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Why would Barbara Barrett want to work with President Trump? | Barbara Barrett made Arizona proud Tuesday. Not because she threw tons of money into good causes. Or that she was the first civilian female pilot to land an F-18 fighter on an aircraft carrier. Or that she was a U.S. ambassador to Finland. Or an Arizona gubernatorial candidate. Barrett has previously done all of that. Many Arizonans are proud of her now because shes thrusting herself into Donald Trumps turbulent atmosphere. The 68-year-old Barrett is taking one for the team as Trumps nominee to be the next secretary of the U.S. Air Force, and we should all be grateful for that. Perhaps being independently wealthy explains it. She's married to the former CEO of Intel and is known for her philanthropic work. She may not mind the likelihood of being dragged through the mud by Trump, as he has done with so many of his subordinates. But let's cheer for her anyway. If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Barrett will need all the help and support she can get to oversee an Air Force with 685,000 active-duty Guard, Reserve and civilian forces. Shell have to grapple with sexual assault allegations on women in the Air Force. The Air Force deserves nothing better than somebody with a stellar reputation. Barrett may be just the right kind of person to take on the job. If so, go get em, tiger. Seriously. Elvia Daz is an editorial columnist for The Republic and azcentral. Reach her at 602-444-8606 or [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter, @elviadiaz1. Read or Share this story: https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/elviadiaz/2019/05/21/barbara-barrett-great-reputation-air-force-why-work-trump/3760611002/ | https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/elviadiaz/2019/05/21/barbara-barrett-great-reputation-air-force-why-work-trump/3760611002/ |
What have economists been getting wrong? | Economics got some really basic things wrong, and some economists are now trying to put them right, says Evan Davis, Presenter of Radio 4's PM programme and former Economics Editor of BBC News. Two caveats before I get stuck in. First, I should say that I love economics. It is a kit of wonderful tools for making sense of the world - you can look up some of the more alluring concepts, from the prisoners' dilemma to comparative advantage to the paradox of thrift. It goes without saying that we should not want to throw economics away. Secondly, economics has not had a bad run. Over the last few decades, economists have (more than ever and more than anyone else) had an influence over every aspect of our lives. They've run the central banks, they have led thinking about business and they work at the top echelons of civil services across the West and in international institutions. Their orthodoxy has underpinned all sorts of government policies (like choice in education for example). And during this era in which economists have reigned, the world has notched up some marked successes. The reduction in the proportion of human beings living in abject poverty over the last thirty years has been extraordinary. But for all this, economics is rightly in the midst of a re-think. It was obvious a lot had gone wrong at the time of the financial crisis; it was a professional embarrassment that the worst crash in three generations occurred not too long after economists took over in the cockpit. Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Many economists failed to predict the financial crisis in 2008 And then just as significantly, a decade on from that crisis, we know that the orthodox economic model (the one that many people call "neoliberal") is leaving swathes of people in large parts of all western societies dissatisfied. Obviously, politics and policy-makers are responding to the anger in the usual way - trying to fumble their way to something different. The big inquiry into inequality that was launched by the Institute for Fiscal Studies recently is an example of the changing priorities of economists who work at the practical end of the profession. But there is something else going on as well: the whole academic discipline of economics is being re-considered: the theory as well as the policy advice. Not all economists are on board with this project, and not all economics is being overthrown. And not all the rethinking is actually new. But it does seem that we are in the midst of a slow paradigm shift. The two 'Cs' Two words - both beginning with C - capture the critiques of old school thinking. One is complexity, the other is community. Let me explain both. Complexity is a reaction against some very simplistic assumptions upon which the orthodox economic models are built: in particular the assumptions that individuals know what they want, that they maximise their utility subject to the constraints on income and time they face and that companies maximise profits. Traditional economic models need to be simple to make the maths work, and getting the maths to work has always felt like an important objective. In addition, a huge weight in these models has been put on internal consistency, rather than practical applicability. But it turns out that the world is more complicated than these simplistic assumptions imply. Image copyright Getty Images Image caption China is one of several economies to have seen a decrease in the overall level of poverty This is very clear in the most basic function of economic models, to help us understand the economy. Economists have always produced their models in the form of a kind of virtual black box containing dozens of equations. Into this, they can plug some data and out of the box come projections of how the economy will behave in different circumstances. These models have a certain theoretical elegance but there is now an increasing sense that economies do not evolve along a well-defined mathematical path, but in a far more messy way. The individual players within the economy face radical uncertainty; they adapt and learn as they go; they watch what everybody else does. The economy stumbles along in a process of slow discovery, full of feedback loops. The new models might draw on other sciences - they might analyse how schools of fish or flocks of birds move together; or they might draw on evolutionary models of populations. This is central to understanding inflation. Simplifying a bit here, in the traditional models businesses might make their pricing decisions by looking at the inflation target and assuming that is what inflation will be. Or they might just stick with yesterday's prices, as it costs a lot to change the labels on their products. Economists think hard about this kind of thing - with rational companies making clever pricing decisions. But in the new models, you don't assume companies ultimately know what the right price is - they are guessing, they are watching each other and learning as they go. There are multiple paths inflation could follow. Or take another important area: finance. Economists have tended to think the stock market is efficient: the price of company share on any day, is seen as the best possible guess of the value of that company share at the time. ", the logic goes. If the company was worth more than the share price implied, then people would buy the shares, driving the share price up until it was just at the right level. By the time you have factored in the layers of financial intermediaries who look after money on our behalf, competing for our business, you see all sorts of distorted incentives. Fund managers might want to follow the pack of other investors rather than following their own judgements in order not to be left looking stupid. Suddenly, you have the potential for bubbles, booms and busts as everybody piles into the same shares at the same time. Or take GDP (gross domestic product), the most basic measure of national income. It is barely an exaggeration to say it has been fetishised in economics, despite obvious weaknesses in its capacity to encapsulate a whole economy in a single number. A lot of re-thinking is going on there, particularly as companies like Google and Facebook stretch the concept of market transactions, where we get so much for free, but where we give back a lot of useful data without charge. So nothing is simple, and economists are having to learn that a dishevelled model of the economy may be more useful than a tidy one. Group identity Which brings us to the second issue: community. It turns out that people do not just act as individuals. They value their sense of belonging to a society; they have a sense of group interest, they are happy to make obligations to the rest of the group, and the group identity shapes their decision-making. And you can't just assume that away. So for example, the dominant old paradigm in understanding company behaviour has been to assume everything the company does is for the shareholders. Indeed, many economists have allowed themselves to go from simplistically assuming this is what companies do, to arguing that this is what companies ought to do. Under the new thinking, there is a sense that this has led companies the wrong way: they are themselves complex communities, and operate within complex societies. Their objectives need to be defined in a far more nuanced way. Image copyright Getty Images Image caption "It measures everything... except that which makes life worthwhile," said Bobby Kennedy of GDP You will even find economists attacking the notion of the invisible hand: it's an appealing metaphor that has implied the default setting for any commerce should be laissez-faire; that left to their own devices, selfish individuals unwittingly produce the best outcome for society as a whole. But the new thinking suggests that government, or some notion of group interest should have a bigger part to play in getting things to run efficiently. So when it comes to both complexity and community, economists' preoccupations are changing. I don't want to pretend that the new thinking represents a sudden, sharp jolt. Economists have always been expert at self-criticism, and their subject is always evolving. And I'm not making an original argument here: I'm simply reporting what I hear economists say about how they feel their subject is changing. Many non-economists will say that the economists must have been stupid not to realise what was wrong with their subject. All that I've set out here should have been obvious. But of course, economics has not been wrong about everything. Simplistic models can often offer genuinely useful insights. The problem is that the profession has sometimes taken them too literally, and hoped narrow models will bear more weight than they were ever designed to carry. At the end of the day, it is very easy to make the mistake of the old drunk looking for his keys under a streetlight. "Are you sure this is where you dropped them?" he's asked. "No, I dropped them in the park, but the light is better here," he says. Economists have put more weight on looking where the light is good - than where the economy is. And it is great that they are now beginning to look elsewhere. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-48350211 |
Will Kpiti declare a climate change emergency? | Kpiti Coast District Council councillors will be considering a motion to declare a climate change emergency for the district. The motion, before tomorrow's council meeting, is being moved by mayor K Gurunathan and seconded by deputy mayor Janet Holborow, both of who are members of Greater Wellington Regional Council's climate change subgroup on community-led coastal adaptation. It notes the council and communities are facing increasingly significant and prohibitive costs to manage the impacts of climate change. It calls on Greater Wellington Regional Council to increase the resources allocated to its coastal adaptation climate change programme specifically towards the community-led coastal adaptation project for the 2019/20 financial year. Advertisement And calls on central government to create a National Climate Change Adaptation Fund as recommended by Local Government New Zealand. "While this declaration does not carry any statutory or legal weight it provides a political framework for council's existing work stream on its climate change and adaptation strategy," Mr Gurunathan said. "The declaration recognises our communities are facing an iceberg of significant costs now, and increasingly over the coming decades, from coastal erosion and floods." These, he said, include: Coastal erosion - The 900m Paekkriki seawall budgeted to cost about $17m. The temporarily consented 170m Wharemauku block seawall has cost $600,000 with additional monitoring costs over the next seven years. GWRC requires KCDC to secure a long-term solution which has been costed at $1.2m. There is a further 4km of beachfront properties south of the Wharemauku block seawall with a series of failing seawalls. While the funding of a continuous seawall along this 4km has not been costed in detail, it is expected to be around $38m. Along the 100m wide section stretching along Kpiti's 42km coastline, there are an estimated 1800 properties potentially facing coastal erosion. These properties, with an estimated value of $1.6 billion, are also some of the district's highest ratepayers. Inland floods - More than 6000 inland properties are in flood-prone zones. Council has identified more than 300 stormwater projects over 60 years costing $250m. The Niwa Climate Change Report for the Wellington Region August 2017 predicts climate change-related impacts on Kpiti with a 15 per cent increase in winter rain delivered in short but very intense falls. This coupled with Kpiti's topography means increasing investment in pumping stations. Each cost about $4m with the Kena Kena project costing $7m. | https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12233326&ref=rss |
Can the Storm, and its fans, find any silver lining in all the recent setbacks? | Sue Birds first words at the news conference Tuesday to discuss her knee surgery said it all. I mean, Im bummed. Shes not alone. To be a Seattle Storm fan these days is to wonder if this is some sort of karmic payback for the franchises third WNBA title last September. As if the Hoop gods said, Thats enough frivolity for one franchise for awhile. Even before training camp began, it has been a non-stop barrage of bad news. It started with Breanna Stewarts Achilles tear, followed by coach Dan Hughes revelation of a cancer diagnosis, and now a newly disclosed injury that could sideline Bird, the teams point guard and spiritual leader, for the entire season. Not surprisingly, there was a lot of internal talk Tuesday about how the Storm can still thrive through all this adversity. Gary Kloppenburg, the acting coach during Hughes recovery, said gamely that hes still optimistic that the Storm, which opens the season Saturday, can have a strong season. Now its going to be us against the world, Kloppenburg said. Everybody wants us to fail. We can pull together and do something with what we have. Thats a nice sentiment, and the absolute proper one for the team to rally behind. But the reality is that this is likely to be simply too much loss of elite talent for any team to overcome. And silver lining department that predicament might ultimately provide the Storm with a different sort of payoff, if youre willing to suffer and wait. Advertising Happily, Hughes is recovering well from his cancer surgery, according to Kloppenburg, and already is talking about returning to practice this week. But Stewart, the reigning league MVP, and Bird, the best point guard in league history and still hugely productive at age 38, arent going to be walking through those doors. Well, technically they are, but only to stand on the sideline and serve a sort of coaching and motivating role. And in a league that Bird correctly characterized as hyper-competitive because of all the talent compressed into 12 teams, coaching tips and back-pats will take you only so far. Even Bird acknowledged as much. She said the teams little-picture goals have to remain the same improving every day. There can still be ways we finish the season on a positive note that dont necessarily come in the form of a championship, she said. But that doesnt mean the Storms championship run has to be over. Stewart is a mere 24 years old and there is no reason she cant be the same dominating player next year, and well beyond. Age is always a factor for Bird, of course, but she had a brilliant season last year and talked Tuesday of her desire to play again. Im getting this to make me better, she said of the impending arthroscopic surgery to remove a loose body in her left knee. Im getting this to extend my career. Its to get better and to move forward and continue to play. Some people might call me crazy for doing that, but here I am. Advertising Players like Jordin Canada Birds replacement at point guard talked about stepping up as a team in the absence of its superstars. Were all prepared for it, she said. Im very optimistic we can be an outstanding team, still, even with all the setbacks weve had, Kloppenburg added. But a more tangible hope for the Storm which no one obviously wants to articulate is that it might now find itself in the sweepstakes for a high draft choice. They acquired Stewart and Jewell Loyd, two players who helped fuel the resurgence, by virtue of the No. 1 overall draft choice. This year, there is another difference-making player who will be available Oregons star guard, Sabrina Ionescu, the consensus top collegiate player. While there might be some position overlap with Bird and Canada, Ionescu is the sort of uber-talented player who can help carry a team. Because of new rules designed to curtail tanking, which use two-year cumulative records to determine the odds of the WNBAs four non-playoff teams, the Storm is unlikely to get the No. 1 choice. It would have about a 10% chance if it had the fourth-best record among the lottery qualifiers. But even at No. 4, a high-quality player is likely to be available, one who can make a strong impact in 2020. This scenario doesnt fall into the realm of tanking by the Storm, mind you. Rather, its having so much talent depleted via injury that even a teams best effort might well not be enough. It was already going to be a steep uphill road without Stewie. Without Bird, it will be near impossible for the Storm to defend the title. So, Storm fans, maybe the new model should involve the San Antonio Spurs. Beset by injuries in 1996-97, including a key one to David Robinson, the Spurs tumbled from 59-23, 62-20 and 55-27 the previous three years to go 20-62 that season. The No. 1 draft choice, which happened to be Wake Forest star Tim Duncan, an instant NBA superstar. The Spurs recovered from that temporary one-season hiccup to win five titles in Duncans reign. Bird said Tuesday that the key for the Storm is to not worry about the ones who arent there. They have to write their own story. Maybe theres still a way for a happy ending. Just a different one than expected. | https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/storm/can-the-storm-and-its-fans-find-any-silver-lining-in-all-the-recent-setbacks/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all |
Did Aretha Franklin leave her will under the couch cushion? | Handwritten documents have surfaced that suggest the celebrated singer had given much thought to how she wanted her assets distributed after she died. When Aretha Franklin died last year, her family said that she had left no will. But, as it turns out, she may have left a few of them. In a court filing Tuesday, the personal representative of Franklin's estate disclosed that three handwritten documents had been discovered just weeks ago at Franklin's home one in a spiral notebook under her sofa cushions, the others in a locked cabinet and asked a Michigan probate judge to decide whether any of them are valid wills. The scrawled papers, which are dated between 2010 and 2014, are at times barely legible, with cross-outs, marginal notes and some salty tangents. Yet the documents, which the Franklin estate said it considers to be three separate wills, also lay out her intentions about distributing her assets after her death, including music royalties, real estate, jewelry and even a piano and stereo equipment. Advertisement The unexpected surfacing of the documents has raised a whole new set of questions, not only about Franklin's intentions but about the validity of wills that are unwitnessed and roughly drafted. "If those documents were all in Ms. Franklin's handwriting," said Melanie Jacobs, a professor of law at Michigan State University, "and if it is dated and it seems that there is intent for the document to be the will, it could be valid regardless of whether it has witnesses or is notarised." But Herbert Nass, a New York lawyer and the author of the book Wills of the Rich and Famous, said, "I think these handwritten documents are not going to get much respect from the court." The first document, dated June 2010, is the most extensive. Over 11 cramped pages, Franklin specified weekly and monthly allowances for her four sons, and appears to have signed every page. She also uses the document to zing various people she feels served her poorly, including a lawyer, an accountant and the father of one of her sons, who, she wrote, "never made any contribution to his welfare, future or past, monetarily, except $5 or $10." By contrast, the last document, dated March 2014, is only four pages, and more simply divvies up her assets among her children and grandchildren. The discovery of the documents has apparently divided Franklin's four sons. According to the court filing, Sabrina Owens, a niece of Franklin who was appointed the estate's personal representative a position referred to an executor in some states found the documents May 3 and circulated them to the sons' lawyers six days later, but they disagreed over their validity and provisions. A statement from the estate said that two of Franklin's sons oppose admitting the wills but did not identify them. The statement added that Owens "remains neutral and wishes that all parties involved make wise choices on behalf of their mother, her rich legacy, the family and the Aretha Franklin estate." If the wills are ruled invalid, then Franklin will have died without a will, and her four sons would receive equal shares of her estate, per Michigan law. The estate's filing said it was unclear whether the documents satisfied Michigan's requirements to be considered wills. Several legal experts polled by The New York Times were also divided. Kenneth Abdo, an entertainment lawyer in Minneapolis, said the documents appeared to show Franklin's intentions and might satisfy a Michigan law that stipulates the following conditions for a "holographic," or handwritten, will: that it need only be dated and signed, and that "the document's material portions" must be "in the testator's handwriting." Yet the documents' ambiguities may cause problems, according to James Hines, a professor at the University of Michigan Law School. "It is very common with handwritten wills for the grammar to be bad and sometimes ambiguous," Hines said. "This is why people of means are ill-advised to have handwritten wills." Given the way the documents were found, it was also unclear whether other potential wills might exist. "We should be looking under all the furniture," Abdo said. A document which a US court is considering whether to accept as a will left by Aretha Franklin. Photo / Oakland County Probate Court via The New York Times When Franklin died in August at the age of 76, of pancreatic cancer, she was celebrated as an unparalleled master of American music the "Queen of Soul" and a civil rights hero, whose songs like "Respect" have remained anthems of empowerment for decades. Her funeral service in Detroit was an eight-hour send-off attended by Bill and Hillary Clinton, Jesse Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson and Ariana Grande. Taxes have loomed as a potential problem. The size of the estate has not been disclosed, but the Internal Revenue Service has filed a claim for nearly $8 million. David Bennett, a longtime lawyer for Franklin who now represents the estate, said in December that the estate had paid $3 million in back taxes since her death. Bennett declined to comment Tuesday except to challenge whether a handwritten reference to him as "grossly inefficient" in one of the documents was really in Franklin's handwriting. "I acted as her personal attorney for many years and until the date of her death," he said in a statement, "so if that is what she thought, I don't know why she continued with me." The court filing gives a glimpse of the estate's pending business, noting potential deals for a biopic and television show, as well as a review of the value of her music catalog and likeness. In one of her first acts running the estate, Owens made a deal to allow the release of Amazing Grace, the long-delayed documentary of Franklin singing gospel at a Los Angeles church in 1972, which has been hailed by critics as a masterly performance. According to the website Box Office Mojo, Amazing Grace has grossed $3.7 million in ticket sales so far. Another point of debate in the family is the plan by Owens, as executor, to sell a 0.12-acre sliver of land adjacent to a condominium that Franklin owned in suburban Detroit. One son, Kecalf Franklin, has filed papers to oppose the sale, citing, among other grounds, that one of the will-like documents indicates his mother had intended to give the property to him. Donald Wilson, a Los Angeles lawyer who handled Franklin's entertainment deals for nearly 30 years, said the handwriting seemed to be hers. He said that he had often advised her to create a will, as well as a trust that would shield financial details of her estate from the public, but that she had never told him about writing her own documents. "If she had mentioned that to me," Wilson said, "I would have said, 'Aretha, what you really need to do is go see a lawyer and make sure it's done in accordance with the law.'" | https://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=12233414 |
What went wrong at British Steel? | British Steel is on the brink of collapse unless it secures a rescue loan from the government. Here are the answers to some key questions about the story. When Greybull Capital bought British Steel for 1 in 2016 from Tata Steel, rebranding it with the old British Steel name, it promised great things. The private equity firm pledged to invest 400m to revive the company and within months it was boasting of a return to profit and a bright future ahead. Two years later it appears to be on the brink of collapse unless it receives a government-funded bailout. In a letter to staff last week, British Steel chief executive Gerald Reichmann blamed weak market demand, high raw material prices, the weakness of sterling and uncertainty over the outcome of Brexit discussions. It is not the only factor in the crisis but it is very important. Steel contracts are typically agreed well in advance of the product being delivered. As things stand, the UK is due to leave the EU on 31 October and the terms of that separation are yet to be agreed, meaning British Steels overseas customers dont know what tariffs will apply to steel they buy from the company. Sources close to the company say orders from customers in the EU and further afield have dried up as a result. That is why the company needs an urgent cash injection, to replace the drop in sales in the hope that a favourable Brexit deal can be signed in the meantime. Another factor is the weakness of sterling since the referendum result, which makes the cost of imported raw material used in making steel higher. Greybull bought British Steel after the referendum but it did not expect Brexit uncertainty to last this long. The steelworks in Scunthorpe represents the bulk of the company and it is hard to see who would be an obvious buyer for the site, given that it has struggled under successive owners. The fundamental problems affecting it show no sign of solution any time soon. However, if the government decides that it cannot afford to lose one of the UKs last two blast furnace steelworks, it could agree some form of loan that might keep the company afloat long enough for conditions to ease. For a start, propping up failing businesses goes against the Conservative partys free market ethos unless absolutely unavoidable. Also, the government has already loaned the company 120m to help it pay an EU bill for its carbon emissions. Not to mention that the date of Brexit has already been delayed once. The UK steel industry has been in decline for some time due to a variety of factors such as overcapacity in EU steelmaking and Chinese state-subsidised firms flooding the global market with cheap product. An industry that employed 323,000 people in 1971 now employs less than a tenth of that, at 31,900. The closure of the Redcar steelworks in 2015 was a significant blow to the sector and left the UK with just two blast furnace steelworks, which make steel from raw materials: Scunthorpe and Tata Steel-owned Port Talbot in south Wales. There are also four electric arc furnaces in the UK, which make products from recycled steel. There are three of these sites in Sheffield and one in Cardiff. Very. For a start, steelmaking jobs are highly skilled and well-paid. The average salary of 36,000 is around 50% higher than that of workers in regions where the industry operates such as Wales and Yorkshire. The ability to make steel is seen as a crucial component of a developed nations defence capability, not to mention its role for strategically important industries such as transport and oil and gas. About 42% of steel that the government buys comes from abroad. Not all of that could be sourced from the UK as we dont make every grade of steel that the state purchases. However, on Monday the government committed to consider social and environmental benefits when buying steel, in a move that the industry hopes will make British companies more likely to win contracts within EU state aid rules. The industry has also complained that it is being hit by the twin burdens of high business rates and energy costs, given how energy-intensive steelmaking is. Policy changes could offer some relief in those areas too. | https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/may/22/what-went-wrong-at-british-steel |
Why is it legal to pay disabled woman $2.30 an hour to untangle Air NZ earphones? | A woman with a disability is being paid $2.30 an hour to untangle Air New Zealand earphones, while many of her colleagues are earning just a fraction of the minimum wage. But it's all perfectly legal, and is, in fact, being done with the blessings of the Labour Inspectorate. The employee, who is blind, works at Altus Enterprises, an organisation that provides work for people with disabilities, and Air NZ is one of its clients. The woman, who did not want to be named, said her take-home pay was about $2 an hour, which barely covered her transport to and from work. Advertisement She is paid for between six and eight hours' work per day, working Monday to Thursday between 8.30am and 4pm with an unpaid half-hour break. An Air New Zealand spokeswoman said the national flag carrier airline was proud to be associated with Altus. Air New Zealand said it was proud to play a part in the employment of people with disabilities. Photo / Supplied "Air NZ has worked with social enterprise Altus for more than 50 years, and we are proud to play a part in supporting people who might not otherwise be employed," she said. The airline said it played no part in setting how much employees at Altus were paid. But Minister of Social Development Carmel Sepuloni has slammed the rules which allowed businesses to legally pay disabled people less than minimum wage as "discriminatory". According to the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment (MBIE), 975 minimum wage exemptions are currently issued for businesses that employ disabled people. The Herald understands some of these workers are being paid less than $1 an hour, when the minimum wage in New Zealand is $17.70. "There are approximately 900 disabled people who are being legally paid less than minimum wage," Sepuloni said. "The policy is discriminatory towards disabled people and a commitment was made to reviewing it as part of the 2014-2018 Disability Action Plan." An industry-wide consultation on a wage supplement as an alternative to current policy closed last month, and the minister said officials were currently analysing the submissions. "We want to make sure disabled people and their families agree with the proposed direction and to find out how employers think the proposals will affect their businesses," Sepuloni said. "An underlying principle of the work ... was that no disabled person should be made worse off as a result of the change." The employee, who works at Altus untangling airline earphones, said she took on the job to "build confidence" and "have some self worth". "I know that with my disability, it would be nearly impossible to get a job anywhere else," she said. "But taking home $2 an hour, that hardly covers what I pay for transport, and it would be nice if we were paid enough to actually have a little bit of extras." Altus chief executive Martin Wylie said he could not comment on what an employee "is or is not paid". "Our employees continue to get their disability benefits from the Ministry of Social Development while employed here and are in addition paid by us," Wylie said. "Their wages are set in conjunction with a Labour Inspector and their benefits are reassessed slightly to allow for their wages. The net effect is they, on average, get about the minimum wage in total but paid by two sources." But the worker in question insisted she was not getting any benefits or allowances from MSD or any other Government agencies, and that the $2.30 an hour job was her only income. Wylie said Altus was a business enterprise and charity which provided employment to people with intellectual disabilities and mental health issues. It provided a range of services, including packaging, recycling, simple assembly and breaking bulk, to commercial clients on a competitive basis. "These people can't do equal work, their productive capacity is extremely low which is why they work here," Wylie said. "It's really to help them develop, we're a charity focused just on finding employment for those people who couldn't otherwise work. "In exchange, they get feelings of self-worth, they've got motivation, somewhere to go in the day, learn some skills, they've got social contact, all of those things and we give them ongoing education." In February, Sepuloni and Workplace Relations Minister Iain Lees-Galloway announced they were seeking feedback on an alternative to ensure all Kiwis with disabilities get paid at least the minimum wage. "The disability sector has argued for some time now that Minimum Wage Exemption Permits [MWEPs] are discriminatory, and Government agrees," Gerard Clark, manager of employment standards policy for MBIE, said. "Targeted consultation has now come to an end, and MBIE are working with the Ministry for Social Development to analyse the feedback received from across the disability sector, including from individuals who currently have MWEPs, their families, and employers." An Inspectorate spokesman said it was aware of contract work undertaken by Altus, which had 236 exemptions granted. "Workers or their caregivers are encouraged to discuss any work relations concerns with the employing business first," the spokesman said. They could call MBIE's contact centre on 0800 209020 if the matter couldn't be resolved at that level. | https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12233006 |
Do the USA women need to win the World Cup to win it all? | When the US womens national team takes the field in France in June, they will be fighting for their football lives on the worlds biggest stage. But off the field, an even bigger battle will be plodding along: the players lawsuit over equal pay. The Womens World Cup kicks off next month and an ongoing gender discrimination lawsuit against the US Soccer Federation will coalesce into a summer of the highest stakes for the USWNT. It was a tough a decision, defender Becky Sauerbrunn said of the timing to file the lawsuit. We didnt want people to think we were distracted by it going into the World Cup. But it was also time-sensitive so we really had no choice in the matter. We also know that we are professionals we are very capable of multitasking but we are 100% focused on winning the World Cup and this is something we can pursue afterwards. The USWNT needed to file their litigation before World Cup because it came on the heels of a gender discrimination complaint filed in 2016. That complaint sat with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which was unable to resolve the issue, and the players were eventually granted the right to sue US Soccer outright, which had a 90-day running clock. This new lawsuit, which was filed by 28 players in the pool, shouldnt add any extra pressure to win another World Cup. After all, that is one of the main arguments of the lawsuit: the women have been burdened with winning just to earn the compensation they do receive, while they men have been more handsomely compensated for losing. They shouldnt have to win to be paid equally, they argue. But winning would help a lot. Part of it is because this is a public-relations battle as much as a legal one, and the players know it. The more popular the USWNT becomes, the harder it is for US Soccer publicly squabble with them and argue against compensating them well. Some of the accusations in the 2016 filing, fresh off the USWNTs 2015 World Cup win, were hugely embarrassing to US Soccer, and the federation quickly fixed them disparities like paying the women smaller food per diems and giving them smaller cuts of ticket sales than the men. This time around, the public-relations aspect of the lawsuit seems to be having some similar success. Just by complaining so openly, the women have already convinced the federation to stop scheduling games games on artificial turf, which the men have almost never played on. The womens team has also started being provided charter flights more often, closer to what the federation provides to the mens team. Weve been put in an incredible position to use the platform that we have and use the platform that weve been part of building to grow the game, said winger Megan Rapinoe. We very much realize that the better it is for us, the better it can be for everyone else. Legally, winning in France may help the USWNT as well. There is precedent where courts have ruled that higher wages in mens sports were justifiable if the mens teams face more pressure to win and more demands on their time. In other words, its not always equal work between mens and womens teams, the court said. But the US womens team plays more games in a calendar year than the mens team does, and their expectations for success are astronomical compared to the mens team, which didnt even qualify for the last mens World Cup. The USWNTs lawsuit goes directly after this argument. It points out that the women played 19 more games than the men in a three-year period, and it argues that the USWNT players often spend more time practicing for and playing in matches, more time in training camps, more time traveling and more time participating in media sessions, among other duties and responsibilities, than similarly situated MNT players. The USWNT has also been earning more revenue from its games than the mens team has over the past three years, according to US Soccers own public financial filings. (Revenues from broadcast deals are bundled together, so its impossible to determine if one team is more valuable in signing TV deals.) But winning back-to-back World Cups is extremely rare feat. On the womens side it has only happened once out of seven editions of the tournament when Germany won in 2003 and 2007. On the mens side, it hasnt happened since 1962, when Brazil won after winning in 1958. It a large ask of the USWNT, but the players insist they wont be distracted by any of the legal proceedings, even if the timing isnt ideal. During the tournament, well be very focused and there are not a lot other things that well have our attention on, Rapinoe said. Ultimately we would just like to be treated equally under the law, she added. In terms of timing, for a number of different reasons, we felt this was the next best, strongest step we could take as a continuation of the EEOC claim we filed a couple years ago. It was time to take the next step. The USWNT players have been here before. Both Rapinoe and Sauerbrunn were two of the five players who filed the gender discrimination complaint to the EEOC in 2016. Months later, the US suffered their worst-ever finish in a major tournament at the Rio Olympics, getting knocked out to Sweden in the quarter-final round. But the USWNTs loss to Sweden in 2016 felt more like a fluke than a lack of focus from the players. After all, the US out-shot Sweden 26-to-3 and Carli Lloyd, another one of the players who signed onto the EEOC complaint, scored what shouldve been the game-winner in the 115th minute until the referees incorrectly waved the goal offside. The World Cup is a game of inches and luck. If it werent for a couple of yellow cards in 2015 serving as a blessing in disguise, the US may have never won the tournament in Canada either. If the USWNT wants to lift the trophy again in France, a little luck will need to go their way. But win or lose, their lawsuit will be waiting for them and theyll have to deal with it when they get back. As the players said in a statement earlier this month: We look forward to a trial next year after the World Cup. | https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/may/22/uswnt-world-cup-gender-discrimination-case |
