Frank Sinatra (a supporter of Henry Wallace, a New Dealer who ran for president as a Progressive in the 1948 election) and Joseph Stalin (the Leader of Progressive Mankind, said Pravda). One reason for the words inconsistent use lies in its root word, progress. Like reform, progress is broadly appealing without being politically exacting. To believe in progress commits you only to a vague belief in improvement over time. The early progressives assumed they could achieve these improvements through data, science, and institutional expertise; their veneration of administrative efficiency led them to support conservation, which was one progressive value, as well as eugenics, which was another. Many believed deeply in American empirecolonization, they thought, wrought progress. | https://newrepublic.com/article/153769/can-every-democrat-progressive |
Is the stock market closed for Memorial Day? | CLOSE U.S. stock markets are closed on Monday for Memorial Day. (Photo: xijian / Getty Images) U.S. stocks markets are closed Monday in observance of Memorial Day. Foreign financial markets will be open. The New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq will resume normal trading hours on Tuesday. The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association also recommended the U.S. bond market to close on Monday. The bond market closes at 2 p.m. on Friday for the three-day holiday weekend. The next market holiday is Independence Day, which falls on July 4. CLOSE After 19 years covering the stock market for USA TODAY, Adam Shell gives his best advice on how to successfully invest in the market. USA TODAY Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2019/05/24/stock-market-closed-monday-exchange-wont-open-memorial-day/1220650001/ | https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2019/05/24/stock-market-closed-monday-exchange-wont-open-memorial-day/1220650001/ |
Would Fab Five revival at Michigan turn Michigan State rivalry toxic? | CLOSE A look back at the history of Juwan Howard, the former Michigan basketball star, on the national stage. Wochit, Wochit Michigan has its replacement for John Beilein, a new coach who does not need to assess the in-state intensity with Michigan State. Of course, Juwan Howard might not recognize Breslin Center with the new logo at center court. The old Block S has long since been replaced by a Spartan helmet since his former Wolverines teammate Jalen Rose once pretended to defile it after a U-M win. But Roses self-admitted toilet seat wipe often recalled by MSU fans came after disgusting racial slurs reportedly were spewed at Howard throughout that Feb. 2, 1993 game in East Lansing. There also was a crass sign in the stands: Juwan: Im pregnant. The two schools' presidents a few days later issued a joint letter to their students decrying the taunts, the pinnacle of perhaps the ugliest period during the 110 years of basketball between the two in-state foes. Dont think Howard has forgotten that. And dont expect the nature of the Izzo-Beilein mutual admiration society to continue. Not as U-M begins to re-embrace its brash and troubled Fab Five era again. Not with Izzo's known animosity toward it. More: Tom Izzo: John Beilein helped make Michigan State-Michigan a true rivalry Michigan State coach Tom Izzo reacts during the first half against Michigan, Feb. 24, 2019 at the Crisler Center in Ann Arbor. (Photo: Rick Osentoski, USA TODAY Sports) The 12 years Izzo deemed a respectful rivalry between his and Beileins programs albeit still with flare-ups of less incendiary nature between the bitter enemies might end as Howard takes over the Wolverines this winter. And it could bring with it a return to the most vitriolic version of this 184-game series. A (re)introductory video of Howard on U-Ms Twitter page showed plenty of flashback highlights to his Fab Five days, from 1991-94. Though there were no clips of him against the Spartans even though he went 5-1 while averaging 15.8 points and 8.2 rebounds against them there was plenty of Howards bravado and bluster on display. The type of swagger that typified the Fab Five Wolverines both to the delight of their fans and the antagonism to Spartan faithful. The late 1980s/early 1990s Michigan teams remained a flashpoint for Izzo for decades, long after he progressed from Jud Heathcotes top assistant to MSUs head coach in 1995. Earlier this year, he admitted he had an unhealthy obsession during the nascent part of his career when he let the rivalry get the best of me and wanted to beat the Wolverines more than anything else. The respect Izzo had for Beilein healed some of that. Or at least allowed him to push his animosity to the side. The aftermath of the Ed Martin scandal eventually set the Wolverines program back a decade as Izzos program took flight. The Fab Fives first game against MSU was an 89-79 overtime win on Jan. 29, 1992 in East Lansing. That also was U-Ms first win at Breslin, which opened in late 1989. Howard had 13 points and six rebounds. In the rematch in Ann Arbor a little more than two weeks later, Howard delivered an intentional foul to Spartans senior guard Mark Montgomery with 12 seconds to play in the Spartans' 70-59 win. MSUs Shawn Respert went after Howard, and both freshmen received technical fouls. Howard finished with 12 points and five rebounds and fouled out of that game. He would not lose again to MSU. At least until U-M was forced to vacate its two 1993 wins. A lot has changed since the landscape-changing three years Howard spent in Ann Arbor. Particularly to the northwest. Despite losing his first five games in the rivalry as a head coach, all but one before Steve Fisher was fired in 1997 because of the scandal, Izzo has delivered an unprecedented era of greatness at MSU over the past 24 seasons. It includes the 2000 national title and eight Final Four appearances, including another this year. He also is 28-17 against the Wolverines in that time, including the first three-game season sweep en route to Big Ten regular-season and tournament championships this year. Izzo went 14-9 overall but won eight of the last 11 meetings against Beilein, who left Michigan earlier this month to go to the NBAs Cleveland Cavaliers a job Izzo turned down nearly a decade ago. Enter Howard, who has been an assistant coach the past six years with the Miami Heat. That also is where he spent the final three years of his 19-year NBA playing career. In this March 16, 2018, file photo, Miami Heat assistant coach Juwan Howard watches during a game against the Los Angeles Lakers in Los Angeles. (Photo: Ringo H.W. Chiu, AP) Beilein was a master tactician who honed his craft at multiple head coaching spots at multiple collegiate levels along the way, a path that Izzo appreciated and admired. Howard arrives with a pro pedigree, the baggage of the Fab Five era and no experience in building a staff, playbook or program at any level. He has never recruited, though he has spent plenty of time around the high-level AAU circuit over the past decade while following his sons basketball careers. Rose spoke this week on ESPN about how Howards task is turning around the University of Michigan. Except there is not much turning around needed this is the same program Beilein had in the 2013 and 2018 national title games, one that also won a pair of regular-season Big Ten titles since 2012. Something Izzo has celebrated nine times or 37.5% of his years as the Spartans head coach. Unlike during Howard's playing days, the Wolverines were a speed bump along the way to titles for MSU until Beilein's arrival. The championships are special. I live for championships, Izzo said in Howard's hometown Chicago in early March after beating U-M for the third time, for the Big Ten tourney title. Winning games ended about 20 years ago for me. Winning games is good, but its just not my cup of tea anymore. Thats kind of sad, but I think its kind of good. You should aspire to be better every year. And the way you get better is to try and win a championship. Try to do what only a few can do. The Fab Five made college basketball hip and lively back in the 1990s during the NBAs heyday. Yet they never won a title of any kind, a fleeting moment that did not survive or thrive for nearly as long as Beilein's program did. Izzo elevated the idea of success for college basketball in the state. He built MSU into a blue blood over the past quarter century, the longevity and consistency of winning being his program's greatest accomplishment. And for Howard to come close to achieving the success Beilein enjoyed, his first mission will be to try to beat Izzo regularly. Just like Izzo did against Michigan to turn his program into an annual championship contender. It won't be as easy as it appeared nearly 30 years ago. But, hopefully, it will not be as toxic, either. Contact Chris Solari at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @chrissolari. Read more on the Michigan State Spartans and sign up for our Spartans newsletter. | https://www.freep.com/story/sports/college/michigan-state/spartans/2019/05/24/michigan-state-basketball-michigan-wolverines-juwan-howard/1219004001/ |
Should there be doubt that Seahawks can get new deal done with Bobby Wagner? | Bobby Wagner's contract situation is the big talking point surrounding the Seahawks right now. Entering the last year of his current deal, the All-Pro middle linebacker is taking somewhat of a middle-ground approach: he's present at OTAs, but he's not participating. Bobby Wagner looks on during the Seahawks final preseason game against the Oakland Raiders, Thursday, Aug. 30, 2018 at CenturyLink Field. (Genna Martin, seattlepi.com) Bobby Wagner looks on during the Seahawks final preseason game against the Oakland Raiders, Thursday, Aug. 30, 2018 at CenturyLink Field. 1 / 7 Back to Gallery RELATED: 6 big takeaways from first open session of Seahawks' OTAs SeattlePI.com's Ben Arthur and Aaron Alter discussed Wagner's contract situation, and the latest surround the Seahawks at OTAs, in their latest podcast episode. Listen to their conversation above. Ben Arthur covers the Seattle Seahawks for the SeattlePI. he can be reached by email at [email protected]. Follow him on twitter at @benyarthur. | https://www.seattlepi.com/sports/seahawks/article/Should-there-be-doubt-that-Seahawks-can-get-new-13887195.php |
Who will take on SCs Joe Cunningham in 2020? | Joe Cunningham the day after defeating Katie Arrington for SC Congress seat Congressman-elect Joe Cunningham holds a press conference after a call by his opponent Katie Arrington, conceding the race. Up Next SHARE COPY LINK Congressman-elect Joe Cunningham holds a press conference after a call by his opponent Katie Arrington, conceding the race. Republicans are eager in 2020 to wrest back control of South Carolinas coastal congressional seat, but a top-tier candidate has yet to emerge. The absence of one is raising questions about whether the party is having difficulty fielding a contender who can excite donors and mobilize the base, locally and nationally, to take on a popular Democratic incumbent. The GOPs answer could be Nancy Mace. Elected to the State House to represent Berkeley and Charleston counties in a 2018 special election, Mace is being heavily courted to challenge U.S. Rep. Joe Cunningham, the freshman Democrat who pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the midterms 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 Last week, Mace traveled to Washington, D.C., to meet with the National Republican Congressional Committee. Sources familiar with recruitment efforts in Washington, D.C., confirmed with The State said shes spoken with U.S. Rep. Susan Brooks, R-Indiana, the NRCCs recruitment chairwoman, and U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, D-N.Y., who is using her political action committee to promote women running for Congress. Winning for Women, a nonprofit working to elect Republican women, also has had conversations with Mace, confirmed the groups spokeswoman, Olivia Perez-Cubas. Im listening, Mace told The State, and Im strongly considering a run for Congress in 2020. I really feel that in that district that folks are looking for somebody who is truly fiscally conservative. Joes a nice guy, she said. Hes just not the right guy. Democrats think they have a star in the 1st District who will be tough to beat. In 2018, Cunningham flipped South Carolinas 1st Congressional District seat, which hadnt sent a Democrat to Washington since 1981. He beat then-S.C. Rep. Katie Arrington, R-Dorchester, who earlier that year beat then-U.S. Rep. Mark Sanford in the GOP primary. Democrat Joe Cunningham, center, greets supporters after his victory press conference at the International Longshoremens Association hall in Charleston, S.C., Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2018. Democratic U.S. House candidate Cunningham used a personal touch and concern for local issues like offshore drilling to beat a Republican in conservative South Carolina. Mic Smith The Associated Press Since coming to Washington, Cunningham has steered clear of controversy and has built a reputation as a centrist who votes mostly with Democrats but isnt afraid to break with his party a quality that could help him appeal to voters across the aisle. But top operatives at the NRCC say Cunninghams S.C. seat is among the top five races the GOP should not have lost in last years midterms, and the national party is prepared to pour significant resources into reversing the damage. The NRCC has met with multiple credible candidates who would all represent the district better than the socialist Democrats rubber stamp, Joe Cunningham, said Camille Gallo, a spokeswoman for the NRCC. Gallo wouldnt say who the NRCC has met with so far, but national Republicans are hard at work locating those credible contenders inside South Carolina. A compelling story A self-fashioned conservative firebrand, Mace has a resume that would play well on the campaign trail. She was the first female graduate of the Citadel, the formerly all-male military college. In 2014, she showed off her outsider credentials by launching a long-shot bid against incumbent Lindsey Graham for the GOP nomination in the U.S. Senate, where she won 6 percent of the vote in a seven-way primary. In 2016, Mace was a South Carolina director of Donald Trumps presidential campaign a connection that could help her if she runs for office, given the presidents enduring popularity in the state and willingness to stump for his allies. But Mace most recently made headlines when she advocated for rape and incest exceptions in a bill that would effectively ban abortions around six weeks. Mace made her case in an impassioned speech about being sexually assaulted as a teenager. A fellow Republican legislator proceeded to pass out out literature describing rape as a misdeed of the parent that doesnt justify having an abortion. Maces colleagues in both parties rushed to her defense, praising the 41-year-old lawmaker for her courage. Mace did not back down either, complaining to House leadership about the colleagues behavior and telling The State she wasnt elected to put up with that kind of treatment. Others noticed her response, too. Shes got a compelling story and an interesting take on the district, said South Carolina Republican strategist Chip Felkel. She graciously handled a very difficult situation (during the House abortion debate). That certainly raised her profile, not that that was intentional. Shes a known entity and garnered a lot of respect among Republicans and that might bode well for her if she launches her candidacy. A counter voice to the AOCs Getting Mace to run for Congress would be a coup for national Republicans, who want to expand the partys ranks of women in Congress and are taking aggressive steps to do so. In 2019, Democrats grew the number of women elected to the U.S. House to 91 total, the most in history, up from 67 in the previous Congress. At the same time, the number of Republican women in Congress shrank one legislative session to the next, from 25 to 15. Coming out of the #MeToo era and murmurings about 2018 being the year of the woman, the optics for the GOP were less than ideal. Catherine Templeton, a Mount Pleasant attorney who ran for governor in a five-way Republican primary in 2018, said the GOP would benefit from a woman running in the 1st District someone who could have a counter voice to the AOCs and Democratic women in Congress. SC Republican gubernatorial candidate Catherine Templeton JASON LEE [email protected] She was referring to U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., an outspoken Democratic socialist who has become a symbol of the partys leftward ideological tilt. Templeton said the NRCC and party activists also reached out to her about running. Winning for Women also approached her. But Templeton, who has school-aged children, said she has declined. Mount Pleasant Town Councilwoman Kathy Landing also is rumored to be mulling a run against Cunningham, but she could not be reached for comment. At one point, Arrington was indicating an interest in a rematch with Cunningham in 2020. However, she now has a job with the Department of Defense, and sources familiar with recruitment efforts say they have not spoken to her about her intentions. Asked to respond, Arrington told The State that as a Defense Department employee, she cannot comment and referred a reporter to the federal agency, which could not be reached. Katie Arrington, Republican candidate for U.S. Congress, spoke during Gov. Henry McMasters bus tour around South Carolina. 10/31/18 Tim Dominick [email protected] People are having conversations So far, only one Republican has officially declared a bid for the 1st District seat: Mike Covert of Bluffton, a Beaufort City Councilman who as of his last federal campaign finance report had $46,162 in his account, $30,000 of which he personally loaned to his campaign. Any Republican challenger to Cunningham would need to be a strong fundraiser, as Cunningham was among the top earners among freshmen Democrats in this years first fundraising quarter. South Carolina Republican Party Chairman Drew McKissick isnt concerned. I would expect in the next couple of weeks there will be several names that come up to challenge Cunningham, McKissick said. People are having conversations Personally, Ive had conversations with four people interested in running for the seat. State Sen. Tom Davis, R-Beaufort, a libertarian-leaning conservative who has led the charge in the General Assembly to pass a medical marijuana bill, has often had his name floated for higher political office, including this one. Davis told The State hes mulling a potential candidacy. Charleston Republican and state Sen. Chip Campsen said he has not ruled out running for the congressional seat, but has not made a firm decision. A wildcard could be Sanford, who has more than $1.3 million cash on hand, according to federal campaign finance data. Sanford has surprised the political world before, winning back his old congressional seat in a 2013 special election after his two terms as governor ended in humiliation from the fallout of an extramarital affair. He could do it again, and hasnt ruled it out but he also hasnt given a strong indication now that hes out of electoral politics for the first time in over two decades. Sanford could not be reached for comment. Whoever runs for the 1st District seat, Republicans need a candidate who can strike a balance between representing the priorities of constituents and demonstrating some loyalty to Trump. One of the reasons Sanford lost his primary to Arrington was because he was a vocal Trump critic. Voters in the district want a Republican with a seat at the table with the president, and not just blowing your horn in the distance, Templeton said, a reference to the time Cunningham blew an air horn at a congressional hearing to make a point about the disruptive volume of seismic testing. Cunningham made his opposition to offshore oil drilling and seismic testing central to his campaign and made clear he would carry on Sanfords legacy in this regard while Arrington was seen as equivocating. Someone like Mace could present a dangerous combination of Trump loyalty and legislative independence. A supporter of the president whose administration has backed offshore drilling, Mace was also the primary sponsor on a S.C. House resolution expressing opposition to offshore drilling in South Carolinas waters. She also supports a federal lawsuit filed by coastal S.C. cities and environmental groups to stop seismic testing. But Mace suggested if she ran for Congress, shed likely talk about issues she said were less divisive, speaking instead about fiscal conservative issues, the deficit, the debt, health care issues that are important to every American. Democrats say they arent worried not even about someone like Mace. Joe Cunningham is going to be re-elected in 2020, regardless of who Washington Republicans can convince to run against him, Avery Jaffe, a spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, told The State. | https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/state/south-carolina/article230692269.html |