Has The U.S. Census Ever Asked About Everyone's Citizenship Status? | Enlarge this image toggle caption Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images The history of the U.S. census asking about people's citizenship status is complicated. Many of the stops and starts have been unearthed as part of the legal battle over the decision by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, who oversees the Census Bureau, to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census. At the Supreme Court last month, Solicitor General Noel Francisco argued on behalf of the Trump administration that a question about citizenship has "a long pedigree" as part of the national head count "in one form or another for nearly 200 years." A close review of that history dating back to 1820, however, leads to one conclusion: Never before has the federal government used the census to directly ask for the citizenship status of every person living in every household in the United States. "Secretary Ross's proposal to do just that is, therefore, historically unprecedented," write Thomas Wolf and Brianna Cea of the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law, which has spoken out against including a citizenship question in the 2020 census. Many in the news media, including NPR, have often referred to 1950 as the last time that the Census Bureau asked all households about U.S. citizenship status. A closer look at the 1950 census, however, shows that it wasn't a simple yes-or-no process. In 1950, census workers asked about the birthplace of every member of each household. If the answer revealed someone had been born outside the U.S., census workers were instructed to "immediately" ask whether that person was naturalized, which would mean that the person had become a U.S. citizen. The point of comparison to 1950, then, is that it's the last time the topic of citizenship was included in the census for all U.S. households. Unlike how the census was conducted in 1950, the citizenship question that the Trump administration wants to ask next year is direct: "Is this person a citizen of the United States?" The 2020 question, if it is included on census forms, is intended to collect the citizenship status of every person living in each U.S. household, regardless of birthplace. In the decades since 1950, the topic of citizenship has been part of census forms designed for some but not all households. Beginning in 1970, a sample of households encountered a citizenship question on what was known as the "long form" census. After the 2000 census, the long form was replaced with an annual Census Bureau survey known as the American Community Survey, which provides the citizenship data that the federal government currently uses to enforce the Voting Rights Act. The Trump administration has said it wants to collect citizenship data from all households through the 2020 census to help better enforce Voting Rights Act protections against discrimination of racial and language minorities. In recent decades, however, Census Bureau officials have recommended against using the census to ask all households about citizenship for fear that it would harm the accuracy of information collected for the head count. The bureau's research indicates that a citizenship question is highly likely to scare households with noncitizens, including unauthorized immigrants, from participating in next year's constitutionally mandated count of every person living in the United States. The agency recommended to Ross that compiling existing government records on citizenship is a more accurate and less expensive alternative to adding a citizenship question. Obtaining citizenship data about all U.S. households could have major implications for political representation at the state and local levels after 2020. Redistricting officials could use data on the citizenship status of every person living in every household to draw new voting districts made up of only U.S. citizens, rather than of all residents. The Census Bureau's chief scientist recently confirmed that the bureau could make citizenship data available even if a citizenship question is not allowed on the 2020 census. The bureau could use the government records that Ross ordered the bureau to compile from other federal agencies in addition to adding a citizenship question. | https://www.npr.org/2019/05/22/719159163/has-the-u-s-census-ever-asked-about-everyones-citizenship-status?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=storiesfromnpr |
What if Reporters Covered the Climate Crisis Like Edward R. Murrow Covered the Start of World War II? | 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. Its past time to break the news medias silence about the climate crisis. Today marks the official launch of Covering Climate Now, a project co-sponsored by the Columbia Journalism Review and The Nation. Joined by The Guardian and others partners to be announced, Covering Climate Now will bring journalists and news outlets together to dramatically improve how the media as a whole covers the climate crisis and its solutions. The project emerged from a conference CJR and The Nation organized on April 30. The following is an abridged version of the conference keynote speech by iconic TV newsman Bill Moyers, as prepared for delivery. A video version of the speech is available below. Ad Policy See here for a FAQ about the Covering Climate Now project. To contact Covering Climate Now, e-mail [email protected]. I have been asked to bring this gathering to a close by summing up how we can do better at covering the possible collapse of our civilizations and the extinction of much of the natural world, to quote the noted environmentalist David Attenborough, speaking at the recent United Nations climate summit in Poland. I dont come with a silver bullet. And Im no expert on the topic. Like you, I am just a journalist whose craft calls for us to explain things we dont understand. Theres so much I dont understand that journalism became my continuing course in adult education. The subjects were so fascinating, and the work so fulfilling, that I kept at it full speed ahead for half a century, until two years ago, at the age of 83, I yielded finally to the side effects of a long life and retired (more or less). This is the first opportunity I have had since then to be with so many kindred spirits of journalism, and the camaraderie reminds me how much I have missed your company. Amy Westervelt Many of us have recognized that our coverage of global warming has fallen short. Theres been some excellent reporting by independent journalists and by enterprising reporters and photographers from legacy newspapers and other news outlets. But the Goliaths of the US news media, those with the biggest amplifiersthe corporate broadcast networkshave been shamelessly AWOL, despite their extraordinary profits. The combined coverage of climate change by the three major networks and Fox fell from just 260 minutes in 2017 to a mere 142 minutes in 20l8a drop of 45 percent, reported the watchdog group Media Matters. Meanwhile, about 1,300 communities across the United States have totally lost news coverage, many from newspaper mergers and closures, according to the University of North Carolina School of Media and Journalism. Hundreds of others are still standing only as ghost newspapers. They no longer have resources for even local reporting, much less for climate change. Online news sites, as well as some TV newsrooms, are working hard to keep local reporting alive, but these are taking root far more slowly than newspapers are dying, observes Tom Stites of Poynter in a report about the study. And, alas, many of the news outlets that are still around have ignored or misreported the climate story and failed to counter the tsunami of deceptive propaganda unleashed by fossil-fuel companies and the mercenaries, ideologues, and politicians who do their bidding. But events educate, experience instructs, and so much destructive behavior has been caused by climate disruption that more Americans today than ever seem hungry to know whats causing it, whats coming and what can be done about it. We journalists have perhaps our last chance to help people grasp the magnitude of the threat. My friend and journalist turned citizen activist Bill McKibben told me last week that because of the looming possibility of extinction, and in response to it from the emerging leadership among young people, we have reached a climate moment with real momentum, and our challenge as we go forward is to dramatically change the zeitgeistto lock in and consolidate public opinion thats finally beginning to come into focus. Current Issue View our current issue So, while I did not come with a silver bullettheres no such thingI do want to share a couple of stories that might help us respond to this daunting task. Ill begin with how I first heard of global warmingbefore many of you in this room were born. It was 54 years ago, early in 1965, at the White House. Before I became President Lyndon Johnsons press secretary (over my dead body, I might add), I was his special assistant coordinating domestic policy. One day, two members of the presidents science-advisory committee came by the office. One of them was the famous oceanographer Roger Revelle. Famous because only a few years earlier he had shaken up the prevailing consensus that the oceans were massive enough to soak up any amount of excess of carbon released on earth. Not so, Revelle discovered; the peculiar chemistry of sea water actually prevents this from happening. Now, he said, humans have begun a vast geophysical experiment. We were about to burn, within a few generations, the fossil fuels that had slowly accumulated in the earth over the past 500 million years. Burning so much oil, gas, and coal would release massive amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, where it would trap heat that otherwise would escape into space. Earths temperature could rise, causing polar ice to melt and sea levels to rise, flooding the earths coastal regions. Related Article The Inescapable Politics of Climate Change Alyssa Battistoni President Johnson took scientists seriously; as vice president, he had been chosen by President Kennedy to chair the intergovernmental committee overseeing NASAs charge to put a man on the moon. So Revelle and his colleagues got the green light, and by the fall of 1965 they produced the first official report to any government anywhere on the possible threat to humanity from rising CO 2 levels. On November 6, Lyndon Johnson became the first president to mention the threat in a message to Congress. President Johnson urged us to circulate the report widely throughout the government and to the public, despite its controversial emphasis on the need for economic incentives to discourage pollution, includingshudder!taxes levied against polluters. (You can go online to Restoring the Quality of Our Environment1965, and read the entire 23-page section, headlined Appendix Y4Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide.) This was in 1965! Nearly six decades ago! The future in plain sight. But we failed the moment. One year later, largely preoccupied with the war in Vietnam, the president grew distracted, budgets for other priorities were squeezed, and the nation was fast polarizing. We flunked that first chance to confront global warming. Our failure to actand the failure of administrations that followed usmetastasized into the crisis of today, the crisis journalists must figure out how to cover as if life on earth depends on it, which it does. Which brings me to the second story I hope will be helpful in confronting this daunting challenge. Its about the Murrow Boys: Edward R. Murrow and the young men, none of them yet famous, Murrow hired to staff CBS Radio in Europe on the eve of the Second World War. I was a kid of about 6 in Marshall, Texas, when my parents bought a used console radio so they could listen to Franklin Roosevelts speeches and I could follow the Saturday serialsespecially The Green Hornet, my favorite masked vigilante. Thats how we discovered the Murrow Boys, by listening to the news every evening on CBS. Although I didnt yet know what to make of the events being reported, I showed up faithfully to sit on the floor between my parents in their chairs, all of us listening together. I can still hear the voices coming from that stained brown console in the corner of our living room; still see the pictures their words painted in my minds eye. Their names, hardly known when they started, became hallowed in the annals of journalism. Murrow of course, Eric Sevareid, William L. Shirer, Larry LeSeuer, Charles Collingwood, Howard K. Smith, William Randall Downs, Richard C. Hottelet, Winston Burdett, Cecil Brown, Thomas Grandin, and the one woman among them, Mary Marvin Breckinridge. You can read about them in The Murrow Boys: Pioneers on the Front Lines of Broadcast Journalism, a superb book by Stanley Cloud and Lynne Olson. These reporters spread across Europe as the phony war of 193940 played out, much like the slow-motion catastrophe of global warming plays out in our time. They saw the threat posed by the Nazis, and they struggled to get the attention of an American public back home exhausted and drained by the Great Depression. In September of 1939, with Europe hours away from going up in flames, the powers at CBS in New York ordered Murrow and Shirer to feature an entertainment broadcast spotlighting dance music from nightspots in London, Paris, and Hamburg. Heres the account from Cloud and Olson: They say theres so much bad news out of Europe, they want some good news, Murrow [in London] snapped to Shirer [in Berlin] over the phone. The show, scheduled to be broadcast just as Germany was about to rape Poland, would be called Europe Dances. Finally, Murrow decreed, The hell with those bastards in New York. It may cost us our jobs, but were just not going to do it. And they didnt. They defied the bossesand gave CBS one of the biggest stories of the 20th century, the invasion of Poland. And still the powers in New York resisted. Through the rest of 1939 and into the spring of 1940, Hitler hunched on the borders of France and the Low Countries, his Panzers idling, poised to strike. Shirer fumed, My God! Here was the old continent on the brink of warand the network was most reluctant to provide five minutes a day from here to report it. Just as the networks and cable channels provide practically no coverage today of global warming. In time, I would meet Ed Murrow and follow him as senior correspondent for the documentary series he created after the war with Fred Friendly. Eric Sevareid became a mentor, before and after I succeeded him as commentator on The CBS Evening News. Howard K. Smith and I frequently corresponded and traded books. And I had casual conversations with Charles Collingwood at the little French caf he frequented near our office on West 57th Street. These men rarely talked details of the past. But I will never forget my debt as a journalist to their work, or what they did for our country. Never in my own long career have I been as tested as they were. Or as you will be. Our own global-warming phony war is over. The hot war is here. Related Article How Carbon Farming Can Help Stop Climate Change in Its Tracks Wilbur Wood My colleague and co-writer Glenn Scherer compares global disruption to a repeat hit-and-run driver: anonymous, deadly, and requiring tireless investigation to identify the perpetrator. There are long stretches of nothing, then suddenly Houston is inundated and Paradise burns. San Juan blows away and salt water creeps into the subways of New York. The networks put their reporters out in raincoats or standing behind police barriers as flames consume far hills. Yet we rarely hear the words global warming or climate disruption in their reports. Forget all that. Not good for ratings, say network executives. But last October, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a scientifically conservative body, gave us 12 years to make massive changes to reduce global greenhouse-gas emissions 45 percent below 2010 levels and to net zero by 2050. On his indispensable site, TomDispatch.com, Tom Engelhardt writes that humanity is now on a suicide watch. Soon, some of you will be traveling to the ends of the earth to report on this Great Disruption. To Indonesia, where oil-palm growers and commodities companies are stripping away forests vital to carbon storage. To the Amazon, where President Bolsonaros government plans to open indigenous reserves to industrial exploitation, threatening the lungs of the earth. To India, where President Modi pretends to be an environmentalist even as he embraces destructive development. To China, where President Xis Belt and Road initiative, the biggest transportation-infrastructure program in the history of the world, threatens disaster for earth systems. You will go to the Arctic and the Antarctic to report on melting ice, and to the shores of African cities, Pacific atolls, and poor Miami neighborhoods being swallowed by rising oceans. And to Nebraska, and Iowa, and Kansas, and Missouri, where this springs crop is despair as farmers and their families grieve their losses. And some of you will go to Washington, to report on the madnessyes, I said madnessof a US government that scorns reality as fake news, denies the truths of nature, and embraces a theocratic theology that welcomes catastrophe as a sign of the returning Messiah. Madness! Superstition! Destruction and death. Heres the good news: While describing David Wallace-Wellss stunning new book The Uninhabitable Earth as a remorseless, near-unbearable account of what we are doing to our planet, The New York Times reports it also offers hope. Wallace-Wells says that We have all the tools we needto aggressively phase out dirty energy; [cut] global emissions[and] scrub carbon from the atmosphere. [There are] obvious and available, [if costly,] solutions. What we need, he adds, is the acceptance of responsibility. Our responsibility as journalists is to tell the story so people get it. I wish I could go there with you to tell it. This is a very exciting time for journalism, despite our beleaguered newsrooms, our diminished ranks, and the power arrayed against truth. And I really do think this project [Covering Climate Now] could be the beginning of our redemption. Over my long life Ive seen things change quickly. After the Birmingham bombing. After Selma. Vietnam. Nixon and Watergate. The Berlin Wall. The pendulum can swing suddenly. The public can change its mind. Which brings us back to the Murrow Boys. Late 1940. The start of the Blitz, with bombs blasting London to bits. A Gallup poll that September found that a mere 16 percent of Americans supported sending US aid to beleaguered Britain. Olson and Cloud tell us that One month later, as bombs fell on London, and Murrow and the Boys brought the reality of it into American living rooms, 52 percent thought more aid should be sent. Americans had taken one step toward defeating fascism, and the Murrow Boys helped us take it. Of course, the journalists were only part of the cast, and I dont want to overrate their importance. But they were there. On the right side. At the right time. In the right wayreporting on the biggest story of all, the fight for freedom. For life itself. Related Article A Message to Independent Journalists Laura Flanders Reporting the truth is always the basis for any moral authority we can claim as journalists. Reporting the truth about climate disruption, and its solutions, could be contagious. Our gathering today could be a turning point for American journalism. We cooperate as kindred spirits on a mission of public service. We create partnerships to share resources. We challenge media owners and investors to act in the public interest. We keep the whole picture in our headshow melting ice sheets in the Arctic can create devastation in the Midwestand connect the dots for our readers, viewers, and listeners. We look every day at photographs of our children and grandchildren, to be reminded of the stakes. And we tell the liars, deniers, and do-nothings to shove off: Theres no future in nay-saying. As some of you know, I am president of the Schumann Media Center, a small nonprofit devoted to the support of independent journalism. The center is the progeny of the Florence and John Schumann Foundation, founded in Montclair, New Jersey, in l961 by a civic-minded couple whose offspring were brought up with a strong commitment to democratic values. Their support of my journalism on public television led us to join forces, which is how I became president of the foundation and now of the center. The family resolved to give away their wealth in their lifetime, and we are just about there; our resources are modest now, and were almost done. One of our last major gifts will be a million dollars to launch the Covering Climate Now project of the Columbia Journalism Review and The Nation and to get the project through the first year. Other foundations and individual philanthropists will then have to step up to the challenge, and I believe they will. This has been a good day of talking and thinkingnow must come action. My colleagues at the Schumann Media Center wish all of you and all of those you representin newspapers, radio stations, local news, and major corporationswe wish all of you, because it will take all of you, every success. I am grateful to the veteran environmental journalist Glenn Scherer for the research and ideas he contributed to this speech. His own impressive work can be found at MongaBay.org. | https://www.thenation.com/article/climate-change-media-murrow-boys/ |
Can big names and big money make the Grand a great civic place? | The housing tower, like the Emerson, will contain 20% affordable housing (apartments reserved for those making less than the states median income), and the retail and restaurants will interact with the street and, according to Related, will contain offerings aimed for a mix range of incomes and cultures. The same authority bargained for Related to fund Grand Park thus far the Grand Avenue Projects biggest victory in terms of promoting civic life. Vogel says his company and a committee of representatives from local companies and institutions hopes to channel that parks energy into the grounds in and around the Grand, through, for instance, projections onto Disney Hall, outdoor concerts and street festivals. | https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-et-grand-avenue-development-2019-story.html |
Are 'Game of Thrones' and 'Avengers' latest victims of the US-China trade war? | For most "Game of Thrones" fans around the world, to quote the show, their watch has ended. But in China, the divisive series finale hasn't been made available. Add China as an interest to stay up to date on the latest China news, video, and analysis from ABC News. Add Interest A hour before the show was due to stream Monday morning in Beijing, as it aired simultaneously throughout much of the rest of the world, HBO's content partner in China wrote on its Weibo account: "Dear users, we are sorry to inform you that because a media transmission problem the sixth episode of the eighth season of 'Game of Thrones' cannot be uploaded, we will notify you of the broadcast time." In China, the truth is opaque and full of euphemisms. HBO Westeros may have survived an invasion of White Walkers, but HBO's worldwide hit may have fallen victim to the current trade war between the U.S. and China. An unnamed HBO spokesperson told The Wall Street Journal that China restricted Tencent from airing "Game of Thrones" due to the trade dispute, telling the news outlet HBO "didn't experience any trouble with the program's transmission." Han Chaowei, a spokesman for Tencent, told ABC News that the company has no further comment on the issue and that any update will come from their official social media accounts. Since the weekend, there has been growing Chinese media chatter about a Xian Mei Ling or "Limit/Boycott America Order" coming into effect in the wake of the failed trade talks, with "Game of Thrones" appearing to be just the latest example. Nicolas Asfouri/AFP/Getty Images, FILE China previously had an unofficial "Boycott Korea Order" when South Korea deployed a U.S. missile system in 2016. No major K-pop stars, massively popular in China, have been able to perform in Mainland China since then. Online media outlets in China are questioning whether this is the American version of what happened to South Korea's K-pop stars, as official Chinese propaganda has begun turning up nationalist rhetorical heat after President Donald Trump's most recent tariff increase. Entgroup, which tracks Chinese box office receipts, reported that "Avengers: Endgame," released by ABC News' parent company The Walt Disney Co., has been denied a routine theatrical extension despite being a record-breaking hit in China, earning more than $611 million in less a month. A China Film Distribution Company employee who would only give his surname, Chen, confirmed to ABC News that no extension will be given to the highest-grossing American film in Chinese box office history and that no reason has been given. Macall B. Polay/HBO Films are usually given a 30-day release window in China and extended based on performances. The three previous "Avengers" films all were given extensions. In 2018, prior to the trade war, "Infinity War" was extended for three months. "Endgame," which already has earned almost twice as much at the box office as the entire run of "Infinity War," was within striking distance of "Wandering Earth," the highest-grossing movie released this year in China. "Endgame" is scheduled to be pulled from Chinese theaters after Friday. Other Chinese productions with American connections also have been affected. A heavily promoted Chinese drama called "Over the Sea, I Come to You" or "Taking My Dad Along to Study Abroad," about a father who tags along with his son when he attends college in America, was due to premiere over the weekend on Zhejiang Satellite TV, one of the most popular channels in China. It was suddenly pulled and replaced without notice. Marvel Studios/Disney An employee at Zhejiang Satellite TV's programming department, who would only be identified by his surname, Zhang, told ABC News his company received an order over the weekend from China's Radio and Television Administration in Beijing to pull the show -- no reason was given. Despite this, a source inside the Chinese Propaganda bureau denied the existence of a "Limit America Order" to ABC News and said that environment has not yet deteriorated to that extent. Although some fans of the show in China found and shared pirated clips, as of early Wednesday, a 30-second preview still sat as a placeholder for the "Game of Thrones" series finale on Tencent's website. ABC News' Cao Jun and Beimeng Fu contributed to this report. | https://abcnews.go.com/International/game-thrones-avengers-latest-victims-us-china-trade/story?id=63194769 |
Are race horses being put in danger? | The death of race horses, particularly in the United States, has made headlines about the safety of the sport. Horse racing journalist Katie Lamb argues the thoroughbreds are being put in danger while veterinarian Dr. Larry Bramlage argues they are not, that safety is paramount. When 23 racehorses died in training and racing at Southern Californias Santa Anita Park this past winter, thoroughbred horse racing once again found itself thrown into an existential crisis, forced to answer valid questions about whether a sport that puts animals in danger deserves a place in this world. While Santa Anitas track surface may bear most of the blame for the spate of fatalities in this instance (an issue which seems to be fixed), it does not explain why since 2016, 43 horses have broken down at Kentuckys Churchill Downs, the home of the worlds most famous horse race, the Kentucky Derby causing the Louisville Courier-Journal to call the 144-year old track one of the deadliest tracks in America nor does it explain why four horses died during races at Keeneland during its 16-day meet this spring. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW All this is happening when statistically horses are racing less often than they did 25 years ago and veterinary medicine has advanced over that time. To love horse racing means accepting the inherent risk to the animals every time they are asked to run. Given equine physiology, its impossible to completely eliminate the chance of catastrophic injuries: 1,200-pound bodies moving at 40 miles per hour on swizzle sticks for legs and hooves not much rounder than a saucer. In many cases, even when all the stops are pulled out, horses simply are unable to recover from shattered legs surgery cannot put the bones back together and/or their recovery often leads to further complications, such as laminitis, an often-fatal affliction of the feet. THE BIG DEBATE: For more opposing view columns from Toronto Star contributors, click here. But loving horse racing also means actively doing everything possible to mitigate the prospect of the kinds of disaster witnessed at Santa Anita through racetrack management, equine husbandry and horsemanship to the standardization of therapeutic and race-day medications and fundamentally changing the contemporary formula for breeding racehorses, in which ruggedness trumps return on investment and where the emphasis is placed on creating iron horses, not just pretty, typey specimens. And that starts with the conception of the foal. Generations ago, the sport of horse racing was a pastime of wealthy families who raised and raced their horses through their own racing stable. As those dynasties petered out and the iconic farms, like Canadas Windfields, downsized and shuttered, thoroughbred auctions where fanciers can buy young, untested horses at 1-and-2-years-old rose to prominence as a means for new participants to acquire a racing prospect and a way for breeding farms to stay in business. That created a bloodstock exchange, and instead of dreaming for a Seabiscuit, who raced 89 times and captivated fans, commercial farms peddle thousands of babies each year at auction houses hoping their payday comes long before the horse makes the starting gate. Breeders know buyers at public sales do not want to wait years to find the winners circle they want action as soon as possible. And accordingly, horses are bred for just that: to be early bloomers picture-perfect thoroughbred specimens when theyre paraded in the auction ring as yearlings, quick and grown-up enough to race at 2. If they get that far, then owners, trainers and those breeding operations pray to the racing gods that the horse can stay together long enough for the first Saturday in May the following year. The value of stallions who produce those quick starters skyrockets, making shareholders rich(er). ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW Whats happening, though, is watering-down of endurance genetics and an emphasis on flash-in-the-pan brilliance. Take Justify, last years Triple Crown winner. After the Belmont Stakes in June, he never ran again, retiring with an ankle injury a month later. His past performances show just six starts in a five-month span. His sire, Scat Daddy, retired early in his 3-year-old year due to an injury, and Scat Daddys father, Johannesburg, raced seven times as a 2-year-old and left the track after his 10th start. His trainer Aidan OBrien told Blood-Horse magazine they tried to stretch his stamina too far. Yet, the beat goes on. Owners of Justifys offspring will be hoping to get another Justify, despite legitimate questions about soundness and sturdiness in his genes. Its not just Justify, every top breeding farm operates in accordance with the same flawed system. And as long as the industry trades in hardiness for precociousness, longevity for speed, well continue to see the consequences on the racetrack. Katie Lamb is a freelance writer who has contributed horse racing pieces to a number of outlets including The New York Times, Toronto Star, Vice, and Macleans. No. Horses love to run and compete. They do it naturally. From the day they are born thoroughbreds run in fields. When the foals are weaned and grouped, they race each other naturally, to see who is better at what they do best. It is what they love to do. It is what they are bred to do. Its the whole reason they exist. As they grow and develop, they move up the performance ladder, like a hockey player does. The best ones achieve the high-profile racing venues. Spend a day on a breeding farm and you will see mares, foals and yearlings getting daily attention to their every need. Spend a morning in the barn area at the track and you will see horses receiving specialized care from passionate horse-loving people, who spend long hours each day grooming their horses, preparing their stalls, and feeding them treats. All of this is to enable them to do what they love to do and do it impeccably. Undeniable passion for the well-being of horses permeates throughout the industry, as well as the public. Its this passion that led to significant safety improvements long before the publicity the industry has faced recently. In 2006, the first annual Safety and Welfare Summit was held, and it has consistently led to safety innovations, such as the Equine Injury Database. Developed by The Jockey Club, the EID records data for research directed at improving safety and preventing injuries. Since they started collecting data for North America, there has been a 16 per cent drop in injury rates across all surfaces, an 11 per cent drop on dirt, a 38 per cent drop on turf, and a 17 per cent drop on synthetic surfaces. Share your thoughts: A couple of years later, the Safety and Integrity Alliance was launched, which focuses on everything from injury reporting and prevention to safety equipment to medication and testing to aftercare for horses. Some other important changes include progress toward uniformed medication rules and testing standards, race cancellation policies for inclement weather and consistent management of racing surfaces aimed at limiting injuries. The industry is always looking for ways to improve safety. Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto has a good story to tell. It is one of the operators that has worked with its regulators to ban race day medications (other than the commissioned use of Lasix). Woodbine has been accredited by the Safety and Integrity Alliance since 2010. They have invested millions of dollars in the statistically safest surfaces in horse racing: synthetic and turf. This has resulted in one of the lowest rates of catastrophic injuries of any track in North America. In 2018, the combined average for Woodbines all-weather (synthetic) Tapeta track and turf course was less than 1/10th of 1 per cent of race day starters, almost half of the North American 17/100th of 1 per cent injury rate. All these changes and investments by industry stakeholders have made racing even safer for horses. In the recent Preakness Stakes in Baltimore a horse lost its rider at the start of the race. He didnt turn and go to the barn. He raced with his fellow competitors, beating a couple of them to the finish line. Horse racing is also a highly competitive sport and when youre dealing with any type of high-performance athlete, there are going to be injuries. Whats most important is that the industry has the safety measures and protocols in place, as well as the endless commitment to be safer tomorrow than we are today. The Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation spends over $1 million a year researching horse health, much of it going toward injury prevention. I have performed surgeries on thoroughbreds for 40 years, due to injuries that happen in competition and in the field. I can say with the highest degree of confidence that were not forcing racehorses into danger at the track, we are simply privileged to be participating in something they absolutely love to do. But in exchange for that privilege, we all carry the responsibility of making it as safe as possible for them when we watch. The industry accepts that responsibility and makes it the highest of priorities. Woodbine is a good example of the stewardship of that accountability. Dr. Larry Bramlage is an internationally recognized and decorated equine orthopedic surgeon in Kentucky who has won several awards, including the Jockey Club Gold Medal for Contributions to Thoroughbred Racing. Read more about: | https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/thebigdebate/2019/05/22/are-race-horses-being-put-in-danger.html |
Why Is There No Shine In Gold Price? | Gold has been out of luck for the majority of the year so far. The year to date (YTD) performance of the precious metal sits at -0.46 percent. This is despite the fact that the Federal Reserve has adopted a dovish stance towards their monetary policy and there are serious concerns over the ongoing Trade War between the United States and China. In fact, the mainstream Chinese media has adopted a very aggressive tone against the U.S. with the Chinese media sending a clear warning that the dispute is going to hurt U.S. companies the most because of their exposure in China. According to the "Treaty damage to the U.S. hinterland" a 25% tariff increase on Chinese companies is going to impact 1 million U.S. jobs and will also anchor the financial market turmoil further. 2019 Bloomberg Finance LP However, despite this major uncertainty, there is no appetite among trader for holding the safe haven- gold . The chart below shows that the SPDR Gold ETF has experienced its largest outflow since 2016, with an outflow exceeding $926 million in the first week of May alone. Having said this, the bleeding didnt get much worse and this is because as of the last week, the inflow was $120 million which is better than the previous weeks outflow number of $303 million. ThinkMarkets, Bloomberg The relation of the Dollar Index to the gold price is always interesting, one goes up and the other goes down, mostly. The chart below shows that the gold price has lost value due to the strength in the Dollar Index and this trend is still robust. ThinkMarkets, Bloomberg To answer the above question, one needs to look at the US economic data and see how it has performed against the forecast. Remember, the Fed is usually behind the curve and market participants have it right most of the time. Therefore, the Bloomberg US Economic Surprise Index is helpful in this situation. In the chart below, you can see that the economic data has started to perform extremely well since March. Although, the current reading is -0.18, still in the negative territory, but the improvement in this index has been extremely strong. This is because back in March the index was well below the -0.50 level. Also, the correlation between the gold price and the Economic Surprise Index since October 2018 has been negative - one goes up and the other moves lower. ThinkMarkets, Bloomberg Todays FOMC minutes will be of particular importance because traders will be looking at two things: firstly, if the Fed is going to acknowledge that the trade war is a catastrophe. And secondly, the economic slowdown in global growth. If the minutes do not show any concerns about these two important issues, I think the path of the least resistance would remain skewed to the upside. Overall, I think the Dollar Index is going to continue its move to the upside. We will see only see it losing steam if the Fed starts to pay attention to what Donald Trump wants, because one thing is for certain, the economic data isnt falling off the cliff and this means that the upside for the gold price may be limited. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/naeemaslam/2019/05/22/why-is-there-no-shine-in-gold-price/ |
What's Keeping Open Finance From Competing With Institutional Products? | Getty A recent bulk of media focus in the digital asset market, centers on the entrance of institutional investment into the young sector - along with theregulatory hurdles facing institutional progress. From Societe Generales recent issuance of $112 million bonds on Ethereum to the pending rollout of Fidelitys institutional-focused digital asset trading platform, many cryptocurrency proponents are awaiting institutional money to spark a resurgent market. Conversely, narratives around open finance - decentralized financial products built on the blockchain - have also gained attention. However, concepts predicated on the maxims of decentralization and democratizing financial opportunities have struggled to attract adoption and scale so far. MakerDAO, a decentralized lending platform on Ethereum, has had its stability fee surge close to 20 percent in order to retain parity of its stablecoin, Dais, price peg to the USD. Decentralized exchanges (DEXs) have failed to gain meaningful volumes compared to their centralized counterparts, and some of the most successful open finance projects (i.e., BlockFi) take a hybrid approach to offer crypto asset loans and interest accounts. As distinctly detailed by Michael Casey in a recent piece on Coindesk, the recent Bitfinex, Tether, and New York Attorney General debacle is a flagship example of the consequences resulting from the problems cryptocurrency exchanges - and startups - have had in retaining banking services. This brings us to a somewhat ironic conclusion for crypto true believers, who pine for an end to the centralized banking system and a digital store of non-fiat value: the road to utopia may be paved in deals with bankers and government regulators. Circumventing the legacy financial system is the hopes of crypto maximalists of the cypherpunk variety in the long-run, but a blend of institutional plans and regulatory blessings for the digital asset market, seem likely to become the tale in the short-term. The underlying complexity of the technology needed to serve entirely decentralized tools, such as DEXs or prediction markets, still preclude them from being user-friendly or understandable by mainstream users. Layer two scaling solutions like Bitcoins Lightning Network are rapidly proliferating, but still have a very high barrier to entry for many users who still dont know how on-chain Bitcoin transactions and private keys work. Legitimate concerns that arise from such designs on a future hybrid of conventional finance and digital assets, is whether or not they will fulfill one of their most compelling benefits - better serving retail investors and the billions of unbanked in the world. The technology is still young, and accessible financial tools like Bitcoin vouchers and credit sticks aren't mature yet. The overarching sentiment for many cryptocurrency proponents, is to provide sovereignty over their value, and furnish the option for a financial system free from third-parties, high barriers to entry, and censorship. One of the primary problems that decentralized tools face in competing with the compromising efforts of institutions, is in removing trusted third-parties without sacrificing liquidity, user-friendliness, or access to a variety of markets. DEXs remove the endemic trust issues of cryptocurrency exchanges but are challenging to use and lack liquidity. The same story goes for decentralized prediction markets. Eventually, the regulatory challenges facing DEXs may preclude them from offering otherother conventional assetsfinancial instruments (i.e., security tokens, ETFs, stocks, etc.) side-by-side with digital assets, something that institutional-backed platforms that are regulatory compliant can ultimately offer. Centralized exchanges are making plays in the derivatives and futures markets for Bitcoin, and eventually other digital assets. For example, Kraken, the San Francisco-based cryptocurrency exchange, recently acquired Crypto Facilities - a regulated futures trading startup - for a reported nine-figure sum. Similarly, Chicago-based platform ErisX has launched its spot market and is preparing for its rollout of crypto derivatives pending regulatory approval. The launch of ErisX also precedes the pending start of Fidelitys crypto trading platform for institutions, and Bakkts physically-delivered Bitcoin futures, which recently revealed that testing would begin in July for their futures. Morpher, an early-stage trading platform backed by Draper Associates, wants to virtualise the trading process. Their currency can morph into any other asset by emulating its return profile on the blockchain. If the underlying market gains in value, the smart contract issues new digital assets to the investor. If the value was reduced, assets are destroyed. The removal of connecting buyers and sellers is similar to the concept employed in MakerDAO. While struggling to meet scaling demands this early in its development, it is a fascinating idea that there are only borrowers, and no creditors, on the MakerDAO platform. Instead, the Dai stablecoin is minted and burned to manage demand. It is still trying to keep up with this demand, but the idea that traditional credit and trading structures can be bypassed with smart contracts functioning as the third-party is promising. How smart contracts play out from the regulatory perspective in such a dynamic is still unclear, and one of the key dilemmas that open financial products face. The perceptions of open finance are that by significantly reducing the barriers to entry through disintermediation, retail investors can tap into markets such as real estate exposure in local neighborhoods, credit services, and Tesla stock all within open-source interfaces. As banks, institutions, and regulators become more favorable towards fostering an ecosystem for digital assets, it is likely that they will begin offering similar services - albeit peppered with centralized structures. The issue is whether or not the prevalence of third-party service providers in such ecosystems will be reduced enough to grant broader access to retail investors and the unbanked than before -- or if the landscape will look like more of the same. Decentralized finance proponents believe otherwise, but right now the question is how much will open financial projects need to reconcile their ambitions, for a truly open financial system to compete with the services offered by traditional institutions. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/yoavvilner/2019/05/22/whats-keeping-open-finance-from-competing-with-institutional-products/ |
What Was It Like When Human Civilization Reached Its Pinnacle? | NASA / Apollo 11 The history of humanity was anything but inevitable. Although the Universe created the conditions and ingredients that made our existence possible, it was only a series of unlikely events that unfolded that gave rise to us specifically. If even one of a countless number of outcomes had been different, our species may never had evolved on planet Earth. But 300,000 years ago, Homo sapiens were living in Africa, having evolved from our shared common ancestors. For nearly all of that time, we lived concurrent with other hominids like Homo Erectus and Neanderthals, with all of us taking advantage of fire, tools, clothing, language, and artificially-built shelters. From a primitive hunter-gatherer state to the technologically-advanced modern world, here's the final stage in the story of us: how human civilization developed. Getty Even though hominids had previously spread throughout the temperate continents of the world, human beings remained in Africa exclusively for some time. 240,000 years ago, Neanderthals evolved, joining modern humans but possibly arising in Europe first. Very little is known about the early stages of human civilization, save to say that all three late-surviving hominds human beings, Neanderthals, and the remaining populations of Homo erectus all lived concurrently. Then, around 115,000 years ago, the last glacial period arrived, compelling the surviving populations to move closer to equatorial latitudes. While human and Neanderthal populations thrived, the remaining Homo erectus population went extinct around this time or shortly before it. Modern humans left Africa for Europe as well, arriving some 40-45,000 years ago. For a brief time, humans and Neanderthals coexisted. Getty Fossil evidence abounds of violence and competition between humans and Neanderthals, with many primitive weapon marks discovered on the skeletons of both. The earliest musical instrument a bone fipple flute, similar to a modern recorder dates back to 40,000 years ago where Neanderthals dwelled. Also found right around this time, roughly 37,000 years ago, is the earliest example of a domesticated dog specimen, found cohabiting with modern humans. Neanderthals and humans likely interbred for a time, but the interspecies competition was fierce and brutal. By the time another few thousand years had passed, there were no more Neanderthals remaining. As of approximately 34,000 years ago, Homo sapiens had driven all other modern hominids to complete extinction. Chauvet Cave, Ardche, France / public domain As hunter-gatherers during this glacial period, numerous archaeological finds point to a rich cultural history that is now almost totally lost. 32,000 years ago provide us with our earliest evidence of cave paintings, found at Vallon-Pont-d'Arc in modern France. 28,000 years ago, we find the earliest representational sculpture: the Venus of Willendorf, located in modern Austria. At this point, the last glacial period has started coming to an end, with ice retreating towards the poles and many changes occurring to the terrestrial landscape. As the ice begins to melt, water accumulates, while the remaining ice acts like a dam to hold the water back. When those ice dams break, an enormous flood occurs, transforming the Earth, transporting topsoil, and creating new paths for lakes, rivers, bare mountains, and dry land. Some 15,000-17,000 years ago, the first modern humans arrive in North America, either over the Bering land bridge from Asia or by boat from Europe. As the climate warms and the human population grows, the woolly mammoth goes extinct in the Americas and Europe approximately 12,000 years ago. Around this time, the first evidence for agriculture emerges: humans are deliberately planting seeds to grow their own food. This is followed very swiftly by the domestication of herd animals: sheep are first domesticated 11,000 years ago (in Iraq); goats (in Iran) and pigs (in Thailand) are domesticated 10,000 years ago, accompanied by the final retreat of the last continental ice sheets in Europe and North America. The last glacial period is officially over. Charles R. Knight / 1915 Along with animal domestication, human civilization enters a period dominated by agricultural farming, herding, and ranching. We move from being primarily hunter-gatherers to an early agrarian culture. 9,500 years ago, the first evidence for cultivated wheat and barley emerges in ancient Mesopotamia. The first walled city arises at this time: Jericho in Palestine, with an estimated population of 2,500 humans. 8,000 years ago, the first evidence of pottery arises in Mesopotamia, along with the domestic skills of spinning and weaving. In modern Georgia, also 8,000 years ago, the first evidence of winemaking emerges. Shortly thereafter, approximately 7,600 years ago, the basin of what is today the Black Sea floods from the Mediterranean; this is thought to be the flood referenced in myths like Noah's Ark or the demise of Atlantis. NASA illustrations Meanwhile, 7,500 years ago, millet and rice are cultivated in China. 7,000 years ago, the first cattle, bred from the ancient auroch, are domesticated in Iran. At this time, the population of humans on the planet crosses the 5 million mark. Horses are next: they are domesticated in modern-day Ukraine around 6,300 years ago. This led to the first great technological development in the Stone Age world: the plough. With large pack animals domesticated, they could be yoked to a large device that they could pull, performing the work of many farmers with many hoes in a fraction of the time. The first evidence for ploughs appears approximately 5,500-6,000 years ago, where the modern Czech Republic is located. Popular Science Monthly, Vol. 18, 1880/1881 Advances occur swiftly and rapidly as the human population explodes. 5,500 years ago, the wheel is invented, put to use immediately in transport and pottery. 5,400 years ago, the first number system is developed, followed by the first written words and documents: ancient receipts for commerce. 5,000 years ago, the first more complex writings hieroglyphics in Egypt and Cuneiform in Mesopotamia emerge, with papyrus writings appearing just a few hundred years later in those same langauges. 4,700 years ago, the first monuments of the ancient world are constructed: the Egyptian pyramids. Getty One of the most important developments comes some time in the next few hundred years: the development of bronze-working. Bronze, a mix of copper and tin (or copper, tin, and lead if you're clever) is much, much harder than the prior stone-and-bone tools used up to that point, and herald two major developments: well-equipped armies and the first metallic money, both arising around 4,000 years ago. Also right around 4,000 years ago, the first example of ice cream is invented: in China. The Kahun papyrus, the oldest medical text, dates to 3,800 years ago, and its subject is gynecology: fertility, pregnancy, contraception, as well as diseases and treatments. And 3,500 years ago, in a huge achievement for humanity, the first alphabet appears: North Semitic, which arises in Palestine and Syria. Luca / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain 3,000 years ago, maize is cultivated in the Americas. Along with rice and wheat, these are the primary agricultural crops feeding modern humans in the world, as our population crosses the 50 million mark. Right around this time, the events of the Trojan war, memorialized 200-300 years later in Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, are theorized to have taken place. 2,700 years ago, the iron age begins, with bronze age civilizations seeing their shields cleaved in two by iron swords. 2,600 years ago, the Greek civilization reaches its peak, bringing its characteristic democracy, laws, poetry, plays, and philosophy to the world. 2,200 years ago, the Great Wall of China is built; spanning 1,900 km in length, it is the largest structure ever built in the ancient world. Getty Alongside our cultural advances, human culture and knowledge developed at a spectacular rate. This includes: Euclidean geometry, which arose 2,300 years ago, the architectural arch, arising 2,200 years ago, the use of the abacus, first appearing 1,900 years ago, the first magnetic compass, developed 1,700 years ago, the first block printing device, developed 1,200 years ago, and the first explosive gunpowder developed 1,000 years ago. Empires rise and fall across the globe, as do various religions. Scientific advances begin to occur, transforming our understanding of the Universe from a geocentric one to a heliocentric one less than 500 years ago. Ethan Siegel / Beyond The Galaxy Just 360 years ago, the world population of humans passes the 500 million mark. Modern science begins to arrive, with Newton completing his great Principia 330 years ago, followed by Linnaeus cataloging organisms into genus and species classifications 280 years ago. The major invention of the time is the steam engine and powered machinery, arising 250 years ago and leading to the industrial revolution. Humanity's developments now occur at a furious pace, including: 215 years ago, factory production of textiles, iron and steel begins. 190 years ago, the first railways are built. 180 years ago, Charles Babbage's analytical engine is developed, paving the way for modern computers. 155 years ago, the first internal combustion engine is built, leading to the automobile. 140 years ago, the telephone and electric light bulb are invented. 110 years ago, the theories of relativity (special first in 1905, then general in 1915) are developed. 90 years ago, the first antibiotic is isolated. 75 years ago, humans successfully split the atom, leading to the nuclear age, the atomic bomb, and the technological revolution of our modern world. 1961 Tsar Bomba explosion; flickr / Andy Zeigert Over the past 70 years, a slew of developments have occurred that have fundamentally transformed our world. Our population passed 5 billion in 1986, and sits at 7.4 billion today. The structure of DNA was found in the 1950s, and since then the human genome has been sequenced, leading to a revolution in our understanding of genetics and biology. We have cloned advanced, living mammals. We have entered space, landed astronauts on the Moon, and have sent spacecraft out of the Solar System. We have changed our planet's climate, and continue to do so, but have become aware of our impacts on the planet. NASA / Voyager 1 As of today, 13.8 billion years after it all began, we are the most intelligent known creatures ever to grace this Universe. We have figured out the cosmic history of us, bringing us to a crucial point in human history. The next steps for humanity are all up to us. Human civilization and the future of planet Earth hangs in the balance. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2019/05/22/what-was-it-like-when-human-civilization-reached-its-pinnacle/ |
Is Copper River Salmon Really Worth $60 A Pound? | After one glorious bite of the ruby red-fleshed fish from Alaska, the answer is likely going to be an emphatic yes, Copper River salmon is definitely worth the sky-high price. For those who dont know about this salmon, here are a few reasons why its extra special. Leslie Kelly Sweet Sign of Spring In the Northwest, the arrival of the first Copper River salmon is celebrated with all sorts of hoopla. Chefs gather at SeaTac airport for a cookoff of those huge sea creatures as soon as they land on an Alaska Airlines flight out of Cordova. From catch to much-anticipated release on restaurant fresh sheets is a matter of hours. Wild salmon enthusiasts typically start calling to ask when its coming on line mid-May. Its really the ultimate salmon eating experience because its the first wild salmon run of the season, said Robert Spaulding, executive chef at Elliotts Oyster House, where Copper River salmon entrees run between $56 for Sockeye and $66 for King. Its kind of like the first tomato of the summer. Its something you crave. Bill Whitbeck A bit of history This now-prized fish was way under the radar until the late Jon Rowley -- a fisherman-turned-culinary-evangalist -- introduced it the Lower 48 in the early 1980s. He told the salmons story well, how it needed to beef up on food before taking the long journey up the long, swift river to spawn. That feeding frenzy makes for for ultra-rich fish thats a joy to eat and a pleasure to cook. I season it simply with salt and pepper because I dont want to cover up the flavor of the fish, said Johnathan Sundstrom chef-owner of Lark. Accompaniments are also typically a celebration of the arrival of spring: asparagus, foraged morels, a sauce using sorrel. I dont go heavy. The sorrel adds a bright citrus note. Tom Douglas calls Copper River salmon the poster child for the wild fish. Its the greatest salmon run in the world, he said. It's especially important because its a conversation starter, prompting discussion on the importance of saving those wild salmon runs. Douglas has been a longtime advocate for protecting the pristine waters of Bristol Bay, Alaska, from the Pebble Mine project, and hes feeling discouraged these days. Its not looking good. (Take a deeper dive on the subject by watching a documentary called The Breach. Director Mark Titus has a followup film called The Wild, which is showing at the Seattle International Film Festival and will show in theaters this summer.) Spaulding goes in person to the restaurants purveyor -- Pacific Seafood -- to hand select the highly allocated salmon. Im looking for the fish with the biggest, fattest bellies, he said. A 24-pound salmon is filleted out into something like 33 7-ounce portions. To fully utilize every bit of that high-end fish, the kitchen roasts salmon collars and drizzles Kalbi sauce on top for a popular happy hour special, while any trim makes its way into various dishes, including a smoked salmon pasta. He and his team occasionally smoke the salmon skin and treat it like a crispy chiccarone, offered alongside a crab dip. At Lark, the featured fish is gobbled up quickly by diners who know it well enough to call and ask when -- and for how long -- its going to be available. Last year, the run was fairly limited so we had to charge an arm and a leg, but people still ordered it, said Sundstrom, who showcases marble salmon from Neah Bay, and other salmon from Puget Sound waters when in season. Douglas breaks it down in the most basic economic terms: Its a matter of supply and demand. Theres a big demand for this beautiful fish, and it has a lot to do with it being from a well-managed fishery. Its caught and bled out and iced. Its comes in pristine. For inspiring images of this fish and the incredible creations in which its used, check out #copperriversalmon on Instagram. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/lesliekelly/2019/05/21/is-copper-river-salmon-really-worth-60-a-pound/ |
Why Will Japanese Finance Company Nomura Holdings Give $1 Million To An Artist Each Year? | Courtesy Nomura Holdings Art awards can offer hefty amounts of money to artists who may be struggling financially or be in need of a significant sum of money to finance a project. The Hugo Boss Prize offers the winner $100,000 and an exhibition at the Guggenheim in New York. A MacArthur Fellowship gives fellows $500,000 over five years and the designation of being a genius. The winner of the Plastov Award gets $627,000. This spring, Japanese financial holding company Nomura Holdings announced the Nomura Art Award, which will give one artist who has created a body of work of major cultural significance $1 million annually, making it the largest contemporary art award at the moment. On top of that, it will give $100,000 each for two emerging artists for the Nomura Emerging Artist Awards. The founder of Nomura, Tokushichi Nomura II, was known to support culture and arts, and this spirit has been transmitted to contemporary art, said Hajime Ikeda, senior managing director Nomura Holdings, Inc., at the ceremony to announce the winners of the Emerging Artist Awards (the winner of the $1 million prize will be announced later this year). We have also continued to support the cultural activities and art by assisting the art exhibitions and ballet performances. Also many clients of our group are admirers of the arts, so personally I think its very close to Nomura Group. Nomura assembled a prestigious group of art professionals for the awards jury: Allan Schwartzman, founder and principal of Art Agency, partners and chairman, co-leader of the Fine Art Division of Sothebys; Doryun Chong, deputy director, curatorial and chief curator, M+; Kathy Halbreich, executive director of the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation; Max Hollein, director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art; Nicholas Serota, chair of Arts Council England; and the late Okwui Enwezor, who passed away this spring. Unidentified art insiders who Nomura wants to keep anonymous nominated artists, and the jury selected the two inaugural winners of the Emerging Artist Awards: Chinese video artist Cheng Ran and American conceptual artist Cameron Rowland. Each artist will get $100,000. Rans work explores marginalized cultures and forgotten places in an electrifying, vibrant manner, like in his trilogy Diary of a Mad Man, which traverses between New York, where he participated in a residency with the New Museum, Jerusalem, and Hong Kong. Rowland used found objects in his work to tell a narrative. In one exhibition at MOCA Los Angeles, he told the history of slavery through objects like a British grandfather clock that was once on a southern plantation. We support the excellent artists with spirit of reform and the challenges, said Ikeda. We are to strengthen the Nomura brand and to contribute to the evolution and the development of contemporary art that is founding spirit of these art awards. The company hopes that the Nomura Art Award will earn the same reputation as the Nobel Prize. We want to make this awards grow very prestigious and also would like to continue to contribute to the development of contemporary art, said Ikeda. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/abinlot/2019/05/21/why-will-japanese-finance-company-nomura-holdings-give-1-million-to-an-artist-each-year/ |
Is Legal Marijuana Hurting Beer Sales Or Helping Them? | Getty The cannabis trade has tried to convince the public that legal weed is not only a creator of jobs and salvations wing for local economies but that it is also an industry wrecking machine with the power to snuff out all of the competitors within the inebriation market. Its arch nemesis in this nail-biting mission to contribute to the unsobering of America is none other than the alcohol industry. There is such animosity reverberating throughout the cannabis community over the fact that beer, wine and spirits are legal and widely accepted while the cannabis plant -- a natural substance that as far as we know is safer than booze -- just cant seem to find any footing in the swamplands of national commerce. But the U.S. marijuana market isnt dragging too far behind, especially since weed is still considered a pariah in the eyes of the federal government. Some of the latest data from Wall Streets Cowen and Co. shows the U.S. cannabis market at the moment is worth right around $50 billion. Thats with only ten states having established a taxed and regulated system that allows cannabis products to be sold in retail dispensaries to adults 21 and older. The same report shows the industry could rise up in the next decade and swell into a colossal $80 billion business sector. And thats when the sips could hit the fan. When taking into account the current market data, it seems reasonable to suggest that legal weed could give alcoholic beverages a run for their money. Well, in some cases, the answer could be a resounding Yes. In fact, this scenario might already be playing out in Canada, where marijuana has been fully legal nationwide since October 2018. Despite all of the reports about how the northern nations cannabis legalization scheme has been a miserable failure so far mostly because there are weed shortages and the black market is alive and well -- Cowens latest report shows that more Canadians are smoking marijuana than they are drinking beer. Canadian beer sales dropped off by right around 6.8 percent in March of 2019. This is the most significant hit in over two years, the report shows. Analysts at Cowen directly connect Canadas fading interest in beer to the countrys move to legalize marijuana. As we have asserted in the past, we believe that beer faces the biggest headwind from the transition to legal cannabis access, the report reads. Maybe, maybe not. In Colorado, one of the first states to legalize marijuana for recreational use, beer sales have hardly shown any signs of being in jeopardy. The state just broke a beer sales record at the beginning of 2019, according to Colorado Public Radio. The report shows that suds suckers across the state consumed 9.8 million gallons of beer in January -- 1.6 million more than the same month in the previous year. Much of this boost is attributed to the states recent decision to end the 3.2 percent ABV cap that it had on beer sold in grocery and convenience stores. These retail outlets are now free to sell beer without those restrictions. Meanwhile, the Colorado cannabis industry recently broke a sales record of its own. Reports from the Colorado Department of Revenue shows the state just sold $114.3 million of herb back in March 2019. Colorado hasnt witnessed that much weed flying off the shelves since August of last year when sales hit $112 million. It shows that even after five years of operation, the industrys earning potential remains strong. In other words, beer and weed are living together harmoniously. Regardless of what Cowen says about the brewing industry risking lost profits due to legal marijuana, there is a contrasting argument to be made that the two substances are actually complimenting each other nicely and contributing to larger cash hauls in areas that have ended prohibition. The beer industry would be the first to make this argument. Last November, Bob Pease, president and CEO of the Brewers Association, said the brewing sector was only getting bigger in states that have legalized marijuana -- particularly in Colorado, California and Washington. Craft beers share of market in all three of those states continues to grow, he explained. Mike Adams is a contributing writer for Forbes, Cannabis Now and BroBible. His work has also appeared in High Times. Follow him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/mikeadams/2019/05/21/is-legal-marijuana-hurting-beer-sales-or-helping-them/ |
Who Are The Baltimore Orioles Most Valuable Trade Chips? | Getty The Baltimore Orioles are rebuilding the franchise from the ground up. First-year general manager Mike Elias is more concerned about the long-term plan rather than short-term results with wins and losses. As a result, Elias will likely unload some veterans by the Major League Baseball trade deadline to acquire some young talent. The team has several players that could play a key role for some of the other clubs looking to make a playoff run this season. The Orioles actually began this process last year. Baltimore obtained several key prospects by dealing infielders Manny Machado and Jonathan Schoop, right-handers Kevin Gausman, Brad Brach and Darren O'Day and lefty closer Zack Britton prior to the non-waiver trade deadline. The success of those deals has yet to be determined because many of the young players the Orioles received are still in the development process, most notably top-prospect and outfielder Yusniel Diaz, potential starters Dillon Tate, Bruce Zimmermann and Dean Kremer, reliever Zach Pop and infielder Rylan Bannon. The process will continue over the next couple of months. Here are several players that could be dealt for some promising prospects: Andrew Cashner The veteran right-hander has been one of the few bright spots in the struggling starting rotation. He is 4-2 with a 4.14 ERA in 10 starts, already matching his win total from last season. Cashner could be a nice addition to the back of the rotation for a playoff contender. He could also provide valuable depth out of the bullpen if he is willing to make that adjustment for a shot at playing in the World Series. Cashner is in the last year of his deal with Baltimore so he will undoubtedly be traded at some point. Mark Trumbo The slugger is in the final year of his three-year deal and was expected to be a potential trade candidate. However, he opened the season on the IL and still has not played a regular-season game. Trey Mancini The outfielder/first baseman is the Orioles most productive player and would likely garner the biggest return via a trade. Mancini is batting .303 and leads the team with 10 home runs and 23 RBIs. He is a solid defender and would be a boost to any lineup. Mancini, 27, has publicly said he wants to remain in Baltimore and continue to play a vital role in the rebuilding project. He is not a free agent until 2022. Mychal Givens Givens (0-1, 4.71 ERA, 1.23 WHIP) has served as the Orioles closer, managing four saves in six opportunities with three holds. Givens could be a effective set-up man on a team that already has an established closer. Major league clubs can always use bullpen help and the Orioles might be able to get a solid return for Givens, who has thrown multiple innings in a game for manager Brandon Hyde. Givens is signed through 2021, which enhances his value. Dylan Bundy The 26-year-old Bundy was expected to anchor the front end of the rotation when he selected by Baltimore in the first round (No. 4 overall) of the 2011 First-Year Player Draft. After some early struggles, Bundy has pitched better and allowed just four runs (three earned) over his last three starts. He is 2-5 but lowered his ERA from 7.79 on April 16 to 4.66. A change of scenery also could be beneficial. Bundy is under team control through 2021. Jonathan Villar The veteran second baseman is having an uneven season. He is batting .250 with five homers, 19 RBIs and nine stolen bases. He also has four errors in 26 games at second base and two in 24 games at shortstop. Villar could be a solid addition for a club that needs a dependable infielder because of an injury or overall lack of production. Villar is signed through next season. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/toddkarpovich/2019/05/21/who-are-the-baltimore-orioles-most-valuable-trade-chips/ |
Why Are The Super-Rich Getting Audited Less? | Budget buts have gutted the Internal Revenue Service. (Photo by Zach Gibson/Getty Images) Getty Images Topline: IRS data released this week show a steady drop in audits of those making millions, causing an immediate outcry. The apparent reasons: A slashed IRS budget and a Congressional mandate to prioritize audits but of low-income filers. IRS budget cuts initiated by congressional Republicans have been responsible for a decrease in tax audits across the board, but especially for wealthy taxpayers. The IRS audited 6.66% of returns from filers with more than $10 million in adjusted gross income in fiscal year 2018, down from 14.52% in 2017 and even further down from 29.3% in 2011, according to IRS data. Among households with income between $1 million and $5 million, the audit rate dropped from 3.52% to 2.21% in 2018. By comparison, audits of households with an income of under $50,000 still fell, but less than a percentage point. For those making less than $25,000, the audit rate fell 0.02% (to .69%) from 2017 to 2018. For income between $25,000 and $50,000 the audit rate fell .01% (to .48%). Why the audit rate for the rich is falling: Congressional Republicans cut IRS spending after the party took control of the House in 2011 in an effort to reduce wasteful spending. The agency also drew criticism from Republicans after the IRS said it targeted some conservative nonprofit groups in 2013. Adjusted for inflation, the 2019 IRS budget is 19% below its funding in 2010, according to the Government Accountability Office, which means fewer auditors. While most audits are done via computer, the process is far more complex for big earners, which involves more people with specialized knowledge, said Julie Roin, a professor specializing in tax law at the University of Chicago. Most people with $10 million or more are running businesses or have business interests on the side, so their income is coming from sources that are harder to audit and their deductions are coming from sources that are harder to audit, Roin said. Concerned with fraud, Congress has made it a priority to audit filers claiming the Earned Income Tax Credit, an anti-poverty program that gives low-to-moderate working Americans money back on their taxes. In 2018, 25% of taxpayers who received EITC money didnt actually qualify, resulting in the government losing more than $18 billion. Although, ProPublica reported, the law is so complex that many erroneous EITC claims are mistakes rather than outright fraud. More than a third of all audits are of EITC recipients, according to ProPublica. And now, the counties with the highest audit rates are predominantly poor, black and rural areas in the Deep South, ProPublica also found. As the IRS loses resources, it focuses what little it does have on Congressional mandates and priorities, which has thus far been the EITC, said Roin. Its not necessarily the IRSs fault, she said. When its bound by this congressional mandate it has to fulfill, and when Congress cuts budget for enforcement, theres just fewer warm bodies to audit people. Congress responds: Senator Ron Wyden told the Wall Street Journal that the IRS needs more resources to address the enforcement gap between the rich and poor. Republicans in the Senate and the House have been very much geared towards a policy that has produced lots of poor people being audited and lots of well-off people basically getting off the hook, he said. But Republicans balked at boosting the IRS budget carte blanche. I dont believe the solution is more agents, more audits and more intrusive government into taxpayers, Representative Kevin Brady, the top Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee, also told The Journal. I think its smarter audits. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/rachelsandler/2019/05/21/why-are-the-super-rich-getting-audited-less/ |
Will Lowe's Revenue Grow In Q1 2019? | Lowes (NYSE: LOW) is set to announce its Q1 2019 (ended April 2019) results on May 22, 2019, followed by a conference call with analysts. The market expects the company to report revenue close to $17.7 billion for Q1 2019 (ended April 2019), which would be an increase of 2% on a y-o-y basis. The increase is mainly expected as the revenue per square foot metric will continue to rise. Market expectation is for the company to report earnings of $1.34 per share for Q1 2019 (ended April 2019), higher than $1.19 per share in the year-ago period. Lowes reported $71.3 billion in Total Revenues in Fiscal year 2018. The revenue comes from the sale of home improvement supplies like tools, construction products, and related services. In addition, here is more Consumer Discretionary data. Trefis Key Factors Affecting Earnings: Revenue to grow: The company has seen revenue fluctuating over the quarters. In-spite of the fluctuations the company has seen a revenue growth in all quarters of FY 2018 vis--vis the same quarters of FY 2017. In Q1 2019 we expect marginal growth over Q1 2018. The companys revenue growth is mainly contributed by the revenue per square foot metric. It has increased from $305 in 2016 to $340 in 2018. Trefis estimates the metric will reach $349 by 2019. The number of stores and square footage per store metrics have remained nearly flat for a few years now and are expected to continue in the same manner in 2019. Trend in Expenses: Cost of Sales has been steady at around 67% of Total Revenue over the quarters except Q4 2017 and Q4 2018 where it crossed 70%. We expect for Q1 2019 it will be around 67%. Lowes saw a fall in EBITDA margin as SG&A expenses increased by $3 billion in FY 2018. Further, Indirect expenses decreased in FY 2018 as income tax provisions came down by nearly $1 billion. In FY 2019 we expect EBITDA margin to recover and indirect expenses to remain flat. Full Year Outlook: For the full year, we expect gross revenue to increase by 2.1% to $72.8 billion in FY 2019. EBITDA margin is expected to increase to around 9.5%. Trefis has a price estimate of $113 per share for Lowes stock. The value is based on the expectations of revenue growth as the revenue per square foot metric continues its rise and an improvement in EBITDA margin. Explore example interactive dashboards and create your own. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2019/05/21/will-lowes-revenue-grow-in-q1-2019/ |
What Factors Will Impact NetApp's Q4 Fiscal 2019 Earnings? | 2016 Bloomberg Finance LP NetApp (NASDAQ: NTAP) is expected to publish its Q4 fiscal 2019 results on May 22. This note details Trefis forecasts for NetApp, 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 Information Technology companies here. Trefis Total Revenues for NetApp have largely been rangebound, hovering around the $1.50 billion mark over the last few quarters. The revenues stood at $1.56 billion in Q3 fiscal 2019, as compared to $1.54 billion during the prior year quarter. The company has guided for revenues to be in the range of $1.59 to $1.69 billion in Q4 fiscal 2019. Our estimate of $1.64 billion, a figure 5% higher than what it reported in the previous quarter, is close to the mid-point of the companys guidance and in line with the consensus estimate. 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. Products segment revenues have seen a modest increase from $952 million in Q3 fiscal 2018 to $967 million in Q3 fiscal 2019. This can largely be attributed to growth in all-flash arrays with favorable NAND pricing. The segment revenues could see low single-digit decline in Q1. Weaker demand from the enterprise customers weighed over the companys sales growth in the previous quarter, and this trend will likely continue in Q4 as well. The global server market could see a slowdown in 2019, given the expected launch of new processors in the near term. This will likely impact storage companies, including NetApp. Asia Pacific accounts for 14% of the companys total sales. There is a slowdown in Chinese economy, and ongoing trade tensions between the U.S. and China could further add to the woes. The segment revenues were impacted by currency headwinds in the previous quarter, and this could continue in Q4 as well. Software Maintenance revenues could grow to $290 million in Q4 fiscal 2019, as compared to $247 million in the prior year quarter, while Services revenue could see a slight decline to $367 million. The companys sale of add-on software and infrastructure solutions products are aiding the revenue growth. Services revenues can be linked to the companys installed base, which could be impacted by the overall demand outlook, primarily on the enterprise side. NetApps adjusted earnings per share will likely be $1.25 per share in Q4 fiscal 2019, reflecting 11% growth to the prior year quarter. Average consensus earnings estimate ~ $1.26 per share. This can largely be attributed to slight growth in margins, driven by lower share count and growth in all-flash arrays, which carry higher average selling prices (ASPs). Explore example interactive dashboards and create your own. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2019/05/21/what-factors-will-impact-netapps-q4-fiscal-2019-earnings/ |
Can The Warriors Win The NBA Finals Without Kevin Durant? | ASSOCIATED PRESS The Golden State Warriors didnt need Kevin Durant to knock the Portland Trail Blazers out of the Western Conference finals in four games. Besides, since losing Durant in Game 5 of the semifinals, the Warriors have not lost. Theyre definitely not a better team, Trail Blazers guard Seth Curry told The Athletic. But theyre harder to guard. Theres evidence to show, in some ways, the Warriors are better without Durant. Its a question worth asking, especially when considering Durant will be a free agent this summer and may not be back next season. Golden State could return to a core of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson (also a free agent) and Draymond Green -- a trio which has thrived without Durant on the court. But before the Warriors reckon with that reality, they have one more series to play. The Warriors will have 10 days of rest before the NBA Finals begin on May 30. Warriors head coach Steve Kerr acknowledged during the conference finals that Durants injury, which the team is calling a right calf strain, is more serious than they originally thought. Theres no time table as to when hell begin on-court work, let alone be ready to play. Meanwhile, the Milwaukee Bucks and Toronto Raptors still have at least two games to go before the representative from the Eastern Conference is decided. It depends, somewhat, on who they play. Durant may be the league's best option to guard Giannis Antetokounmpo. Few other players can match Antetokounmpos height and positional versatility. When their respective teams go small, you could make the argument that Durant and Antetokounmpo are the two best centers in the league. Greens strength and Andre Iguodalas length could be enough to bother him, but neither would provide the type of interference Durant would. Beyond the Antetokounmpo question, the Bucks also have bodies. A lot of them. Brook Lopez, Nikola Mirotic and Ersan Ilyasova give Milwaukee head coach Mike Budenholzer several veteran options in the front court. Guards Malcolm Brogdon, Eric Bledsoe, Khris Middleton and George Hill give him multiple guys to throw in front of Curry and Thompson. Offensively, they can all either make shots, handle the ball, or both. The Rockets and Blazers were mostly limited to two shot creators at a time. The Bucks can whip the ball around and get offense from any of the five players on the court. Defensively, they will have to find a way to slow down the Curry-Green pick-and-roll, which has produced like clockwork since Durant went down. Even putting a switchable defender like Antetokounmpo on Green and a plus-defender on Curry won't be enough to grind its gears. The Raptors could do something similar by putting Kawhi Leonard on Green and Kyle Lowry on Curry. If the Warriors run its pet play, Leonard can switch onto Curry and Lowry has the lower-body girth to body up Green. Toronto could also put Danny Green on Curry and tell Lowry to hound Thompson instead, if they favor some Green on Green action. Leonard, however, seems hobbled, and asking him to duke it out with Green and switch onto Curry -- while also producing offense at his insane pace -- is a tall order. The Raptors could go with Pascal Siakam in place of Leonard, but theres a drop off there. Against Siakam, Curry would have more room to cook. Without Durant, the problem for Golden State wouldnt necessarily be on offense. While Durants one-man band approach can hit the right notes, when Curry, Thompson and Green are jamming they make music just as sweet. Its on defense where theyll miss him the most. Both the Bucks and Raptors are deeper than Houston and Portland. Especially Milwaukee, whose depth has afforded Antetokounmpo the ability to play just 33 minutes per game (barely up from his season average of 32). Maybe the Warriors can mix and match Greens and Iguodalas minutes against Antetokounmpo, but if Budenholzer were to deploy his greatest weapon at 40 minutes per game, the stress test might break Golden States defense. The Warriors would end up throwing their best guys at Antetokounmpo, which would open up things for Lopez, Mirotic and Middleton. Durant, meanwhile, could match up with Antetokounmpos minutes. Weve seen Durant take on the LeBron James assignment in past finals. He cant stop James or Antetokounmpo completely, but he can spend the game challenging them and making their normal routine difficult, which at this point is all they can ask for. On Toronto, Leonard isnt as big as Antetokounmpo, and therefore the Warriors may not need Durant for that matchup as regularly. Iguodala and Thompson could credibly guard him. Just like in a potential matchup with Milwaukee, though, theres a downward stream. Siakam and Green could shake loose. Marc Gasol could bully Golden States platoon of centers. The Raptors arent as dangerous as the Bucks offensively, but Leonard is a handful. Allocate your best resources on him and things will open up for everyone else. Golden State managed to beat a banged up Trail Blazers crew in Game 4 without Durant and Iguodala, but another injury in the finals exacerbates all these pain points. Milwaukee and Toronto will assail Alfonzo McKinnie and Jordan Bell. At this point, Durants biggest asset is not his unstoppable hesi and mid-range game, its his catch-all versatility. Without Durant, the Warriors have one less body, and that gives another injurys impact exponential ripple effects across the series. Golden State didnt need Durant to get to the NBA Finals, and a series against either Milwaukee or Toronto will still be evenly matched without him. Durant, however, gives them a decisive edge. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/wesgoldberg/2019/05/21/can-golden-state-warriors-win-the-nba-finals-without-kevin-durant/ |
Can Target Beat Estimates In Q1? | Target (NYSE: TGT) is scheduled to announce its fiscal first quarter results on Wednesday, May 22. In 2018, Targets revenue grew 4% year-over-year (y-0-y) to $75 billion, driven by a strong 5.1% increase in comparable sales. Among the components of the reported comparable sales, traffic grew a strong 5.0% y-o-y. Further, the companys digital comparable sales grew 1.8% y-o-y, while store comparable sales grew a robust 3.2% y-o-y. The fact that the company has been able to grow its store comparable sales, despite significant competitive pressure, suggests that its initiatives are resonating well with customers. In terms of the bottom line, the companys adjusted EPS grew more than 10% y-o-y during this period. The company is looking to overhaul its business model with the expansion of small-format stores, in addition to revamping its existing stores and improving supply chain management, since the beginning of 2017. Our $80 price estimate for Targets stock is more than 10% ahead of the current market price. which outlines our Q1 and full-year 2019 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 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2019/05/21/can-target-beat-estimates-in-q1/ |