Is Juwan Howard the right choice for Michigan basketball? | by Daniel Tran According to reports, former NBA player Juwan Howard is expected to be named Michigan basketball head coach. The former Wolverine has a shining legacy at the university as one of the members of the Fab Five and many feel his work ethic, leadership and experience will translate well. Others feel with zero head coaching experience, he isnt the right man for the job right now. No matter where Juwan Howard has gone, he's been a winner. He was a key member of Michigan's Fab Five that went to two straight National Championship Games in the 90s and won a championship with the Miami Heat. He might not have head coaching experience, but he has renowned toughness and drive that will be easy to teach young players. If he has the respect of the greatest players ever, he should have no trouble coaching kids. Being an assistant coach at the NBA level is hard, but being a head coach of a college program is harder. There are so many balls in the air from recruiting to academics you have to worry about. Then, you actually have to teach a winning system to sustain the success created by your predecessor. Thats a lot of pressure on a first-time head coach and a lot of things that can go wrong. A more experienced candidate should have been the choice at Michigan. 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.oregonlive.com/tylt/2019/05/is-juwan-howard-the-right-choice-for-michigan-basketball.html |
Is Huawei in retreat? | Image copyright Reuters Image caption Huawei's access to the Android operating system was restricted by Google on Monday It is the Chinese tech titan that is number one in telecoms equipment and has soared to second place in smartphone sales. But after a terrible week in which many of its partners cut off ties, and it found itself at the centre of a war of words between the US and China, Tech Tent asks whether Huawei is now in full retreat. It was on Monday that the full implications of President Trump's move to add Huawei to a list of firms restricted from trading with the US became clear. Google revealed it was going to comply with the order and that meant Huawei's access to the Android operating system would be restricted and its future customers would not be able to get apps such as Gmail and YouTube. Stream the latest Tech Tent podcast on BBC Sounds As luck would have it, the following day Huawei was holding a big event in London, the launch of the latest device under its Honor brand, which has been hugely successful in winning a young audience for high-spec but affordable phones. We went along to the event attended by journalists from across Europe and ran into a Huawei fan who had won a competition to attend in person. Image copyright Reuters Image caption The Honor 20 range of smartphones was on show in a week that proved tough for Huawei Kalpesh Depala told us how much he loved Honor phones and the whole Huawei brand. But even he admitted that the news about Google had worried him and it was security that was his main concern: "Knowing security breaches that can happen - especially with what happened with WhatsApp - who knows what can happen with Huawei especially if they don't get the new security patches?" We then sat through a typical smartphone launch, full of breathless descriptions of the Honor 20's capabilities, especially a camera which looked to rival those on far more expensive Samsung and Apple phones. But in a presentation which lasted for an hour, two words - Google and Android - were notable by their absence. Afterwards the mobile analyst Francisco Jeronimo from IDC chuckled when I mentioned this - but agreed the whole affair was casting a long shadow over Huawei's future in smartphones: Image copyright Getty Images Image caption George Zhao, president of Honor, a sub-brand of Huawei, did not mention Google or Android "Considering the quality of the devices and the prices, nothing has changed," he said. But the retailers he had been speaking to made clear that if the US ban was not lifted by the end of the year, they would not be stocking new Huawei products: "Without being able to offer Google services it will be extremely hard for Huawei to sell any products outside China." He had thought Huawei was going to race past Samsung into the number one spot in the smartphone market but that now looks unlikely. Later in the week, the news for the Chinese firm got even worse, with British chip designer Arm telling its staff to stop working with Huawei. While the lack of Google apps has a more direct impact on consumers, our special guest Emily Taylor, from the Chatham House think tank, tells us that the end of collaboration with Arm is more serious in the long term. "Arm is a major designer for just about every mobile phone designer on the planet," she says. She warns that there is a danger of the mobile industry fracturing if Huawei and other Chinese firms are denied access to Western technology. "This will motivate them to try to stand alone." Meanwhile, the temperature in the war of words between the US and China is rising. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused Huawei's founder Ren Zhengfei of lying about his company's ties to the Chinese Communist Party and said those ties put American information passing through its networks at risk. Mind you, remarks by Donald Trump showed how difficult it is to predict how this battle will play out. He first called Huawei "very dangerous" - then said the dispute might be resolved if the US trade talks with China ended successfully. Mobile-phone buyers used to think about the price and specifications when it came to choosing a new device - now they have to worry about geopolitics too. Also on this week's podcast: Virtual assistants like Apple's Siri and Amazon's Alexa often have female voices, We discuss a UN report which says the way they are programmed to respond to flirtatious remarks could reinforce gender stereotypes. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-48398604 |
Can lawmakers legislate and investigate? | by Cait Bladt President Donald Trump walked out of a meeting with Democratic leaders after only three minutes, saying he would not work with Congress on any policy initiatives until they had stopped any and all investigations into him and his administration, saying Democrats cant investigate and legislate. The presidents remarks came after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters she felt the president was engaged in a cover-up as his administration has refused to allow several key players to appear before Congress to answer questions about the Mueller investigation. The presidents frustration at Congressional Democrats has grown exponentially in the weeks since the release of the Mueller report. Per CBS News: "I walked into the room and I told Senator Schumer and Speaker Pelosi, I want to do infrastructure ... you can't do it under these circumstances," the president told reporters in the White House Rose Garden. As he has said in the past months, Mr. Trump declared that "no collusion, no obstruction" had taken place. The special counsel determined that there was insufficient evidence of conspiracy but could not reach a conclusion on obstruction after the nearly two-year long investigation. The fault, Mr. Trump said, lies with "the other side." "The crime was committed on the other side we'll see how that turns out," the president suggested, knocking Democrats for continuing to carry out investigations of his administration. On the other side of the aisle, tensions are rising as the president continues to refuse to allow key members of his administration to appear before Congressional panels to answer questions pertaining to the Mueller report. While leaders have been reticent to take any steps toward impeachment, the New York Times is reporting there appears to be more movement on the issue. Mr. Trumps blanket refusal to comply with requests from six House committees and no-shows by the former White House counsel Donald F. McGahn II and Attorney General William P. Barr have abruptly prodded previously skeptical Democrats, including many of Ms. Pelosis own allies, to consider impeachment, either to oust Mr. Trump from office or to compel him to comply with their subpoenas. We do believe that its important to follow the facts. We believe that no one is above the law, including the president of the United States, and we believe that the president of the United States is engaged in a cover-up, Ms. Pelosi told reporters after emerging from the hourlong question-and-answer session. 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.oregonlive.com/tylt/2019/05/can-lawmakers-legislate-and-investigate.html |
What's up, Figaro? | In classical music "the three Bs" usually refers to Bach, Beethoven and Brahms. NZ Opera's latest production, The Barber of Seville, references three different Bs: Beaumarchais, Bugs and Basil. Pierre Beaumarchais was the French writer of the comic play Le Barbier de Seville, upon which Gioachino Rossini's opera is based. Bugs and Basil are, respectively, Bunny and Fawlty. "I'm unashamedly influenced by the Warner Bros cartoon, The Rabbit of Seville," says Lindy Hume, one of Australia's most respected artistic figures and director of NZ Opera's Barber. The 1950 animation takes place during a production of The Barber of Seville and makes use of Rossini's music. As with many people, it was Hume's initial exposure to the opera; unlike most people, she sees connections between composer and cartoon. Advertisement "That was my first Barber of Seville, so it's hard to get that out of my system in a way. I do a lot of Rossini comedies and I love them, they are like cartoons, that co-ordination between music and action, which I'm trying to choreograph." "I'm interested in sitcoms, and interested in what is funny, as opposed to what is opera funny, which is really not very funny. So, I'm interested in doing something fast and furious that genuinely makes you laugh." Fawlty Towers, Hume believes, is the greatest sitcom of all time. She describes it as a classic "door comedy", with doors opening and closing and the wrong people entering and exiting at inopportune moments, all with perfect timing. Tracy Grant Lord's set draws on that idea in what Hume calls "a chaotic collage of doors of all kinds". The key with comedy, Hume says, is not the set itself so much as the way it enables a sense of jeopardy. "It's not just people mucking about and having a good time, there needs to be a situation in which there's a fundamentally dangerous or unpleasant proposition that is so compelling, everybody's responding to it." Barber's unpleasant proposition is the likely but unwanted marriage of the beautiful young Rosina to the elderly Bartolo. Chaos ensues. Chaos is a central theme of Hume's Barber, too, and there is historical precedent. "It was a disaster on opening night in 1816," Hume says. "They would hardly have rehearsed and they were almost improvising, so it had a very strong sense of chaos. I liked the idea of trying to capture that sort of anarchy, the notion of something being a bit messy." Too much anarchy might cause an audience to overlook that Barber contains some of Rossini's finest music, were it not for the fact it also contains the composer's most famous music. Even casual listeners and Bugs Bunny fans will recognise the overture, while the baritone aria Largo al factotum, with its repeated 'Figaro, Figaro, Figaro!' refrain, represents five of the best-known minutes in opera. Opera singer Morgan Pearse takes the demanding role of Figaro in the Barber of Seville. Photo/Eric Melear Morgan Pearse, who takes the role of Figaro, the titular hairdresser in this production, is the singer tasked with bringing life to the iconic tune. No pressure. "I was petrified the first time I had to sing that," admits Pearse. "It's the first thing you sing [in Barber], as well; it's bloody scary." He has no intention, however, of making a radical reinterpretation of an opera standard. "One of the hard things as a singer, is not to get sucked into trying to do things that make you different from everyone who's sung it before. You don't want to do something different; you want do something relevant to the show you're producing." Figaro was Pearse's debut in a major role, when he sang it in the 2015/16 season with the English National Opera. However, that production was in English, so this will be the first time he's performed Barber in its original Italian. He says the switch in languages makes this a different Figaro to his previous portrayal. "Part of the joy of being a performer is growing with characters. When you get to do some of these really famous works, it's great that they're not all the same. We're cover artists, we're not doing these things for the first time, but in this case, I get to see something fresh." While the language makes a difference, Pearse insists that's not as important as the director's vision. Hume's concept - rascally rabbits, rude hoteliers, chaotic anarchy and all - is for a production that's friendly and accessible but with a hint of the surreal. "Someone gave me a very nice compliment and said they liked my productions in the same way they like Wes Anderson's movies," Hume says. "So, it's that kind of idea: quirky and leftfield." Lowdown What: NZ Opera presents Rossini's The Barber of Seville Where & When: ASB Theatre, from June 6; Opera House, Wellington from June 29; Isaac Theatre Royal, Christchurch, from August 1 | https://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=12233480 |
Can SLO life survive when tech comes to town? | For more stories like this, check out The Chronicles weekly Travel newsletter! Sign up here. On Feb. 21, days after Amazon backed out of its plan to stage a second headquarters in New York City, the mayor of San Luis Obispo issued a statement lambasting the online retailer for destroying our downtowns and having a negative impact on our communities. Not only was Amazon hurting local retailers, Mayor Heidi Harmon wrote, but its presence also weakened the social glue that holds us together. It wasnt the first time SLOs civic leader had taken aim at the web giant, which has been blamed for undermining brick-and-mortars around the country for years. A couple of weeks earlier, Harmon had tweeted a photo showing her cutting her Amazon Prime card in half with scissors. In protest, she pledged to quit patronizing the platform and invited civic leaders across the U.S. to do the same. Mayors really shouldnt be personally utilizing Amazon, in my opinion, she wrote. I mean, really, neither should anybody. The web behemoth opened an office in SLOs downtown in 2006, expanded to another downtown office in 2017 and employs more than 130 people in the quiet Central Coast community. Rather than galvanize a base of Big Tech skeptics, Harmons comments were widely condemned as naive and out of touch. SLO County Supervisor Lynn Compton dismissed the mayors effort, saying Internet commerce is here to stay. The San Luis Obispo Tribunes editorial board agreed: Trying to turn back the clock to the pre-internet era, when we did all our shopping in our hometowns, is fruitless, it wrote. Three neighboring mayors rejected Harmons invitation; online commenters called for her recall. Within a week, Harmon deleted her anti-Amazon tweets, and penned an opinion piece, walking back her criticism. She apologized to our neighbors who work at Amazon and noted that many of our local manufacturers are selling their products online. The conflict in SLO underscores the quandary familiar to anyone who has lived in the Bay Area during the Web 2.0 era of tech expansion: how to grow economically without sacrificing the identity of a place that made it attractive in the first place. San Luis Obispo has long had a reputation as a laid-back college town, a haven for surfers and retirees, and a low-key tourist destination. Set among rolling hills and sandy beaches, the region is defined by its natural beauty, local agriculture and little traffic. Locals often laud the SLO life. In recent years, the citys charm as well as a supply of talented engineering students from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo has begun to attract tech companies scouting desirable destinations for their ever-expanding ranks of employees. Over the past five years, San Luis Obispo tech employment has increased 50% from 6,572 workers in 2013 to 9,852 in 2018, according to a 2019 study from the County Workforce Development Board. Thats about 8% of the countys workforce of 122,800. Its not just Amazon setting up shop. GE Digital opened a software engineering office in the Cal Poly Technology Park last year. In 2010, Boeing swooped into SLO to buy local logistics software company CDM. Cal Polys Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship launched a startup incubator in 2012 called SLO Hothouse. It provides a shared work space downtown, training and access to funding. Since then the Hothouse has produced 80 companies garnering $150 million of investments. Software company Mindbody, founded in 2001, opened a 170,000-square-foot campus less than 3 miles from downtown in 2015 and employs more than 900 people. Setting up in SLO actually shifted from being an odd choice in the mid-2000s to being a brilliant choice in the eyes of our venture investors, says Mindbody CEO Rick Stollmeyer. Not only did the company have access to top engineering talent, but also SLO is generally unencumbered by the difficulties of retaining workers among highly competitive tech companies in Silicon Valley. Amazons local entry came in 2006 with its purchase of CustomFlix, a Cal Poly student startup facilitating on-demand DVD distribution. Amazon continued hiring in the area due to the big engineering pool of talent in San Luis Obispo, according to an Amazon spokeswoman. In an email statement, Amazon responded to Mayor Harmons comments by citing its direct contribution to the local economy via employee salaries and office investments, tabulated at $33 million. The shift doesnt appear to be slowing down, says Sidney Collin, who graduated from Cal Poly in 2019 with a degree in biomedical engineering. Her local startup, De Oro Devices, is getting ready to release a device that provides audio and visual prompts to help Parkinsons patients overcome immobility issues. The emergence of tech correlates to a higher number of Cal Poly graduates landing jobs in the area: In 2013, fewer than 14% of grads found employment locally; in 2018 the portion rose to almost 19%, according to the survey data from Cal Poly Career Services. There is definitely a movement of people wanting to stay local, Collin says. The impact of tech firms expanding in San Luis Obispo has created an economic boom but also presented challenges for the local community. The downtown that Mayor Harmon claimed Amazon was going to destroy appears to be thriving. The biggest story for us is the influx of tech and startups, says Therese Cron, regional leasing director of the SLO Collection, the citys largest retail real estate developer. The company leases 28 downtown shops, including national brands like Apple and Lululemon that are popular with young professionals. The vitality of downtown is the reason Piazza Hospitality is building the 78-room Hotel San Luis Obispo in the city center, says Piazza President Circe Sher. Tech in SLO 50% increase in San Luis Obispo tech employment from 6,572 workers in 2013 to 9,852 in 2018. 