What Are The Pros And Cons Of Working For A Startup Vs. A Large Company? | 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: There are a lot of pros and cons to both working in a startup and a large, established company. The pros of a startup: Upside. If a startup becomes successful it can be a life changing event. Agility. Since a startup is so new, you constantly need to pivot and find your right market fit and customer value proposition. That can be incredibly exciting. Passion. Most people working for a startup want to grow something big and be part of something special. There is nothing like the bonds you can build through this creative process and the intrinsic ownership created. Breadth. Startups are always understaffed and so you have to wear many hats. There is really no better training for a young person than working at a startup because you have to literally do everything. As you grow in your career you can specialize but early on doing everything is excellent training, especially for senior management roles down the line. The cons of a startup: Risk. Most startups dont succeed and often times it can be for reasons outside of your control. Sometimes the economy changes and funding dries up or a million other reasons. As a result, if youre working for day to day stability, a startup might not be the best choice. Work/Life balance. If youre going to do a startup right, you have to become obsessed with it. As a result, that can often consume all of your time and some of the other aspects of your life family, friends, exercise fade into the background. The pros of a large, established company: Resources. You can do a lot of really cool and impactful things when you have resources behind you. And you can have access to that when youre at a more established company. Brand recognition. It is much easier to sell and market stuff when people have an idea of who you are. That brand recognition comes from being part of a larger company and it can make your life easier. The cons of a large, established company: Ownership. In a startup there is usually less layers to the top and so individual people can feel more autonomy and make decisions that impact the business. Part of that is because there is less to lose. For a larger company, decisions are often made at a level above your pay grade and that can take time to get used to, especially if you come from more of a startup background. Process. Startups are often very fluid. There isnt a process for everything because there doesnt need to be. This is not true of a large company. At scale, you need process to ensure things run smoothly across a large employee and customer base. This does introduce red tape and things can seem like theyre moving slowly. Like I said there are pros and cons to both. I know exceptionally talented people that work at both sized companies and have been successful in both types of companies. It all depends on where you are in life and what youre looking for. They are just very different tracks and not everyone can adapt and fit into both. 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/2019/05/21/what-are-the-pros-and-cons-of-working-for-a-startup-vs-a-large-company/ |
Will DiCaprio, Pitt, Robbie And Tarantino's 'Once Upon A Time In Hollywood' Rewrite History? | Just in time for its premiere at Cannes today (or whatever time it is when the film debuts in France), Once Upon A Time in Hollywood has a second trailer courtesy of Columbia and Sony. By the way, since Im driving up to the Sony lot to watch Brightburn this afternoon if you want to have me come a few hours early Ill even pick up lunch from Victor Jr.s. Well, if you see a review of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood from me in the next 48 hours, you can assume that I dined on Italian food this afternoon. Jokes aside (although Im totally serious), Quentin Tarantino made the news the other day by penning an open letter asking critics and journalists seeing the movie this week not to divulge spoilers, which is arguably in-and-of-itself a spoiler. Maybe hes just playing the game, but it might also mean that the films tale of 1969 Hollywood plays about as fast and loose with history as Inglorious Basterds. If you see Bruce Lee teaming up with Sharon Tate to kill Charlie Manson before Mansons groupies can shed any innocent blood, well, dont be that surprised. The Tate-Bianca murders are sometimes spoken of a kind of end of innocence moment for old-school/Golden Age Hollywood. Thus, I wouldnt be surprised if Tarantino plays in the wish-fulfillment sandbox in a manner not unlike Inglorious Basterds or (to a lesser extent) Django Unchained. That said, you can argue that the grimdark western The Hateful Eight (which I need to rewatch between now and July 26) is partially a rebuttal to Tarantinos crowd-pleasing better history through cinema Elseworld stories. The Hateful Eight also works as a splash of cold water/reality after two films which examined how history is often viewed (and created) through the filter of a cinematic lens. Its just as likely that Tarantino is crafting something closer to Spike Lees Summer of Sam (which was a character-driven ensemble melodrama that took place concurrently with the Son of Sam murders) as he is making another magical history tour. Well probably know a lot more later today pending reviews, but neither option is wrong. On the surface, the trailer teases a period piece about a TV star (Leonardo DiCaprio) who is passing the era of his own cultural relevance and the stunt man (Brad Pitt) who wonders if he can be more (and possibly falls under Charles Mansons proverbial spell). It looks gorgeous, has a ridiculously stacked cast (DiCaprio, Pitt, Margot Robbie, Al Pacino, Dakota Fanning as Sharon Tate, Margaret Qualley, Luke Perry, Kurt Russell and Damon Herriman as Charles Manson) and is positioning itself as the event movie of the summer for adults and movie nerds. As cynical as I am these days about anything that isnt a big superhero movie, my fingers are crossed for this one. Columbia Columbia Columbia Columbia | https://www.forbes.com/sites/scottmendelson/2019/05/21/once-upon-a-time-in-hollywood-trailer-dicaprio-pitt-robbie-tarantino-pacino-fanning-manson/ |
Who Decides What Will Go Into The Library Of Congress? | originally appeared on Quora: the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. Answer by Kate Zwaard, Director of Digital Strategy, Library of Congress, on Quora: Our Recommending Officers are the stars here. They are several hundred staff members (including those at six Overseas Offices in locations like Cairo and New Delhi) who recommend, select and acquire new collections items. They use the Collections Policy Statements and Supplementary Guidelines, which are periodically updated to support the Library's responsibilities to serve Congress, as well as the United States Government as a whole, the scholarly community, and the general public. There are many ways an item can be identified for addition to the collection. Some items and collections that staff select are acquired either as a purchase or as a solicited gift. The Library also employees vendors around the world to acquire materials. In addition, many items arrive at the Library unsolicited, often as Copyright Office deposits or gifts. For those materials, staff apply the guidelines in the policy statements to determine which are within scope for the collection and can be added. As Americas Library and the worlds largest library, the Library of Congress is constantly building and shaping its collection. The physical collection includes over 168 million items, and the digital collection contains over 14 petabytes of content. No subject, language, or place of publication is excluded, although the subjects of clinical medicine and technical agriculture are more thoroughly collected by the National Library of Medicine and the National Agricultural Library, respectively. 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/2019/05/21/who-decides-what-will-go-into-the-library-of-congress/ |
What Are The Most Promising Areas Of Tech Investing Right Now? | originally appeared on Quora: the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. Answer by Ilya Fushman, Partner at Kleiner Perkins, on Quora: Its difficult to not get excited about pretty much everything in tech these days: technology is transforming everything from healthcare, to transportation, to food, to space exploration. The most fundamental shift, in my view, is that were moving from a manufacturing to a knowledge-based economy throughout most of the world. This means a few things: Work is increasingly digital, distributed, complex, and constant -- we need better tools to do our jobs and free up time for personal health, self-fulfillment, and improvement. This means that everything from productivity apps to digital health will be an exciting area to play in. Our lives are being digitized as well the way we live, eat, plan families, and move are different than even five years ago, and everything is increasingly tech-enabled. Most importantly, a lot of the automation and the always-on connected nature of our lives will mean a greater need for entertainment, gaming, and digitally powered human connections. Were in a state of both being constantly busy and needing more ways to escape. All businesses are looking more and more like tech companies, and will need new infrastructure. From developer tools to vertical-specific applications, to transportation and logistics, we expect software to power all areas of business. This is a massive opportunity and unsurprisingly bigger than most had expected. There are almost 1Bn knowledge workers in the world and over 3Bn people who work -- theyll all need dedicated digital products eventually. Work is becoming knowledge-based and this transition is driving fundamental economic and urban shifts. For some, these changes are a blessing; but others will need help keeping up. This means we need better access to financial tools and products for an ever-increasing fraction of the worlds population (from digital banking to alternative sources of income and support). This digital world will require new foundations of both hardware and software, and an increasing focus on security and identity. The realities of Blade Runner and Ghost in the Shell (the anime - not the movie) seem like reasonable representations of the world of the future. The above can be grouped into four core domains that we are investing in today: Enterprise, Consumer, Fintech, and HardTech. There are a myriad of other opportunities today. Im fascinated by whats happening in therapeutics and disease diagnostics, but focus is everything in our business. 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/2019/05/21/what-are-the-most-promising-areas-of-tech-investing-right-now/ |
What Can Thomas Partey Offer Manchester United? | With plenty of names being flung here, there and everywhere, the transfer window has opened in Europe with clubs vying for the best of the bunch this summer. Manchester United, in particular, have one might job on their hands with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in charge and have to make the right statement this summer to get the ball rolling. While there have already been ups and downs during his short tenure so far, the Norwegian will only truly be judged when having assembled his own team. If the Glazer family, who own the Red Devils, are truly wanting to back and support Solskjaer, then they must listen to him in the transfer window. Part of Jose Mourinhos downfall last season was due to the fact that the executive vice-chairman of the club, Ed Woodward, overruled on certain targets and decided that they were not better than what they already possessed. That was clearly proven wrong throughout the campaign, but Man United simply cannot make more mistakes when acquiring new players. If they are to truly challenge for major honours in the next five years, then every decision they make especially when it comes to the summer window has to be the right one. With Nemanja Matic approaching 31 years of age this August, and his legs considerably slowing down, it is no surprise to see Manchester United linked with a vast array of players that can come in and take over from the Serbia international. Getty One player has caught the eye of the Red Devils that might just be in the realms of realism to sign without the offering of Champions League football: Atletico Madrids Thomas Partey. The Ghana international has been consistently improving year-on-year in the Spanish capital and has caught a lot of attention from Europes biggest clubs. Partey is deployed as a defensive midfielder by Diego Simeone, but he has all the tools in the box to also provide a well-balanced job from one end to the other. His technical ability is up there with some of the best midfielders in the world, as well as his spatial awareness when tracking players making runs in-behind. Getty In a Manchester United midfield that is lacking defensive integrity and professionalism, Partey is a player that can add the much-needed qualiy. With Ander Herrera also leaving on a free transfer to Paris Saint-Germain this summer, the need for another midfield is of importance, and the Ghanaian has an open mind when it comes to the Premier League. With Parteys contract running until 2023, Atletico Madrid are likely to hold out for the full release clause to be paid, which is suggested to be around the 50 million mark. Given the current climate and market inflation that has increased year-on-year, the current valuation of the Ghana international is modest especially if he can match his level of performance in England. Parteys ability to unlock defences with precise passing would be a welcome addition at Old Trafford, with the lack of ruthlessness emanating from the team last season. While physicality is not the be all and end all, it has been said that the Premier League is the most physically demanding competition in Europe, so having Parteys freshness and strength alongside Paul Pogba would only aid Uniteds midfield. With plenty of other clubs offering an arm and a leg for Partey, this would be no easy addition for Manchester United. However, if they are to make a statement this summer, this signing would clearly show that their recruitment is improving by selecting an outstanding midfielder to join their ranks. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/liamcanning/2019/05/21/what-can-thomas-partey-offer-manchester-united/ |
What Does AI See When It Watches A Week Of Television News? | Getty Television news forms a critical source of information for populations around the world yet has been little-studied compared with the textual world of digitized print and online news. At the same time, deep learning has advanced to the point where today we have AI algorithms that can richly annotate not only text, but also speech, imagery and even video. The Internet Archives Television News Archive has been preserving the ephemeral world of broadcast news for the past decade. Today that archive of almost two million shows is accessed primarily through keyword search of their closed captioning, allowing researchers and journalists to explore how each station has covered the most important stories of the past decade. Journalists like FiveThirtyEights Dhrumil Mehta and Oliver Roeder, Washington Posts Philip Bump, Voxs Alvin Chang and many others have made extensive use of the Television Explorer to examine trends in how television news has covered major stories over the past decade. Simultaneously, deep learning has matured to the point that off-the-shelf cloud AI APIs can watch television and examine images, cataloging the objects and activities they depict with extraordinary precision. Moreover, these AI tools do not require any human intervention, making them not just infinitely scalable, but most importantly, non-consumptive. Books are routinely analyzed today using machine learning algorithms that can analyze their topical and narrative structures without any human having access to the underlying text. Visual materials like videos and imagery have long resisted similar analysis due to the limitations of traditional machine learning beyond text. As deep learning algorithms have matured, this same non-consumptive workflow can now be extended to videos and imagery, making it possible to have machines watch millions or even billions of hours of television and summarize the key visual and spoken narratives without a human ever being able to see any of the underlying source material. To explore this vision in more detail, I worked with the Internet Archives Television News Archive to analyze one week of television news coverage, covering CNN, MSNBC and Fox News and the morning and evening broadcasts of San Francisco affiliates KGO (ABC), KPIX (CBS), KNTV (NBC) and KQED (PBS) from April 15 to April 22, 2019, totaling 812 hours of television news. This week was selected due to it having two major stories, one national (the Mueller report release on April 18th) and one international (the Notre Dame fire on April 15th). Each video was analyzed using Googles Video AI API with all of its features enabled, including identifying the topics and activities it depicted second-by-second, scene changes, OCR text recognition and object tracking. The video was then split into 1-frame-per-second preview thumbnails and analyzed through Googles Vision AI API to examine how treating videos as sequences of still images affects analytic results while creating even further distance between the analysis and the original source content. While the Video AI API supports automatic transcript generation, in this case each video was transcribed using Googles Cloud Speech-to-Text API since it supports 120 languages, offering an easier path for expanding beyond English television news in the future. Finally, both the station-provided closed captioning and the automatically generated transcripts were processed using Googles Natural Language API to inventory all of the major people, places, organizations and other primary topics mentioned. In total, nearly 2TB of data were analyzed, producing 615GB of machine annotations. Together, these four APIs represent the four major modalities of current deep learning approaches to content understanding: video, imagery, speech and text. Perhaps most importantly, because it would allow us to expand our efforts to combat misinformation, disinformation and foreign influence beyond the textual realm to the visual world through which we increasingly see the world around us. Television news cameras are often the first on the scene of major events, offering a trustworthy and verified accounting of what is happening in real-time. Quantifying the dual visual and spoken narratives of television news allows it to be linked to online news and social media reporting of those events. Thus, a tweet announcing the Notre Dame cathedral is on fire can be linked to live footage from a major television network confirming the events. In turn, television coverage of the fire can be linked to online coverage from across the world, offering a global perspective on the what the cathedral means to people in each country, as well as linking to historical and other context on the cathedrals history. Applying Googles Vision AI API to each video at one second intervals allows its Web Entities feature to perform the equivalent of a reverse Google Images search to identify images from across the open Web that are most visually similar to the given television footage. In turn, the Vision AI API compiles the top topics in the captions of those similar Web images, essentially crowdsourcing the open Web to estimate the topics being depicted on screen at any moment. Thus, while Googles Vision AI API does not perform any kind of facial recognition, it can tag footage of Robert Mueller as himself, Donald Trump, the White House, Russia and related topics simply by noting that similar-looking images across the Web are most frequently captioned with those topics. Working in reverse, this visual similarity matching could even be used to help identify deep fakes targeting media outlets. A tweet of a clip purporting to be a breaking news announcement on a major television network could be instantly compared to the actual stations footage to confirm that the clip in question never actually aired and is a hoax. Looking to the future, imagine a global consortium of diverse public stakeholders working together to explore how technologies like deep learning could be used in creative and innovative ways to combat the spread of digital falsehoods. Built around a central virtual reading room, researchers could apply non-consumptive analytics to study and explore the global dissemination of false information, from identifying deep fakes and falsified facts to documenting how falsehoods flow across mediums and modalities to new approaches to lending context to complex debates. Such a collaboratory would offer a powerful non-consumptive testbed to explore the next generation of approaches to document, understand and combat misinformation, disinformation and foreign influence. To jumpstart this conversation, an initial dataset is being released today of all of the machine-generated annotations generated by Googles off-the-shelf Video AI, Vision AI and Natural Language APIs as they watched this week of television news from the Internet Archives Television News Archive. While the underlying videos, captioning and transcripts are not themselves available, these downloadable machine annotations, totaling 615GB, offer a powerful testbed for misinformation researchers interested in understanding how deep learning might offer an entirely new lens onto the world of video. Putting this all together, deep learning has matured to the point where it is possible to have AI watch television news and catalog what it sees in an entirely non-consumptive fashion without any human intervention. In turn, those annotations can be used to connect television news to related online news and social media, enabling multimodal approaches to understanding and combatting misinformation. Most importantly, the non-consumptive analytic workflow presented here opens the door to a global collaboratory that would bring together stakeholders from across the world to explore innovative new non-consumptive approaches to documenting, understanding and ultimately combatting misinformation, disinformation and foreign influence. In the end, todays AI watching television will become tomorrows AI combatting the world of digital falsehoods and raising the prominence of reliable information. Id like to thank the Internet Archive and its Television News Archive, especially its Director Roger Macdonald. Id like to thank Google for the use of its cloud, including its Video AI, Vision AI, Speech-to-Text and Natural Language APIs and their associated teams for their guidance. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kalevleetaru/2019/05/21/what-does-ai-see-when-it-watches-a-week-of-television-news/ |
Will Trump's Proposal Lead To U.S. Immigration Reform? | President Trump and his son-in-law and senior advisor Jared Kushner recently unveiled their new immigration reform proposals. Some commentators immediately declared those proposals dead on arrival. Let us start by considering what the Presidents new plan failed to consider. The matters overlooked include: family unity, catch and release, immigration judges, the diversity lottery, sanctioning cities, Kate's law regarding re-entry after deportation, a path to citizenship for unlawfully present immigrants, DACA and DAPA, H1B visa reform, EB5 integrity reform, quicker processing of all immigration cases, more green cards, refugee law reform and helping Latin America politically and economically to reduce the number of migrants who are coming to the U.S. border. Lets concede that neither the Presidents proposal, nor likely any other reform proposal from anyone else today, will solve all these problems in one fell swoop. The President has identified his seven top issues. But there are thirteen other issues identified above, and they are not even all the issues in immigration today. Based on immigration reform efforts in Congress in the past and the stated priorities of the President and polling of the electorate in recent months, one possible statement of such six top problems to be addressed could be: From the Presidents list 1. Building a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, 2. Transforming Americas immigrant selection system from family-based to a more merit and skills based economic immigration system and 3. Tightening enforcement measures, such as increasing judges and modernizing ports of entry. From other issues already mentioned, including ones most often raised by Democrats, top issues could be: 4. Resolving the problem of DACA/DAPA immigrants, 5. Establishing a path to citizenship for unlawfully present immigrants, and 6. More humanely dealing with refugees at the southern U.S. border, especially regarding family separations. To succeed, the reform package would need to focus on these six items identified to the exclusion of other issues for the time being, until these six were pretty much completed. Possible Deal: The Wall for a Path to Citizenship for DACA and Undocumented Immigrants Some people recoil at the mere mention of building a wall or a path to citizenship for immigrants unlawfully present in America, but most are tired of the gridlock in immigration reform largely related to these two matters. The issues need somehow to be resolved. The outlines of a possible deal that would involve such a resolution would be an exchange of a path to eventual citizenship for the Dreamers for the initial funding of Trumps wall, and then a deal involving a path to citizenship for other unlawfully present immigrants in the U.S. in exchange for further funding. Such a move would strengthen border security in the way Trump and his supporters want and also relieve millions of Americans from the needless tensions and problems related to the unlawful presence of some 11 million immigrants in the U.S., the big majority of whom have been living in the U.S.A. for over ten years. As for moving towards a merit-based immigration system to attract highly talented individuals, Trump said immigrants would be rated by their age, English proficiency, level of education and offers of employment. His plan would also increase visas for those with particular skills from 12% now to 57% under the new system. A recent immigration trends report undertaken by Envoy Global found that over 80 percent of hiring managers viewed the acquisition of foreign talent as very important in 2019. Based on the report's findings, Richard Burke, CEO of Envoy, declared that it is "imperative" to recognize the need for "a more business-friendly immigration program to fill the high-skilled positions that otherwise remain unfilled." Getty Trading Some Family Options for More Economic Merit-Based Immigrants There is some merit in the idea of cutting back on future extended family members being able to immigrate to the U.S. in exchange for more merit-based economic immigration. For example, looking at the Canadian system that Trump has cited, comparing it to the family-based priorities found in the U.S. Visa Bulletin, Canada does not have immigration visas for adult sons and daughters of Canadian citizens or permanent residents, nor for brothers and sisters of adult Canadian citizens like America has. What is more, Canada only allows for 10,000 applications per year for parents of citizens or lawful permanent residents, and then only with significant financial requirements imposed on such sponsors of their parents. Notwithstanding the acknowledged benefits of family immigration to America recently recounted in statements and articles published, the adoption of a U.S. immigration policy similar to the Australian and Canadian models could be exchanged for more flexible and humane handling of asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border. Stakeholders Need to be Involved in Forging the Deal While admittedly a long shot, it is the only real game in town at the moment. Any such difficult deal-making would have to take place with the participation of Republican, Democratic and relevant other stakeholders, including corporate and labor leaders, as well as with input from groups like the American Immigration Lawyers Association and the American Immigration Council. The main point is, the initiative from the White House should not just be rejected carte blanche, but rather be treated as the opening salvo in a negotiation that possibly could lead to a breakthrough in U.S. immigration with significant benefits for all Americans. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/andyjsemotiuk/2019/05/21/will-trumps-proposal-lead-to-u-s-immigration-reform/ |
Did Jon Snows Series-Long Game Of Thrones Secret Actually Matter At All? | Game of Thrones HBO Game of Thrones fans will be processing the ending of the series for a long while. Probably for another decade at least, or whenever Martin ends up finishing the books so a comparison can be made. After a rocky couple of seasons, I was somewhat satisfied with the finale, which I thought did the best it could with what it had to work with, but the longer I think about some aspects of it, the more Im finding myself squinting and going wait a second. Yesterday, I talked about how all of the famous prophecies from the show and books didnt really pan out in the end, despite the hundreds of fan theories that were crafted from them. Itsa little harder to get past. Spoilers follow. Fans have been scratching their heads since the finale trying to figure out if Jon Snows big secret, the fact that he was the trueborn son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark and the rightful heir to the Iron Throneactually mattered at all in the end. It was far and away supposed to be the biggest reveal of the series, one that happened in season 7, and Jon Snow spent half of season 8 spreading the secret around despite not actually wanting to be king. Game of Thrones HBO Here are the all the reasons it didnt seem to matter at all: Jon was never put into any situation where he needed to prove himself to have Targaryen blood like say, a dragon potentially cooking him alive only to discover he is in fact immune to flame like Daenerys (and he isnt, since we saw him burn his hand early in the series). Jon told Sansa and Arya his secret. It doesnt come up with Arya at all, and while Sansa tells Tyrion that theres a better option than Daenerys out there, its pretty clear that Sansa wasnt ever going to fully bend the knee to Daenerys either way. And it doesnt sway Tyrions loyalty to Daenerys, as that only breaks once she burns Kings Landing. The revelation does not stop Jon and Dany from being in love despite the fact that shes his aunt. This fact means pretty much nothing and is only mentioned once in passing by Varys that it would be awkward for the two to be married since it would be weird for a Northman (but Targaryens frequently married brother and sister). Jon ultimately kills Dany, but hes not doing so because he thinks she views him as a threat and shell kill him to eliminate his claim to the throne. Hes doing it for the good of the realm she seemingly wants to burn to the ground and to protect his family. Hes not doing it as a power play at all. In the end, it doesnt even seem like Dany actually wants to kill Jon. She seems genuine in her belief that the two of them can be together and help reshape the world for the better, and post-show interviews with Emilia Clarke confirm thats where her head was in that moment. Its not a trick, she does love him and at least in the end, is not trying to play him and kill him despite saying he betrayed her earlier. Perhaps if she lived and the show had kept going his claim would have been a problem, but thats clearly not happening. Game of Thrones HBO When it comes time to pick a new king, despite half the people in the council knowing Jons claim to the throne (possibly all of them, depending on how many of Varys letters got out), Jon is never even considered. And with Tyrions new no monarch family succession idea, his claim is nullified anyway. But hes never even on the table because he has to be punished in some way for killing Dany for the Unsullied to let him go, which ends up being a choice between death and the Wall. The only direct consequence I can think of that Jons revelation had was Varys running with the idea of Jon on the throne which got him turned in by Tyrion and roasted by Daenerys. But even that didnt really affect anything in the grand scheme. Varys burning may have been a red flag for Tyrion and Jon but ultimately that paled beside Kings Landing being destroyed. In short, what consequences there were from this seem like they would have happened anyway. Given how many people actually new Jons secret in the end (not many, it seems), there does not seem to be any functional difference between Jon actually being Ned Starks bastard who came up through the ranks of the Nights Watch to eventually become King in the North, and Jon doing all that while secretly being Aegon Targaryen, rightful heir to the throne. It simply doesnt matter. The other Starks dont trust Dany either way. Dany and Jon still ultimately love each other either way. The new king picked isnt Jon either way. It just doesnt matter. Its an odd conclusion for what was the longest kept secret in the series, and I do wonder if the books will have more ramifications of the secret when we finally see those released. Because the show seemed content to reveal it very late and have it not really change the final outcome in the slightest. Very strange indeed. 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/2019/05/21/did-jon-snows-series-long-game-of-thrones-secret-actually-matter-at-all/ |
What Are The Best And Worst States For 529 Plans? | These are tax-advantaged programs, sponsored by states, that allow your investments to grow tax-free and be spent without a tax bite for educational expenses. Stephen Nelson, a wealth manager at Aldrich Wealth in Carlsbad, Calif., tells us how to pick the right one for you: Larry Light: Lets say Ive decided to start contributing to a 529 plan for my kids education. Stephen Nelson: 529 plans are the best way to save for college due to the tax-free growth and tax-free withdrawals if used for college expenses. However, the decision doesnt end there. There are some more hidden hurdles with 529s that many people are unaware of that could hurt their savings growth or make the withdrawal process frustrating when it actually comes time to pay for college. Nelson: First thing, direct sold savings programs versus broker sold savings programs. Many people dont know the difference when they sit across from an advisor and are discussing setting up a 529 Plan. Broker sold programs are 529 plans set up through an advisor or broker. You cant enroll in these programs on your own. But direct sold programs can be enrolled in directly through each states plan manager and done from your home computer. Most people dont realize that the direct sold programs are better and less expensive than the broker sold kind. The fees and sales charges on broker sold programs are so high, youd be better off not even funding a 529 plan. Nelson: If your advisor can provide you the paperwork and submits it on your behalf, it is one. Instead, insist on getting guidance on a direct sold program or sign up yourself at home. A good advisor can walk you through setting up a direct sold program on the computer and save you a whole lot on fees. Nelson: The second hidden hurdle is in the administration of the plans themselves. Imagine youve saved up all this money for your kids school, but then when it comes to pay the tuition bill, the check never arrives at the school from the 529 plan. One of the most frustrating things to deal with as a parent trying to pay for college is when the administrators for the 529 drop the ball on getting checks disbursed on time. Many people dont think about the process of actually distributing the funds when it comes time to pay for college. Not all plans are the same, since they each have their own administrative teams. I would generally advise against choosing a plan that has had gone through recent updates, especially if you are planning on using the funds for K-12 education or Junior will be attending college in the next few years. Nelson: States that have had substantial changes in their plans in the past five years and may still be struggling with getting the administration of the plans up to speed: Washington, Texas, Oregon, Mississippi, Montana, Kentucky, Illinois, Washington D.C. and Rhode Island. I would look for a plan with a long tenure with the same plan administrator. Light: OK, say Ive chosen my plan but picking the investments is making me nervous. Nelson: Its easy to do, but dont overthink this. The simplest solution will do much better than trying to continually make adjustments along the way. When you set up your plan, youre usually presented with three options: Age-based portfolios, which have investments that start out aggressive, often more concentrated on stocks, and then slowly become more conservative as the child ages, meaning usually more bond-heavy. Second are static investment portfolios, whose investments will always stay the same. The third type isnt pre-packaged. You build your own. That is, you can select your own funds and assemble your own portfolio. The simplest solution is an age-based portfolio. The fund will automatically be diversified and the de-risking of the investments as your child approaches college will be handled for you. You can then focus your attention on saving rather than trying to adjust the allocation dials. Given this, even with a newborn child, 18 years isnt a very long time for an investment horizon, so I caution against an overly aggressive age-based portfolio. In general, a moderate or balanced portfolioone not too tilted toward stocksmatches better with the time horizon of when these funds will be needed. Nelson: If your state doesnt offer a tax deduction or credit for contributions, my favorite plans are with Utahs My529, Nevadas Vanguard 529, and Californias ScholarShare 529. These are all low-fee plans with high-quality investment options. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/lawrencelight/2019/05/21/what-are-the-best-and-worst-states-for-529-plans/ |
Can AI Tools Segment A Cancer Tumor As Well As An Oncologist? | Mark Kostich by Martha Lagace Radiation therapy can be lifesaving for lung cancer patients. The first step, though, is having a trained, skilled oncologist who knows how to best segment or mark off the tumor for radiation. This expertise is vital for targeting the tumor and controlling the radiations toxicity. Segmenting is difficult and time-consuming even in countries with sufficient medical resources, much less in developing countries where the need is great but fewer personnel have the time and training. An article published in the April edition of JAMA Oncology, a journal of the American Medical Association, describes the crowdsourcing contest and the potential breakthrough for sharing medical knowledge globally. The article, Use of Crowd Innovation to Develop an Artificial Intelligence-Based Solution for Radiation Therapy Targeting, was co-authored by Harvard Business School Professor Karim R. Lakhani and seven colleagues with expertise in radiation therapy, oncology, and crowd innovation. It tells how 34 contestants competing anonymously online over 10 weeks reviewed almost 78,000 images and submitted 45 algorithms. The best five, for prizes totaling $55,000, were assessed to be as good as those of oncologists. Among the studys conclusions, A combined crowd innovation and AI approach rapidly produced automated algorithms that replicated the skills of a highly trained physician for a critical task in radiation therapy. In an email interview, we asked Lakhani, the Charles Edward Wilson Professor of Business Administration, and colleagues Dr. Eva Guinan and Jin Paik more about the study and results. They are referred to as the LISH team below. LISH team: The Laboratory for Innovation Science at Harvard (LISH) has longstanding interest in and experience with solving problems in computer vision, image analysis, and advanced analytics through crowdsourcing. The highly technical, image-related work of radiation oncology planning was highly suitable for leveraging crowd innovation. While there are other medical image analysis contests that have been conducted, such as Dream Challenge (involving experts as solvers), we believe this work is unique in that it specifically recruited non-domain experts via the Topcoder platform. Lagace: As you write in JAMA Oncology, the studys results could help wherever in the world there is a shortage of time and skilled personnel able to do accurate planning for radiation therapy. LISH team: Assistance with radiation planning is only relevant for sites where a radiation machine is present. It provides a good solution where expertise is limited if no one has significant thoracic experience, for example. It creates the potential for institutional interaction, too. This also has a potential impact on quality assurance, training, and improved performance, interpretation, and correlation of clinical trials. LISH team: There is an endless array of potential tools possible for better diagnosis by image analysis. However, there are reasons for why such tools have been relatively slow in development and implementation. The impediments to progress include sufficient well-annotated images for learning or competition, regulatory issues related to image and data de-identification and access, and development of contest designs that motivate participation and provide information structures that support creative re-imagining of the problem and a solution. Perhaps the biggest difficulty resides in the availability of gold standards. Competitions are based on comparison of a submission to some objective correct answer. In many medical settings, the relationship between an image and an accurate diagnosis can be difficult to ascertain. For example, many pathologic diagnoses lack a sine qua non but instead rely on a synthesis of many findings into a consistent, but not definitive, diagnosis. LISH team: Almost any technical challenge can benefit from having an open innovation approach. The key is to develop a problem statement that can be accessible and comprehensible to individuals outside the scientific domain of the problem. Even if a viable solution is not developed through a challenge, the fact that multiple parallel solving attempts occurred informs the sponsor of the feasible path to a potential solution or a complete reframing or reconsideration of the problem. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/hbsworkingknowledge/2019/05/21/can-ai-tools-segment-a-cancer-tumor-as-well-as-an-oncologist/ |
Who Should Join New Cavaliers Head Coach John Beilein's Staff? | Getty Images No team has had a busier offseason thus far like the Cleveland Cavaliers. In the whirlwind of the upcoming NBA Draft and impending free agency, Cleveland hired former Michigan coach John Beilein to be the team's twenty-first head coach. Beilein has an impressive resume, with 41 years worth of experience coaching at the junior college and college level. He is expected to act as a teacher and a visionary to guide the development of Collin Sexton, Cedi Osman and the two additional rookies that will join the team on draft night. But, this will also be Beilein's first rodeo coaching an NBA franchise, and he has to make the right hires in order to help his tenure succeed. Well, things appear to be off on the proper foot when the Cavaliers announced on Sunday night that J.B. Bickerstaff would be joining the fold as the team's next associate head coach. Bringing on Bickerstaff is perfect for both Beilein and the Cavaliers, as the former Memphis Grizzlies head coach has a lion's share of experience coaching at the NBA level, dating back to 2004 when he was with the Charlotte Bobcats. Bickerstaff has also built a reputation as a players coach throughout his time in the NBA, helping bridge the gap with Beilein who may struggle connecting with Cleveland's roster at times. Hiring Bickerstaff to serve under Beilein draws parallels to other Cleveland coaching tandems like Tyronn Lue and Larry Drew and is the first step in the right direction. But, there are still a few more spots that need to be filled on Beilein's staff, especially if the team has a semblance of a contingency plan for Beilein's successor when he does eventually retire. Thankfully, there are plenty of options out there for both Beilein and the Cavaliers. Whether it is remnants from when the team was led by Lue and Drew, Beilein's former assistants from Michigan or even some of the other candidate who lost out on the Cavaliers coaching job, Cleveland has options. When it comes to what the Cavaliers already have, they are plenty familiar with Dan Geriot, Mike Gerrity, Mike Longabardi and James Posey. Out of the four assistants mentioned before, Longabardi will likely not join Beilein's staff. Longabardi was known as the defensive coordinator for the Cavaliers since January 2016, and the results have always been mediocre. Posey could return but would be better suited joining Frank Vogel and the Los Angeles Lakers to work directly with best friend LeBron James and whatever stars the Lakers try to bring in. After that, only Geriot and Gerrity remain and based on what they have done this season they should both be a part of Beilein's staff. Geriot was promoted last season to assistant coach and took responsibility on the development of the team's frontcourt players like Larry Nance Jr. and Ante Zizic. If the Cavaliers were to go after Brandon Clarke or Goga Bitadze with the twenty-sixth pick, Geriot would be vital in either of their development. Gerrity, meanwhile, is the most important coach to retain out of any remaining Cavalier assistant. Gerrity has been credited with helping Sexton, Osman and Nance develop into consistent three-point threats, something that was not a major part of their game before this season. Three-point shooting is a necessity in today's NBA and will be a feature of Beilein's offense. In order to do that, the Cavaliers have to hit their shots and having Gerrity on board is vital in making that possible. Getty On the Michigan front, there are plenty of accomplished assistants that have served under Beilein that could be considered to join Cleveland's staff. But, when it comes to Luke Yaklich, he should be the front runner to be one of Beilein's top assistants next season. Yaklich was Michigans top defensive assistant on Beileins staff, which ranked third nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency during the 2017-18 season and second overall last year, according to Kenpoms analytics. Incorporating Yaklich's penchant for defense would be huge for the Cavaliers, as they finished twenty-eighth overall in team defense with a rating of 116.7. Hiring Yaklich to join Beilein's staff would also help solve Cleveland's long-term future at the head coaching position. At only 43 years old, Yaklich could learn the NBA ropes under Beilein (66) until the current Cavaliers head coach during the term of his five-year deal. This would be able to create continuity and stability for the Cavaliers, something they have been sorely lacking for quite some time at the head coach position. Yaklich can continue Beilein's established culture and identity and lead the Cavaliers as they will likely be a serious playoff contender by the time the defensive guru takes the reins. If Yaklich is not interested, though, there is one other person who can both serve as a lead assistant and an eventual successor. It has been covered a few times on Forbes that Denver Nuggets assistant Jordi Fernandez should join Cleveland's coaching staff in some capacity. The thing that likely held Fernandez back was his lack of experience and the fact that he is only 36 years old. But, if he were to join Cleveland's staff he could gain valuable experience and exposure under Beilein. Like Yaklich, Fernandez can succeed Beilein in time as well and continued the established culture. Building out from the shadow by James is no easy task but getting the head coaching hiring right is critical. Having Beilein succeed in Cleveland is vital for the team's success, development and future growth. The only way to make that happen is to fill his staff with assistants that will help him establish his vision and a culture that will shape Cavaliers basketball for nearly the next decade. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/evandammarell/2019/05/21/who-should-join-new-cavaliers-head-coach-john-beileins-staff/ |
What Makes An Analytical Ecosystem's Application Platform Modern? | Getty Data warehouses have been around for several decades, serving as a central repository of integrated data from disparate sources that meet an enterprises reporting and data analysis needs. With the recent advent of newer analytical capabilities driven by machine learning algorithms and a wide array of computational paradigms and data formats, the data warehouse is undergoing a rather rapid modernization into an analytics platform and ecosystem. While there are several aspects that make up what can be called a modern analytical ecosystem, an important ingredient is a forward-looking and modern application platform. A modern application platform in a modern data warehouse empowers rapid deployment of custom applications that are flexible, powerful and polyglot. It is through custom and use-case-specific and complex applications that data scientists and business analysts ultimately extract meaningful and non-trivial insights in creative and well-governed ways. Among other things, a modern application platform offers easy external integrations, bring-your-own-tools flexibility, rapid prototyping and deployment, application discovery and robust and inclusive developer support. The following tips will help you modernize your modern application platform (also known as your analytical ecosystem or data warehouse) and take it to that next level. Multiple Language Support For starters, gone are the days, when database native language (such as SQL or its variant) was the primary means to talk to the data warehouse. Polyglot (multiple) language support is a must-have. With machine learning and artificial intelligence gaining traction, analytics application developers and machine learning scientists expect seamless support for heterogeneous languages, including Python, R, Java, JavaScript and Scala, to name a few. Even scientific computing languages such as Octave and MATLAB and recent introductions such as Julia are powerful toolsets in a data scientists toolbox. A powerful and extensible language-support foundation, thus, is a key tenet of a modern application platform. Using Open Datasets A data scientists typical day includes working with various datasets. Often times, the experimentation includes working with known public datasets first and extending and customizing the models to real datasets residing in the data warehouse. Easy or one-click access to open and public datasets that can be housed close to and be accessible in the context of the analytical ecosystem is a time-saving function. It is an important step toward a seamless application development experience. Kaggle, Google Public Data, Archive.org and "awesome public datasets" on GitHub are some of my favorite open datasets online. Using Containerization To Your Benefit The power of containerization has surely and quickly touched the analytics and data warehouse world. Building and packaging complex analytics outcomes as a set of interrelated, but isolated and portable containers, has huge appeal in a world where an analytics solution is built using an amalgamation of multiple open-source and closed-source functions, libraries and services as building blocks. A modern application platform can use Kubernetes as an optimized container orchestration platform in tandem with an associated container registry to make it easy to deploy and operationalize container-based analytics solutions. Furthermore, easy integration with a public container registry such as Docker Hub makes it a delight to easily pull and work with thousands of containerized analytics libraries and functions that are growing by the day. Going Serverless With Analytics With the rapid adoption of serverless computing, such as AWS Lambda, a similar pattern of serverless analytics is gaining traction. Business analysts and analytics developers don't want to worry about deployment and only want to focus on their analytics functions and models, whether the modern analytical ecosystem is in a public cloud, on-prem or a hybrid. Offering an embedded serverless framework, such as OpenFaaS, Kubeless, Apache OpenWhisk or Fission, gives a modern application framework a platform-agnostic edge to offer serverless analytics support. One can see how function as a service (FaaS) registry can serve as a foundation for an analytics function store and eventually pave the way for stitchable functions that allow you to create a pipeline or workflow based on multiple functions. Support For Varied Applications Interoperability and extensibility for bring-your-own-analytics tools is a key aspect in a modern application platform in the presence of hundreds of powerful open-source and third-party libraries and tools, such as JupyterHub, Knime and Tensorflow, that are a data scientists best friends. For a large enterprise running a large analytical ecosystem, there are often hundreds or even thousands of varied users in the analytics community. A modern application platform offers an analytics app marketplace, where a large community can easily share and reuse analytics ideas built and deployed as byte-sized reusable and redeployable apps. In addition, an analytics app discovery and governance platform offers necessary and secure scaling attributes. Life Cycle Management Finally, and probably needless to say by now, having robust model deployment and life cycle management capabilities built right into the analytical ecosystems application platform is central to building, deploying and managing production-grade machine learning models that can run close to where the data resides. The Future Of Analytical Ecosystems Though the industry is broadly coming to terms with what a modern data warehouse looks like (advanced analytics, data lakes, open data formats, new engines, hybrid cloud, etc. ), the elements of what makes for a modern application platform within an analytical ecosystem are rapidly evolving. There is an interesting pattern in the industrys growing realization and appreciation of data gravity. Data warehouses are ultimately culminating into comprehensive and extensible analytics platforms. This shrinking gap between a data warehouse and an advanced analytics platform brings a new dimension to what a modern application platform should cater to. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2019/05/21/what-makes-an-analytical-ecosystems-application-platform-modern/ |
What Does It Mean To Be Cloud-Native? | Getty As the cloud becomes pervasive in IT, it is increasingly no longer enough for systems and applications to be simply in the cloud. Now the buzz is about how they need to be cloud-native. The definition is unsettlingly tricky. The Linux Foundation takes a narrow, technical path, stating, Cloud-native computing uses an open-source software stack to deploy applications as microservices, packaging each part into its own container and dynamically orchestrating those containers to optimize resource utilization. A recent InfoWorld article by Andy Patrizio gets closer to a more understandable definition: In general usage, cloud-native is an approach to building and running applications that exploits the advantages of the cloud computing delivery model. Cloud-native is about how applications are created and deployed, not where. Simplified even further, I think the most useful meaning of cloud-native is a solution that embodies the distinguishing characteristics of the cloud the very cloudness that motivates people to want cloud and cloud solutions. For most people, that means flexibility, adaptability, efficiency and resiliency. It's just as important to understand what isnt cloud-native. Putting something in the cloud, slapping the cloud-native label on it and calling it a day fails the test. Something cant just be in the cloud to be cloud-native; it must be of the cloud designed, optimized and operated for the cloud. Its the same reason attaching a rocket engine to a car doesnt make it a spaceship. One common example of an approach that does not result in something becoming cloud-native is the practice of lift and shift to move on-premise IT infrastructure to the cloud. Deploying a solution in the cloud that was originally designed to run in a traditional data center is quite possible and generally of limited merit, as youre simply moving the solution off-premise and likely making it more complicated in the process. The Benefits Of Being Cloud-Native If eliminating a data center is your goal, then you should look into hosting services. It's a simple fix for those who don't need advantages being cloud-native offers, such as: Flexibility: Cloud flexibility allows you to deploy, iterate and redeploy quickly and easily, wherever needed and only for as long as necessary. That flexibility is what makes it easy to experiment and to implement in the cloud. Adaptability: The nature of the cloud means you take (and pay) for only what you need. This is made possible by the ability to elastically scale up and down on the fly without disruption to deliver the appropriate cost-performance mix and keep up with growing or changing demands. Efficiency: Cloud-native solutions streamline operations and the cost of operations in a number of ways. Using the infrastructure as code paradigm, they make it easy to automate a number of deployment and operational tasks. At the same time, they make it possible for operations teams to deploy and manage software in a standardized way because they are accessible and manageable anywhere. They also can be integrated with a variety of cloud tools to enable extensive monitoring and faster remediation of issues. Resiliency: Cloud-native solutions must be robust and always on, making disruption virtually unnoticeable. Moreover, that resiliency should be adjustable. Resiliency is inherently expensive, and where needed, its worth every penny. But where less rigorous guarantees make sense, the level of resiliency in a true cloud-native architecture should be easily selectable to deliver the appropriate cost-reliability balance for the needs at hand. How To Become Cloud-Native Organizations looking to become more cloud-native should carefully examine how closely new technology meets the above criteria. Key areas of focus should be on how (not just where) data is stored and, perhaps more importantly, how it is moved into and out of the production environment. This is where the meaning of cloud-native discussed above comes in to play. For example, when evaluating a new solution, rather than asking if its implemented as an open-source software stack that deploys as a series of microservices, ask if you can scale up and down without disrupting users or applications. All of these factors are dependent on the underlying architecture of the solution. In essence, its either cloud-native or not. You cant patch cloud-native onto something with an architecture not designed for it. For enterprises and vendors, building in the cloud is an opportunity to refresh applications and architectures in ways that make them more flexible, scalable and resilient, changing the way organizations can and must think about things like capacity planning, security and more. The biggest pitfalls are often at opposite ends of the spectrum some design for too narrow a scenario, making it difficult to accommodate the new uses and applications that emerge rapidly in cloud environments. Others design for too many possible needs at the start, leading to over-engineering that delays projects and adds paralyzing and fragile complexity. Furthermore, dont simply assume that because a solution comes from a cloud provider its the most cloud-native option available. Instead, carefully evaluate each application to ensure it meets both your needs and your expectations. The Future Of The Cloud Ultimately, this is where a strong grasp of what cloud-native delivers, rather than what it is, provides clarity for choosing and building out IT infrastructure. If the answer isnt a resounding yes to all of these questions and more, then the solution doesnt meet any definition of cloud-native that matters. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2019/05/21/what-does-it-mean-to-be-cloud-native/ |
Who Should, Or Even Could, Replace NASCAR's Chattiest Mouthpiece? | Getty A Fox spokeswoman tells me the network has not even come up with a true list of candidates to replace Darrell Waltrip, the colorful NASCAR analyst who said last month he is retiring. Wait, rephrase that. Waltrip, 72, the three-time Cup champion driver, has been calling races for Fox since 2001, and his act got a little tired -- or tarred, as hed say in his native Kentuckyese. But Waltrip was enthusiastic and (sometimes a little too) chatty, a true ambassador for NASCAR. After the 2019 season, Foxs meaty contract with NASCAR will run for five more years, and NASCAR has hamstrung both Fox and NBC, its other broadcast partner, for already unveiling a 2020 Cup schedule that has a few interesting changes but is no radical do-over. Waltrip will call his last Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday night with the smooth veteran play-by-play man Mike Joy and Jeff Gordon, the four-time Cup champ who is incisive and funny, but who has often been overwhelmed in the booth by Waltrip and his chicken-fried schtick. Fans dont sound as if they will miss Waltrips Boogity, boogity, boogity call to the hogs at the start of Cup races. But Waltrip was valuable to the telecasts, because he added some zing and served as a bridge between NASCARs good, old days and whatever they are now. NBC already hired away the best contender to replace Waltrip when it landed Dale Earnhardt Jr. last year. NBC has a problem because Earnhardt and his fellow analyst Jeff Burton sound too much the same, but Earnhardt has been up to the task, a good catch. Fox hired former drivers Bobby Labonte and Jamie McMurray for its in-studio portion of NASCAR telecasts, where they are joined by the host Shannon Spake and former crew chief/current apologist Larry McReynolds, but neither former driver has made a big mark. Getty There have already been rumors that Kevin Harvick, the 43-year-old veteran driver and 2014 Cup champion who replaced Dale Earnhardt Sr. a week after his death in 2001, is a strong candidate to replace Waltrip. Harvick, who shot down the rumors, is canny, blunt and smooth. But Harvick is from Bakersfield, Calif., so he has no Southern twang, like Waltrip. Ditto Jimmie Johnson, a pleasant person who never says much. Michael Waltrip has a Southern twang like his older brother, but a surprising number of fans want to see him leave with Ol D.W. Danica Patrick has joined NBC as an analyst at the Indy 500 and is sharp, descriptive and attractive, but NASCARs old guard would shrug her off as a driver who never won. Of the former champions, Dale Jarrett has TV experience, but he has settled into a new role at NBC. Ricky Rudd and Geoff Bodine are former drivers whod bring strong opinions into the booth (and Rudd, 62, is from Virginia and has an awesome throwback racing name). And then there is Tony Stewart, the car owner and former driver who has never been afraid to tell people what he thinks. Maybe Fox wont replace Waltrip. Maybe Fox replaces him with a rotation of former drivers, like Labonte or McMurray. Maybe Fox replaces him with a non-driver, since it already has Gordon. Fox has an excellent NFL analyst, Charles Davis, who never played pro ball. Whoever gets Waltrips headset takes on a big challenge. On balance, the job would appear to be Harvicks to lose. Maybe he could take on Ol D.W.s twangy accent. Or not. Harvick will be doing the play-by-play on the Xfinity Series race Saturday at Charlotte. He is also the lead analyst on seven Xfinity races, a promotion from secondary analyst last year. After Waltrip announced his retirement, Harvick was asked if he wanted to be considered for the job. Harvick said he still wanted to hang around as a driver and win a few more races, if not a championship. Harvick has not won a Cup race since then. Hmmm. Very interesting. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/davecaldwell/2019/05/21/who-should-or-even-could-replace-nascars-chattiest-mouthpiece/ |
What's Next After SEC's Bitcoin ETF Decision? | It was largely expected in the market that the United States Securities and Exchange Commission wasnt going to bring the Christmas early for Hodlers. In their latest decision on the Bitcoin ETF, the department decided to kick the can further down the road, using the same lame excuse of needing to gather more information. On May 20, the SEC delayed its decision on the VanEck bitcoin ETF and added another 35-day period for factfinding. The SECs decision should not be taken as a negative sign for two reasons: firstly, they have not denied the approval, so there is still hope. And secondly, the SEC wants to gauge the public opinion on the matter, and the only reason Bitcoin is still alive today is because of the massive support it has among its community. 2018 Bloomberg Finance LP Thus, it may be appropriate to think that approval of a Bitcoin ETF is only a matter of time and that the day isnt too far away when the sun will shine. In other words, bears need to recalibrate their thinking. The fact is that the SEC in no rush to take any hasty steps in relation to the approval of the Bitcoin ETF. They can continue to keep kicking the can down the road as many times as they like. This is because there is no hard and fast rule for such. For the SEC, the most important thing is to take appropriate measures in order to reduce risk to the financial system. Thus, to achieve this, if they have to delay the approval process, so it be. For now, the SEC is going to remain in the information gathering mode and they will continue to assess the volatility of Bitcoin. Speaking of volatility, one major use case for Bitcoin futures among professional traders is that they utilize Bitcoin futures in market neutral strategy. What I mean by that is when these professional traders are involved in Credit Default Swaps products and their strategy is market neutral, they use Bitcoin futures to increase the delta in their strategy and this enables them to earn money due to higher volatility. Remember, it wasnt long ago when Bitcoin futures hit the record level of 33,700 contracts with a notional value of nearly $1.23 billion and this happened on the heal of higher volatility. It is also important to keep in mind that Bitcoin isnt a beast which is known for its higher volatility only because there is a strong evidence of suppressed volatility period as well. In fact, there had been a few periods when Bitcoins volatility was lower than the NASDAQ index. For the last few days, especially after the Consensus event over in New York, we have witnessed lower volatility for Bitcoin, and it appears that the price has entered in a consolidation mode. For now, the resistance of $8,300 is strong and the price needs a strong catalyst to continue its move towards the 10K level. Well, there are three scenarios which are of significant importance: firstly, if the SEC continues to keep delaying the decision, it is likely that the price will remain in some sort of range. Basically, more of the consolidation period. Secondly, if and when, the SEC delivers a negative verdict on the ETF, it is likely to push the price lower and the previous support levels will gain the most amount of attention. These major support levels are $6,000, $5,000, $4,000 and $3,130.And finally, if the SEC decides that it is about time to let things go and turn on the green light for the Bitcoin ETF, it could create a major FOMO among investors which could lead the price ripping to the upside. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/naeemaslam/2019/05/21/whats-next-after-secs-bitcoin-etf-decision/ |
How Can We Overcome Failure? | Getty Buoyancy. Buoyancy is what researchers suggest is the key to students bouncing back from academic setbacks and the typical challenges they face. Buoyancy in this context has also been referred to as academic resilience. Resilience is a common feature within the world of positive psychology and when a person is resilient they are able to recover quickly from challenges or difficulties. If youre reading this and not a student yourself or a parent to children in an academic setting its still worthwhile noting, as researchers have also linked academic buoyancy to workplace buoyancy. This psychological construct may be the key to managing challenges across the board - whether were in an academic setting or the workplace. Because of that, its perhaps worth learning a little more about it and seeing how we can build more buoyancy into our lives. Ordinary school life for a student involves academic setbacks and challenges. Their time is spread between a range of topics, they have to meet an array of demands and deadlines which may be competing, they face exam pressures and subjects that they find trickier than others to name just a few. As we get older and graduate from our academic lives these setbacks, stressors and challenges dont stop, they just take place at work instead of at school. Researchers have found that Buoyant students who are able to bounce back from academic challenges and stressors are better equipped in the workplace too, meaning these skills translate into workplace buoyancy. Buoyant students have a short term and safe view of setbacks, stressors and challenges. They view them as being temporary and non-threatening. For example, a bad grade highlights areas for improvement and doesnt mean they are going to fail the entire class. They might view working to stressful and competing deadlines as temporary, take reassurance in the fact that it isnt something that is going to last forever and instead of drowning they get organized and stay on top of their workload. Judging from this research It would appear that buoyancy is a helping factor in the world of school and work, however, its links to resilience might add to its importance. If we build buoyancy researchers suggest that its a way to also promote longer-term resilience and resilience is important because of its relationship with mental health. In a recent meta-analysis of studies in this field, researchers concluded that when resilience increases so do positive indicators of mental health. In another study, researchers suggested there are 5 Cs we can address in order to do this. The research is oriented towards academic buoyancy, however, that doesnt mean that we cant examine the ideas and see if they might also help us with building our workplace buoyancy too. Control - When students have a clear understanding of how effort and effective plans impact success and achievement they are more likely to feel in control. When they feel in control of their ability to learn, find solutions and put plans into action they are likely to believe that they are able to overcome the stressors and challenges they face. Composure - Composure refers to low levels of anxiety. Students who are less anxious are more buoyant. They have confidence that they can meet challenges and react to stressors without seeing them as threatening. They may be more likely to feel safe and calm. Students who are anxious are less able to do this as managing their anxiety may take their focus, lead to them feeling under threat and as a result less able to react in a buoyant way. Coordination - Coordinated students are able to implement effective planning. They are able to think ahead and plan in advance, break down bigger pieces of work into more manageable pieces. They have the ability to manage their time effectively and keep on top of their workload because they have effective strategies that they have been taught which they can now put in place. Commitment - Students who are committed will persist with a task up until its completion. Students who are buoyant are aware that success and failure often hinge on how much time and effort we invest. They are also likely to be more aware of the fact that a current failure - a low grade on a test or assignment for example - doesnt predict a future failure so will not shy away from committing to trying again. Confidence - Confidence relates to a students self-efficacy. Self-efficacy is an individual's belief in their ability to succeed in a specific situation or accomplish a task. Confidence plays a huge role in how students approach the tasks, challenges and stressors they face. Students who are more buoyant are likely to have higher levels of confidence. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/carleysime/2019/05/21/how-can-we-overcome-failure/ |
Will The Library Of Congress Ever Become Available Online? | originally appeared on Quora: the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. Answer by Kate Zwaard, Director of Digital Strategy, Library of Congress, on Quora: The Librarys vision is that All Americans are connected to the Library of Congress. We want to make our collections as widely available as possible while respecting the rights of creators, desires of our donors, and other legal and ethical responsibilities. We do not charge research fees and have no plans to do so. The Librarys research rooms are open for use by anyone aged 16 and older without charge or special permission. You can mentally sort the 168 million items in the Library of Congress into three big buckets: material that is unique to the Library (like Ira Gershwins home movies), material that is rare but not unique (like the Persian Language Rare Materials collection), and material that is widely held (like dictionaries or popular fiction). Of that material, some is public domain and others are restricted by Copyright law, donor letters, or other legal restrictions or agreements. Mostly, we focus on digitizing material that is unique or rare and is either in the public domain or we have permission from the copyright owner to provide online access. Additionally, we are adding born-digital collections to the Library every day, like our web archives, and many of the copyright holders for those collections have generously allowed us to share material that would be otherwise restricted. You can learn more about how we plan to build our digital collections in our digital content collecting plan. You can also read about our goals around rights-restricted material in the Maximizing the Use or Content section of our recently released Digital Strategy. 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/2019/05/20/will-the-library-of-congress-ever-become-available-online/ |
Can Backseat Snacks Help Uber Take Brazil? | Courtesy: Cargo If it's going to conquer the world one foreign market at a time, Uber has considerable work to do in Latin America. Populous cities with iffy public transit portend big business, but the competition there is fierce and well-funded, with local taxi operators plus Chinese giant DiDi and its subsidiary 99, and the Daimler-backed scrappy Greek upstart Beat. Now the newly public company could get a boost in its driver rosters in Brazil, thanks to a partnership between backseat mini-convenience store Cargo and the local ampm operator Ipiranga. Cargo boxes, while a passenger amenity as a center console-strapped translucent box of standard impulse puchases, are also an opportunity for drivers. Those drivers get a cut of Cargo sales, and that boosts their potential earnings on each ride. After a good sales day, they can easily refill on products at an Ipiranga gas station, where ampm stores are sited. So Cargo's consumer packaged goods vendors get access to Ubers as a new distribution channel, Ipiranga actually retains customers that won't directly patronize its gas stations, and Uber has a new recruitment method to secure the drivers that create the company's critical asset: enough cars on the road to quickly pick up new fares. Courtesy: Cargo So far, Uber and Cargo have accomplished their own symbiosis in top U.S. ride-hail markets with a variety of products. New drivers get their Cargo boxes and product replenishment via shipment, not pick-up at a brick-and-mortar store. Contents vary, as Cargo starts to experiment with more event activations and holiday-related experiential marketing. Today's move into Brazil marks the first international expansion for the Uber-Cargo partnership. Pretty big, considering the numbers. As of 2018, So Paulo and Rio de Janeiro had estimated populations of 12,176, 866 and 6,688,927 respectively, according to Brazil federal government statistics. Uber doesn't count its registered drivers or passengers by region and so can't say how many potential drivers in the two metropolitan areas might go to their local Ipiranga ampm to collect one of the Cargo boxes that will be stocked with locally favored snacks such as Toddy Cookies and Amoras Fini gummies, but throughout Brazil, the company counts 600,000 registered drivers and 22 million registered users. Ipiranga also does not have localized numbers, but nationwide there are 2500 ampm stores at its gas stations. Cargo reports the fastest registration blitz yet for new cities, with 1000 newly registered drivers already on the Cargo platform in both cities. -- except to acknowledge that there is and always has been a long game. Via email, founder and chief executive Jeff Cripe said, "Our partnership is global and after we launched in [Los Angeles] and [San Francisco] last July, Uber and Cargo developed a strategy and playbook for new market launches domestically and internationally." | https://www.forbes.com/sites/juliewalmsley/2019/05/20/can-backseat-snacks-help-uber-take-brazil/ |
Is 49ers Brass Facing A Do-Or-Die 2019 Season? | Getty The good feelings that came with an active free agency and what many would describe as a solid NFL Draft has now given in to reality in San Francisco. Flush with just 10 wins over the course of the first two seasons of the Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch regime, a report from back in late April suggests that theres discord between the two. Shanahan has emphatically denied said report leading to suggestions that theres potentially a leakage within the 49ers organization. This is something that both Lynch and Shanahan wanted to avoid when they were both signed to rare six-year contracts back in 2017. The larger-scale question isnt whether theres a split between Shanahan and his general manager. Thats always going to happen. Disagreements are commonplace during the NFL offseason, primarily in the lead up to the draft. Instead, its all about whether these two can more forward as one. Theres no real question about this. Getty What we do know is that Shanahan and Lynch are tied at the hip. They made that clear by signing twin deals a bit over two years ago. Its now about their performances. Thats going to be the biggest key heading into a 2019 season that will once again see expectations include a playoff run. Its the very same expectations San Francisco had heading into the 2018 season before quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo and running back Jerick McKinnon suffered torn ACLs. Barring further injuries, this core group should be in contention for a playoff spot. While Lynch and Shanahan deserve some leeway for the first two seasons, 2019 is going to be different. The 2017 campaign was defined by the two pretty much taking over an expansion roster. This past season saw Garoppolo and McKinnon both go down before three games had even been completed. Theres no excuses heading into September this time around. Lynch and Shanahan have done a tremendous job building both talent and depth on the roster. That started during free agency with he acquisitions of Pro Bowl defenders Kwon Alexander, Dee Ford and Jason Verrett. On offense, San Francisco brought in studly young running back Tevin Coleman and a reclamation project in the form of wide receiver Jordan Matthews. Once free agency gave in to the draft, Lynch/Shanahan were out there adding even more beef on defense while providing Garoppolo with a ton of weapons on offense. That included selecting the consensus No. 1 overall player in the draft, EDGE rusher Nick Bosa, with the second pick. Bosa should team up with Pro Bowlers Dee Ford and DeForest Buckner to form one of the best front fours in the entire NFL. Pretty much taking a cue from Shanahan, San Francisco picked up wide receivers Deebo Samuel and Jalen Hurd the next two rounds. As we noted in reviewing the draft, these two players will act as chess pieces for Shanahan moving forward. Looking at the roster dynamic and how Shanahans offense should run this season, we could witness a top-10 unit. Assuming Garoppolo is healthy, this offense should take off big time. San Francisco averaged north of 21 points per game last season with Nick Mullens and C.J. Beathard splitting time. That same offense saw undrafted free agents Matt Breida and Jeff Wilson do a bulk of the work in the backfield while veteran receivers Pierre Garcon and Marquise Goodwin were injury plagued throughout the season. There was no depth on this offense. Some of that had to do with injuries. Though, a rebuilding team lacks depth. This came out in droves for the 49ers last season. With Garoppolo healthy and reinforcements at the skill positions, theres no excuses in 2019. The quarterback will be joined by Breida, McKinnon and Coleman in what is a stacked backfield. Add in Pro Bowl fullback Kyle Juszczyk, and this might be the deepest set of backfield players in the entire NFL. At wide receiver, Dante Pettis will look for more consistency after flashing big time as a rookie. Hes joined by the best route runner in the 2019 NFL Draft in the form of Deebo Samuel and a big-bodied 6-foot-4 receiver in that of Jalen Hurd. With Goodwin looking to return to 2017 form, this receiver group is much deeper than weve seen in the past. This doesnt even take into account free-agent acquisition Jordan Matthews. Prior to struggling over the past two seasons, he averaged north of 800 receiving yards in Philadelphia from 2014-16. After a record-breaking 2018 campaign, were also expecting Pro Bowl tight end George Kittle to remain heavily featured on offense. It will certainly be interesting to see how he meshes with Garoppolo. The two have played less than a couple of handfuls of games with one another. Boasting strong book ends a long the offensive line in tackles Joe Staley and Mike McGlinchey, this unit should also perform well. It will be all about how guards Laken Tomlinson and Mike Person perform after strong 2018 campaigns. Shanahan is considered an offensive genius. Given the diversity of weapons he has on that side of the ball, theres no reason to believe this unit cant turn in a top-10 scoring performance in 2019. If not, questions will be raised about the head coach. Defensively, Shanahan and Lynch sought to upgrade one major area of weakness over the past two seasons pass rush. Last season saw Cassius Marsh lead the teams EDGE rushers with just 5.5 sacks. San Franciscos brass knew that this wasnt sustainable if the team wanted to get into playoff contention. The 49ers' first focus was to add Pro Bowler Dee Ford in a trade with the Kansas City Chiefs. Ford, 28, recorded 29 quarterback hits, 13 sacks and a league-high seven forced fumbles last season. Ford was among the top EDGE rushers in the entire game. Getty Doubling down at this position, the 49ers made the obvious decision to select the consensus top overall player in the 2019 NFL Draft, Nick Bosa. Seen as potentially a better prospect than his older brother, Joey, the Ohio State product should provide double-digit sacks in his rookie season. The additions of Pro Bowlers Kwon Alexander and Jason Verrett could also fortify other areas of weakness. Though, both come with injury concerns. San Francisco now has the talent in place on defense to be a top-16 unit in the NFL. Given what this team has on offense, and theres no reason to believe it cant contend for a playoff spot. Anything less than nine wins and contention into December will lead to more questions about Lynch and Shanahan moving forward. So while 2019 might not be a do-or-die season for San Franciscos brass, its pretty darn close. Short of major improvements in the win-loss column, questions about their future in Northern California will get louder. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/vincentfrank/2019/05/20/is-49ers-brass-facing-a-do-or-die-2019-season/ |
What's Driving Our $81 Price Estimate For Abbott Laboratories? | 2017 Bloomberg Finance LP Abbott Labs (NYSE:ABT) stock price has gained over 8% year-to-date. This is much higher than the overall healthcare sector returns of close to 4%. The stock price seems to have some more room for growth, in our view. This note details Trefis forecasts for Abbott for 2019. ~ for more details on the expected performance of the company. In addition, you can see more of our data for healthcare companies here. Abbott Labs is a diversified healthcare conglomerate with a global presence. The firm operates in four main segments: Nutritionals, Diagnostics, Medical Devices, and Established Pharmaceutical Products. The Nutritional segment includes pediatric, adult, healthy living and sports nutrition products, such as infant formulas, snack bars, and meal replacement shakes. The segment revenues of $7.23 billion in 2018 accounted for 24% of the companys total sales. The Diagnostics segment includes systems and tests used for screening for drugs of abuse, cancer, therapeutic drug monitoring, fertility, physiological diseases, and infectious diseases such as hepatitis and HIV. The segment revenues of $7.50 billion in 2018 contributed 25% to the companys total revenues. The Medical Devices segment includes minimally invasive medical devices for heart diseases, strokes, carotid artery diseases, and other serious vascular conditions. The segment generated revenues of $11.43 billion in 2018, representing 37% of the companys total sales. The Generic Pharmaceutical Products segment includes a broad line of generic drugs that are manufactured worldwide and sold outside the U.S. The segment sales of $4.42 billion in 2018 accounted for 14% of the companys total revenues. Total Revenues for Abbott have largely trended higher over recent quarters, growing from $7.39 billion in Q1 2018 to $7.54 million in Q1 2019. The growth can primarily be attributed to higher sales of its medical devices. Abbotts revenues have declined at an average of -0.1% from $7.58 billion in Q4 2017 to $7.54 billion in Q1 2019. Abbotts performance in the recent quarters has been below its peers. Intuitive Surgicals average revenue growth of 2.1% over the past 5 quarters has been higher than some of the other healthcare companies. Boston Scientifics revenues have grown at an average of 0.8% from $2.41 billion in Q4 2017 to $2.56 billion in Q1 2019. Medtronics revenue have grown at an average rate of 1.6% from $7.05 billion in Q2 fiscal 2018 to $7.54 billion in Q3 fiscal 2019. Abbotts revenues will likely grow in mid-single-digits to $32.24 billion in 2019. Established Pharmaceutical Products will likely see 6% growth to $4.69 billion in 2019, led by continued expansion in key emerging markets. Nutritionals could grow 3% to $7.45 billion in 2019, led by its established brands, as well as some of the new launches. Diagnostics revenues could grow 5% to $7.87 billion in 2019, led by higher demand for Alinity, which is a fully integrated and automated diagnostics analyzer. Medical Devices revenues will likely grow 7% to $12.23 billion in 2019, primarily led by increased adoption of its HeartMate device. The Medical devices segment has seen steady growth in the recent past, led by higher electrophysiology, structural heart, and Freestyle Libre sales, and this trend will likely continue in the near term. Electrophysiology growth will likely be led by Confirm RxTM Insertable Cardiac Monitor, while structural heart should continue to benefit from Amplatzer Occluder and higher sales of MitraClip, which was recently approved by the U.S. FDA for the treatment of heart failure in patients with clinically significant secondary mitral regurgitation. Abbotts full year 2019 earnings will likely be $3.21 per share, reflecting an 11% growth over 2018. Consensus earnings estimate ~ 3.22. Earnings growth can be attributed to higher revenues, lower share count, and a slight improvement in margins, as guided by the company. Our price estimate of $81 for Abbott is based on a 25x price to earnings multiple, and earnings of $3.21 per share in 2019. The multiple for Abbott is close to that of some of its peers, including Boston Scientific, and Medtronic, but below Intuitive Surgical. The multiple for Intuitive Surgical is higher than several other healthcare companies, given it could garner strong growth in the long run with its robotic surgical devices. Explore example interactive dashboards and create your own. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2019/05/20/whats-driving-our-81-price-estimate-for-abbott-laboratories/ |