8% of San Luis Obispos workforce of 122,800 work in tech. $640K median home price in San Luis Obispo County in 2018. It was $549,000 in 2015. Read More The local airport recently completed a $40 million terminal project to accommodate the growing business community. Amazons support was a factor in convincing Alaska Airlines to begin daily flights from Seattle in 2017, says San Luis County Regional Airport Director Kevin Bumen. The tables have completely turned from 10 years ago, when just a few turbojet routes served tourists to the area, he says. Passenger volume has doubled in the past three years, with more than 500,000 annual travelers, 60% of those coming for business. As we introduce the destination to business travelers they are more likely to stay longer or return on leisure trips, says Chuck Davison, CEO of Visit SLO CAL, the local tourism bureau. However, the rapid job growth has put a crunch on housing availability and affordability. The median home price in San Luis Obispo Country rose from $549,000 in 2015 to $640,000 in 2018, according to the California Association of Realtors. The county ranks as the seventh least-affordable housing market in the U.S., with only 14 percent of median-income families able to afford homes, according to the National Association of Home Builders. (San Francisco County is ranked as the least affordable with a median home price of $1.5 million.) SLOs future growth prospects are severely limited due to a constrained supply in housing, says Robert Kleinhenz, executive director of research at research and consulting firm Beacon Economics. Rising costs have been a factor in driving some businesses away. In the past year, Lockheed Martin, photography equipment manufacturer Really Right Stuff and gun manufacturer Weatherby all closed local operations and relocated out of state. We love beautiful San Luis Obispo, but our employees cant afford to buy homes, Really Right Stuff CEO Joseph Johnson told the San Luis Obispo Tribune in 2018. Even for tech workers, the rental market can be challenging. Haley Pavone, Cal Poly class of 2019, is on target to raise $1.25 million for her fashion-tech startup, Pashion Footwear. But she found it hard to find an affordable apartment. I love San Luis Obispo, but my one complaint is how expensive it is to live here, Pavone says. Rents are extremely high, especially for new graduates. Last month, recognizing the housing inequity, the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors passed an ordinance estimated to generate $1 million per year for affordable homes. The rule requires new housing developers to either make 8 percent of their units affordable or pay fees to a fund that supports local affordable housing nonprofits. The countys Economic Vitality Corporation, a partnership between government and local businesses, has been leading other affordable housing initiatives, including streamlined and reduced permitting requirements, a tiny houses initiative to allow habitation of smaller dwellings, and incentives for groups to provide agricultural worker housing. Its important for everyone to take the long view, says Mindbody CEO Stollmeyer. We need housing, we need roads, and we need to figure out how to fund them. There basically arent any desirable places to live along the coast that are cheap, from pretty much the Mexican border to the Canadian border, Stollmeyer adds. In the midst of the upheaval, Amazon appears to be in San Luis Obispo for the long haul. The company is currently hiring for an additional 23 jobs in San Luis Obispo, primarily in software engineering, according to its corporate website. Amazon is also expanding its partnership with Cal Poly. In 2017, the retailer and university co-launched a Digital Transformation Hub to research cloud-based solutions for the public sector. In 2018, Amazon donated $80,000 to the Cal Poly Scholarship fund for low-income engineering students and volunteered staff to teach programming skills to local high school students. As the next wave of technical graduates and local tech companies grows, civic leaders in San Luis Obispo face the challenge endemic in Californias tech expansion: how to balance quality of life and job creation. People move here and stay because its a charming place to live, Tod Nelson, executive director of Cal Polys CIE. Companies like Amazon are hiring for great head-of-household jobs, but we have to make development sustainable. Bill Fink is a freelance writer in Oakland. Email: [email protected] | https://www.sfchronicle.com/travel/article/Can-SLO-life-survive-when-tech-comes-to-13892359.php |
What does "best if used by" on packaged food really mean? | The U.S. wastes $161 billion in food each year, some of that due to consumer confusion over packaging labels. The FDA is backing a uniform label to show when a product's quality might start to fade. Regulators say the move would curtail misunderstandings that lead to 20% of household food waste. When it comes to labels on food, there's no agreed upon wording to let consumers know when to toss packaged grocery items. Public confusion over how long they can keep and safely eat products is part of the reason Americans throw away roughly a third of their food -- about $161 billion worth -- each year. Compounding the uncertainty for consumers about when to toss food is the array of descriptions producers use to signal a product's shelf life. Those include "use by," "sell by," "freeze by," "best if used before" and "expires on," leaving the public unclear on the safety of products and causing lots of perfectly fine food to get tossed. The current excessive waste is akin to a shopper buying three bags full of groceries, only to throw one of the bags in the garbage before heading home. "That's in essence what food waste looks like every day across of country," Frank Yiannas, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's deputy commissioner for food policy and response, said in a statement. Agreeing on a phrase Looking to stem the tide of still-edible food that ends of in landfills, the FDA is backing a voluntary industry effort to standardize the "best if used by" wording on packaged food, saying it should curb consumer confusion thought to contribute to about 20% of food wasted in U.S. homes. The agency cited consumer research that found "best if used by" most effectively communicates the message the agency wants to relay -- that while the product's quality is optimal up to the specified date, the item is still safe to eat after that time so long as it's properly stored. "We expect that over time, the number of various date labels will be reduced as industry aligns on this 'Best if Used By' terminology," Yiannas said. "This change is already being adopted by many food producers." Still, the FDA's guidance may not go far in clearing up the public's misunderstanding about labels, observers said. For one, the labeling only applies to food quality, not its safety. "The change is overrated because it is still confusing to consumers and could easily imply that if something is not 'best' it is not safe, especially given the constant stories in the media about contaminated food causing illness and death," Rena Steinzor, a food safety expert and University of Maryland law professor, said in an email. Mark Swanson, CEO of Birko, a food sanitation company, called the agency's move "a good first step." However, "without proper education, there will still be confusion around food safety beyond the 'best by' date," he added. The FDA announcement is a "win for consumers, according to Geoff Freeman, president and CEO of the Grocery Manufacturers Association, said Thursday in a statement. A December 2018 survey conducted by GMA found 85% of Americans found simplified date labels to be helpful, the GMA said. The GMA and the Food Marketing Institute in January 2017 recommended making the phrase uniform, along with use of the "use by" phrase to indicate when food should no longer be eaten for safety reasons. In a letter to the food industry, the FDA said it would not address the latter phrase "at this time." Predicting when food is past its prime is an inexact science, according to Kevin Smith, senior advisor for food safety in the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. He said consumers should regularly examine food in their kitchen cabinets or pantries that have passed their "best if used by" dates, and throw out if they've noticeably changed in color, consistency or texture. "Food is much safer than it was a few decades ago, largely because of refrigeration and dramatically improved manufacturing processes. But to really address the problem with food waste, the FDA should tell people something more meaningful than open it, look at it, smell it, and if it seems OK, eat away, otherwise, toss," Steinzor added. The FDA should instead define when foods become risky to eat based on shelf life and require those dates be disclosed, she said. | https://www.cbsnews.com/news/what-does-best-if-used-by-on-packaged-food-really-mean/ |
Will the Coca-Cola 600 end Alex Bowmans runner-up streak? | NASCARs Alex Bowman is focused on beating his competitors Hendrick Motorsports' Alex Bowman says he likes to keep to himself and is more concerned in beating the other younger NASCAR drivers than being their friend. Up Next SHARE COPY LINK Hendrick Motorsports' Alex Bowman says he likes to keep to himself and is more concerned in beating the other younger NASCAR drivers than being their friend. Alex Bowman is the first NASCAR driver in almost 50 years to finish second in three consecutive races while still hunting for his win. No one in the modern era of NASCAR, which dates back to 1972, has done what Bowman has done before getting his first checkered flag. At Talladega, he trailed teammate Chase Elliott during a caution flag finish. That was his career-best result, topping his third-place finish at Pocono 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 At Dover, Bowman ran second again to Martin Truex Jr. when Truex pulled ahead with a run-away win. At Kansas two weeks ago, Brad Keselowski pulled ahead of Bowman with 10 laps to go and held the young driver off in an overtime finish. No wins, but Bowman draws satisfaction from the trio of near-misses at widely different tracks. It kind of validates all of the hard work everybodys been putting in, Bowman said. I feel like we have some momentum behind us now and can continue that. Rick Hendrick, Bowmans racing team owner says Bowman is getting close to his break-through win. I wasnt there at Kansas, but I was holding my breath. Golly, that was so close, Hendrick said. Youre frustrated at the time, but the next day or two, you say, Hey, weve done this now three times in a row. You know its coming. Hendrick Motorsports has two young drivers coming into the Coca-Cola 600 riding a draft of momentum Bowman and William Byron. On Thursday, Byron, a 21-year-old Charlotte native, became the youngest pole winner ever for the Coca-Cola 600. Its hard not to think one of the two could win during Sundays race. Finishing second in three consecutive races has happened 14 times since 1972; the last time was in 2017 when Kyle Larson finished second at Atlanta, Las Vegas and Phoenix. Hall of Famers Darrell Waltrip (1978 and 1983) and Jeff Gordon (1998 and 1999) are the only two to achieve the feat multiple seasons. Both drivers, as well as others like Richard Petty and Larson, ended their runner-up streak with wins. In 1975, Petty won the summer race at Daytona before three consecutive second-place finishes at Nashville, Pocono and Talladega. He then won at Michigan. Waltrips four-race streak of placing second happened in 1983 before ending with a win at Bristol. As for Gordon, he capped his runner-up streak at Dover, Michigan and Pocono before winning at Sonoma. Growing up, Gordon was one of Bowmans biggest role models. Its because of Gordon that Bowman, 26, got into racing. My dad was a big race fan and he was a big Jeff Gordon fan, Bowman said. Jeff Gordon started racing quarter midgets, which are kind of like go karts, and my dad knew that. One day he showed up at home with a quarter midget, and it kind of took off from there. Gordon had his first career win with Hendrick Motorsports in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in 1994. With how closely Bowman, who also drives for Hendrick, mirrors Gordon, as well as other NASCAR greats, the question remains if the Coca-Cola 600 will be his chance to end his runner-up streak. Now Bowman gets his chance. The Tucson, Ariz., native got his first Xfinity Series win here in 2017. Bowman will start 13th in Sundays race. During Thursdays qualifying, his matte blue No. 88 car zipped around Charlotte Motor Speedway. Stars and stripes flow from the front of the car to the back. The name of Chief Petty Officer Jon JT Tumilson, one of those dozens killed in the infamous Extortion 17 attack in 2011, was written above the passengers side window, part of NASCARs 600 Miles of Remembrance program. Even though hell start the race several rows back, Bowman believes his first win remains in reach. Its a really long night, Bowman said, but hopefully looking forward to having a really good race car and being up front. | https://www.charlotteobserver.com/sports/nascar-auto-racing/article230758299.html |
What's next for Brexit as Theresa May resigns? | BRUSSELS On one side of the English Channel, supporters see it as the greatest peace project the world has ever known. But seen from that sceptered isle drifting scarcely 20 miles out at sea, the European Union looks more like a political assassin, one with a particularly rapacious appetite for British prime ministers. The E.U. claimed its fourth victim in the past three decades on Friday, as a choked-up Theresa May acknowledged that her attempt to get Britain out of the bloc with her career intact had failed. Three of her predecessors have also been evicted from Downing Street while trying to crack the code of Europe. Now Mays successor will attempt to avoid the same fate. And analysts say that to do so, he or she may have little choice but to steer Britain toward what was once seen as a remote possibility but is increasingly viewed as a live prospect: a chaotic departure from the E.U. with no agreement on what comes next. A no-deal Brexit has become significantly more likely, said Steven Fielding, politics professor at the University of Nottingham. Whoever follows May will be faced with an existential threat. Theyll think, If I dont deliver Brexit, Im finished. A hard Brexit seems like a reality that is almost impossible to avoid If Britain does jump into the post-E.U. world without a net, the impact would shake Britains economy with ripples and perhaps waves, far beyond its shores. May had sought to avoid that outcome, pressing the countrys fractious Parliament to pass the compromise she struck with her continental peers. But that deal was voted down three times and May resigned rather than face the indignity of a fourth defeat. With E.U. leaders insisting there will be no new negotiation, it is not clear how Mays successor can follow through on Brexit other than to depart without a deal on Halloween, the next in a series of deadlines since Britains vote to exit nearly three years ago. Boris Johnson, the former foreign secretary and front-runner to succeed May, highlighted the possibility on Friday, telling an economics conference in Switzerland that his country would leave the E.U. on Oct. 31, deal or no deal. Of course, that could be a bluff. Johnson acknowledged as much, adding that the way to get a good deal is to prepare for a no deal. Its possible, some analysts believe, that Johnson or whoever takes power in London could be confronted with the same painful Brexit education May has undergone. That, they say, could lead to yet more uncertainty and requests for extensions. But across Europe on Friday, Mays resignation brought a recognition that a no-deal scenario may be the only way out. A hard Brexit seems like a reality that is almost impossible to avoid, said a spokeswoman for the Spanish government, Isabel Celaa. There are some in London who think they can negotiate another deal, said Rosa Balfour, senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund. Thats not going to happen. Theyve already got the best deal theyre going to get. The red lines will not change. May found that out the hard way, repeatedly pressing her European counterparts to give her more so she could sell Parliament on the deal and end the impasse that has left Britain stuck in the nether-region between E.U. membership and life on the outside. Her downfall follows that of David Cameron, John Major and Margaret Thatcher, all of whom found themselves unable to unite the country and, perhaps most critical, their party behind a common position on Europe. The Conservative Party has been almost fatally divided on this issue since the 1980s, Fielding said. Successive party leaders have struggled to manage the divisions, and all of them have failed. The Conservative Partys problem has now become the British problem. Conservatives will choose a new leader and a new prime minister over the next two months. Whoever wins the job will face the most daunting challenge yet in holding the party together. An expected drubbing in European Parliamentary elections at the hands of the Nigel Farage-led Brexit Party, which did not exist several months ago, will underline just how close the Conservatives are to cracking up, Fielding said. And it will likely embolden those on the right of the party who are pushing for an exit at any cost. Little will be clear before late October, Europeans expect, since they dont think British lawmakers will make any difficult decisions without a deadline to sharpen their minds. European policymakers love to loathe the list of ardent Brexiteers now aiming to succeed May at 10 Downing Street. They reserve particular disdain for Johnson, whom they remember from his days whipping up hostility toward the E.U. as a Brussels-based correspondent for the Daily Telegraph. Johnson and his fellow Brexiteers have spent three years advocating negotiating positions that are unrealistic given European demands and pressures, Brussels diplomats say. The way to get a good deal is to prepare for a no deal There are some European leaders notably French President Emmanuel Macron who long to pull the ripcord at the end of October and cast Britain away so that they can move on with their own plans. But for now, European diplomats expect that an extension in October would be granted, following the same logic as an emergency meeting of E.U. leaders last month. Its probably worse for the European Union to have Britain depart in an uncontrolled fashion than to extend the uncertainty, they say. European leaders have offered no additional concessions to Britain, despite Mays struggle to pass the divorce deal, because they see the agreement less as a negotiation than as the only answer to a math problem. Add up Britains red lines and what results is the current divorce deal, as unpopular as it is, policymakers in Brussels say. The only way to change the deal is to take away some of the red lines, such as a desire not to have a customs barrier between Northern Ireland and the rest of Great Britain. That wont change with Mays successor. Even a no-deal Brexit wouldnt end the drama. The conversation the next day between London and Brussels would be the same. They still need to find a solution to keep open the border between Northern Ireland and Ireland to avoid sparking a new conflict. They have to agree on a way for British citizens to continue to live and work in the E.U., and vice versa. And the E.U. will still want Britain to live up to its financial commitments in the E.U. budget it agreed to before it decided to depart the bloc. Citizens, peace on the island of Ireland and money, one senior European diplomat warned last month, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive negotiations. If there is a no-deal departure, the diplomat said, every term in the withdrawal agreement will still be discussed with the U.K. | https://nationalpost.com/news/world/whats-next-for-brexit-with-theresa-may-resigning |
What happens next with Brexit, now that Theresa May is resigning? | On one side of the English Channel, supporters see it as the greatest peace project the world has ever known. But seen from that sceptered isle drifting scarcely 32km out at sea, the European Union looks more like a political assassin, one with a particularly rapacious appetite for British prime ministers. The EU claimed its fourth victim in the past three decades on Friday, as a choked-up Theresa May acknowledged that her attempt to get Britain out of the bloc with her career intact had failed. Three of her predecessors have also been evicted from Downing Street while trying to crack the code of Europe. Now May's successor will attempt to avoid the same fate. And analysts say that to do so, he or she may have little choice but to steer Britain toward what was once seen as a remote possibility but is increasingly viewed as a live prospect: a chaotic departure from the EU with no agreement on what comes next. Advertisement "A no-deal Brexit has become significantly more likely," said Steven Fielding, politics professor at the University of Nottingham. "Whoever follows May will be faced with an existential threat. They'll think, 'If I don't deliver Brexit, I'm finished.'" If Britain does jump into the post-EU world without a net, the impact would shake Britain's economy - with ripples, and perhaps waves, far beyond its shores. May had sought to avoid that outcome, pressing the country's fractious Parliament to pass the compromise she struck with her continental peers. But that deal was voted down three times, and May resigned rather than face the indignity of a fourth defeat. With EU leaders insisting there will be no new negotiation, it is not clear how May's successor can follow through on Brexit other than to depart without a deal on Halloween, the next in a series of deadlines since Britain's vote to exit nearly three years ago. Almost three years after taking office, British Prime Minister Theresa May announced she would step down as Conservative Party leader on June 7, before Britain leaves the European Union. Boris Johnson, the former foreign secretary and front-runner to succeed May, highlighted the possibility on Friday, telling an economics conference in Switzerland that his country would "leave the EU on 31 October, deal or no deal." Of course, that could be a bluff. Johnson acknowledged as much, adding that "the way to get a good deal is to prepare for a no deal." It's possible, some analysts believe, that Johnson - or whoever takes power in London - could be confronted with the same painful Brexit education May has undergone. That, they say, could lead to yet more uncertainty and requests for extensions. But across Europe on Friday, May's resignation brought a recognition that a no-deal scenario may be the only way out. "A hard Brexit seems like a reality that is almost impossible to avoid," said a spokeswoman for the Spanish government, Isabel Celaa. "There are some in London who think they can negotiate another deal," said Rosa Balfour, senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund. "That's not going to happen. They've already got the best deal they're going to get. The red lines will not change." Theresa May resigned rather than face the indignity of a fourth defeat of her Brexit plan. Photo / AP May found that out the hard way, repeatedly pressing her European counterparts to give her more so she could sell Parliament on the deal and end the impasse that has left Britain stuck in the nether-region between E.U. membership and life on the outside. Her downfall follows that of David Cameron, John Major and Margaret Thatcher, all of whom found themselves unable to unite the country - and, perhaps most critical, their party - behind a common position on Europe. "The Conservative Party has been almost fatally divided on this issue since the 1980s," Fielding said. "Successive party leaders have struggled to manage the divisions, and all of them have failed. The Conservative Party's problem has now become the British problem." Conservatives will choose a new leader - and a new prime minister - over the next two months. Whoever wins the job will face the most daunting challenge yet in holding the party together. An expected drubbing in European Parliamentary elections at the hands of the Nigel Farage-led Brexit Party, which did not exist several months ago, will underline just how close the Conservatives are to cracking up, Fielding said. And it will likely embolden those on the right of the party who are pushing for an exit at any cost. Little will be clear before late October, Europeans expect, since they don't think British lawmakers will make any difficult decisions without a deadline to sharpen their minds. European policymakers love to loathe the list of ardent Brexiteers now aiming to succeed May at 10 Downing Street. They reserve particular disdain for Johnson, whom they remember from his days whipping up hostility toward the E.U. as a Brussels-based correspondent for the Daily Telegraph. Johnson and his fellow Brexiteers have spent three years advocating negotiating positions that are unrealistic given European demands and pressures, Brussels diplomats say. There are some European leaders - notably French President Emmanuel Macron - who long to pull the ripcord at the end of October and cast Britain away so that they can move on with their own plans. But for now, European diplomats expect that an extension in October would be granted, following the same logic as an emergency meeting of E.U. leaders last month. It's probably worse for the European Union to have Britain depart in an uncontrolled fashion than to extend the uncertainty, they say. Conservatives will choose a new leader - and a new prime minister to occupy 10 Downing St - over the next two months. Photo / AP European leaders have offered no additional concessions to Britain, despite May's struggle to pass the divorce deal, because they see the agreement less as a negotiation than as the only answer to a math problem. Add up Britain's red lines and what results is the current divorce deal, as unpopular as it is, policymakers in Brussels say. The only way to change the deal is to take away some of the red lines, such as a desire not to have a customs barrier between Northern Ireland and the rest of Great Britain. That won't change with May's successor. Even a no-deal Brexit wouldn't end the drama. The conversation the next day between London and Brussels would be the same. They still need to find a solution to keep open the border between Northern Ireland and Ireland to avoid sparking a new conflict. They have to agree on a way for British citizens to continue to live and work in the EU, and vice versa. And the E.U. will still want Britain to live up to its financial commitments in the EU budget it agreed to before it decided to depart the bloc. "Citizens, peace on the island of Ireland and money," one senior European diplomat warned last month, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive negotiations. If there is a no-deal departure, the diplomat said, "every term in the withdrawal agreement will still be discussed with the UK" | https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=12234297 |
Is America Ready to Make Reparations? | Late in the Civil War, the Union general William T. Sherman confiscated four hundred thousand acres of land from Confederate planters and ordered it redistributed, in forty-acre lots, to formerly enslaved peoplea promise revoked by President Andrew Johnson almost as soon as it was made. More than a hundred and fifty years later, the debate on what America owes to the descendants of slaves, or to people robbed by the legal discrimination that followed, still rages. David Remnick talks with Ta-Nehisi Coates and Susan B. Glasser about how reparations has become a major focus in the 2020 Democratic primary contest. And well visit Georgetown University, where students have chosen to take reparations upon themselves. Ta-Nehisi Coates Revisits the Case for Reparations The writer set out to make America stop laughing at jokes about reparations. Five years later, Presidential candidates are taking his research very seriously. Come on and Bring on the Reparations Sekou Sundiatas poem, read for us by Carl Hancock Rux, addresses the debts that white culture and society owe to African-Americans. Reparations and the #Resistance After decades on the fringes, the debate around reparations has moved into the political mainstream, with eight Presidential candidates interested. At Georgetown, Students Vote to Pay Reparations for the Universitys History with Slavery In 1838, Georgetown administrators sold nearly three hundred enslaved people to sugarcane plantations to help fund the college. In 2019, students voted to pay reparations to their descendants. Three prominent scholars discuss how reparations would work, and address a controversy over who would be eligible. | https://www.newyorker.com/podcast/the-new-yorker-radio-hour/is-america-ready-to-make-reparations |
Did a Shasta woman kidnap two Ohio children, or rescue them? | Boys Town, Nebraska, in 1994. The FBI has arrested a Shasta woman on charges of kidnapping two children last year one from the campus of Boys Town giving them new names and taking them to live in her Northern California home. AP file The FBI has arrested a Shasta woman on charges of kidnapping two children last year one from the campus of Father Flanagans Boys Town in Nebraska giving them new names and taking them to live in her Northern California home. The suspect, Sylvia Clara Simonsen, 57, made a brief appearance in federal court in Sacramento Friday afternoon and was ordered held in Sacramento County Main Jail pending a preliminary hearing set for June 7. A criminal complaint and affidavit filed in court describe a bizarre sequence of events in which Simonsen allegedly kidnapped the children, possibly because she believed she was rescuing them from abuse. I know she didnt kidnap anybody, her sister, Sue, said after court. It was just rescue. She saved them. Unlimited Digital Access: Only $0.99 For Your First Month Get full access to The Sacramento Bee content across all your devices. SAVE NOW Simonsens sister said she did not want to discuss the case in detail for fear of causing difficulty with her sisters defense, and she declined to talk about a typewritten manuscript the FBI says was found at Simonsens home that described a young woman being sexually abused in Illuminati ritual ceremonies at the ages of three, six, nine, twelve and fifteen years old. The manuscript also describes how the girl, named Sylvia Clara Amanda Simonsen Solheim and referred to as Amanda, managed to rescue 158 people in 41 years. It is unclear how much of the narrative is fiction versus fact, but the narrative was found in Simonsens bedroom, court documents say. Agents also found a sweatshirt in Simonsens closet bearing the words, Mothers of Lost Children in large bold font. Court documents say Simonsen traveled to Iowa, sometime last year and picked up a boy identified in court papers as P.O. at a motel after being told the boy was being abused by his father. Simonsen told an FBI agent after her arrest that she had been told about the abuse by a Davis woman she identified as Connie Valentine, court papers say. Valentine is listed as a co-founder of the California Protective Parents Association, which says on its website that it was created to ensure there would be an end to abuse in our family courts and children could be safe at home. Valentine could not be reached Friday. A phone number listed for her in Davis is out of service, and no one responded to a message sent through the CPPAs Facebook page. But the court documents say Valentine arranged the place at which Simonsen would pick up P.O. and Simonsen drove from California to Council Bluffs, Iowa, to meet P.O. at a Motel 6. Simonsen renamed the boy Josh and took him back to her Shasta home, court documents say, where she told people he was Valentines grandson. At the time of his disappearance, he and his sister had been ordered by a Ohio judge to go live at the Boys Town complex in Nebraska for treatment because of the harm the juveniles parents had inflicted on them over a period of years, court documents say. The boy was missing by the time of that September 2018 order, court papers say, but the girl was sent to live near Omaha, Nebraska. The girl, identified in court papers as C.O., then vanished from Boys Town in October; court papers say Simonsen told the FBI she went to the campus, found the girl there wearing a name tag with her real name and got close enough to whisper, I know your brother. She convinced the girl to follow her out to her car, where she asked if she wanted to go see her brother, and the girl agreed, court papers say. The two children ended up at Simonsens home, where she called them Joshua or JP and Sarah, and listed their names on a chore chart that was posted on a wall in the home, court papers say. Authorities in Nebraska continued their search for the children and posters of them were placed on the website of the National Center for Missing and Endangered Children. In February, law enforcement got a tip that the two children were living with Simonsen at her Benson Drive home in Shasta, court documents say. Authorities converged on the home the next day, but the children were not there, although authorities found evidence they had been, court papers say. Agents interviewed Simonsens sister in March and got a cell phone number for Simonsen, court papers say. Her sister, Sue, also told agents Simonsen had visited her for about a week with two children matching the description of the missing siblings. By late April, agents had received court permission to begin tracking her cellphone and located it near Williams, Arizona, court papers say. Two days later, on May 1, they tracked it to a Super 8 Hotel in Quartzsite, Ariz., and found Simonsen, the children and some other adults in Room 127, court papers say. Simonsen agreed to talk to the FBI without an attorney, according to the documents, and indicated that she did not consider her actions to be kidnapping because she felt that kidnapping involved people taking children in order to harm them. Simonsen stated that she knew what she did was illegal, but did not consider it harmful, the documents say. Simonsen is not a parent to P.O. and C.O. and the FBI believes she is not a blood or legal relative of any kind to them, court papers say. The documents add that Simonsen told the FBI that she traveled across multiple states to pick up both minors, returned with them to California, and then went on the run across state lines to avoid law enforcement detection, knowing that the FBI was looking for her. Simonsen now faces a kidnapping charge that could net her 20 years to life in prison. Correction: Due to an editing error, a previous version of the storys headline said Simonsen was accused of abuse. Simonsen is charged with kidnapping the children, but not with abuse. | https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/crime/article230810514.html |