Are Farmers Ready To Pioneer Using Precision Agriculture Technologies? | Prospera Not until recently have we become aware of the huge impact of intensive farming on biodiversity as well as on the crop. We know for sure that 70% of freshwater resources are used for agricultural purposes globally. We also know that the chemicals used on plants to control the spreading of diseases and to maximize crop yields affect the quality of the crops and at the same time all the parts of the food chain, humans included. Several countries such as The Netherlands or the U.S. with a long history of intensive agriculture, seek new technologies to cut down on water consumption or harmful pesticides and to improve the quality of their products. What we call precision agriculture (PA), is a new area of applications that uses disruptive technologies like the Internet of Things, machine learning and machine vision. For the last 15 years, precision agriculture has moved from good science to good practice and now 70-80% of new farm equipment sold has some form of PA component inside. Back in 2014, Europe counted more than 4,500 manufacturers with a mix of large multinational companies and numerous SMEs producing 450 different machine types with an annual turnover of 26 billion and employing 135,000 people directly and a further 125,000 in the distribution and service network. PA in greenhouses The greenhouses are a widespread method of intensive farming tested for decades but not without problems. They are quite expensive constructions with high-cost maintenance, especially when the inner microclimate plays a leading role in the crops and should be regulated accordingly. Most important, plants that grow in a greenhouse suffer from diseases related to the ground quality, humidity, or ventilation. Farmers usually examine carefully the health of their plants and all the factors that may be destructive using their experience to take all the steps needed for prevention or cure. Prospera has gained useful experience on this issue as it offers solutions to greenhouse owners in Mexico, including NatureSweet Tomatoes, Del Campo and Divemex. The company claims that the use of precision agriculture methods helped the greenhouse growers to reduce the usage of water and fertilizers by 30% without affecting their yield. That means a considerable smaller water consumption as 500,000 to 660,000 gallons per hectare per season. One important decision that the farmer needs to make when choosing a technological solution is the level of desirable attachment with the supplier. Although most solutions come as a full packet equipment and services platforms Prospera tends to be agnostic when it comes to data acquisition methods, taking the pressure off farmers to purchase new equipment. It always remains a challenge, if the hardware and software cooperate. For this reason, a pilot testing which will make all the adjustments required for maximum efficiency is advisable. A survey among Canadian farmers showed that the compatibility of PA technology, and also the role of farmers expertise were the main reasons for PA technology acceptance and diffusion of innovation and it also confirmed that equipment incompatibility is an uptake barrier. From greenhouses to open-air farming In early 2019, Prospera entered a strategic partnership with global agriculture equipment manufacturer Valley Irrigation, through its parent Valmont Industries. Prospera and Valmont are jointly investing a combined $40 million over the next three years to transform 84,000 internet-connected in-field pivots into autonomous growing machines, covering approximately 10 million acres by 2022. Valmont Still, there are big challenges in projects like this one. When it comes to data from sensors and image analysis, precision is a critical issue. Irrigation is the method by which a controlled amount of water is supplied to farm plants at regular intervals. That practically means that water needs to be precisely measured to avoid waste. Also, water meters need to be reliable for a similar reason if the meter breaks down frequently there is no accurate way to estimate water usage, which will result in waste and possible consequences on the crops. The use of electronic devices in the greenhouse or open-air farming is a relatively fresh solution not long tested in several environments. That is also the case for image analysis technologies, which are widely tested in several areas together with AI technologies, just like the intensive use of AI in the field of healthcare. However, algorithm training needs time to learn and ensure high precision results in different environments and climatic conditions. It is true that only companies with a vision are currently investing in precision agriculture technologies which can drive them to a success story or failure, or the most frequent, to both. From the economic point of view, a review of 234 studies published from 1988 to 2005 indicated that precision agriculture was found to be profitable in an average of 68% of the cases. Even though these studies were based mainly on theoretical models or small pilots, they set a foundation of optimism as more and more high-tech tools are being used and evaluated to offer new alternatives to the problem of quality food and sustainable development. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/yiannismouratidis/2019/05/20/are-farmers-ready-to-pioneer-using-precision-agriculture-technologies/ |
Have Real Madrid Made The Wrong Decision In Extending Toni Kroos' Contract? | ASSOCIATED PRESS On Monday, a day after the end of the Spanish La Liga season, Real Madrid announced that they had extended the contract of midfielder, Toni Kroos. The 29-year-old already had a deal which took him up to the end of the 2022 campaign, and a further year has now been added. At 30 million when he was bought in 2014, the German has proved to be decent value for Los Blancos, however, he, as many of his colleagues, didn't have the best of seasons in 2018/19. With many media outlets speculating that Manchester United's Paul Pogba is on the way to the Santiago Bernabeu, there's a cogent argument against keeping Kroos any longer than his original deal. Pogba needs a change of scenery and, in the right team, hypothetically Real Madrid, he will begin to show exactly what he's capable of. The type of football he displayed at the 2018 World Cup will be what Zinedine Zidane is looking for and for which Florentino Perez will spend in excess of 150m for. At 26, the dynamic Frenchman is still not at his peak in footballing terms, and will surely only consider moving to the Spanish capital if he has some guarantee of playing time. Sensing the impending danger to his place that a Pogba signing will bring, Kroos was bullish in the press conference to announce his new deal. "We can talk about many names. I like the player but nothing changes for me. I'll fight for my place." The interesting take from this is that players who have underperformed and played so badly for the majority of the 2018/19 campaign, are seemingly being rewarded. Kroos even admitted that "I have no issue in admitting I didn't play well. Nobody reached their top level like they had in previous years." To put his contribution into perspective, he played 43 games in all competitions during the 2018/19 campaign and only managed to score two goals. Where, in previous seasons he was a difference maker, we saw precious little of that in the last campaign. As a playmaker, particularly at a club such as Real Madrid, that's not good enough. It's blindingly obvious too that Los Blancos need an overhaul in certain areas of the team, midfield being one of them. In the wake of Cristiano Ronaldo and Zidane's departure last summer, Julen Lopetegui wanted to shift the focus to younger players. A reliance on the experienced heads was accepted, on the basis that they set the example, something that Kroos (and others) have failed to do. If Pogba, Hazard and the like form part of a new iteration of Zidane's Madrid, then surely the best that the German can expect from this point onwards are sporadic appearances. Real Madrid are very definitely a team in transition, and it'll be interesting to see just who survives the summer cull and who doesn't. If Kroos' deal is the barometer, Zidane looks to be sticking with his tried and tested, but a year on from his initial departure, that team are no longer the world beaters they once were. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonpettigrove/2019/05/20/have-real-madrid-made-the-wrong-decision-in-extending-toni-kroos-contract/ |
Does Brexit Matter To Multinationals? | The daily jousting between UK Prime Minister Theresa May, members of her Parliament, and EU leaders has captivated the news media, with its endless play-by-play action. As growing pressure has mounted on May to resign following her third failed proposal, she is desperately trying to hold a fourth and likely final vote for the first week in June. Getty The story line is moving so quickly that many news outlets have resorted to covering it in a live update style with the immediate chronology of points and counterpoints posted in a constant stream thats updated in 10-15 minute intervals. While the answer to that question will be slightly different for different types of businesses, in the grand scheme of things, for large multinational companies, the bulk of the impact of Brexit has already been felt. In other periods in history, Brexit may have been a bigger issue for large corporations. But, today, business are dealing with a wholesale reshaping of the global economy, complete with on-again/off-again trade wars between the worlds largest economies; new technological advances in the ways products are bought, sold, and tracked throughout the supply chain; and unprecedented levels of regulation affecting everything from accounting to sustainability. As a result, todays businesses are more mobile and nimble than ever before. Take the worlds largest financial firms as an example. The UK exit from the EUs single market system would literally and figuratively leave London-based bankers on an island, unable to freely trade with other parts of Europe following the EU regulatory constructs that previously governed financial transactions on the continent. The specter of this possibility led many commentators to make doomsday prophecies for the future of the financial services industry immediately following the June 2016 Brexit vote. One commentator at the time even predicted that the impact of Brexit will be worse than the 2008 stock market crash. So far, that hasnt happened. What has happened is that the vast majority of major, multinational financial firms have made contingency plans to move staff, balance sheet assets, and in some cases, entire headquarters out of London and to other EU hubs like Frankfurt, Brussels, and Paris. The long, drawn-out exit negotiations have given big companies plenty of time to project the impact these moves and others will have on their bottom lines and make necessary adjustments along the way. This is not to say that Brexit wont have impacts. I recently participated in a roundtable discussion on this very topic with a number of business leaders and policy and economics experts whove been watching Brexit closely and the consensus was clear: multinationals are ready, but smaller businesses and those with high regional exposure to the UK may not fare as well. For the City of London in particular, the effect of having dozens of its major corporate headquarters decamp for foreign cities will certainly be felt for many years. Charles Powell, Baron Powell of Bayswater, KCMG, a diplomat, politician and businessman who was a key foreign policy advisor to Margaret Thatcher put the regional challenge in stark perspective. We have many more years of dealing with Brexit ahead of us; UK businesses are going to be feeling the effects for a very long time, Powell explained. We need to win back allies and rebuild our reputation. We will need a new agenda and vision to reinvigorate the country. Likewise, smaller, more regionally-focused businesses will need to navigate a complicated new regulatory and economic framework when conducting business with other parts of Europe. Daniel Mikkelsen, a senior partner at McKinsey & Company, explained how Brexit preparations have been implemented unevenly in different sized companies and within different industries. So many large firms have been preparing for Brexit for years, but many small firms are not prepared, Mikkelsen warned. Even among larger firms, there are different levels of readiness. Banking is by far the best-prepared sector, but automotive and manufacturing industries have had a harder time because they have significant physical supply chains that will be affected by Brexit. I recently shared some examples of Brexit prep war stories weve been hearing from our clients and partners, and, in one case, a UK-based pharmaceutical company actually resorted to acquiring mobile refrigeration facilities that they could park in Ireland to keep their time- and temperature-sensitive products viable in the event of major transportation disruptions caused by Brexit. Implementing workarounds like this does not happen without considerable planning and cost, but the larger point is: companies do it. The opportunity cost of doing nothing far outweighs the operational costs of adaptation. Increasingly, thats becoming the real story of corporate response to not only Brexit, but every other geopolitical, regulatory, and technological disruption that comes down the road. Companies realize they need to be able to adapt quickly or die, and they are managing to switch direction, pivot strategy, and implement contingency plans at a pace that once would have been impossible. Technology, of course, has played a big role in that evolution. With much of the worlds business data now hosted in the cloud and corporate ERP systems enabling seamless integration of systems and processes regardless of geography, many large corporates think of their offices as a moveable feast. Just as technology is making it possible for large corporations to digest a historic event like Brexit in stride, it is also making it easier for smaller firms to play on a bigger scale and start evolving their businesses to become more nimble. The problem arises when companies grow complacent. There is simply no room for the status quo in todays marketplace. Businesses of every side need to acknowledge that were all living in a constant state of disruption and uncertainty, and embrace the people, ideas, and technologies that can help us move faster to stay one step ahead of the chaos. These will be the ones to watch as the world starts tracking Brexit winners and losers. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianpeccarelli/2019/05/20/does-brexit-matter-to-multinationals/ |
Is Masa The World's Most Demanding Restaurant Wine Job? | J Charnay Originally from Chile, Jonathan Charnay moved to New York in his teens. He jumped into the restaurant industry to pay for college, a path that led him to wine. Earning his sommelier certification, he became wine director at Marseilles, spending several years there learning the trade. A few more career moves, from Jean-Georgess restaurant group to Bobo and Claudette in the West Village, landed him his greatest role yet: Beverage Director at 3-star Michelin Masa Restaurant. A brief refresher: Masa is one of the most expensive and exalted restaurants in the world, not just in the United States. Prices for such luxuries as fish flown in daily, start at $595 per person before tax and beverage, though mercifully, that price includes tip. Masa is a bucket list experience for aspirational diners. Within the industry, Chef Masa is both respected and feared. An intense apprenticeship under the direction of sushi master Sugiyama Toshiaki followed by years pursuing perfection, have contributed to his exacting nature as a boss and businessman. Logically, whomever helms his beverage program deals with commensurate demands and pressures. After two years behind the wheel, heres what Charnay has to say about the experience. It is very exciting and challenging at the same time. We get to sell some of the best wines in the world, which is an amazing experience. But the challenge is to find them and replenish inventory after they are gone, some of those wines are impossible to get. Chef Masa is very passionate about wine and he has an incredible palate. I am fully responsible for selecting the wines and Sake, but he looks at the big picture and ensures that we carry exactly what his guests want. We do not post the actual beverage list online. Our list changes constantly, because most of the wines we sell are allocated and we do not have a huge amount on inventory. Also, we get new offers all the time, from auctions to private collections. When coveted, super premium wines become available we are always on the radar, people know that we move expensive wines. The pricing of wines and sake follows the market value, our guests come to have an extraordinary experience and sometimes price is not an issue, however we still operate in the context of the real world and our bottles are fairly priced. Especially at the higher end, mark-ups cannot be too aggressive, at some point it would become ridiculous. Stories abound about Chef Masas fastidious attention to detail. Chef Masa is all about excellence and perfection. Working at Masa is very spiritual, teaches you a lot about yourself and your work ethics. You are required to push forward, try harder and do a better job. Chef Masa leads the way, he is the first one to be at the restaurant, he guides everyone to give their best, to do their job carefully and beautifully. Masa restaurant is a gorgeous place, with minimal dcor and a natural feeling. It has raw beauty, like the sushi itself. But for those who work there it feels like a Dojo, a place to strive for perfection through repetition. Every day, before every service we sand and polish the sushi counter and the tables, we prepare the oshibori (hot towels), the sushi set-ups, the ice blocks, etc. just like a ritual, where every day is a new beginning, a new chance to do better. I applied to the job knowing it was one of the greatest restaurants, but not knowing the details of how hard it is to work there. I interviewed with chef Masa, he didnt say much just observed me. The first couple of weeks were nerve wracking, having chefs eyes follow every movement you make, watching you pour wine over the sacred Hinoki wood counter. Watching every wine sale you make to his guests. There is a difficult period of evaluation, but little by little you adapt and become part of the Masa team. Youre are sitting the Master of Wine exam in June. I feel that the MW works better for me, it allows me to understand wine at a deeper level. Also studying along with winemakers and viticulturists gives you a more comprehensive vision of the wine world. There is no substitute for Masa, but the obvious alternative is Bar Masa right next door, great food coming from the same kitchen. If you are looking to have the sushi experience Kappo Masa is outstanding. Now, if you want to really see what chef Masa is all about, you have to go to Tetsu, in Tribeca. You will get to experience it all, the sushi, the Robata grill, the famous burger and an exciting, affordable wine list. Tetsu also has an Omakase menu downstairs and even the Michelin stars! | https://www.forbes.com/sites/lmowery/2019/05/20/worlds-most-demanding-wine-job-masa-beverage-director-jonathan-charnay-explains/ |
Have E-Commerce Grocery Sales In The U.S. Turned The Corner? | Yes. And no. According to a 2019 Coresight Research study, some 36.8% of U.S. consumers bought groceries online in the past year, up significantly from just 23.1% a year prior. Not surprisingly, its older millennials (30-44) who are leading the charge, with 45% having purchased groceries online. However, the study also found that nearly three-fourths of Millennials tend to buy just a small proportion of their grocery products online. So, progress has been made but there is a long way to go to significantly alter customer shopping patterns. Food retail is currently sitting at just 2% e-commerce penetration, compared to 12% overall. And, given that food is far and away the largest retail category, its laggard position represents both the biggest challenge and biggest opportunity for e-commerce. The reasons for the low penetration are well-documented, from inherently low margins and bulky multi-temp products to the consumer need for selection (ripeness of banana, trim on meat, etc.). That said, there is so much activity being directed to this space that growth (as evidenced by the survey) is inevitable. It is also apparent that there is no one size fits all solution for grocery e-commerce and companies will continue to attempt a multitude of approaches to profitably get groceries to American consumers. Equally important is who will ultimately prevail in the grocery e-commerce wars. Coresights survey tells us where customers are shopping today. Amazon was mentioned by 62% of shoppers with Walmart the next closest at 37%. However, Walmart had the biggest gain, up a full 12 points from a year prior, and Target jumped past Kroger, mentioned by 16% of consumers. Amazon is hitting customers on all fronts, from the immediacy of Prime Now, through full-service offerings from Amazon Fresh. Walmart has focused heavily on click and collect but also offers delivery options. Target bought Shipt to provide immediacy of delivery and Kroger will soon have it all (ClickList for pick-up, Instacart for immediacy and a partnership with Ocado for automated home delivery). Not likely. Consumers reported an even split between pick-up and delivery, with pick-up mentioned by nearly 50% of consumers as their main source of fulfillment and delivery at 48%. There are continued efforts on both of these options with Walmart rolling click and collect to over 2,100 locations today and with plans to reach 3,000 and Krogers aggressive move with Ocado to streamline home delivery. It will be interesting to continue to track consumer adoption. The biggest retailers continue to bet big on grocery e-commerce being the next big thing. It will take a combination of a willing consumer and a profitable business model to see this come to fruition. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/neilstern/2019/05/20/has-grocery-ecommerce-sales-turned-the-corner-in-the-u-s/ |
How Natural Are "Natural" Ingredients In Food And Beverages? | originally appeared on Quora: the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. Lets look at natural flavors. The FDA defines "natural flavor" as oils, resins, or other extracts derived from natural sources like plants or meat. While a natural flavor must come from natural sources, it doesnt need to come from the fruit itself. When you see a drink made with natural banana flavor, dont assume that someone blended whole bananas into your bottle. Banana flavor could actually come from the bark or roots of a different plant containing a chemical that tastes similar to bananas. And it takes a lot of processing to make these natural flavors in your drink bottle. When it comes down to it, natural and artificial flavors arent all that different from each other. Chemists make natural flavors by extracting chemicals from natural ingredients, while artificial flavors are made by creating the same chemicals synthetically. Both types of flavors are included in the FDAs list of 3,000 chemical food additives they classify as GRAS or Generally Recognized as Safe. In other words, natural ingredients are often just the opposite. Now, after decades of trying to parse confusing product labels, consumers are demanding transparencythey want to know what theyre eating and dont always trust labels. At my company, Four Sigmatic, we take care to only use ingredients that are truly real food ingredients. Heres why: The FDA has a pretty loose definition of natural ingredients. The natural label is kind of a black boxconsumers don't know what's in it. An Environmental Working Group study of 80,000 food products revealed that natural flavors is the fourth most common listed ingredient after only salt, water, and sugar. According to the FDA, this category includes everything from true natural ingredients like essential oils to synthetic chemicals. But people want to know what theyre putting in their bodies. Thats one reason why today, people trust the word "natural" a lot less. They feel like they've been led on by marketersand theyre right. Most brands dont even know whats in the proprietary natural flavor blends theyre buying. Do you actually squeeze an orange? Consumers shouldnt have to wonder about the ingredients in the food and drink products they buy. The cocktail effect of these ingredients is a mysterybut its probably not good. Many natural additives have been found to be harmful to health. For example, xantham gumwhich is used in everything ranging from wallpaper glue to salad dressinghas been linked to respiratory and digestive problems. And the popular thickening agent carrageenan, which is frequently used in vegan food, was found to be potentially harmful to the digestive tract. But even if some of these ingredients are safe individually, we dont know much about their cumulative effect. A 2014 study from the International Journal of Food Science & Technology found that while the risks of residues, additives, and natural toxins are generally low when considered alone, an average meal is likely to contain a cocktail of toxins that might have negative synergistic effects. Simply put, these chemical cocktails may be more dangerous than we realize. In both studies, the researchers urge the FDA to include interactions between various chemicals when assessing food risk. While the research is still very much in its early stages, health-conscious consumers may not want to take the risk. Real food ingredients bring a whole host of amazing benefits. When youre consuming synthetic ingredients or natural flavors, youre missing out on all the health benefits of the actual food. Take natural chocolate flavor, for example. While you might think it tastes alright, youre definitely not getting any of the benefits of real chocolatea nutrient-dense superfood. Cacao, in particular, is rich in iron, copper, magnesium, zinc, and phosphorus. It even has more antioxidant properties per 100 grams than apples. Same goes for vanilla. Real vanilla is a rich flavor packed with antioxidant properties. Its even considered to be an aphrodisiac. Natural vanilla flavor, on the other hand, is much cheaper but has none of those benefitsand is often used to hide bitter-tasting flavors from other artificial products. Likewise, if you want a blueberry smoothie, dont buy one with blueberry flavor. Use whole blueberries to get the antioxidant properties present in the actual fruit. Because people loved eating these foods in their original forms. Then food companies created synthetic versions and they were everywhere. Even though our palates are used to the knock-offs, the real deal is what we actually crave. Since the FDA probably isnt going to revise its definition of natural anytime soon, change has to come from consumers. Ask your favorite food companies what's in their natural flavors, or why they even use natural flavors in the first place. In the meantime, well keep using all real food ingredients with no synthetic flavors, binders, fillers, or carriers. Its only natural. This question originally appeared on Quora - the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. You can follow Quora on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+. More questions: | https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2019/05/20/how-natural-are-natural-ingredients-in-food-and-beverages/ |
What's Holding Us Back From Encore Careers? | By Odile Robotti, Next Avenue Contributor Getty Recently, I was on a coast-to-coast flight with a lot of disgruntled passengers. Our scheduled departure had been delayed by five hours, and then was further delayed by a technical problem. The pilot gave the usual apologies, but it did little to stem the frustration mounting throughout the cabin. Then something unexpected happened: The pilot took the microphone again to announce that this was his last flight. He would be retiring the next day, after 30+ years with the airline. The plane burst into applause and cheers. Also on Forbes: Our Anachronistic View of Retirement Our society sees retirement as a happy milestone the accomplishment of a career and the completion of ones duty leading to well-deserved time off. But this view is anachronistic. Our idea of retirement has changed surprisingly little in the last 50 years even though todays retirees can expect another two or three decades mostly in good health. Longevity has been a game changer for retirement. Longer lives require greater financial resources, even more so if health deteriorates and illnesses become chronic. The truth is, most of us cant afford to take a 20-year vacation. But it also means our later years are richer in opportunities. Life Reinvention Through an Encore Career Those who are reinventing this time of life promote the encore career." Sometimes its in a distant field from previous work, with a slower pace, greater flexibility, a social impact component and an income that increases financial security. Sometimes. its entrepreneurship (though this option should be considered carefully) or even work in the sharing and gig economies. The concept of encoring, popularized and promoted by Marc Freedman, founder of Encore.org, has been around for a while and is gaining traction. But it is still far from being mainstream. Part of it has to do with ageism, which makes people think of retirement as an end, rather than a new beginning; that restarting has an upper age limit around midlife. We still tend to write people off and expect less of them after they hit certain milestones, especially when they announce retirement," says Marci Alboher, vice president for strategic communications at Encore.org. Misplaced Fear of Losing Status Another reason that may make people hesitate to start over: fear of losing status. But that may be a misplaced notion. According to a one survey of former executives and journalists who retrained as teachers, more than 60% reported an increase in the sense of self-worth after making the switch. And almost 60% said they had become perceived as more interesting by others. Also, many of us start preparing too late for what well do after we leave the full-time jobs weve had. We often find ourselves retired without a plan or with one lacking the necessary care and guidance. The notion of an encore career can seem unrealistic to some, too. As Alboher points out, Most encore-style education offerings and transition programs aren't accessible to everyone. We need more low- and no-cost opportunities for people to think about and plan for their next steps. Freedom and Health Benefits From an Encore Career If more people launched encore careers, however, they could realize themselves in different ways, with a freedom many didnt have in their 20s. In our 60s and beyond, we can give back in a more personal way than before say, volunteering for a not-for profit or a campaign. Pursuing a purpose offers many emotional benefits, but also the refreshing opportunity to challenge ourselves and develop new skills. For instance, Financial Times columnist Lucy Kellaway became a math and science teacher at 57. In her own words: What could be more rejuvenating than starting all over again at my age? An encore career can also let you pursue passions youve long put aside. Ed Metz retired from investment banking in his 50s to pursue his lifelong passion for jazz, playing the piano in the Bob Catz band. And there can be health benefits switching to an encore career. Kevin Curran, a British former welder and trade unionist, reduced his stress when he became a tree surgeon three days a week. If Id stayed full-time as a trade unionist, Id probably be dead from a heart attack by now. When I was at school, the careers-advice person gave me a test and told me that my ideal occupation was farming or forestry, he told The Guardian. Rethinking the Retirement Model If we take the time to consider our needs, values and desires, putting aside some common prejudices and fears about aging, many of us probably would not choose the long-vacation retirement model. In that case, maybe my pilot wouldve said: In a few weeks I will start my new career as Then wed clap and cheer even louder. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/nextavenue/2019/05/20/whats-holding-us-back-from-encore-careers/ |
Did Urban Outfitters' Digital Segment Drive Growth In Q1? | 2018 Bloomberg Finance LP Urban Outfitters (NASDAQ: URBN) is set to announce its first quarter results on Tuesday, May 21, followed by a conference call with analysts. The clothing and accessories retailer is expected to post quarterly earnings of $0.26 per share while revenues are expected to come in around $857 million (marginally up from the year-ago quarter). Higher revenues are likely to be driven by expansion in the companys digital segment, which posted double-digit sales growth across brands in Q4 2018. Per Trefis estimates, Urban Outfitters shares have a fair value of $37 which is about 35% ahead of the current market price. In addition, here is more Trefis Textiles, Apparel and Luxury Good Industry Data. A Quick Look at Urban Outfitters Revenue Sources URBN reported $4 billion in Total Revenues in Fiscal 2018. This included 2 revenue streams: Retail Segment : $3.6 billion in FY 2018 (91% of Total Revenues). Retail segment contains the Anthropologie, BHLDN, Free People, Terrain and Urban Outfitters brands, as well as the companys Food and Beverage division. : $3.6 billion in FY 2018 (91% of Total Revenues). Retail segment contains the Anthropologie, BHLDN, Free People, Terrain and Urban Outfitters brands, as well as the companys Food and Beverage division. Wholesale Segment : $357 million in FY 2018 (9% of Total Revenues). The wholesale segment sells Free People, Anthropologie and Urban Outfitters branded products through department and specialty stores worldwide, digital businesses and the retail segment. Trefis Digital Sales Channel Will Continue To Drive The Top Line The digital channel continued to lead the way for Urban Outfitters, posting double-digit sales growth across brands in Q4, primarily driven by an increase in user sessions and conversion rate. The digital channel drove a bulk of the increase in retail sales in Q4. Although average order value and units per transaction declined in Q4 2018, we expect the company to make significant marketing investments to support digital channel sales growth going forward. This should help the digital channel to drive overall revenue growth for Urban Outfitters in the future. Anthropologie Holds Strong Growth Potential Urban Outfitters wholesale segment sales grew 3% in Q4 primarily driven by growth in Anthropologies home wholesale business while Anthropologie Group reported a 2% increase in retail segment comp fueled by growth in womens apparel and accessories. Anthropologie home wholesale is one of the brands new growth initiative and was recently launched in North America, in partnership with Nordstrom following the success of Anthropologie wholesale in the U.K. in 2017. In the fourth quarter of 2018, this business generated $2 million in wholesale sales from its two main partners, Nordstrom in North America and John Lewis in Europe. Going forward, we expect the company will continue to focus on growing its home wholesale business internationally as this business holds strong growth potential. Macroeconomic Environment Will Likely Impact Performance In Q1 The company delivered a solid performance in the international market in 2018. While the companys operations achieved positive growth in China and North America in Q4 2018, a slowdown in China over the first quarter would have weighed on Urban Outfitters Q1 results Also, total EU comps for the companys Urban Outfitter brand were negative for the first time in 12 quarters in Q4 2018. The company expects the demand in European countries to be low due to the ongoing Brexit uncertainty, which in turn will be adversely impact the companys results. However, over the next few years, the company plans to ramp up its European operations, which should provide a stable long-term growth opportunity once the Brexit-related uncertainty subsides. Trefis Price Estimate Based on our forecast, Urban Outfitters EPS for full-year 2019 is likely to be around $2.63. Using this figure with our estimated forward P/E ratio of 14x, this works out to a price estimate of $37 for the companys shares, which is about 35% ahead of the current market price. Explore example interactive dashboards and create your own | https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2019/05/20/did-urban-outfitters-digital-segment-drive-growth-in-q1/ |
Could The Clippers Be On The Cusp Of Forming The Next Superteam? | Getty For the second year in a row the Clippers dealt away their best player at the trade deadline (Tobias Harris) and still wound up making the playoff, pushing the defending champs to six games and finishing the regular season with a 48-34 record in a tough Western Conference. This Clippers front office has really turned a corner since Lawrence Frank was elevated to President of Basketball Operations, and their ability to stay relevant without any All-Stars will give them a strong starting pitch when they meet with free agents this summer. The Clippers may have had one of the most impressively constructed teams this past season with about half of their roster qualifying as underpaid, and literally every overpaid guy will be coming off the books this summer granting the Clippers around $53 million in cap space to work with during free agency. To define the terms overpaid and underpaid, Forbes uses a method, indebted to Southern Utah University economist David Berri, in which we multiply a players Wins Estimate Average by the average cost of a win. For more explicit definitions of how the terms are defined, check out Brett Knights recent column breaking down the most overpaid and underpaid players around the league. This will be an extremely important summer for the Clippers, as they currently look like the most competent team in Los Angeles with the Lakers descending into seemingly never-ending chaos and dysfunction, so they will have a legitimate shot at going after the top-tier guys during free agency: Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard, Kyrie Irving, Klay Thompson, Jimmy Butler, etc. The Clippers could also swing for the fences by trading away Danilo Gallinari and his $22.6 million contract prior to July 1, which would give L.A. enough cap space to fill two max roster spots this offseason. Sixth Man of the Year Lou Williams (underpaid at $8 million), Most Improved Player candidate Montrezl Harrell (underpaid at $6 million) and the impressive rookies Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Landry Shamet will all be back with the club on team-friendly deals. They also have a championship-proven coach in Doc Rivers, Jerry Wests brilliant mind and deal-making prowess, and an opulent, endorsement heavy culture in Los Angeles. They do have one tough decision to make this summer, and that will be whether or not to bring back Patrick Beverley. Beverleys numbers dont often jump off the page, but his gritty and fearless approach to defense tends to become contagious, and his mere presence installs a certain culture on the team that simply cannot be recreated by many players. He served as an excellent tutor for rookie SGA this past season, and hes certainly proven that hes capable of playing in a key role on a winning team; the problem will be if the Clippers can even afford him. Based on our data, Beverley performed like a $19.6 million player this past season despite only pulling in $5 million, and while hes certainly better than a $5 million player to award him a salary in the $19 million range would be a bit much. He can hit open shots when they're presented to him, but he can also go through prolonged cold stretches on offense, and the 30-year-old, hard-nosed point guard has had some difficulty staying on the court throughout his career. He certainly fits in with the Clippers, but if a small market team comes in and attempts to steal him away with a poison pill-type contract, it may be best for the Clippers to let him walk and keep their options open during free agency. Obviously, The Clippers No. 1 target this summer will be Kawhi Leonard, as the two sides have already expressed mutual interest, and they may be able to put together the strongest pitch in order to lure him away from Toronto. Not only is the weather on average, shall we say, much more tourist friendly in Los Angeles, but they also have a proven and competent front office staff that could easily catapult the team to contending status by pairing Leonard with another superstar. Or would he prefer to work alongside a less usage-heavy teammate such as Klay Thompson or Khris Middleton. The Clippers will have the money to go after all these guys, and while they could have a shot of pairing KD and Kawhi, I have the feeling that Thompson and Middleton wont be going anywhere. Reading the tea leaves, it would seem that Durant could be available this summer, but its questionable if hed be open to joining a west coast rival that would meet up with his former club at least four times a season. Still, from managements perspective, if you have the chance to sign both Kevin Durant and Kawhi Leonard; you obviously do so. Now, if the Clippers miss out on both Durant and Leonard, they could shift their focus to someone like Kyrie Irving, who may have worn out his welcome in Boston after an up-and-down two-year stint. SGA can play at either guard spot so he would be comfortable working alongside Irving, and he could also help make up for some of Kyries deficiencies on the defensive end of the floor. They could also attempt to pair Jimmy Butler with Irving, as Butler is another guy who has in the past expressed interest in Los Angeles, although Butler is a somewhat risky free agent target. Sure, Butler plays like a max contract guy when hes on the floor, but he is a bit injury prone, and awarding him a four-year deal this summer means he will be on the books until hes 34. Thats a risky proposition for a guy with as much mileage (and baggage) as Jimmy Buckets. No matter how this all plays out, were sure to see some fireworks this summer during free agency, and Los Angeles has been involved in a lot of rumors that would suggest theyll be at the forefront of the explosions. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jaredjohnson/2019/05/20/could-the-clippers-be-on-the-cusp-of-forming-the-next-superteam/ |