How Did NetApp Fare In Q4, And What Can We Expect From Fiscal 2020? | 2016 Bloomberg Finance LP NetApp (NASDAQ: NTAP) recently reported its Q4 fiscal 2019 results, which were slightly below our estimates. This note details the companys Q4 performance, and Trefis forecasts for the full fiscal 2020. In addition, you can see more of our data for Information Technology companies here. NetApps total revenues declined 3% to $1.59 billion in Q4 fiscal 2019. This can partly be attributed to currency headwinds, and lower maintenance renewals. The companys revenue has largely trended higher in the recent quarters from $1.47 billion in Q1 fiscal 2019 to $1.59 billion in Q4 fiscal 2019. Adjusted earnings per share grew 9% from $1.12 in Q4 fiscal 2018 to $1.22 in Q4 fiscal 2019. The growth in earnings can be attributed to a slight improvement in margins, and lower share count, partly offset by lower revenues. NetApps revenues have declined at an average rate of 0.4% over the last four quarters. This has been better performance when compared to its peers. Seagates revenue declined at an average rate of 4.3% over the last four quarters. Western Digitals revenue declined at an average of 7.4% over the last four quarters. The decline in Western Digital has been higher given its exposure to flash-based products, which has seen massive price declines over the past few quarters, while NetApp has benefited from the transition to flash-based storage. NetApp generates its revenues from storage solutions and related products and services. The company reports its revenue under three segments ~ Product, Software Maintenance, and Services. Product segment includes revenues generated from NetApps storage-based hardware and related software sales. The segment accounted for a little under 60% of the companys total revenues in fiscal 2018. Software Maintenance refers to product upgrades, enhancements, and technical support for customers. The segment contributed 16% to the companys top line in the previous fiscal. NetApps services revenue refers to revenues earned from maintenance of hardware sold. It also includes revenues from professional services, and training. This is a recurring revenue stream, and it can be linked to the companys installed base. NetApps total revenues will likely grow 5.4% to $6.48 billion in fiscal 2020. This growth should primarily be led by the Products segment, which should benefit from the transition to all-flash arrays. The segment revenues could grow in high single-digits in 2020 to $4.0 billion. However, the global server market could see a slowdown in 2019, given the expected launch of new processors in the near term. This could impact the overall sales growth in the near term. Software maintenance could also see mid-single-digit growth, benefiting from overall growth in the companys installed base. The companys sale of add-on software and infrastructure solutions products could further aid the revenue growth. However, the sales growth could be impacted by slowdown in demand from China, and ongoing trade tensions between the U.S. and China. Services segment could see modest decline to $1.43 billion in fiscal 2020, due to lower maintenance renewals. Services revenues can be linked to the companys installed base, which could be impacted by the overall demand outlook in the near term, primarily on the enterprise side. NetApps full fiscal 2020 earnings will likely be $5.05 per share on an adjusted basis, reflecting 12% growth over the prior fiscal. Earnings growth can be attributed to higher revenues and lower share count. The company has guided for a slight growth in margins. Average consensus earnings for fiscal 2020 ~ $5.01. Our price estimate of $81 for NetApp is based on a 16x price to earnings multiple, and earnings of $5.05 per share in fiscal 2020. The multiple for NetApps valuation is higher than that of Western Digital and Seagate, given the impact of NAND pricing has been favorable for NetApp. Explore example interactive dashboards and create your own. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2019/05/24/how-did-netapp-fare-in-q4-and-what-can-we-expect-from-fiscal-2020/ |
What Is Intel's Fair Price Estimate Based On Expected 2019 Earnings? | Intels (NASDAQ:INTC) stock price has seen close to A 25% decline over the last month or so. This can be attributed to revised lower guidance for the full year post Q1 results, and the companys exit from 5G smartphone modems. However, the stock price seems to have some room for further growth, in our view. This note details Trefis forecasts for Intel for the fiscal 2019. ~ for more details on the expected performance of the company. In addition, you can see more of our data for information technology companies here. Intel generates its revenues primarily from four segments: Client Computing, Data Center, Internet of Things, and All Others. Client Computing Group includes revenue from processors and platform products designed for use in notebooks, desktops, tablets, phones, and other mobile communication products. The segment revenues of $37 billion in 2018 accounted for 52% of the companys total sales. Data Center Group includes sales of processors and chipsets designed for the enterprise, cloud, communications infrastructure, and technical computing segments. The segment generated $23 billion in sales in 2018, accounting for 33% of the companys total revenues. Internet of Things includes revenue that Intel earns from the sale of platforms designed for embedded applications for medical, automotive, industrial, retail, and other market segments; as well as software-optimized products for the embedded and mobile market segments. It also includes small low-power chips that are used in wearable devices and a range of consumer and industrial products. The segment revenues of $3.4 billion contributed 5% to the companys top line. All Other Revenue includes revenue from software products for endpoint security, network and content security, risk and compliance, and software products and services that promote Intel architecture as the platform of choice for software development. The division also includes results of operations from Intels reported segments including Non-Volatile Memory Solutions Group, Programmable Solutions, and All Others. The segment revenues of $7.4 billion in 2018 accounted for 10% of the companys total revenues. Total Revenues for Intel have largely trended higher over recent quarters. Revenues grew from $17.1 billion in Q4 2017 to $18.7 billion in Q4 2018. However, they declined to $16.1 billion in Q1 2019, due to lower enterprise sales. Intels revenues have declined at an average of 0.8% from $17.05 billion in Q4 2017 to $16.06 billion in Q1 2019. Intels decline rate was lower than that of Nvidia, but slightly more than that for AMD. AMDs revenues have declined at an average of 0.2% from $1.34 billion in Q4 2017 to $1.27 billion in Q1 2019. Nvidias revenue declined at an average of 4.1% from $2.91 billion in Q4 fiscal 2018 to $2.22 billion in Q1 fiscal 2020. Intels revenues will likely decline 2.1% to $69.4 billion in 2019. Client Computing Group could see modest decline in sales due to a shortage of chips, as the company focuses on big core over small core chips. Even in Q1 the company saw high single-digit decline in volume for notebooks and desktops. However, that was offset by higher average selling prices. This trend could continue in the near term. Data Center Group could see mid-single-digit decline to $21.6 billion in 2019, as the overall server market could slow this year with expected launch of new processors in the near term. Note that the company is seeing continued growth in cloud business, which is being more than offset by weakness in enterprise sales. Internet of Things Group and All Others could see low single-digit growth, led by better pricing with favorable core mix. Weakness in demand from China and trade tensions between the U.S. and China could impact the overall sales growth for Intel. Note that China and Taiwan combined account for over 40% of the companys total sales. Intels full year 2019 earnings will likely be $4.40 per share, reflecting a 4% decline over 2018. Consensus earnings estimate ~ 4.29 Earnings decline can be attributed to lower revenues, and expected decline in margins, due to a ramp up in 10-nm chips, partly offset by a lower share count. Our price estimate of $51 for Intel is based on a 12x price to earnings multiple, and earnings of $4.40 per share in 2019. The multiple for Intel valuation is in line with the consensus for the overall sector. Explore example interactive dashboards and create your own. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2019/05/24/what-is-intels-fair-price-estimate-based-on-expected-2019-earnings/ |
What's Behind Scotch & Soda's Aggressive North American Expansion? | Courtesy/Nicole Minetti At a time when many retailers are closing up their storefronts amidst declining foot traffic and sluggish sales, Scotch & Soda is one of the few reversing that trend. The Amsterdam-based fashion brand, known for its wordly design sensibility and eclectic, seasonal styles, is in the midst of an aggressive retail expansion that will increase the company's footprint to 40 stores across North America. In April, two new locations opened up in New York City's Lower East Side and in Houston's Galleria. An Atlanta, GA location in Lenox Square is slated for a summer 2019 opening. At a time when companies are either shuttering all of its stores (Dressbarn) or closing down all its U.S. brick-and-mortar locations (Topshop), Scotch & Soda has carved out a unique space for itself in specialty retail when it comes to growing its store network. Part of that success in part owes to the brand's positioning as well as its relatively low-to-moderate awareness among customers in the U.S., which presents a huge opportunity. Scotch & Soda was founded in the Netherlands in 1985, beginning as a men's wholesale brand before relaunching in 2001 and later acquired by Kellwood in 2011. It's only recently been penetrating the U.S. market in the last four years or so when, in 2014, North American CEO Ari Hoffman was brought in to grow all aspects of the U.S. business across all categories, as well as to build its wholesale and retail network. The executive brings over 30 years of experience, with stints overseeing the U.S. businesses of Gant and Benneton. He was also at Yves Saint Laurent for 12 years. Courtesy/Nicole Minetti Currently, the retailer is positioned as a premium, contemporary brand with an Amsterdam-cool heritage and global sensibility. In addition to its direct-to-consumer business, Scotch & Soda is carried by several upscale retailers including Neiman Marcus, Bloomingdale's and Nordstrom, in addition to other specialty retailers. "Weve almost tripled the business in the last four years," says Hoffman. "Store count went from about 17-18 to about 40 now. All three channels have grown." Indeed, while the U.S. market represents about 20% of global revenue, Hoffman has been growing this region's sales through its omnichannel approach. As of now, about 50-55% of North American sales are generated through the stores, with 35% being wholesale and about 12% from e-commerce. But for a company who does the majority of its business in Europe, building that brand awareness stateside has been developing organically without splashing their name all over the place, according to Hoffman. "The key to our brand has been an organic reaction from customers to our history and store experiences," he explains. "We are not a generic brand. Our stores are experiences, and the reason weve gone heavily into our own retail is that our storefronts and stores are truly our best tools in terms of building brand awareness, and that has been historically a part of the brands strategy." One such aspect of that in-store experience happens right when you walk in thanks to the store's soothing scents. In addition, the stores are staffed by what Hoffman calls "stylists" as opposed to salespeople. Stores will hold events such as wine-tasting and bicycle contests in order for them to be gathering places for existing and potential new customers. "Our mission is that you want a customer to walk out happy," he says. "Its not just the visual aspect, its the entire experience." His stores are also strategically placed through a combination of street/neighborhood locations as well as malls. "The way I look at retail is its serving about the neighborhood," he continues. "It's not just about having to be in 5th Avenue because everyone is there. Our approach is very curated; we know our customers and try to understand where they live. Thats what drives our ambition and direction." Courtesy/Nicole Minetti Looking at multiple points of data has been a key pillar of deciding where to open stores. "The beauty of e-commerce is you can truly get very accurate information," he says, referring how they consider where customers are placing orders online when it comes to scouting potential new store locations. "We cross-reference e-commerce, our own brick and mortar stores (which tells us where our customer comes from), as well as some of our key wholesale partners, and we take that to determine a location. It's really a holistic approach." As for what's in store ahead, Hoffman says that as brand awareness increases, there is a huge potential for opening stores in secondary markets. (The brand's main markets are in big metropolitan cities like New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Miami.) There's also room for organic growth in product and category extensions. "We just launched shoes," he says. "We also have a new fragrance launch coming up. And thirdly, he looks forward to working with new partners in the subscription and digitally native models like Stitch Fix and Rent the Runway, which presents an excellent opportunity to acquire new customers. "Young people care about fashion more than ever," he adds. "There's a lot of excitement there. But it has to be completed or layered with real experiences." | https://www.forbes.com/sites/marioabad/2019/05/24/scotch-and-soda-stores-north-america-ari-hoffman/ |
Do 2020 Democratic hopefuls have an immigration agenda? | PROGRAMMING NOTE: Morning Shift will not publish on Monday May 27. Our next Morning Shift newsletter will publish on Tuesday May 28. Editor's Note: This edition of Morning Shift is published weekdays at 10 a.m. POLITICO Pro Employment & Immigration subscribers hold exclusive early access to the newsletter each morning at 6 a.m. To learn more about POLITICO Pro's comprehensive policy intelligence coverage, policy tools and services, click here. Unionized employees for SEIU reauthorized a strike. Lawmakers declined to add Trumps $4.5 billion request for additional border funding to a disaster relief package. GOOD MORNING! Its Friday, May 24, and this is Morning Shift, your daily tipsheet on labor and immigration news. Send tips, exclusives, and suggestions to [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], and [email protected]. Follow us on Twitter at @RebeccaARainey, @tedhesson, @IanKullgren, and @TimothyNoah1. : The top-tier Democratic presidential candidates have outlined scant specifics on how to revamp the nations immigration system, including responding to the thousands of Central American families arriving at the southern border each day seeking asylum, the millions of people in the country without authorization, and a legal immigration system criticized by applicants and businesses alike, Joshua Jamerson and Louise Radnofsky report for The Wall Street Journal. I think Democrats are losing an opportunity to speak to people who are literally and figuratively in the middle of the country, Ali Noorani, executive director of the National Immigration Forum, told the Journal. If you dont ask for a mandate, you dont get a mandate, and Trump has demanded a mandate to fix the immigration system in his vision. Instead, Jamerson and Radnofky write, Democrats have focused on drawing what they consider a contrast of values with Mr. Trumps immigration policies, such as the zero-tolerance policy that led to the separation of migrant families last year or the presidents calls for a southern border wall. More from the Journal here. Unions WARREN'S LEGAL WORK ONCE TICKED OFF TRUMKA: Sen. Elizabeth Warrens presidential campaign posted Wednesday on its website a list of 56 cases that Warren worked on during her legal career, describing the work as saving jobs by representing the interests of a company or advocating on behalf of victims, the Washington Posts Elise Viebeck and Annie Linskey report. But in one case, Warren worked to help a steel company battle a new law that required it to put aside millions of dollars to fund health care for retired coal miners. Although Warren maintained that she was supporting an important legal principle that would help workers receive aid sooner, Richard Trumka, then president of the United Mine Workers, and now president of the AFL-CIO, didnt agree. When it unravels, you will have roughly 200,000 miners and beneficiaries out there that will lose their health care, Trumka told Congress. Even so, Trumka campaigned for Warren when she first ran for Senate in 2012. More here. : On Thursday, Local 2 of the Office and Professional Employees International Union voted to reject managements latest contract offer and reauthorize a strike. Management in this instance is also a union: SEIU. According to OPEIU, SEIU is outsourcing work to non-union consultants and wont sign onto a job protection agreement for future employees. Local 2 has seen its membership of SEIU employees drop from 133 in 2009 to 55 today, OPEIU said in a press release. David Hoskins, an SEIU research staffer and Local 2 shop steward, said SEIU took a move straight out of the classic union-busters playbook, and its outrageous that SEIU management is diverting precious time and resources away from building the labor movement in this country. But SEIU says that staff from a separate employer, the SEIU National Industry Pension Fund, bargained jointly with Local 2, and that the pension fund workers voted to ratify that same contract offer. Despite our efforts to come to the best agreement with our OPEIU Local 2 unionized staff, there are situations when what we see as in the best interest of our members does not match certain demands made by unionized staff, SEIU spokeswoman Sahar Wali said. In a time of heightened attack, we are proud to have been able to offer our staff a contract with such robust provisions without demanding any major concessions on behalf of any current staff members. We absolutely respect OPEIU Local 2s right to reject this contract and to take collective action, including striking. A strike date has not yet been announced. Read a statement from the SEIU here and from the Local 2 here. Trade WHAT THE FED SAYS ABOUT INCOME AND TRADE: The economy is booming and unemployment is at a record low, but 39 percent of U.S. adults still say they wouldnt have $400 on hand to pay an unexpected expense, POLITICOs Victoria Guida reports. That response is nearly the same as last year, according to the latest annual survey from the Federal Reserve. (Neal Gabler, a well-known author of nonfiction books, wrote memorably in May 2016 that he belonged to the no-$400-on-hand group, which at the time constituted 49 percent of all U.S. adults.) Topline findings from the Fed survey were more favorable. A strong majority of the country believes theyre either doing OK or living comfortably 75 percent, a 12-point bump from 2013, Guida writes. And half of all employees said they received a raise or promotion in the prior year. But black adults were less likely to have seen a wage bump, regardless of their level of education, Guida reports. The central bank concluded that the labor market has room to grow further, despite the 50-year-low unemployment rate of 3.8 percent. That ought to please the president. But Trump wont be pleased, Morning Shift guesses, by new projections from researchers at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York that Trumps additional tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese imports will cost the typical American household an extra $831 yearly. That goes more than halfway to wiping out the estimated $1,200 that the average American family saved on its 2018 taxes under the December 2017 tax cut. Trump may meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the late June G20 summit in Japan to iron out the trade rift, though no formal plans have been set, according to POLITICOs Adam Behsudi. More from POLITICOs Doug Palmer here and from Guida here. At the Border NO BORDER MONEY IN DISASTER PACKAGE: Congressional leaders struck a last-minute deal with Trump Thursday to pass a multibillion disaster relief package that didnt include the presidents requested $4.5 billion to cover costs related to the border crisis, POLITICOs Marianne Levine, Burgess Everett and John Bresnahan report. The multi-billion dollar disaster aid bill, which will assist states devastated by wildfires, hurricanes, and flooding, comes after months of roadblocks, they write. The request for border spending nearly sank the bill as lawmakers prepared to head out of town for the Memorial Day recess. "I'm sure [Trump] wanted the humanitarian money, but we took it all out and we're going to try to push that separately when we come back, Senate Appropriations Chairman Richard Shelby said Thursday afternoon. We're sticking with disaster now. It has been months. We want to get the Senate moving today," Shelby said. More details on the package from POLITICOs Caitlin Emma here. That question is problematic and a significant issue in this case, U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden said during a hearing Thursday in Washington, D.C. McFadden said there were few cases to guide how courts should rule on a major test of the constitutional separation of powers, reported Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post, and pressed House general counsel Douglas Letter to point to historical precedent allowing one chamber of Congress to sue the president to settle political differences. The House lawsuit is one of seven challenging the presidents February emergency declaration, which, the Trump administration maintains, allows him to spend un-appropriated billions in drug interdiction and military construction funds to build the southern border wall without congressional approval--even though Congress quite deliberately chose not to fund the wall. (Congress later passed a resolution blocking Trumps emergency declaration, but Trump vetoed that, and the House couldnt muster sufficient votes to override.) At Thursdays hearing, McFadden said there were few cases to guide how courts should rule on a major test of the constitutional separation of powers, and pressed House general counsel Douglas Letter to point to historical precedent allowing one chamber of Congress to sue the president to settle political differences. McFadden didnt say when hed rule on the Houses request for a preliminary injunction to halt the spending while opposing lawyers duke it out in court. More from the Post here. On the Hill RETIREMENT SECURITY BILL PASSES HOUSE: House lawmakers on Thursday advanced overwhelmingly (417-3) a bill to expand participation in multiemployer pensions and to grant tax credits to small businesses with automatic pension enrollment, POLITICOs Ian Kullgren reports. The bill, H.R. 1994, would allow employers from different industries to start a plan together and let employees assets be transferred to a different plan if their employer fails to meet its obligations, rather than jeopardizing the plan as a whole. Prospects for Senate passage initially appeared favorable because the bill is backed by Finance Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa). By late afternoon, though, Sen. Ted Cruz (R.-Tex.) was suggesting he might block it unless certain language stripped from the bill before the House floor vote was put back in. The stripped language would allow tax-free 529 accounts, typically used to fund college tuition, to be spent on homeschooling and on K-12 classroom supplies. Before the Trump tax cut passed in December 2017, 529s could be used to pay only for college, but Cruz inserted into that bill an amendment extending their use to private school tuition. Something else that isnt in the pension bill is any provision to address the looming insolvency of large multiemployer pensions like the Teamsters' Central States Pension Fund and the United Mine Workers' Pensions & Retiree Health Care. Last year a bipartisan supercommittee tasked with solving this pending crisis failed to reach a bipartisan agreement. More from Kullgren here. More from POLITICOs Bernie Becker on Cruz possibly blocking the bill here. What We're Reading Dockworkers Show Us How Unions Can Be a Powerful Force Against Racism, from In These Times Far from border, US cities feel effect of migrant releases, from The Washington Post Controversial Settlement Divides New York Nurses, from In These Times 5 indicted in Wisconsin accused of forced immigrant labor, from The Associated Press Pentagon to Build Temporary Shelter for 7,500 Migrant Adults Facing Deportation, from The New York Times What are the business implications of labor peace agreements for the cannabis industry? from Marijuana Business Daily THATS ALL FOR MORNING SHIFT! Follow us on Twitter Tim Noah @timothynoah1 Rebecca Rainey @rebeccaarainey Ted Hesson @tedhesson Ian Kullgren @iankullgren | https://www.politico.com/newsletters/morning-shift/2019/05/24/do-2020-democratic-hopefuls-have-an-immigration-agenda-631937 |
What Does It Take To Sell To The New B2B Buyer? | By Rieva Lesonsky Its never been easy to sell to B2B buyers. Today, however, there are new challenges making it even more difficult. The number of people involved in B2B purchasing is rising, the B2B sales cycle is lengthening, and expectations for salespeople are increasing, just to name a few. I checked in with Demand Gen Reports latest B2B Buyers Survey to see what insights it offers on how to sell to B2B buyers. Heres what you need to know. More people are involved in the B2B buying process There are between one and six people involved in the purchase process at 79% of companies that were surveyed, and 44% have formal buying groups or committees that review purchases. When youre selling to a group, its harder to sell them on your product or service than it is with just one buyer. Monkey Business - Adobe Stock Realize that in any group, some peoples opinions matter more than others. Using social media, online research, and real-world connections, dig up as much inside information as you can about the people involved in the buying process. The more you can learn about each persons demographics (such as age, seniority, etc.) and psychology (challenges, attitudes, pain points), the more you can understand what they care about and what theyre looking for in terms of a solution. After identifying the most influential buyers in the group, get them on your side and they can persuade the rest of the team to buy your product or service. B2B sales cycles are getting longer It takes time to sell to B2B buyers, and some 61% of those in the survey say their sales cycle has gotten even longer since last year. No wonder: 45% are spending more time researching purchases than the previous year; 45% are using more sources to research and evaluate purchases (45%); and 41% are conducting a more detailed analysis of ROI before they make a purchasing decision. Your B2B buyers now do a lot of their initial research online before they ever reach out to a salesperson. To capture their attention at this stage, develop content tailored to each type of buyer and each phase of the sales cycle. B2B buyers in different roles care about different things; for example, a CFO will be worried about cost, while a CIO will focus on technology. Different people also have different preferences for consuming information. For instance, millennial buyers might want to see videos, while baby boomers might prefer white papers. Slow sales cycles dont eliminate the need for speed The B2B sales cycle may be longer than ever, but that doesnt mean you can rest on your laurels. B2B buyers say the bulk of the research, outreach, and evaluation involved in making a purchase occurs during the first three months of the sales cycle. In addition, 41% say their companies frequently accelerate purchases (or put them on hold) as a result of rapidly changing business priorities. Still, two-thirds of B2B buyers say the timeliness of a vendors response to inquiries is a key factor in where they buy. Even if your prospective customers are dragging their feet, you need to be on the spot with messaging and content tailored to each buyers needs, industry, and challenges. Other Articles From AllBusiness.com: Just like consumers, B2B buyers shop on social media Increasingly, B2B buyers are acting like consumers: When shopping for vendors and solutions, they look at peer recommendations and review sites (65%) and social media (54%) more than they used to. LinkedIn is the most influential social media channel, used by 52% of respondents; 42% use blogs to learn about solutions. B2B buyers use social media to read existing discussions and learn more about an issue, get recommendations and suggestions from other users, contact individual thought leaders for their opinions, and reach out to vendors directly. To get a competitive edge on social media, your salespeople should be proactive. Watch conversations, share ideas, and answer questions. Being helpful on social media without an agenda will show youre accessible and will build communication. Develop social media-specific content to share, such as online videos of customer success stories or roundups of your online reviews. Try these tips to get the most ROI from your B2B content marketing. To sell to B2B buyers, know what they want Nearly two-thirds (64%) of B2B buyers want vendors who demonstrate knowledge of their company and offer insights into their problems; 62% want salespeople to demonstrate experience with and knowledge of their industry. With so much information available online and on social media, theres no excuse for not coming to your B2B buyer encounters unprepared. Before you ever reach out to a prospect, do your homework and find out what they care about. Demonstrating that you have a firm grasp of their industry and their needs will show you can be a valuable ally, not just someone pitching a product. Be ready to hand B2B buyers the information they need B2B buyers can easily be overwhelmed with information when researching solutions. More than three-fourths say its very important for vendors to share relevant content that speaks directly to their needs. The following features are very important for B2B buyers visiting your website: Easy access to pricing and competitive information (67%) Website that speaks directly to the needs of our industry and shows expertise in our area (66%) Easy access to content (no long registration forms required) (64%) Vendor-focused content such as case studies and product data sheets (62%) Creating buyer personas can help you tailor your content to specific concerns. (Learn how to develop B2B buyer personas.) After B2B buyers actually make contact with your business, be there to guide them. Help them pinpoint what is important to them and offer possible solutions. Be prepared with case studies about businesses like theirs that benefited from your product or service, as well as specific demonstrations of ROI. Stay with your B2B buyer Today's B2B buyers think far beyond actually making the purchase. They want to feel confident that your business will be there for them after the sale. Be ready to demonstrate how your business will work with them as customers to ensure they succeed. By following the guidance in this post, you can give your business an edge in wooing the hard-to-get B2B buyer. I am CEO of GrowBiz Media, a media and custom content company focusing on small business and entrepreneurship. Email me at [email protected], follow me on Google+ and Twitter @Rieva, and visit my website SmallBizDaily.com to get the scoop on business trends and sign up for my free TrendCast reports. Read all of Rieva Lesonskys articles. RELATED: Tips to Make Your B2B Email Marketing More Effective This article was originally published on AllBusiness.com. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/allbusiness/2019/05/24/b2b-sales-tips/ |
Can Ethics Bots Help Companies Forge Useful Codes of Conduct? | stockstudioX by Michael Blanding When health insurer Cigna Corp. appeared in front of a judge for allegedly misleading shareholders on Medicare regulations this spring, plaintiffs thought they had a strong case. After all, Cigna had published its own document titled Code of Ethics and Principles of Conduct that specifically required employees to uphold all regulations and act with integrity in all that we do. When the panel of three judges took a look at the argument, however, they threw it out of court as irrelevant. We think the statements in Cignas Code of Ethics are a textbook example of puffery, the judges wrote. They are too general to cause a reasonable investor to rely upon them. Thats typical of the way that many people and even employees view codes of conduct, says Eugene F. Soltes, Jakurski Family Associate Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. In a recent case study about a novel ethics bot created by consulting company Accenture, Soltes argues that such codes can be worth quite a lot to companiesbut only if they go beyond generic platitudes to create a tool that employees can actually use. Author of the book Why They Do It: Inside the Mind of the White-Collar Criminal, Soltes has spent his career examining how and why individuals commit fraud. In research forthcoming in Harvard Business Review, he has found that many employees see misconduct by co-workers, but only 30 to 50 percent admit to reporting that misconduct. Codes of conduct that employees sign typically require employees to report violations when they observe them, so they are actually violating their ethics code by not reporting violations, Soltes says. Companies have good reason to try and change that. For starters, firms that have an effective compliance program to prevent fraud and abuse can receive substantial benefits from regulatory and enforcement agencies if something goes amiss. For example, showing that a firm took pains to educate employees on legal regulations can potentially reduce fines by up to 95 percent. Ideally, the code of ethics goes beyond just checking legal boxes for regulatory reasons to mitigate sanctions. Perhaps even more important in todays environment, you are also limiting reputational risk, Soltes says, pointing to negative news stories or error-filled posts on social media that can undermine a companys brand. There are many actions that employees can undertake that may not be illegal, but can cause enormous amounts of reputational damage. A good code can also help workers do their jobs better. Most employees want to follow the rules and do the right thing, but may not understand how to comply with rules. Its not just about the legal exercise, its about impacting peoples behavior and underlying firm culture, he says. Accenture rethinks its code Compliance can be difficult for employees when they are faced with a 50-page document filled with generic principles and discussions of regulation that fall outside their scope of work. Take Accenture, whose lengthy document expressed six broad core values including Client Value Creation, Integrity, and Respect for the Individual. They sounded great, but in reality made it hard for its 400,000 global employees to search quickly and find answers to ethical dilemmas. When executives analyzed ethics documents adopted by companies their compliance leaders admired, such as GE and Microsoft, they saw models that focused on specific steps employees should take when faced with difficult decisions. One result: Those examples inspired Accenture to think outside the box and create an app that would be interactive and intuitive. The final result was COBE (Code of Business Ethics), an ethics chatbot on which employees could type their questions and get answers tooled to their specific concerns. Rather than providing simple yes or no answers to questions, the chatbot helped users locate information within the code of conduct efficiently and quickly. The code has served another, perhaps even more important purpose by allowing firm leaders to anonymously capture data across its workforce in order to better identify where ethical concerns might be arising. If people in a particular geographical area are asking lots of questions about the policy on taking gifts from certain ministers, then this would help compliance leaders appreciate that maybe its time to go back and make sure people understand our gifts policy and obligations under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, Soltes says. Apps arent the only alternative Even if not ready to develop or deploy such technologically advanced solutions, companies can still make their ethics codes more intuitive, interactive, and practical for day-to-day decision-making, Soltes says. That may mean reducing the number of broad-brush value statements and uninspired clip-art, instead making the document more concise in describing practical guidelines for the companys employees. He also recommends thinking beyond the legal department to bring in other areas of the company, such as marketing, communications, or consumer behavior specialists, to help design a code that will be understandable to employees. Uber, for example, rolled out a mobile app-focused version of its ethics code to better serve its employees, who are younger and more tech savvy. Lastly, Soltes advises that firms not be afraid to experiment. An ethics code shouldnt be a monolith, but rather a living document that can be adapted to the expanding needs of a firm and its employees. After rolling out a policy to a subgroup of employees, for example, companies should evaluate how the code is actually being used in practice and how it can be further refined and improved. That kind of creativity can help companies stay away from the scrutiny of regulators and avoid negative headlines. Ultimately, the goal should not simply be to just create a legal document, but instead a valuable tool that helps cultivate the kind of behavior and culture the firm wants to support on a day-to-day basis, Soltes says. That requires a different and more innovative approach than many firms are currently deploying. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/hbsworkingknowledge/2019/05/24/can-ethics-bots-help-companies-forge-useful-codes-of-conduct/ |