How Much Rubbish Is REALLY On Everest? And What Are We Doing About It? | There is a vast amount of mis-information and hyperbole around Everest. One of these is around waste on the mountain. During my ascent of Everest last year someone tweeted me something like "climbers literally have to walk over trash, dead bodies and human waste to get to the summit." Um they dont. Its mostly just snow. Yes, the sad truth is that there is rubbish from climbers, and it needs to be managed better, but it's mostly restricted to the camps. For example, at the highest camp, Camp 4 on the South Col at almost 8000m, there are shredded tents and small fuel cylinders frozen into the snow. (There are no abandoned oxygen cylinders anymore, as often reported. The oxygen cylinders are now too valuable to dump. People even try to steal them.) Over the years, a lot has been done to clean up Everest. In the late 1980s and early 90s Everest was indeed a mess. In the early years of Everest expeditions people didnt think about environmental conservation. On the mountain, where people were working close to their limits, it was natural to discard anything unnecessary, such as depleted oxygen cylinders or rubbish. Normal good practice was to bury rubbish or throw it into a crevasse. We now know that these are not sound, sustainable practices and that the rubbish will re-emerge from the glacier in a similar condition to when it was originally abandoned. These historic attitudes coupled with an increase in visitor numbers - both climbers and trekkers - is the origin of the waste problem on Everest. Cleaning Everest Melanie Windridge By the early 1990s it was clear that something had to be done about the growing amount of refuse on Everest. The Nepalese government restricted the traffic and introduced an environmental deposit of US$4000 per expedition as an incentive for groups to bring their rubbish down. They also introduced an environmental permit, whereby teams could get a permit above the restricted numbers if they contributed to cleaning up the mountain. In 1994, an American team including Brent Bishop was issued one of these permits. Cleaning up the base camps on the Nepali and Tibetan sides had been relatively easy since they were both accessible by yak and, additionally, local labour was inexpensive. Rubbish higher on the mountain was and still is more of a problem. On the Nepalese side the Icefall is hard and hazardous and requires some technical skills of the teams doing the removal. Making extra passes through the Icefall to recover litter would put lives at risk, and helicopter clean-up operations would be expensive (and back in the 1990s they couldnt fly so high). Tasked with coming up with an idea to economically remove litter, Bishop, who had just finished an MBA, remembered something he heard in class: you cant rewire a cultures value system but you can change incentives. Bishop came up with the idea of incentivising Sherpas to bring down old rubbish from higher on the mountain during their ordinary expedition runs. If rubbish and discarded oxygen cylinders were brought down from high camps only after loads had been taken up, then lives were not being risked solely to remove the waste. Sherpas climb Everest for the money; its a job for many, not a dream. For many Nepalese, litter on Everest seems less of an issue than to Westerners. But if they have space in their rucksack, bringing some rubbish down is now a chance to make some extra money. The 1994 US expedition became the Sagarmatha Environmental Expedition (SEE), committed to cleaning the slopes of Everest whilst also climbing the mountain. The expedition retrieved over 2.3 tonnes of detritus from the mountain, including over 200 oxygen cylinders, for a total cost of US$5000. Continuing the program with funding from Nike, the organisation removed more than 11 tonnes of rubbish from the mountain in the 1990s. Melanie Windridge Since the 1990s, various schemes have been setup to make improvements and discourage expeditions from leaving trash on the mountain. Rubbish on Everest is officially dealt with by the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee (SPCC). Nepal still has an environmental deposit scheme and teams are refunded if they bring down at least eight kilograms of waste per climber. Disasters can be a setback. After the 2015 Nepal earthquake the mountain was closed for the rest of the season, and several climbers had to be rescued by helicopter from Camp 1 when the Icefall was rendered impassable. Expeditions were forced to leave almost everything behind, meaning that lots of equipment was abandoned at Camp 1 and Camp 2. Rubbish from Camp 2 is gradually being removed, being flown out on the helicopters that fly in the ropes and equipment for fixing the route for the new season. But it takes effort and time. Brent Bishop, who summited Everest again in 2016 as part of a virtual reality filming project with Sports Illustrated, is positive about the state of Everest now. If you look at all the trash that was left after the earthquake, he said, thats an outlier in your data points because people just abandoned all their stuff up there. So if you remove that, the mountain actually looks pretty clean for the fifteen hundred people or so that show up at Base Camp [each year]. Everest is vast, much more than we could ever describe. On the popular Southeast Ridge route from Nepal there are four camps above Base Camp, well away from one another, so rubbish is restricted to small areas in relation to the size of Everest. However, if the problem increases with greater numbers of climbers, and if global warming accelerates the movement and melting out of frozen waste, then there will be impacts downstream. Future outlook for rubbish on Everest The situation on the mountain is much improved since clean-ups in the 1990s brought down much of the old, historic rubbish and attitudes towards abandoning waste have changed. However, almost 30 years on from the advent of Everest commercialisation, the dynamics on the mountain are changing again, with several low-price operations now replacing or augmenting the traditional Western expeditions. Many dont have the manpower to clean up after themselves or the values to do so. Properly disposing of the waste once its carried to the bottom is of equal environmental concern to leaving it on the mountain. The Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee dispose of waste by recycling or burning it. This is something that is out of the hands of mountaineers, and requires government to have a strategy to deal with the problem. Since issues with corruption persist in Nepal, unfortunately progress is slow. For several years now there have been calls for the government to intervene with improved waste management policies for the popular Khumbu region in general. However, one only needs to look away from Everest to Kathmandu to see how much of a challenge this will be. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/melaniewindridge/2019/05/20/how-much-rubbish-is-really-on-everest-and-what-are-we-doing-about-it/ |
Do Brands And Consumers Want The Type Of Digital Personalization AI Is Capable Of? | Getty The power of big data and machine learning is empowering both publishers and marketers to reimagine the way they connect with their respective audiences. Where these publishers and advertisers once pioneered new mediums and platforms to engage their audiences, many are now seeking innovative new ways to engage these same audiences on the same platforms. At Ezoic, we work with publishers to help them engage with their readers, watchers and listeners through digital personalization -- segmenting and treating visitors differently. Were seeing that, in line with trends across all industries, the world of digital media is trying to understand where artificial intelligence (AI) and machine-based decision-making resides in its future plans. Well, maybe. AI and machine learning offer a rare opportunity to turn data into a different experience for every possible type of audience segment you can imagine. Marketers and publishers could leverage this technology to segment audiences consuming the exact same content in completely different ways. Just about every article that Ive seen published on the topic of digital personalization has two universally congruent attributes: 1. It includes platitudes about unique experiences and engagement. 2. It does little to define what digital personalization actually looks like in practice. Digital personalization means a lot of things to a lot of people. When we actually start talking about what digital personalization looks like upon implementation, there are many variations people likely think of. Digital personalization could mean: delivering different website visitors different types of content digitally changing the actor in a movie from Morgan Freeman to Tom Arnold offering certain audiences a video or audio version of content instead of written content based on projected preferences clipping out parts of a podcast that some audiences may find offensive based on previous interactions changing font styles or sizes based on browsing behavior applying different monetization models to different consumers (subscription versus pay-per-view versus ad-funded) This is just a sample of ideas that I have heard discussed or seen shared by industry-leading publishers and marketers. With emerging technology, none of these ideas is impossible. Personalizing things such as the ads that a person sees when they interact with content plays a role in whether or not they find the ads annoying. Personalizing ad locations and ad density can affect the length of a website visitors session or how long someone is willing to wait before changing the channel. This is simple stuff. We are doing all of this today, and AI isnt flexing much muscle to aid us in this process. And this is all quite a bit different than digitally inserting different actors into movies based on someones likelihood of enjoying Donald Glover as the first black Spider-Man versus Tobey Maguire in the original. In the current political climate, I believe consumers and governments may have some concerns about the nature of how information is being personalized for everyone. Even when we back off of some of the more dramatic applications of digital personalization, were still left with elements that marketers and publishers will probably find non-negotiable. Today, publishers are modifying recommended content, personalizing ads, changing layout preferences and testing incremental changes in how they monetize different audience segments. This isnt bad. There is exponential value in doing all of these things correctly. However, it is a far cry from digitally swapping actors on a television show. Whats more, I find that marketers are increasingly skeptical of major technology platforms offering to manage ad spend, financial efficiency and audience targeting all in one seemingly black box of decision-making. Its hard to tell. We aren't all on the same page. Adtech and martech corporations are continuing to sell the dream as executives at major publishers and brands rally their teams to build a digital personalization strategy. Meanwhile, no one is really sure what that means or if anyone even wants it. AI has arrived, and the digital media industry has it parked in the garage, hoping someone will actually figure out how to drive it. As marketers and publishers begin internal discussions about personalization, it will be paramount that those tasked with leading these efforts focus on specific goals or strategies. Personalization is becoming a buzzword, like AI and blockchain. Understanding what you want to get out of personalization efforts and what it will look like in practice will help you elevate beyond platitudes and truly be on the forefront of defining what digital personalization may actually become. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescommunicationscouncil/2019/05/20/do-brands-and-consumers-want-the-type-of-digital-personalization-ai-is-capable-of/ |
Are P&T Committees Wielding More Influence And Driving Larger Drug Rebates? | Associated Press A recent Reuters article suggested that "obscure committees " are at the "heart of the U.S. drug pricing debate." The article focused on the Pharmacy & Therapeutics (P&T) committee serving OptumRx, UnitedHealthCare's pharmacy benefit manager (PBM). But, it also alluded to other large PBMs, such as Express Scripts and CVS Caremark (now merged with Cigna and Aetna, respectively), with similar P&T committees. Behind the scenes perhaps, but certainly not obscure, P&T committees serving PBMs as well as both commercial and public payers have helped shape drug formulary practices for many decades. Whether they can effectively drive formulary management and rebate negotiations depends on the available evidence for the prescription drugs that they review. P&T committees don't negotiate rebates. But, their recommendations, based on reviews of comparative clinical and cost-effectiveness of new drugs, can make or break a drug's chances at getting preferred status on the formulary. In turn, preferred status for branded drugs on the formulary is often tied to rebates. In this respect, P&T committee evaluations may be seen in certain instances as indirectly driving the ever expanding gross to net bubble, or the difference between a drug's list price and the net price after rebates and other discounts. But, in cases in which the evidence is either lacking or inconclusive P&T committees' influence is necessarily limited. The modern day P&T committee was established in response to a proliferation of new drugs entering the market at rising list prices, whether novel products that by virtue of being the first in class created unique therapeutic categories, or new products entering already existing therapeutic classes. The more treatment options exist within a therapeutic class or across classes the more opportunities PBMs and payers have to lower the net, or post rebate, cost of drugs. Formulary exclusions have emerged as a tool for PBMs to gain negotiating leverage, pitting drug manufacturers of similar products against one another. The example of the CGRP inhibitors, indicated as preventive therapy for migraines, illustrates this point. But, the example of the CGRP inhibitors, referenced in the Reuters article, also shows limitations with respect to the P&T committees' influence. P&T committees usually don't conduct post-marketing studies on their own. Rather, they rely on publicly available evidence from reliable sources. Soon after approval of three novel agents indicated as preventive therapy for migraine Aimovig, Ajovy, and Emgality - the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) evaluated the available evidence of the clinical effectiveness, tolerability, and safety of the CGRP inhibitors, in comparison with no preventive treatment or commonly-used preventive therapies in adults with chronic or episodic migraine, such as anti-epileptics, beta blockers, antidepressants. For both episodic and chronic migraine populations for whom at least one previous preventive therapy had failed, treatment with CGRP inhibitors resulted in a modest increase in migraine-free days and Quality-Adjusted-Life-Years compared to no preventive treatment. What ICER did not do was compare the preventive treatments' clinical and cost-effectiveness head-to-head. Furthermore, ICER did not conduct a study examining long-term safety and effectiveness of the CGRP inhibitors. ICER's report did suggest that use of CGRP inhibitors would lead to higher costs, which implies a trade-off would have to be made by payers and PBMs to determine if the added benefit was worth the additional cost. So, P&T committees were left with a limited evidence base with which to establish recommendations regarding CGRP inhibitors, and hence a difficult call on whether the added benefit was worth the additional cost. Without unequivocal evidence to support CGRP inhibitor reimbursement, the payer and PBM C-suite folks responsible for rebate negotiations began their usual horse trading. The results revealed the seemingly arbitrary nature of rebating and formulary exclusions. OptumRx and Express Scripts included Emgality and Aimovig as preferred treatments on their lists of covered drugs, and excluded Ajovy. CVS Caremark added Emgality and Ajovy to its list of covered drugs, while it excluded Aimovig. Presumably, rebates, and not clinical and cost-effectiveness data, drove formulary positioning of the three different products on three different formularies. This example has wider implications than just the CGRP inhibitors. Absent head-to-head data or conclusive evidence regarding newly approved treatments, P&T committees' influence is necessarily limited. And for patients it then becomes a crap shoot - dependent on who their insurance carrier is - as to who gets access to which treatment. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshuacohen/2019/05/20/are-pt-committees-wielding-more-influence-and-driving-larger-drug-rebates/ |
Are Electric Vehicles Really Better For The Environment? | Since the first modern electric vehicles (EV) took to the roads in the 2000s, critics have been quick to question the clean label attached to them. From manufacturing concerns to battery power sources as well as overall autonomy, EVs have been under scrutiny from sceptics. Read Also: The Electric Vehicle Revolution Is Alive In Barbados 2019 Bloomberg Finance LP Battery Production An argument that is routinely put forward to contrast the clean image of electric cars is the pollution behind the manufacturing process of their batteries. There is indeed a range of rare earth metals that make up the composition of the battery, and their extraction and manipulation can contribute to carbon emissions. However, as a 2018 International Council on Clean Transportation (ICTT) report illustrates, the country in which the batteries are being produced as well as the battery composition has a much higher level of impact on emissions . Read Also: Smart Cities: The Future Of Urban Development A comparative study between EVs and internal combustion engine vehicle (ICEV) in China corroborates the ICTT report, indicating that infrastructure and efficient manufacturing techniques are the keys to reducing emissions during production. Chinese EV battery manufacturers produce up to 60% more CO2 during fabrication than ICEV engine production, but could cut their emissions by up to 66% if they adopted American or European manufacturing techniques. As such, the pollution created through the extraction process and production of batteries remains on par or slightly higher than the manufacturing process of petrol or diesel-based engines. Getty Lifetime Difference In its study, the ICTT also notes the stark difference in emissions between electric and internal combustion over the course of their lifetimes. With no combustion and complete lack of tailpipe emissions, EVs produce the bulk of their emissions through their manufacturing process and the sourcing of their energy, giving them an advantage over petrol and diesel-powered cars. Whilst ICEVs have been steadily reducing their emissions since 2000, electric vehicles still have a marked edge by producing close to no running emissions. Additionally, as EVs become more common and manufacturing becomes more widespread, battery recycling will be more efficient and reduce the need to extract new materials, therefore lessening the reliance on mining and production of new batteries. Read Also: Florida Cities Launch Contest To Find Urgent Climate Change Solutions The total impact of electric vehicles is more pronounced when looking at their complete lifetime, where combustion engine vehicles are unable to compete. EVs are responsible for considerably lower emissions over their lifetime than vehicles running on fossil fuels, regardless of the source that generates the electricity . Electricity Sources A new study by the Center for Economic Studies (CES) in Munich proclaimed: Germanys current energy mix and the amount of energy used in battery production, the CO2 emissions of battery-electric vehicles are, in the best case, slightly higher than those of a diesel engine, and are otherwise much higher. Although it may seem like a damning indictment on electric vehicle performance, the paper was quickly debunked by industry experts, who found a long list of inaccuracies with the CESs findings. Apart from laying out previously discredited information such as electric car batteries becoming hazardous waste after 150,000 km, or misrepresenting government data to fit their research, the study also painted ICEV emissions as lower than the reality. Read Also: Innovation Takes To The Skies: Electric Planes Are About To Revolutionize The Airline Industry Dr. Markus Lienkamp, head of the Department of Automotive Engineering at the Technical University of Munich denounced the report as an unscientific conspiracy theory. Other pundits pointed towards previous studies that showed that an electric vehicle charged on an exclusively coal-powered grid would reach similar carbon emissions performance as an ICEV - making EVs more effective over their respective lifetimes. Carbon Brief The Future Of Transport Current electrical grids are mostly moving towards reducing their reliance on fossil fuels and increasing their renewable energy production. With electrical vehicles already producing fewer emissions through their lifetime regardless of the energy source, it shows that EVs are indeed the vehicle of the future. Car manufacturers are also accepting the fact that electric cars are less polluting and producing more EVs will help reduce total carbon emissions. Read Also: Blockchain Is The Next Big Thing For Renewable Energy Electric vehicles as they currently stand are far less polluting than their combustion engine counterparts. As the technology becomes more mainstream, it is likely to become even more efficient and sustainable. Economies of scale will benefit EV manufacturing by providing better infrastructure, more efficient manufacturing techniques, recycling options and reduce the need for the mining of new materials. Electric vehicles are not a panacea but combined with greater deployment of renewables and the decarbonization of the electricity grid they offer a pathway to greatly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesellsmoor/2019/05/20/are-electric-vehicles-really-better-for-the-environment/ |
When is Enough Data Actually Enough? | Thanks to the New Enterprise Associates and many great entrepreneurs, we tried to find answers with regards to the next generation approaches to data analytics and lineage. When a model uses too few inputs of data, it fails to acknowledge relationships. A model with too many inputs matches data too closely and has a low bias. High variances and low baises in that case acknowledge outliers rather than intended outcome and miss relevant relationships. For example, training a model on a dataset with too many intrusion cases and few normal behaviors, produces false positives. If data with normal behaviors and not enough malicious is used, false negatives can be common. To get the data right, we should continuously balance the models. #datalineage #analytics #machinelearning | https://www.forbes.com/sites/elenakvochko/2019/05/20/when-is-enough-data-actually-enough/ |
Could A Chernobyl Happen Again? | ASSOCIATED PRESS My wife and I have been watching the new HBO miniseries on the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster. During the second episode, she asked me the question that is probably on everyone's minds as they watch the drama unfold: "Could a Chernobyl-type event happen today?" I told her "No, I don't believe that's possible." However, it's important to note that we never dreamed such an accident was possible in the first place. So, let's explore the question in a little more depth. The Recipe for Disaster An accident is the result of an initiating event or series of events and an inadequate response. Accidents are mitigated by lowering the probability of the event(s) and ensuring a response that prevents the consequences from escalating. In the event that the potential worst case scenario is catastrophic, there needs to be substantial reduction in the probability of the event, as well as a response that reliably mitigates the consequence. A catastrophic consequence could be one that involved multiple human fatalities, huge environmental contamination, major property damage, or major financial losses. But a catastrophic consequence would also include major disruptions to the population, like having to evacuate 50,000 people from their homes. In the case of Chernobyl, the evacuations happened on short notice, and they were permanent. I think if you have to permanently leave your home on short notice, that's a catastrophic outcome. Further, in the second episode of the HBO series, they presented a narrowly-averted scenario in which millions of people could have died. I can't say whether those events actually unfolded -- or whether this is a dramatization to make for more exciting TV -- but viewers will certainly have the impression that Chernobyl nearly killed millions of people. Thus, the public must have absolute confidence that another Chernobyl (or Fukushima) can't possibly happen again. Reducing the Risks There are still 11 operating RBMK reactors of the type involved in the Chernobyl accident. All of them are in Russia. Since Chernobyl, there have been significant design modifications that were recommended by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). In 2006, IAEA deputy director Tomihiro Taniguchi told The Associated Press Very significant changes have been made in the technology. Hold that thought for a moment. While there are no RBMK reactors in the U.S., around 30% of U.S. nuclear power plants use General Electric-designed boiling water reactors (BWR). This was the type involved in the core meltdowns in Fukushima following the 2011 tsunami off the coast of Japan. Again, let's hold that thought for a moment. The Unknown Unknowns I do believe that the probability of having a similar set of events lead to a similar outcome has been reduced to zero for both Chernobyl and Fukushima-type events. The causes were identified and addressed in other plants with those designs. But, bear in mind that nobody had any idea that such huge disasters were possible for either of these locations. Indeed, it took years to fully understand what had precisely caused the accident at Chernobyl. As someone who has been involved in many safety reviews and incident investigations, what always concerned me more than anything were the things we might have missed. In 2002, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld made the following observation: There are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say there are things that we now know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we do not know we don't know." Chernobyl was caused by one of these unknown unknowns. This is partially true for Fukushima as well, but at least in that case the causes were understood. They were just deemed to be highly unlikely, such as the possibility that a tsunami could breach the plant's 33-foot tall seawall. Preventing Another Chernobyl When someone asks if a Chernobyl could happen again, the engineer in me pauses and thinks about the unknown unknowns. By definition, we don't know what they are. Thus, the completely honest answer when someone asks me this question is "I don't think so, but I can't guarantee it." Further, we have seen people deliberately crash airplanes. Given the possibility of unforeseen events or even sabotage -- in combination with potentially catastrophic consequences -- nuclear power plants must approach the mitigation of consequences with overkill and redundancy. By that, I mean that if a series of events can take place that would potentially lead to a catastrophic incident, there should be several layers of potential mitigation. We have to ensure that even with a saboteur's best efforts, they couldn't cause a catastrophic release from a nuclear power plant. Ultimately, there is no way to foresee all possible causes of an accident. Thus, we have to ensure that if a failure takes place, it results in a safe state. I discussed the example of an electrical fuse in a previous article. When the fuse fails, it does so in a safe state. The flow of electricity stops. I do believe our best minds can ensure such designs in the world's nuclear power plants. If we can ensure that all nuclear power plants in the world are fail-safe designs, then we can indeed say that even though failures could happen, "No, another Chernobyl is simply impossible." | https://www.forbes.com/sites/rrapier/2019/05/19/could-a-chernobyl-happen-again/ |
Is it Worth Manchester United Going All In For Kalidou Koulibaly? | This time last year, Jose Mourinho was pleading for a new central defender to the Manchester United board, only to be denied at the very last minute and be told that his suggestions were not better than what the club already had. The Portuguese boss might have been relieved of his duties in late December for poor performances, but his judgement was spot on in regards to the current state of the squad. Now, with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in charge, the Red Devils start this summer transfer window prioritising the acquisition of a new centre back. It is fair to say that this window is one of the clubs most important periods in their recent history in a landscape without Sir Alex Ferguson. The club understand that they have to back the Norwegian boss to the full extent, or they will continue down this path of underachievement and disappointment. Getty Solskjaer, like his predecessor, has highlighted Napolis defensive leader in Kalidou Koulibaly as the perfect player to bring in to organise his back four alongside Victor Lindelof. The Senegal international has had a number of consistently outstanding years in southern Italy, which is why Napolis president, Aurelio de Laurentiis, values him close to 100 million. When comparing him to Man Uniteds best central defender, Lindelof, the Napoli man comes out on top more often than not. Wben building from the back, Koulibalys presence of mind, vision and execution plays a massive role in how Napoli transition from defence into attack. The Senegalese defender is averaging 64 passes per-game, nearly 20 more than Lindelof, and is completing 32 forward passes per-90 minutes, which is almost double the Sweden internationals current rate. That is not to say Lindelof is a poor player, because he is not, but Koulibaly stands out considerably when analysing the two and how they move the ball. Getty At 27-years-old, the defender is in the prime of his life hence the ginormous price tag for him. He is Napolis prized possession and will take some convincing to move from a club in the Champions League to a team which finished sixth last season and will be enterting the qualifying rounds of the Europa League. It is to be believed that Solskjaer will receive the budget that he needs in order to fulfil his requests this summer, but whether that includes putting forward the required sum to prize Koulibaly away from Naples remains to be seen. While there are other priorities to be sorted throughout the team such as right back, right wing and central midfield a centre back has been high on the list for a number of years. If Manchester United can convince the player that this is the club for him where he can be the leader and organise their defence, it makes sense for the Red Devils to go all in for him. The Red Devils have made mistakes in the past going for the big stars that come with egos and plenty of baggage, but Koulibaly appears to have his two feet firmly on the ground and is not a disruptive force in the dressing room. The Senegal international would add an intimidating presence in Uniteds back four, as well as the elegance and precision to play out from the back instead of clearing the ball up the field. Time will tell whether United have it within them to go through with this signing, but based on what players are currently out there that are attainable for the club, this is the clear frontrunner and should be made a priority to complete. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/liamcanning/2019/05/19/is-it-worth-manchester-united-going-all-in-for-kalidou-koulibaly/ |
Is Mumpreneur An Offensive or Accurate Term For Mothers Running A Business? | Despite the Equal Pay Act being introduced to the UK in 1970, a gender pay gap still exists - with male full-time employees earning 8.6% more than female full-time employees. This isnt news. But what we hear less about are these two facts The pay gap between male and female employees in full-time work aged between 18 and 39 is close to zero . Its from the age of 40 years that the gap widens. Between all employees; not just full-time workers, the pay gap is actually 17.9% - driven by women working in part-time jobs, which offer a lower hourly rate. With the average age of first-time mothers in the UK at 28.8 years - and 15.4% of women now giving birth in their 40s - it seems like no coincidence that the period during which women tend to have small children at home is when the pay gap starts to increase. The good news, however, is that there's been a clear rise in mothers setting up their own businesses. According to IPSE, mothers working for themselves now account for one in seven of all self-employed people in the UK. So rather than returning to a workplace that favours male workers, and those able to work full-time, women are setting up freelance careers or businesses that they can build on their own terms. And their contribution to the UK economy is estimated at 7.2bn a year. However, these successful business women (with children) - who are selling products or services sometimes targeting other mothers; though not always - are often referred to as mumpreneurs, rather than entrepreneurs or founders. Its as if women, once theyve given birth, have their identity dominated by their role as a mother - even in the workplace. This is why working mothers are much more likely to be asked how they balance home and work life than working fathers. But while women are still doing more of the unpaid work, including childcare - 26 hours a week, compared to the 16 hours men spend on it - they are forced to think flexibly about the hours they use to grow their business (for instance: nap-times, evenings, weekends). This means their role as mum perhaps leaks into their work-life - whether wittingly or not - in a way that it doesnt with the dads. Steph Douglas, founder of thoughtful gift company Dont Buy Her Flowers Emily Gray Photography It was after the birth of her first baby that Steph Douglas noticed how many new mothers are given flowers as a gift - a nice gesture but also yet another thing to look after. She tested the market via a blog she set up then decided to launch a business selling gift hampers for new mothers. Dont Buy Her Flowers quickly took off and shes since expanded into gift boxes for dads and people without children; for all occasions. Although she launched her business after having children, and initially targeted mothers, Douglas says she would never describe herself as a mumpreneur. I hope that long before my daughter is my age it's a defunct phrase, she says, but it does at least acknowledge that for a lot of women starting in business now, they're still playing a massive role at home. It references the very real inequality that still exists in the vast majority of homes across the UK. She appreciates why some women are offended by it, though. They feel its patronising and implies a business as a little hobby, she says. And they question why we dont have dadpreneurs. Douglas feels a lot of women are trying to fulfil the roles their own mothers played at home while working a job or running a business on top of this. Were trying to work like we don't have children and parent like we don't work - and it leads to massive overwhelm along with mental health issues and relationship breakdowns, she says, While we've made progress at home and in the workplace, we're not there yet. Rather than being offended by being called a mumpreneur, I'd like to see more discussion about the inequality at home and work and how we tackle it, because that's how we will get real change. And with it, words like mumpreneur will disappear. Sara Tateno, founder of Happity - an app for finding baby and toddler classes Sara Tateno When heavily pregnant with her second baby and on the brink of redundancy, Sara Tateno started thinking about launching a business. Work was a big part of her identity and not something she wanted to sacrifice because she'd had children. Shed recently moved house and had noticed there was no website or app telling her about local activities she could do with her two-year-old. So she learned to code and built one herself. Happity launched in 2017. Tatenos husband opted for shared parental leave and took on the bulk of the childcare, allowing her to focus on launching and growing her startup. And yet shes still been frequently referred to as a mumpreneur. I can totally understand, she says: Im a mum, I started my business after having children, my business solves a problem for parents (especially mums) and my team and I work flexibly around our families. However, when she started out, she felt it was an uncomfortable term that belittled women in business. It made it sound like they weren't taking their businesses seriously, as it often was used to describe small hobbyist businesses that supplemented the family income on a small scale, she says. Why not just call us entrepreneurs?. But more recently, she has felt able to reclaim the term in a positive way. There are many women succeeding in business and outpacing their husband's earnings - all whilst working flexibly and owning their role as mothers as well, she says. In fact, she now feels that the term 'entrepreneur' alone doesn't do women in business with kids - like her - justice. As mothers, we have a much better understanding of the true value of flexibility and work-life balance, she says and how that ultimately benefits the business. Tateno feels that the women who are being described as mumpreneurs tend to be well-educated women in their 30s. They've already had a successful career and held senior positions, she says, but they also highly value their role as mothers. As highly driven, experienced people, we are so much more than 'just mums, she says. "We aren't afraid to take the opportunity to build new businesses with big ambition. Carrie Anne Roberts, founder of Mere Soeur merchandise Emile Rafael When Carrie Anne Roberts launched Mere Soeur - selling t-shirts, mugs and totes with her mere soeur logo printed on them - shed never run a business before. She was a single mother to her son and worked nights learning how to create a successful startup. A few years on, shes earning well into six figures. Shes often referred to as a mumpreneur and doesnt mind the term. My business and my brand very much revolve around motherhood, she says, and I've reached this point in my career both because of and in spite of the fact that I'm a mum. Roberts feels there is such clear crossover between her role as mother and her role as a business owner that the label is justified, even if it is a bit cringeworthy. But she understands that other women feel the term takes away from their achievements. It's certainly not a label I'd slap on myself, she says, but it's not one that I'd shun or take offence at either. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/annieridout/2019/05/19/is-mumpreneur-an-offensive-or-accurate-term-for-mothers-running-a-business/ |
Is Raheem Sterling The Man To Replace Vincent Kompany As Manchester City's Leader? | Getty As Manchester City celebrated an unprecedented English domestic treble completed by a record FA Cup final victory a small but significant scene was playing out: manager Pep Guardiola and striking sensation Raheem Sterling were locked in an intense conversation which was not missed by the cameras. The 24-year-old striker later joked on Twitter: 'He just said I shouldnt have tried to steal that first goal ' a reference to the final touch Sterling made to Gabriel Jesus shot just as it crossed the Watford goal line. Sterling and Jesus both scored twice as City dismantled an unfortunate Watford 6-0 to complete the domestic clean sweep of Premier League title, FA Cup and EFL Cup (aka the Carabao Cup). A few hours later Vincent Kompany, the talismanic leader of Manchester City, who had scored an epic goal of his own just over a week earlier to keep the historic treble dream alive, was announcing the end of his sky blue career. City will be sad to lose Kompany, who is returning to Belgium to become player-manager of Anderlecht. It is the right decision for player and both clubs. Kompany is a fine leader but his best playing days are behind him. He has risen to ever greater heights as City reached the final crucial stages of their record-breaking campaign, but persistent injuries have hampered his full-time involvement over the course of a long season. It was time for City to move on and find a new world-class centre half but dumping Kompany would have felt wrong. That the player made the decision himself and takes up a new challenge at his boyhood club is the right outcome for them all. Beyond finding a new centre back, the move leaves Guardiola needing to find a club captain. Perhaps that search will not take long for Sterling is a footballer transformed and an impressively maturing human being. Sterling used to be the kid who ran around with the ball like he was still in the playground and it wasn't really worth passing the ball to anyone else. Now he's the guy who makes perfectly timed runs to scores tap-ins at the far post in a team which has taken the striker to new heights. The Jamaican-born, London-raised striker admitted it himself ahead of the 138th FA Cup final: 'When I was younger it was all about nutmegs and running around looking fancyI have been growing as a person The environment the management has created here is perfect. Nobody is guaranteed to be a starter, everyone has their place, nobody thinks they are better than anyone else.' The tap-ins, though, are not as simple as they look. They require a patience and an understanding to be in the right place at the right time. Get that right and then, sure, the final touch looks easy. But its not. Sterlings football has been transformed by Guardiolas management. It has not been an easy task for either. Sterling was vilified when he left Liverpool for City for 49m. And he has been a constant target for tabloid sniping about his character, both on and off the field. Throughout it all Sterling maintained an impressive dignity. He has let his performances on the pitch do that talking. Meanwhile he has also become an important figurehead off the field too, using his social media presence to call-out racism as he sees it. At the end of 2018 Sterling suffered allegedly racist abuse from Chelsea fans at Stamford Bridge. The next morning Sterling wrote an Instagram post in which he questioned newspapers' portrayal of black players and argued that it fed prejudice and aggressive behaviour. Sterling focused on the varying newspaper treatment of Manchester City youngsters Tosin Adarabioyo and Phil Foden, who had both bought new houses for their mothers. 'It was something I had to get off my chest,' said Sterling ahead of the FA Cup final. Gary Lineker, former England-striker-turned-TV-pundit-and-social-media-liberal, described Sterling as 'possibly the most important voice in football at the moment'. Sterling again spoke out after England players were subjected to racist chanting in a match in Montenegro. This growing maturity both on and off the pitch speaks volumes for his personality and for Guardiolas guidance. That Guardiola thinks highly of Sterling is indicated by the striker's regular presence in the City starting line up while a world class talent such as Sergio Aguero found himself sat on the bench on Saturday. Sterlings contribution to Citys domestic domination has been widely recognized: he was voted PFA Young Player of the Year, was runner-up to Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk as PFA Player of the Year, and was elected the Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year. His 25 goals have been a significant contribution too, in a season where City have won an unequalled 50 games (out of 59) and scored an incredible 169 goals. The final was a return to the free-scoring glamour of Citys early season form which had been replaced somewhat in the closing weeks of the season with a need to grind out the wins and secure the maximum points. At the beginning of Citys FA Cup final campaign they had trounced Rotherham 7-0, Burnley 5-0 and Newport 4-1. Those flamboyant early victories had been replaced by somewhat tighter and more anxious triumphs in the quarter final, a come-from-behind 3-2 against Swansea, and a 1-0 semi-final win over Brighton. Saturdays 6-0 demolition was a return to that dominant form and harsh on a Watford who battled bravely but could not match the quality of their opponents. For Sterling it was a dream come true. Sterling grew up in north London, just around the corner from the new version of the national stadium: 'Watching Wembley being built was a big part of my childhood.' Now he has been a vital part of the team to score the biggest ever FA Cup final victory at Wembley. Only two teams had ever previously recorded 6-0 final wins, and those were in 1890 and 1903, before the cup final was even played at the old Wembley, let alone the new one. Watfords defeat denied the clubs long time showbiz benefactor Elton John the perfect PR for the new movie about his life, Rocketman. But this season may just be the launchpad for even greater things for Sterling. The diminutive City striker could even find himself captaining his country in three weeks at the Nations League finals. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevenbusfield/2019/05/19/is-raheem-sterling-the-man-to-assume-vincent-kompanys-mantle-as-manchester-citys-leader/ |