What Happened To Taylor Swift's 'Me!'? | Getty When Taylor Swift kickstarts a new album campaign, it usually means that everyone else better get out of the way. The country-turned-pop singer is not only one of the most successful musicians in the business, shes one of the most famous people on the planet, and those two facts typically translate to immediate and longstanding success when she launches a new piece of music. When she and Panic! at the Disco frontman Brendon Urie teamed up and released their shiny new single Me!, it seemed safe to predict it would go straight to the top of the Hot 100...but thats not what ended up happening. In fact, in the four weeks the track has been available, it has continuously descended on the chart, falling further and further from the No. 1 spot, where Swift obviously intended (and probably expected) it to go. Its failure to reach the top is surprising, but where it stands now, just one month into its time on the tally, is truly shocking. Well, first, lets be clear about what kept Me! from ruling, as it was one thing and one thing only: Old Town Road. While Swift may be massively popular, her numbers didnt come anywhere close to matching those of the Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus-helmed trap tune, which has now ruled for seven consecutive turns (and will likely continue that streak for several more frames at least). The week when Me! vaulted from No. 100 (where it debuted thanks to a few days of early radio support) all the way to the runner-up spot, it sold almost three times as many copies as Road, but the latter racked up twice as many streams, which helped it hold at No. 1. Since Me! was released, a handful of other superstars have dropped new singles, all of which have debuted inside the top 10, sending Swift and Urie into a downward spiral. Shawn Mendes If I Cant Have You arrived one week after Me!, pushing it from No. 2, where it spent its second frame on the Hot 100, to No. 3. That dip seemed temporary at the time, but now that doesnt appear to be the case. This week, Mendes is out of the picture (his song has fallen outside of the top 10 entirely), but Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber have taken the runner-up position with their newly-released track I Dont Care, though thats not the only issue. Me! doesnt hold at No. 3, or even slip slightly. Instead, it tumbles from third to eighth place, with many singles that have already spent weeks, or months, on the chartincluding the Jonas Brothers Sucker, Post Malones Wow. and Sunflower and even Sam Smith and Normanis Dancing With a Stranger, which last week wasnt even present inside the top 10beating it. A quick look at the metrics attached to Me! show a continued decline week after week, except for in one area. The song is still doing well on radio, and the number of people who heard it on traditional stations actually rose from week two to week three. Sales have fallen precipitously (from 193,000 in its first week of availability to under 22,000 in week three), and streams have dipped as well. While the song was accompanied by a big-budget video (which was intended to keep people rewatching) and has enjoyed premium placement on important streaming playlists, it just doesnt seem to have the staying power of several of Swifts previous smashes. At this still-early stage in the songs life cycle, its very odd to see something from the megastar racking up fewer streams than singles not even inside the top 10. Even if it never made it to the throne, "Me!" is not where it should be, and the numbers simply aren't adding up. At the rate its been falling, it doesnt look like Me! will live inside the highest tier on the Hot 100 for much longer, and that may mean Swift will speed up her album's release plan, opting to go with a second cut faster than previously anticipated. While its tough to call the glittery, upbeat cut a failure, it certainly hasnt lived up to the sky-high expectations shes set for herself thanks to past blockbusters. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/hughmcintyre/2019/05/24/what-happened-to-taylor-swifts-me/ |
Can England Finally Win The Cricket World Cup And End 44 Years Of Hurt? | Getty The Cricket World Cup burst into existence in 1975 and England reached three of the first five finals. England lost them all and havent reached the final again since. There are, however, genuine hopes, nay, beliefs, that that 44-year drought could end this summer. Englands batting line up has reached stratospheric highs with a power-packed line-up featuring Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes, Eoin Morgan, Joe Root et al. The bowling has not been quite as spectacular but has got the job done and has been recently supplemented by the fast-tracked nationalization of IPL sensation Jofra Archer. This years tournament format (for no good reason the International Cricket Council change the formula every four years) would even allow for a slip up or two and still reach the semi-finals. But then it becomes knock out cricket and anything can happen, so it would be unwise to count too many chickens. Weve been here before. And, more specifically, Ive been here before. Cricket World Cups have loomed large in my life. The first professional cricket match I ever attended was at that first World Cup: Australia vs Pakistan at Headingley, featuring the fearsome talents of Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson. I was too young to appreciate that I was in the presence of greatness and instead only really remember the chapatis shared by the lovely Pakistani family sat beside us on the grass next to the boundary edge (these were much more innocent times). I wasnt at Headingley two weeks later when England contrived to be bowled out for 93 by Australia in the semi-final and thus miss out on the first final. By the second World Cup, again held in England, I was a full-blown cricket addict. England vs Pakistan, again at Headingley, ranks as possibly my favourite ever one day international, not least for the excitable and combustible atmosphere: the racial politics of the 1970s played out on Headingleys Western Terrace was very much a thing from a different era, even if Nigel Farage is doing his best to bring it back. England made 165-9 in 60 overs (yes, sixty) and somehow managed to defend that total. Mike Hendricks bowling figures were 12-6-15-4. In the runfests of the 21st century such parsimony is unheard of. Local hero Geoff Boycott, bowling with his cap back-to-front, provided the coup de grace by taking the last two wickets to claim the victory by 14 runs. A week later England were in their first final but bumped up against the undoubted greats of that era: the West Indies, who won their second successive tournament, spearheaded by the most fearsome fast bowling attack the game has ever seen (Holding, Roberts, Garner and Croft). That Windies streak came to a close in 1983 when they were surprisingly beaten in the final by India. England were back again - and losing again - in the 1987 final against Australia in Kolkata, India, the first time the tournament had been held outside England. By the following World Cup I had perfectly timed a gap year to be in Australia for the tournament. It was a spectacular road trip around this vast land, following England from Sydney to Ballarat and back, and ending up at the final at the vast amphitheatre that is the Melbourne Cricket Ground, when 100,000 Australians most unusually became honorary Pakistanis for the day. Anyone but England for them. A warning from history for England here: that England team was packed full of all-round talent and innovative ideas such as Ian Botham as a pinch-hitting opener, but came to grief against the underdogs from Pakistan. Pakistan only just scraped into the knock out stages courtesy of a rain-ruined game against England but were inspired by the genius of Imran Khan, Javed Miandad and Wasim Akram to win their first and only World Cup. Sri Lanka co-hosted and claimed their only World Cup triumph in '96 before the tournament returned to English shores again in 1999. That was also the year in which I got married and the World Cup was my (somewhat extended) stag. England were rubbish and their enormous shortcomings were swiftly and ruthlessly exposed. We could just about see England get off to a winning start through the firework smog which hung around Lords long after the opening ceremony was over. When the smoke did clear we could see Ian Austin, yes, Ian Austin, opening the bowling. Englands all-rounder excellence in '92 had been superseded by bits-and-pieces nonsense by 99 . Austin had replaced Botham. Mark Ealham had replaced Dermot Reeve. While at first glance these were like-for-like replacements , they were significant downgrades. The current England team is packed with all-rounders. Buttler is the best attacking wicketkeeper batsman since Adam Gilchrist and potentially even better than the Aussie genius. Bairstow could keep wicket also and would arguably be the best of the lot. But in 99 we watched England humiliated by South Africa at the Oval and India at Edgbaston. Although the coup de grace came when even Englands advancement-to-the-next-stage-by-default was scuppered by an unexpected Zimbabwe victory over South Africa, which just about summed up Englands World Cup. At which point our viewing became much less tense and the tournament became much more enjoyable. Myself and 24 mates enjoyed the first of Australias two monumental elimination games against South Africa. I had a ticket to the second game too but it was my fiancees birthday and Ill leave it at that. So we were at Lords for a most disappointing final, where Australia trounced Pakistan and we rather regretted our decision not to sell our pair of tickets for 2,000 to the very excitable green flag waving fans outside. After the stag came marriage and parenthood and a long period without the tournament being held in England and me unable to justify the necessary travelling. Perhaps that was for the best: England havent reached even the semi-finals since 92. I wasnt in South Africa (2003) or the West Indies (2007) or Australia (2015) to see that great Aussie team Gilchrist, Ponting, Warne, McGrath, the Waughs dominate the sport, winning three more World Cups, while England slipped from bad to worse. Nor was I in India in 2011 to see the Indians claim their second title. 2019 is thus the twentieth anniversary of my stag if not my marriage. Ill be back on the road again with my old companions. It should be a blast. While England may be favourites, at least in English minds, they will be facing a mighty Indian team, led by the genius of Virat Kohli and bolstered by the skills honed in the Indian Premier League. Australia too will again be dangerous, themselves bolstered by the return of their finest talents Steve Smith and David Warner after a period of banishment following a ball-tampering scandal. The West Indies who won the first two World Cups have rarely threatened to win again since. Indeed, the Windies very nearly didnt even qualify for this tournament. In the strange logic of international crickets governing bodies, the sports ambitions to spread the game are at odds with the reality of cutting the tournament back to ten teams and dropping the smaller nations. Those minnows have provided some of the most memorable moments of recent tournaments, not least Irelands victories over Pakistan in 2007 and England in 2011. This time Afghanistan will be flying the flag for the smaller cricketing nations. So, while England have been failing to win the World Cup, Australia have won it five times, India twice, the West Indies twice, and Sri Lanka and Pakistan one apiece. Two years ago I did actually see England win the Cricket World Cup at Lords, but it was the womens version. We shall know by 14 July. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevenbusfield/2019/05/24/can-england-finally-win-the-cricket-world-cup-and-end-44-years-of-hurt/ |
Has Atlanta United Brand Undergone A Change? | Getty In March, so much was made of Atlanta Uniteds offensive scuffling with the formations of new coach Frank de Boer. The attack seemed muted without the dynamo Miguel Almiron. The club took in $12-$13 million in transfer fee, but it seemed to take away a bigger part of the offense than many thought. The Atlanta United brand had always been about scoring chances and making things happen on the offensive end. The brand seems different now. This is a more defensive-minded club, more grit than shine on the menu. The other thing to consider is that the club lost its best player, the exciting Ezequiel Barco, who joined Argentinas U-20 World Cup team. That has had an impact, no question. Clearly, some offense was missing Sunday as the five-game winning streak___and five-match shutout string___ came to a halt with a 1-0 loss to the New York Red Bulls. Atlanta played with an 11-10 man advantage for 55 minutes. The club has made itself more gritty, tougher, unyielding. That has been a purposeful transformation. I think that we first started winning games like that in the playoffs last year, we realized that you have to do what you have to do to get results, defender Michael Parkhurst said. Of course, we want to play a certain brand. We want to be up tempo, we want to score goals, but we want to win. Sometimes you cant do the first and you have to rely on the latter and were bringing that this year. You have to be able to rely on grit have to be able to rely on your defense. If the goals arent there you have to be able to rely on grit. Atlanta United got shredded on defense earlier in the season when it was up tempo and the field was stretched. Coach Frank de Boer saw it. There were too many times when runners in the box had too much room. First and foremost, we are limiting the opposition chances and limiting the clear cut chances that we're giving away the beginning of the season, he said. Our ability to close down space and make it difficult on guys and wide positions in central positions. And also dealing with runners in the box has been much better than the last few weeks. The new Atlanta United still knows how to pressure teams and that is key to the defense, which will try and get the winning back on track tonight in Salt Lake City. While the opponent is busy defending an onslaught, Atlantas defense can get organized. They see soft spots and close down that space. Goalkeeper Brad Guzan said United is not so open on transition. He said the team has firmly adopted the tactics of de Boer. We see the danger before the ball turns over, he said. And I think guys are being in are getting in better positions to put out those dangers much higher up the field. It cuts out passes that might be made in the opponents transition game and limits their counter-attacking opportunities. But nobody wants the brand to be black-and-blue and a squad of thumpers. The crowds at Mercedes-Benz Stadium have become accustomed to a wide-open style. Ok, so its not so wide-open anymore, but the club is winning and when Barco returns it could be the best of both worlds. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/rayglier/2019/05/24/has-atlanta-united-brand-undergone-a-change/ |
Are Business Leaders Holding AI Back? | I promise not to begin with the usual AI rhetoric which forces large numbers down your throat of the dollars invested into AI, or to preach of the transformative and revolutionary impact AI will have on the world as we know it. Whilst these statistics and grand claims are quite likely to be true the greater, short term concern lies with the leaders of the businesses who actually stand to benefit most from the technology. A lack of understanding of the technology and an ambiguity over who should really have the understanding in the first place is, among other things, arguably slowing down the adoption and ultimate opportunity AI presents for global business. In the past, a CIO or CTOs role was to understand and advise on new and emerging technologies. Our recent evolution into a technology-based world means CEOs and business leaders literally across the board are also expected to have an in-depth knowledge of technological advancements and also how these will impact their function and staff. This is easier said than done, especially when a technology has dramatically evolved due to billions of pounds worth of investment. This has created a demanding environment for business leaders to remain informed, but as innovation within AI continues at speed, it can prove to be challenging. These challenges are apparent when listening to business leaders discuss AI. Deloitte found that only 17 percent of executives were familiar with the concept of AI and its applications within their businesses. It is clear therefore that many business leaders either dont have enough understanding or only focus their knowledge on one specific subset of AI. Confusion over how to best implement AI Due to confusion over the optimal strategy for effective implementation of AI, business leaders and CEOs are in many cases ineffectively integrating this technology into their services. PwC found only four percent of executives have successfully adopted AI into their business. There is a clear issue with business leaders lack of knowledge affecting the implementation of AI and a knock-on effect on return on investment when AI simply doesnt deliver against the metrics used to test its success not because AI is efficient, but often due to false expectations from the start. As businesses fail to see immediate results, there can be scepticism about its benefits. Nevertheless, if AI is used effectively, it can be highly beneficial for a business. Microsoft found that businesses already implementing AI were outperforming those that arent by 5 percent, on factors such as productivity, performance and business outcomes. Additionally, businesses which then established a strategic approach to AI, such as developing underlying values, ethics and processes, outperformed those which werent by 9 percent. Its compelling evidence that successful applications of AI can have a profoundly positive effect on a business bottom line. This lack of effective implementation is troubling. For businesses to feel the advantages of AI, and for investment from companies to continue, the technology needs to be used effectively. Through frequent training and education on AI, business leaders will be able to understand which subset is most beneficial to their business. A company with strong customer focus should aim efforts toward NLP utilised for chatbots; whilst businesses which crunch Big Data should focus on machine learning to enhance data mining and analytics practices. In addition to investing in the correct AI technology, business leaders must continuously educate themselves and understand the vital importance of implementing the technology correctly. This knowledge of AI will trickle down the organisations and will help members of staff at other levels to buy into the technology and accept change. What is clear is that while AI is an important opportunity for many businesses, before its integration, business leaders must fully understand AI and the specific subset they wish to use. CEOs must constantly stay informed of AI and the widespread areas of new product development, instead of leaving this to CIOs or CTOs. If implemented incorrectly, businesses may never meet AIs full potential and lose out to competitors who have been willing to learn and understand how AI can improve their organisations. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/danielpitchford/2019/05/24/are-business-leaders-holding-ai-back/ |
Could the KC Royals make changes to 2019 rotation? | Royals manager Ned Yost praises Glenn Sparkmans outstanding performance Kansas City Royals manager Ned Yost spoke to reporters after his club swept a doubleheader with the Tampa Bay Rays at Kauffman Stadium on May 1, 2019. Yost was impressed by starting pitcher Glenn Sparkman going seven scoreless innings in Game 2. Up Next SHARE COPY LINK Kansas City Royals manager Ned Yost spoke to reporters after his club swept a doubleheader with the Tampa Bay Rays at Kauffman Stadium on May 1, 2019. Yost was impressed by starting pitcher Glenn Sparkman going seven scoreless innings in Game 2. The weather looms as the most significant potential disruptor to the Royals rotation over the next five days storms postponed Fridays game to a split doubleheader Saturday with the Yankees, and theyre forecast to follow the Royals to their early-week trip to Chicago. Its a factor in the short term. But not the only one over the long-term. Kansas City starters have compiled a 5.39 earned run average this season, 25th in baseball. Thats half a run worse than the mark in 2018. Three men in the rotation Jakob Junis, Homer Bailey and Jorge Lopez have earned run averages of 5.69 or worse. The Royals dont appear to make wholesale changes. With a young team finding its way, theres an element of patience. Unlimited Digital Access: Only $0.99 For Your First Month Get full access to The Kansas City Star content across all your devices. SAVE NOW But with a limit. Theres still urgency to it, Royals manager Ned Yost said. Youre going to have to come out and do something. Were not gonna look at it all year long like that. Youre gonna have to do something. If and this is truly an if they do elect to make changes, there is a candidate making a case for a spot. Hes currently residing in the bullpen. Glenn Sparkman lowered his ERA to 2.95 earlier this week. He was offered a spot start earlier this month the second game of a doubleheader and excelled in that role, limiting the then first-place Rays to four base runners over seven scoreless innings. Even if the performance didnt seal him a permanent spot in the rotation his next four outings have come in a relief role it altered his approach to the game. Yeah, 100 percent that definitely changed things for me, Sparkman said. After that, I took a deep breath, like, you know what, Ive been making it a lot harder than it needs to be. Just trying to stay relaxed out there. Just being confident in myself and trusting everything that Ive put work into and that it will come out on the field. In May, Sparkman has a 0.61 ERA. Hes struck out 13 and walked just two over 14 2/3 innings, with a WHIP south of 1. The front office still views his future as a starter, even if that future isnt right now. More consistent. More confidence. Trusting his stuff more. More conviction, I think, Yost said. The patience is present for now, but if Sparkman continues to throw well, he could force an increasingly difficult decision. Bailey has a 6.13 ERA, though he isnt much of a bullpen candidate. Lopez is 0-5 with a 6.04 ERA. The Royals remain bullish on his stuff, but it isnt showing in the results. Not yet. Well, except in a recent relief appearance. Lopez, who once bolstered Milwaukees bullpen, had his turn skipped in the rotation this week. In his lone relief outing of the year on Wednesday, he threw two scoreless innings, allowing just one walk. Hes in line to start the second half of the doubleheader Saturday. His tempo was better. He was more on the attack, Yost said. I thought he threw the ball really well (for) two innings. Now take that and put it in your starts, and well have something. | https://www.kansascity.com/sports/mlb/kansas-city-royals/article230816974.html |
How do I get rid of pesky pop-up notifications in Chrome? | Q: Regarding your piece on March 16th about pop-up ads on Chrome, they dont especially bother me. What DOES bother me about Chrome is continuing notifications that pop up almost every time I power up my computers. Chrome doesnt even appear in the notifications list on my iPhone. I did a search on the internet, but cant seem to find instructions anywhere to stop Chrome from blasting me 6-8 times daily. Chuck Garrity A: By default, Chrome alerts you whenever a website, app, or extension wants to send you notifications. So if youre getting notifications its because youve allowed a site to send you notifications, though its easy to miss being asked if its OK. Fortunately, you can configure Chrome to block notifications, though were going to have to go deep into Chromes configuration settings. In the upper-right corner of Chrome, click on the menu icon (three dots vertically aligned), then select Settings. Scroll to the bottom of the Settings section and click on Advanced. Next scroll down to the Privacy and Security section. In that section, click on Site Settings and then select Notifications. Now you can block all sites, including Googles, from sending notifications by turning off the button next to Ask before sending, which is by default on. You can also manually select which sites to block and which to allow in the fields below this configuration setting. Related Tech Q&As Read more from Patrick Marshall here >> Q: Google just introduced a call-screening app and I love it! I normally let unknown numbers go to message but do worry that they could be legit. Call Screen lets me select whether a call is accepted, rejected or screened. Ill see what the caller is saying to Googles screening message. Ive been able to answer several legitimate calls while many have simply disconnected immediately (robocall responses). Hal Howard A: Yes, the Call Screen feature introduced to Googles line of Pixel phones last year is pretty cool. And you can even have callers receive a custom message saying something to the effect that this call is being screened so leave a message and if I choose Ill get back to you. For my part, I dont like even checking to see whos calling. So I put on a call-blocking app and only calls from those in my contact list are allowed through. Legitimate callers not on my list generally leave a message, and spammers rarely do. Advertising Q: I have an HP laptop running Windows 10. After many months of problem-free wireless connectivity, I find I can only connect when I am in the same room as the router. My Mac laptop and other Mac devices connect just fine anywhere in the house. I have followed online fixes and even restored the system to its original settings, to no avail. Rudy La Valle A: When encountering a problem like this its generally a good idea to cover all the bases. So yes, first, update or reinstall your client Wi-Fi driver. Im guessing, however, that youll still have the problem since corrupt drivers generally dont just impact the range you can get signal from. Also, make sure the HP laptop is using the same Wi-Fi channel as the other devices are using. But Im betting that youve got a hardware problem with the client adapter on the HP laptop. If so, and if its out of warranty, you might consider using a Wi-Fi client that plugs into a USB port. | https://www.seattletimes.com/business/technology/how-do-i-get-rid-of-pesky-pop-up-notifications/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_business |
Is being both pro-life and pro-choice a contradiction? | Anti-abortion activists wrong but so is law, DiManno, May 15 Rosie DiManno has clearly stated the dilemma of anyone who faces the truth about abortion: that a viable fetus in the womb is a life. She seems to argue that when an unborn child is killed along with the mother, it should be considered the loss of two lives. However, DiManno knows that should a law be created to support this view, it is too tangled in reproductive rights to ever be adopted. Still, for her: These distinctions between life and nothingness fly in the face of logic and humanity legal concepts spun to avoid the demarcation of when life begins. Its sad that women who fight so hard for abortion cannot see the terrible contradiction of being pro-choice but longing to be pro-life. | https://www.thestar.com/opinion/letters_to_the_editors/2019/05/25/is-being-both-pro-life-and-pro-choice-a-contradiction.html |
What is 5G and when can I get it in the UK? | After years of hype, the switch will be flicked on the UKs first 5G network on 30 May. Network operator EE, part of BT, will be first out of the blocks. It is the next generation mobile phone network and it promises much higher connection speeds, lower latency (response times) and to be more reliable than the creaking 4G networks we have now. Facebook Twitter Pinterest 5G will be faster and more responsive than 4G but it will also be more reliable in congested areas. Photograph: EE It will be much faster, with download speeds 5-10 times quicker than 4G to start with, meaning a movie will download in seconds rather than minutes. Over the next few years it should become even faster, as the technology matures. It will also have lower latency, the time it takes for something to happen: tap a link and the download will start faster. But perhaps the most important thing 5G will immediately do for users is increase the carrying capacity of the masts, meaning more people can connect at the same time. Early adopters, anyone looking for raw speed and people who live in dense urban areas fed up with current 4G problems, such as when you appear to have a full signal but nothing happens when you tap a link. 5G is like getting a seat on a packed train, or a lane of the motorway all to yourself, said EEs CEO, Marc Allera. EE will be the first the launch a 5G network in the UK on 30 May. Vodafone is following on 3 July. O2 and Three expect to launch their networks later this year. The UK is one of the first countries in Europe to start rolling out 5G but Switzerland is the furthest along with 227 areas, according to the tracking firm Ookla. There are also limited areas in Finland, Italy, Poland and Spain. 5G networks are also up and running in parts of the US, Argentina, South Africa, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, China, South Korea and Australia. EE is launching its 5G network in the busiest areas of Belfast, Birmingham, Cardiff, Edinburgh, London and Manchester. Later this year other areas will join, in Bristol, Coventry, Glasgow, Hull, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, Newcastle, Nottingham and Sheffield. Vodafone is kicking off its 5G network in parts of Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Glasgow, Manchester, Liverpool and London. Later this year it will flick the switch in Birkenhead, Blackpool, Bournemouth, Guildford, Newbury, Portsmouth, Plymouth, Reading, Southampton, Stoke-on-Trent, Warrington and Wolverhampton. On EE: 5G costs 5 more than 4G, which means from 54 per month for 24 months with 10GB of data and a phone (170 up front) or from 32 per month for 20GB for sim-only for 12 months. On Vodafone: 5G plans cost the same as 4G plans, starting at 50 per month for 24 months with 5GB of data and a phone (99 up front). The network does not offer sim-only 5G plans. Facebook Twitter Pinterest The Samsung Galaxy S10 5G is one of a handful of 5G-capable phones. Photograph: Samsung Yes. To access a 5G network you need a smartphone with a 5G modem. There are a handful now on sale, including Samsungs Galaxy S10 5G, the OnePlus 7 Pro 5G, Xiaomis Mi Mix 3 5G, LGs V50, Oppo Reno 5G and a few others. Most 5G phones are top-of-the-line and therefore expensive. They are also big with the largest screens. Simply put, youll see a 5G icon in your smartphones status bar. But things are a little more complicated in the beginning. For the next couple of years, the 4G network is going to still be used for most things other than downloading data even when connected to 5G, including calls and managing connections. It wont be until 2022 that 5G will take over all of these core network functions and you will no longer drop down to the 4G network to make a call. A similar situation happened in the initial phases of the 3G to 4G transition. Some mobile networks in the US have decided to show their customers a 5G E symbol on their old phones when in fact they are only connected to a variant of 4G. No. As with 4G before it, there are a range of frequencies on which 5G can operate. Unlike 4G theres a radical difference between them. Across the UK the 5G networks will initially be launched on sub-6GHz frequencies, primarily between 3.4 and 3.6GHz (4G operates between 800MHz and 2.6GHz in the UK). The higher the frequency, the higher the carrying capacity - and therefore the speed of the network. But the higher the frequency the smaller the distance that can be covered effectively and the less well the radio waves can penetrate objects. So buildings, cars, people and any other obstacles can block the signal. 5G promises seamless, super fast connectivity for practically anything, which will enable all sorts of different functions to flourish but likely not until after 2023. Some of the most common expected applications revolve around connected infrastructure, turning everything from lamp-posts and roads, to bins and bike racks into smart objects. In other words, the internet of things. The most obvious and exciting revolution that 5G will help is in transport. With ubiquitous, ultra-low-latency connections it means cars, buses and roads could all talk to each other in real time, warning drivers of incidents, patches of black ice or removing the need for the driver at all, in the world of self-driving cars. Other predicted services include all manner of robots, augmented reality, mobile gaming and of course super-fast video downloads. | https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/may/25/what-is-5g-and-when-can-i-get-it-in-the-uk |
Is it worth spending 350 on an inflatable hot tub? | We saw Aldi was selling one, but were wondering if they were throwing money down the drain Every week a Guardian Money reader submits a question, and its up to you to help him or her out a selection of the best answers will appear in next Saturdays paper. We have always fancied a hot tub, but never had the money. However, we noticed that Aldi was selling an inflatable one for 350. I dont want to throw my money down the drain. Email your suggestions to [email protected] or write to us at Money, the Guardian, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU. | https://www.theguardian.com/money/2019/may/25/is-it-worth-spending-350-on-an-inflatable-hot-tub |
Is Las Vegas ready for larger-than-life Liz Cambage? | Jessica Hill / AP Liz Cambage doesnt happen quietly. The 6-foot-8 center is not only one of the best and most physically dominant basketball players in the world, shes also got a big personality. One of a kind, is how she describes her mix of charisma, charm and sarcasm. I guess if you dont really know me, people can think Im standoffish, she says with a laugh. But its just because Im shy around people I dont really know. As soon as I feel comfortable around you, youll probably regret getting to know me because Im very energetic and loud and the center of attention. Yep, thats Liz. A self-proclaimed partier, Cambage has been famous in her native Australia since she was a teenager. She is outspoken about racial inequality, the gender pay gap and mental health issues. She can set the WNBA scoring record one night (which she did with a 53-point performance against the New York Liberty last July) and get ejected the next (as she did while playing for Australia in the gold medal match of last years Commonwealth Games). Yes, the Cambage experience is a rowdy roller coaster, and the Las Vegas Aces are now along for the ride after acquiring the 2018 MVP runner-up from the Dallas Wings in a trade last week. Its a joyride that could very well result in a championship. The Aces were loaded with talent before the trade, and now that theyre adding Cambage to a core that includes All-Stars such as Aja Wilson and Kayla McBride (as well as this years No. 1 overall draft pick, Jackie Young) the team has taken on the look of a burgeoning juggernaut. Cambage is obviously awesome on the court. Last year, she led the WNBA in scoring (23.0 points per game) and finished second in rebounding (11.9) and fifth in blocks (1.7). She appears to be a natural fit at center next to 6-foot-3 Aja Wilson, who posted 20.7 points and 8.0 rebounds per game. The only question is how well the new-look Aces will mesh on and off the court. In an era when most teams are trending toward perimeter-oriented offenses, the Aces will feature two of the premier post players in the game. Cambage is fairly certain she and Wilson will have no trouble razing the rest of the league. I love to play high-low post game, so I feel well do that really well, Cambage says. And weve got amazing guards on the wings that are going to take so much pressure off us, so I think its going to be very exciting out there. Head coach Bill Laimbeer is taking nothing for granted, however. He believes that fit can trump talent, and because of the timing of the trade, Cambage will have had only one week of practice time with Las Vegas before the season tips off on Sunday against the Los Angeles Sparks. I dont know, Laimbeer says. I guess were going to find out. On a piece of paper, you guys would say, Oh this should be great, and everyone will say high-low game and they work together and youve got perimeter shooters. But reality says you have to play the game to really figure out what you have. I dont know what we have yet. And then theres the other side of the game to consider. Cambage is not a basketball automaton, not by a long shot. She is a thinker who will analyze the situation from all angles. And because of her larger-than-life presence, her teams tend to assume her personality. If the team wins early and the locker-room vibe is good, the tone will be set for a very entertaining championship run. If things take a while to come together, however, the teams chemistry will be tested. Cambage knows that fitting in and working together is a huge component of winning. [Ive been on] lots of teams where theres been people I didnt work with and didnt complement. And those teams havent done very well, the teams without chemistry. Everyone is different, she continues. Ive played with girls that have all the talent in the world but no basketball sense. If you dont have basketball knowledge and you dont understand the game, it doesnt translate. It messes up the teams chemistry. Everyone on this team are very smart basketballers and very talented. Cambage is trying her best to get acclimated to her new surroundings. On the eve of her introductory press conference, she spent her first night in Las Vegas walking the grounds at Electric Daisy Carnival and soaking in the neon party atmosphere. As a DJ on the side yes, Cambage spins she was struck by the sheer spectacle of it. I headed out to EDC my first night [in Las Vegas] to watch my friends DJing, she says. It is the craziest thing Ive ever seen. Ive never seen so much electricity in one place. Its like being thrown into a video game. Im still trying to get over it. It was very cool. It sounds like Liz Cambage is ready for Las Vegas. Mike Grimala can be reached at 702-948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Mike on Twitter at twitter.com/mikegrimala. | https://lasvegassun.com/news/2019/may/25/is-las-vegas-ready-for-larger-than-life-liz-cambag/ |
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