Are Real Madrid Wise To Take A Huge Financial Hit On Gareth Bale? | ASSOCIATED PRESS It's clear that this summer is going to be a time of huge upheaval for Real Madrid. For the second league season in a row, Los Blancos have finished so far off of the pace that Barcelona have set in La Liga, that a root and branch clear out seems to be the only sensible answer. Goalkeeper, Keylor Navas, has already been served notice that his services are no longer required, and that'll be a blow not just to the Costa Rican but also his manager too. Zinedine Zidane has always been right behind Navas when rumours of his leaving have reared their head before. On this occasion, it's believed the Frenchman wasn't given an option to fight the keeper's corner again because the board had already made the decision. The arrival of Paul Pogba is believed to be the carrot which was dangled in order to get Zidane to agree to offload Navas, whilst negotiations for Eden Hazard are said to be well advanced too. Should those two players be signed successfully, one can safely predict that there'll not be too much change from 250 million, if any at all. Though it's expected that Zidane will be given the funds to conclude those deals, and others, the need for money from sales is obvious. To that end, Real Madrid do have a number of saleable assets, should they wish to cash in. Isco Alarcon is a game-changer on his day, but for reasons that are still not understood, his is generally one of the first names mentioned when talking about outgoing players. Another is Gareth Bale. Signed as a 'Galactico' back in 2013, the former Tottenham Hotspur wide man has more than justified his selection throughout the time he's spent at the Santiago Bernabeu. However, under Zidane, the Welshman has never really been shown the respect that his talents deserve. Whilst it's true that injuries have interrupted his career in Madrid, it's also beyond discussion that he is a big-game player. We only need to go back one year, when Real were up against Liverpool in the Champions League final in Kiev. One man changed the course of that game. A substitute named Gareth Bale, who should never have started the final on the bench. His overhead kick will go down in history as the best goal ever scored in a final. Yes, even better than Zidane's own wondrous effort against Bayer Leverkusen back in 2002. Fast forward to the present day, and Zidane's view on Bale is unequivocal. After leaving him out of a second successive match day squad, the Frenchman told reporters: "It's clear what I've done this weekend." The message was loud and clear. Bale has no future in Madrid whilst the Frenchman remains in charge. Even if the player wanted to stay and fight for his place, the chances of him forcing Zidane's hand are remote. The real kick in the teeth for Bale, however, is that Real Madrid are so desperate to get him out of the club that they're allegedly prepared to allow him to return to Tottenham for a measly 11.5m, on a season-long loan. His value may have dropped from his world record purchase price six years ago, but not anywhere close to that extent. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonpettigrove/2019/05/19/are-real-madrid-wise-to-take-a-huge-financial-hit-on-gareth-bale/ |
What Are The Best Paying And Most Sought Skills For New Grads And Freelancers? | Two interesting surveys came across my desk this week, and the combination is likely to be of interest to many of my readers. One of these surveys, conducted at Glassdoor, describes the best paying entry level jobs for new graduates in 2019. Here's my thinking. If you are a new or new-ish grads, you may be wondering whether a freelance career is an attractive alternative for your immediate future, or trying to decide whether full-time employment is at least your immediate course of action, the combination of these data are for you. In either case, it's useful to stay in touch with market trends. And, if you are still in university wondering in what areas to specialize, these data are a useful though incremental source of insight. By the way, whether your interest in freelancing is immediate or eventual, you might want to read this article on making the transition to a freelance career. So first, the Glassdoor survey reported by Bloomberg reviews the highest paying entry level jobs for new grads this year: What they found The highest paying entry level job is data scientist, which has a median base salary of $95,000. As more companies across various industries continue to invest in technology and collect mass amounts of data at scale, data scientists play an increasingly vital role in organizing and analyzing data to produce valuable insights that can inform key business decisions. Software engineer and product manager, also tech roles, are the second and third highest paying entry level jobs, paying $90,000 and $89,000 respectively. In fact, apart from I bank analyst and physical therapist, the highest paying entry level jobs are tech roles, demonstrating how employers are in need of talented tech talent and are willing to pay high salaries for individuals ready to develop their careers in these fields. We see several different types of engineers making high entry level salaries, likely due to the specialized education and extensive skills training required to succeed in these roles. 25 Highest Paying Entry Level Jobs in the U.S. for 2019 Source: Glassdoor Economic Research (Glassdoor.com/research) Upwork also released a quarterly review of their Skills Index which ranks the top 20 fastest-growing skills in the U.S. freelance job market, based on data from their platform. What they found Upwork points out three key factors driving the results of their survey: time of year (e.g., tax expertise), tight labor markets and a rapid fire introduction of new technologies or new applications of critical technologies like data science: The overall findings were characterized this way: "Labor markets overall are tightening, and for many skills, employers are increasingly struggling to find available workers in their local areas. As a result, the array of skills that employers are finding through digital platforms is growing, including technical skills like Hadoop and Kubernetes as well as non-technical skills such as taxation and urban planning. Importantly, the survey points out that the 20 fastest-growing freelance skills in Q1 2019 experienced more than 170 percent year-over-year growth, while demand for the top 10 skills grew more than 370 percent year-over-year. More evidence that the freelance revolution is large and growing and continuing to evolve. The top 20 fastest-growing skills, Q1 2019: U.S.Taxation Hadoop Robotic process automation Explainer videos Computer aided manufacturing Financial planning Urban design Software documentation Salesforce commercial cloud Geospatial Julia development Kubernetes Magento Employee training Shopify templates CPA js framework Leadership development Architectural rendering Podcasting Here are selected comments from the report on why these 20 skills led the way. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonyounger/2019/05/20/the-best-paying-and-most-sought-after-jobs-for-new-grads-and-freelancers-now/ |
Can Boeing Be Safe And Profitable? | The recent tragic losses of all the passengers and crew members on the Boeing MAX 737 planes that crashed in Indonesia and Ethiopia have raised troubling questions about the safety of these new planes. Try our approach. We start by analyzing the words in Boeings annual reports. We look for key words that reveal the underlying beliefs and values that define the companys culture. Because corporate culture inspires actions that determine results. And the quality of that culture starts at the top. Creative Commons To evaluate Boeings culture, we searched their 2018 annual report to see how many times the word safe and its derivations safety, safest, safer and safely, etc. were used in this public document. Then we did the same search in Airbus 2018 annual report, the other global airplane manufacturer. We compared these search results and found that Boeings 154-page annual report had only 17 words related to safe. In contrast, Airbus 324-page annual report had 155 words related to safe. We found the same trend when we searched for these words in company annual reports over the past five years. Boeing used safe words a total of 76 times and Airbus used them a total of 397 times. We also calculated the ratio of the number of times words about profits were found in each annual report compared to words about safety. In its 2018 annual report, Boeing used two profit words for every safety word, while Airbus ratio was one profit word for every safety word. Linguistically, Airbus appears to have a more balanced and stronger safety focus than does Boeing. Because words lead to actions that create the future. Through our words that lead to intended and unintended actions. Consider this core principle of governance and performance: the tone at the top of a company is revealed in executive vocabulary. This forms a moral and ethical climate that will inspire actions that create trustworthy or mistrustful behaviors. Since the fatal air crashes, some reports have faulted Boeing for seeming to be more focused on profits than on safety. But two CEOs from manufacturing companies, have shown in the past that choosing profits over safety can be a false and unwise choice. Each understood that pursuing profits over advancing key practices that drive profitability such as worker and customer safety is a profit-losing strategy. One of these CEOs was Paul ONeill. In 1987, soon after being named Alcoas new CEO, he gave his first speech to the Wall Street investment community. He admitted the company had financial problems: its profits did not cover the cost of capital. But ONeill never mentioned his expectations for profit margins and sales. Instead he told the audience that he would talk about worker safety. And while Alcoas accident record at that time was better than the national average, his goal for the company was to reach zero injuries. BLOOMBERG NEWS When an analyst asked him about company inventories, ONeill replied, Im not certain you heard me. If you want to understand how Alcoa is doing, you need to look at our workplace safety figures. According to a report of this meeting in Charles Duhiggs book, Power of Habit, investors ran out of the room after the presentation and advised clients to sell their Alcoa stock. Years later, one of these investors told the author, It was the worst piece of advice I gave in my entire career. By the time ONeill retired in 2000, Alcoas market cap had grown 900 percent and worker injuries had dropped to 0.13 versus 1.6 injuries for the industry. ONeill attributed it to his belief that human beings have discretionary energy which they can give or not give. When respected and valued, employees are proud to give their best. And this grows profits. By not hiding behind a lot of lawyered communications. In June 2014, GMs newly appointed CEO, Mary Barra, led a town hall meeting that was broadcast to the 220,000 company employees. She reported the findings of a blue-ribbon panel charged with investigating GMs faulty ignition problem that had resulted in 124 passenger deaths. She said the investigative report was "extremely thorough, brutally tough and deeply troubling." 2017 Bloomberg Finance LP She went on, I never want you to forget it. This is not just another business crisis for GM. We aren't simply going to fix this and move on. She described how GM was improving its safety processes and compensating the families of those who had died or were injured. She explained, I want to keep this painful experience permanently in our collective memories. I don't want us to forget what happened because I and I know you never want this to happen again." Since that time, Barra is credited with presiding over ending GMs government bailout to positioning the company for the automotive technology revolution and becoming one of the best run auto companies in the world. Her words are hard to forget. So are Paul ONeills. They change minds and behaviors. They speak to what is possible when people are respected and choose to make a difference. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurarittenhouse/2019/05/19/can-boeing-be-safe-profitable-and-wise/ |
Could Donald J. Trump Become America's Caesar? | The Associated Press Julius Caesar died over 2000 years ago. He accomplished many things, including the establishment of the Roman Empire and the title dictator perpetuodictator for life. During his reign, Caesar introduced the Julian calendar on January 1, 45 B.C. Even after 2000 years, this noteworthy reform lives on, as the Julian calendar still used in parts of the Easter Orthodox Church and elsewhere. Yes, without a doubt. And, it wont be because he is named dictator for life. All Trump has to do is put the government on a modern permanent calendar via executive order. Yes, a Trump Permanent Calendar holds the key. The Trump Permanent Calendar will be one in which every date will fall on the same day of the week, forever. It will be permanent. No new calendars would have to be printed each year. That waste of time and money will be no more. Richard Dick Conn Henry, a colleague and Academy Professor of Astrophysics at The Johns Hopkins University, and I have developed what is now called the Hanke-Henry Permanent Calendar (HHPC). It adheres to the most basic tenet of a fixed calendar: every date falls on the same day of the week every year. So, New Years Day always would be a Monday. The HHPC year is divided into four three-month quarters. The first two months of each quarter are made up of 30 days; the third has 31 days. So, each quarter contains 91 days resulting in a 364-day year comprised of 52 seven-day weeks. This is a vital feature of the HHPC: by preserving the seven-day Sabbath cycleand so not inserting extra days that break up the weekly cycleit avoids the major complaints from ecclesiastical quarters that have doomed all other attempts at calendar reform. There is a disparity between the necessary length of the HHPC calendar (364 days) and that of the astronomical calendar (365.24 days). The HHPC accounts for this by tacking an additional week on to every fifth or sixth year. So, there are an extra seven days added to the calendar in, for example, 2020, 2026, 2032, and so on. This additional week serves the same purpose as the extra day we count in a leap year in the present system and keeps the calendar in line with the seasons. The HHPC looks like this: Prof. Steve H. Hanke and Prof. Richard Conn Henry By President Trump signing the following executive order, which Dick Henry and I have drafted, what is known now as the HHPC would become the Trump Calendar. The leap week contained in this permanent calendar would become the Trump Week. And, for the icing on the cake, the United States would adopt Coordinated Universal Time. And, of course, Trump would become Americas Caesar. Americans would then benefit from having an improved calendar, forever. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevehanke/2019/05/19/could-donald-j-trump-become-americas-caesar/ |
Where's The Sense Of Urgency For J.C. Penney And Jill Soltau? | Getty Jill Soltau is making some smart moves at J.C. Penney. She is bringing on a collection of strong managers to help her run the beleaguered retailer. People like Michelle Wlazlo, John Welling, Laurene Gandolfo, Trish Adams and, announced just today, Shawn Gensch all arrive in Plano with strong credentials and proven track records for making retail work. Soltau has cut back the stores ill-fated major appliance initiative, although in fairness this just undoes a mistake from a prior administration and does not mark any incremental advancement, only the elimination of a negative. She has announced a focus on fashion and home furnishings, which had been two of the foundations of the old Penney business, but signs of those changing priorities are hard to find on the selling floor. As part of that merchandising shift, she has dumped a lot of bad inventory from the back rooms and ledger sheets as well. And she has closed some stores, although the total number so far has been disappointingly low given the retail landscape and the more aggressive plans its competitors are putting into place. Jill Soltau is making some smart moves at J.C. Penney. Shes just not making them fast enough. In what has to be an ironic counterpoint to the disastrous fast-track plan that Ron Johnson installed nearly a decade ago, Soltau is moving painstakingly slowly in instituting her vision of what Penneys should be. We are working to re-establish the fundamentals of retail at JCPenney, she said today in announcing another dismal quarter for the company. At the same time, we are building capabilities to satisfy the wants and expectations of our customers." But shes still talking about releasing a long-term big-picture strategy plan in the coming months after hinting in previous statements that this would be in place by now. This from a CEO who has been on the job for six months and counting. You can understand that she wants to have the right people in place to lead the new strategy and that she wants to get their input on what Penney should be doing. Thats the sign of what a good manager would normally do. But these are not normal times. Weve seen an inordinate number of weak retailers crash and burn at accelerated speeds as the marketplace keeps moving faster and faster. Customers and suppliers dont have the patience they once had, the former having more shopping alternatives than ever and the latter being increasingly spooked by the prospect of losing their shirts in bankruptcy court. Wall Street has even less tolerance, as proved by the stock's sinking share price. Soltau has to know this, yet she keeps waiting to make the big changes. Think of all the merchandising and operational changes competitors like Macys and Kohls have announced in the past six months, and contrast that with what Penney has done. Its not a pretty comparison. Its going to take a brilliant plan for Penney to return to the hearts and mindsand walletsof American shoppers. Maybe Soltau will come up with one. But it wont matter one bit if it arrives too late to help. Every day Penney waits is one day closer it gets to the brink of retail irrelevancy. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/warrenshoulberg/2019/05/21/wheres-the-sense-of-urgency-for-penney-and-jill-soltou/ |
What Will Drive Home Depot's Growth In Q1 2019? | Home Depot (NYSE: HD) is set to announce its Q1 2019 (ended April 2019) results on May 21, 2019, followed by a conference call with analysts. The market expects the company to report revenue close to $26.4 billion for Q1 2019 (ended April 2019), which would be an increase of 5.8% on a y-o-y basis. The increase is mainly expected as the revenue per square foot metric will continue to rise. Market expectation is for the company to report earnings of $2.19 per share for Q1 2019 (ended April 2019), higher than $2.08 per share in the year-ago period. Home Depot reported $108.2 billion in Total Revenues in Fiscal year 2018. The revenue comes from the sale of home improvement supplies like tools, construction products, and related services. In addition, here is more Consumer Discretionary data. Trefis Key Factors Affecting Earnings: Revenue to grow: The company has seen revenue fluctuating over the quarters. In-spite of the fluctuations, the company has seen a revenue growth in all quarters of FY 2018 vis--vis the same quarters of FY 2017. In Q1 2019 we expect the same to continue. The companys revenue growth is mainly contributed by the revenue per square foot metric. It has increased from $399 in 2016 to $456.60 in 2018. Trefis estimates the metric will reach $470.40 by 2019. The number of stores and square footage per store metrics have remained nearly flat for a few years now and are expected to continue in the same manner in 2019. Trend in Expenses: Total Expenses have moved in tandem with Total Revenue over the quarters. Cost of Sales has been steady at around 66% of Total Revenue over the quarters and we expect the same for Q1 2019. Indirect expenses decreased in FY 2018 and we expect the same to continue in FY 2019 as they are estimated at $8.7 billion. Full Year Outlook: For the full year, we expect gross revenue to increase by 3.2% to $111.6 billion in FY 2019. EBITDA margin is expected to increase slightly to around 18.7%. Trefis has a price estimate of $207 per share for Home Depots stock. The value is based on the expectations of revenue growth as the revenue per square foot metric continues its rise and a slight improvement in EBITDA margin. Explore example interactive dashboards and create your own. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2019/05/20/what-will-drive-home-depots-growth-in-q1-2019/ |
Is NFL on the verge of allowing marijuana for pain management? | CLOSE KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. In striking an agreement with the NFL Players Association this week that calls for further study of alternative therapies for pain management, the NFL is sending signals that it has an open mind on a matter that players have advocated for years: allowing marijuana as a pain remedy. Thats just one potential effect that could flow from the health, safety and wellness agreement, which bolsters commitment to establishing standards for prescription drug monitoring and increases support for mental health programs. Yet the additional acknowledgment that marijuana might be considered is significant enough, considering how the NFL hasnt budged to this point on removing marijuana from its list of banned substances as part of the drug policy even as an increasing number of states have legalized the use of marijuana for medicinal and in many cases recreational usage. FOOTBALL FIX:NFL news delivered to your inbox SPORTS, DELIVERED:Get latest news right in your inbox! Its possible that a newly-formed joint pain management committee, with medical experts appointed by the league and the union, could supply research that supports marijuana and products containing THC as a healing aid and advance the ball on the NFLs drug policy. Weve asked the committee to look at any and all treatments, Allen Sills, the NFLs chief medical officer, told USA TODAY while attending league meetings. Well go where the medicine takes us. An agreement between the NFL and the NFL Players Association calls for further study of alternative therapies for pain management. (Photo: Kirby Lee, USA TODAY Sports) Well see. With marijuana still not legalized in several states with NFL franchises, a potential sticking point could exist in establishing a policy that applies uniformly for all 32 teams. Said Sills, Im a doctor, not an attorney. | https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2019/05/22/nfl-research-agreement-could-open-door-marijuana-pain-management/3765309002/ |
Does anyone really need an iron anymore? | Millennials are known for dumping traditional household products such as paper napkins and canned tuna. But for now, irons are still staples in most homes, even if they are gathering dust on a shelf. I never iron, says Keturah Kennedy, 37, a Washington, D.C., hair stylist who lives in a townhouse and buys only no-iron clothing. I cant remember when I owned an iron, but just in case, Ive always lived with someone who did. Her solution to wrinkles is popping something in the dryer for 10 minutes just before she wears it. Sometimes I have to touch up my clothes with my hair dryer, she says. Just spray a little water on and quickly blow it dry. Elyse Moody, 33, a senior editor at Martha Stewart Living, loves to iron, but she knows shes an outlier among her crowd. I asked around, and pretty much all of my friends, especially those with small children, said they do not iron. They use a steamer or the wrinkle remover settings on their dryers. But they all own irons. Meanwhile, ironing is a pain point with her boyfriend because she loves the look of a crisply pressed mens shirt. He never irons his shirts and it drives me crazy, she says. Now you know. Consumers are taking the chore of ironing and figuring out easier, faster and often cheaper ways to accomplish it. They are turning to wrinkle-releasing sprays instead of costly dry cleaning. Theyre buying multitasking products that can save space. Theres even something called Febreze ironing: sprinkling a funky-smelling piece of clothing with Febreze and running it through a short dryer cycle. Anything to avoid hauling out the ironing board. Besides, wrinkly cotton shirts and rumpled linen tablecloths are now stylish. No need to iron the family heirloom tablecloth for Thanksgiving dinner. We love tablecloths that have not been ironed and have wrinkles to catch the light and look prettier, Amanda Hesser, co-founder and chief executive of Food52, a home and cooking website, told me in December. All of these lifestyle changes have caused irons, like print newspapers, to experience a slow slide in sales. And millennials are leading the slump, according to Joe Derochowski, home industry adviser for the NPD Group. The overall sales of irons have declined over the past three years, with the decline in the 18-to-44 age group outweighing growth in the 45-plus age group, according to the NPD consumer tracking service. Advertising In 2018, iron sales in dollars were down 7 percent from 2016 while steamer sales were up 19 percent during the same period, according to the NPD. The popularity of irons has waned as consumers buy clothes made of non-wrinkle fabrics and casual Fridays have morphed into casual every days. People still buy irons because they think theyre supposed to. When you go out on your own, you might think you should buy an iron, even if you may not use it, Derochowski says. An iron is like a toaster: Although many people are avoiding carbs, they feel as though its something an adult should own. Irons are still a popular wedding registry item. Since registering is about getting the basics you need to complete your home, an iron is a sort of hallmark of a registry, says Alyssa Longobucco, senior style and planning editor for the Knot. Its one of those traditional gifts, like china, that is popular with some subset of the older generation that feels lost donating money for honeymoons or for pet adoption, Longobucco says. High-end steamers are also wish-list staples. A professional-grade steamer is great to have on hand. Women love to get them for bridal showers so later they can steam their wedding and bridesmaids dresses, she said. Julianne Snyder, 29, a preschool teacher in Madison, Wisconsin, bought an iron when she moved in with her boyfriend (now husband), Nick, four years ago. I just thought it was something every house had. And we probably needed one once and didnt have one, she says. Snyder says her husband, a music marketer who lives in band T-shirts and hoodies, uses the iron several times a year when he presses a formal shirt to go to a wedding. She might iron a tablecloth and napkins a few times a year. My mom taught me to iron, and when I was little I loved the smell of the steam and spray starch, she says. As I got older, I realized it was just another chore. Advertising Snyders mother, Pamela Norum, 61, happens to know a few things about garment care. Norum is a professor in the department of textile and apparel management at the University of Missouri. With the changes in fabrics in our clothes today, there is less need to iron, which is a good thing, Norum says. Over the years, the fashion industry has switched to more easy-care fabrics that look good without extra effort. Norum says its been about a year since she has used her own iron. She prefers a steamer, though in the laundry room of her millennial offspring, shes seen a product called Downy Wrinkle Releaser Spray, marketed as an iron in a bottle. Norum, however, thinks that there is no other way consumers can achieve the polished result that an iron provides at home. I still have to iron my tablecloths, as there is no other way to achieve a smooth and crisp-looking cloth unless you send it out to the cleaners, Norum says. You just cant achieve that from a steamer or a spray. Because fewer customers are ironing, however, the makers of irons and the products that go with them are thinking of ways to re-energize sales. Theyre posting how-to videos online to educate them in case their parents didnt teach them fabric-care basics. Last year, Reliable, a maker of irons and other garment-care products, introduced Ovo, a cute little portable combination iron and garment steamer ($49) that can easily be tossed in a suitcase. Many millennials and being one myself, we dont have time to iron or like to iron. You can plug this in and its ready in less than a minute, says Peter Vallas, Reliables marketing manager. Vallas says he doesnt see irons going away anytime soon. Its still a staple in peoples homes, he says. They might not care for ironing but it does make them look good. Ixeo, a clothing-care product targeted toward apartment living and the millennial lifestyle, was introduced in March by Rowenta, a German company known for its powerful irons. The Rowenta unit ($249) combines an iron, steamer and an ironing board unit on wheels that folds compactly to fit into a closet. The spray starch industry is having its own makeover. Its repositioning the traditional ironing aid that keeps clothing smoother and wrinkle free as ironing spray. The sales for our category over the last several years have been in a slow decline, says Rob Persaud, chief marketing officer at Faultless Brands, the largest maker of spray starch in the United States. His company has been regrouping as baby boomers leave the workforce in greater numbers and millennials and their wrinkle-free clothing or wrinkles-be-damned wardrobes take center stage. Our challenge is to educate [consumers that] if you are moving up through your career and trying to make an impression, your appearance is something you should care about, Persaud says, adding that pressing a shirt at home is cheaper than taking it to the laundry. Niagara Starch even has its own Instagram page (about 400 followers so far). Theres still something appealing about a freshly ironed cotton skirt or a nicely pressed pair of khakis. Norums youngest son, Jimmy Weagley, 26, who lives in St. Louis, says he uses his iron every once in a while. I ironed [fiance] Amys pants for some interviews and then a few times when she went to work. he said in a text. I should do it more though. | https://www.seattletimes.com/explore/shop-northwest/does-anyone-really-need-an-iron-anymore/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all |
What are the best new rooftop bars in Miami and South Florida? | The Sparrow South Floridians live in a beautiful place and enjoy seeing it in all its glory. Preferably one with a bar. Weve noticed a trend of rooftop bars of late in Miami and beyond. Weather be damned, we are heading on up with our cellphones fully charged. Your Instagram followers will thank you. Here are five new spots. Sparrow Unlimited Digital Access: Only $0.99 For Your First Month Get full access to Miami Herald content across all your devices. SAVE NOW This sleek meets kitschy spot, way up on the 25th floor of The Dalmar Hotel, has amazing views of the city and ocean, plus an innovative cocktail menu and 1960s retro vibe. Grab a playfully named drink like an Apocalypso (Plantation 3 Star Rum, Avua Prata cachaa, mango and lime juice) and kick back at this urban paradise on high. Sparrows perch high above Fort Lauderdale has been a phenomenal inspiration for our beverage program, says head mixologist Devon Tarby. There are modest nods to tropical drinking traditions, but weve also embraced the agricultural bounty of this amazing state. Details: Sparrow at The Dalmar, 299 N Federal Highway, Fort Lauderdale. Open Thursday through Saturday, from 5 p.m.-2 a.m. www.thedalmar.com. The Citadel The Citadel got a hearty welcome when it opened back in February as a place to hang, shop and dine in the Little River district. Now visitors can check into the 5,000-square-foot rooftop bar and lounge, which is hosting The Citadel Rooftop Sessions, a Wednesday night weekly rotation of live music, DJs, health and wellness classes and family friendly events. Details: The Citadel, 8300 NE Second Ave., www.thecitadelmiami.com. This colorful, sprawling Wynwood restaurant ought to do the trick for the time being. The 10,000 square foot airy, flower-filled space is no doubt a refuge for lounging and sipping, with plump sofas, overstuffed pillows and three separate bars. The private elevator on the side of the building gives Astra a very VIP feel. Details: 2103 NW Second Ave., Miami, AstraMiami.com. Open seven days a week. Mondays-Thursdays, 5 p.m.-midnight, Friday, 5 p.m.-2:30 a.m., Saturdays, 11 a.m.-2:30 a.m., Sunday 11 a.m.-midnight. ADDiKT Located on the 15th floor of the W Miami in Brickell, this outdoor oasis is a place to enjoy luscious drinks, along with unobstructed, sweeping views of Biscayne Bay and the downtown skyline. For a refreshing jolt to your system, try the signature W Tiger, with Belvedere vodka, St Germain, crushed organic blackberries and cranberry juice. Details: 485 Brickell Ave, Miami; https://www.opentable.com/r/addikt-at-w-miami. Open daily from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. Bellini On top of the recently opened Mr. C Coconut Grove hotel from Italys legendary Cipriani family, Bellini has an intimate, La Dolce Vita vibe; romantic, soothing decor; and way attentive service. Do yourself a favor and order the eponymous cocktail, prosecco with fruit puree. Its class in a glass. Details: 2988 McFarlane Rd., Coconut Grove, Mrccococonutgrove.com. Open daily 5 to 11 p.m. | https://www.miamiherald.com/miami-com/restaurants/article230487464.html |
Why is Auburn Football's Twitter account suspended? | The official Auburn Football Twitter account has been suspended since Monday, with no sign of when it will return. According to reports from USA Today, the "Digital Millennium Copyright Act" is to blame. The DMCA is a 1998 law that was intended to update copyright law for electronic content providers. Iowans, Tigers, and Rockets... oh my! The DMCA copyright takedown notices that took out Iowa and Iowa State football twitter accounts this past weekend are now joined by @AuburnFootball and the @HoustonRocketswho knows if they were legit, the system presumes it wasnt! pic.twitter.com/oQhD2t9rvU RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) May 20, 2019 An Auburn spokesperson told AL.com the takedown was caused by copyrighted music appearing in previous posts. Other sports accounts besides the Tigers have been victim to the suspensions as well. The Houston Rockets and the Rutgers Football accounts were also suspended on Monday, and a Houston spokesperson confirmed to NBC News earlier this week that the issue was caused by copyrighted music. Auburn football practice on Saturday, April 6, 2019 in Auburn, Ala. (Photo: Todd Van Emst/AU Athletics, Todd Van Emst/AU Athletics) Reach Andrew Wigdor at [email protected] and on Twitter @wiggie5885. | https://www.tennessean.com/story/sports/college/SEC/2019/05/22/auburn-football-twitter-account-suspended/3765286002/ |
What are the best cities for jobs, social life and affordable living after college graduation? | CLOSE College students dont have to feel pigeonholed by their major, and can choose from 10 that lead to a variety of types of jobs. If youre looking for a city with good jobs, a vibrant social scene thats also affordable, you might not look much further than your alma mater, according to a ranking from rental platform Apartment List given exclusively to USA TODAY. Many of the top 10 cities that received A-minus to A-plus grades were also home to sizable colleges, such as the University of Wisconsin-Madison, North Carolina State University and Texas Tech University. A lot of cities we found that were best for college grads were pretty good college towns themselves, says Igor Popov, chief economist at Apartment List. You might think people want something entirely different, but people could be happy to stay there in their 20s and early 30s and still do well economically. If youre looking for a city with good jobs, a vibrant social scene thats also affordable, you might not look much further than your alma mater, according to a ranking from rental platform Apartment List given exclusively to USA TODAY in May 2019. (Photo: skynesher, Getty Images) Five other cities also received A- grades, but their overall scores were lower than the top 10. Here's how to wean them off your money Bucking tradition: More baby boomers stay in their homes as they reach retirement, skipping downsizing Apartment List looked at 100 cities and ranked them based on the citys population of young adults; unemployment rate of those with bachelors degrees or higher; affordability of rents; nightlife and recreational activities; and ease of meeting new people. Apartment List used Census data, its own rental data and results from its annual survey of 24,000 renters. Here are the top 10. Madison, Wisconsin Overall grade: A+ Population grade: A+ Unemployment grade: A+ Affordability grade: B+ Activity grade: A+ Social grade: A+ Lincoln, Nebraska Overall grade: A Population grade: A- Unemployment grade: A+ Affordability grade: A Activity grade: B+ Social grade: A+ A skyline view of Minneapolis, one of the best cities for college graduates, according to Apartment List. (Photo: StevenGaertner / Getty Images) Minneapolis Overall grade: A Population grade: A+ Unemployment grade: A Affordability grade: B Activity grade: A+ Social grade: A+ Arlington, Virginia Overall grade: A Population grade: A+ Unemployment grade: A+ Affordability grade: D Activity grade: A+ Social grade: A+ Pittsburgh Overall grade: A- Population grade: A+ Unemployment grade: A Affordability grade: B+ Activity grade: B+ Social grade: A- Columbus, Ohio Overall grade: A- Population grade: A Unemployment grade: A+ Affordability grade: A- Activity grade: B+ Social grade: B+ A nighttime view of Boise, Idaho, one of the best cities for college graduates, according to Apartment List. (Photo: Joecho-16 / Getty Images) Boise, Idaho Overall grade: A- Population grade: C Unemployment grade: A- Affordability grade: A Activity grade: A+ Social grade: A Raleigh, North Carolina Overall grade: A- Population grade: A- Unemployment grade: A Affordability grade: C Activity grade: A+ Social grade: A+ Lubbbock, Texas Overall grade: A- Population grade: A Unemployment grade: A- Affordability grade: A+ Activity grade: B- Social grade: B+ Norfolk, Virginia Overall grade: A- Population grade: A+ Unemployment grade: B- Affordability grade: B+ Activity grade: A- Social grade: A CLOSE Its not news that college has gotten pricy, leading a lot of people to take out loans. Buzz60 Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2019/05/22/graduation-2019-which-cities-best-college-grads/3759160002/ | https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2019/05/22/graduation-2019-which-cities-best-college-grads/3759160002/ |
Is rain finally gone for good in the Bay Area? | After a soggy week, San Francisco finally was clear and sunny Wednesday morning, May 22, 2019. After a soggy week, San Francisco finally was clear and sunny Wednesday morning, May 22, 2019. 1 / 24 Back to Gallery It was the anthem around the San Francisco Bay Area Wednesday morning: As residents woke up and looked out their windows, they exclaimed "Sun!" upon seeing clear, sunny skies. Over the past week, the region has been soaked by anomalously potent May storms, leaving residents wondering if they'll ever see spring. The National Weather Service says dry conditions and sunshine are in the forecast at least through Friday before a chance of rain returns over the weekend. Temperatures will be about 4 to 8 degrees warmer on Wednesday than they were yesterday, with afternoon highs in the 60s on the coast and in the 70s inland. They will continue to inch up through the week; Thursday is looking to be the hottest day, but temperatures will still remain below average for this time of year. The Thursday heat might trigger thunderstorms in the Central Valley, but the rain is unlikely to reach the Bay Area. ALSO: The science behind why California has been soaked by storms this May May is usually a lovely month when conditions are mostly dry and the summer weather pattern of fog hasn't yet established itself. On average, San Francisco sees four days of light rain in May, and these are more likely to fall near the start of the month. In the past week, six out of the seven days have been marked by rain and a few of those were downright stormy. San Francisco sees a half-inch of rain in May on average. This month the city has seen 1.92 inches, nearly 400 percent of average. While unusual, it's not unprecedented. Looking at weather records going back to the Gold Rush, this is the 11th rainiest May. The record goes to May 1925 when it rained 4.02 inches, according to Jan Null, consulting meteorologist with Golden Gate Weather Services. The May 2019 rainfall total could grow as a chance of rain returns to the forecast over the weekend, but the NWS says confidence for a system delivering widespread moderate rain across the region is low. "Medium and longer range models indicate additional disturbances rotating through the western periphery of the through this upcoming weekend," reads the official forecast from the NWS. "Thus, look for increased chances of rain showers from late Saturday into Sunday." Amy Graff is an SFGATE staff writer. Email: [email protected] | https://www.sfgate.com/weather/article/sf-bay-area-forecast-rain-may-13871006.php |
How have fashionistas ended up wearing a load of old curtains? | Shelley, by email Put down the Zoloft, Shelley, you are indeed correct: a fashion moment happened last weekend at a Windsors wedding, exactly the kind of event where, usually, fashion goes to die. A bit of context here first: lets push to the side the ludicrously excitable coverage about Kate Middleton and the obvious outlier that is Meghan Markle. The royal family is, when we get down to brass tacks, a bunch of sloanes. Now, fashion, by its very nature, is all about changing with the times and reflecting the zeitgeist and being modern. But sloanes, by their very nature, are all about looking and behaving exactly the same as they would have done in 1983: they wear unflattering dresses, date men called Tobes, are friends only with their classmates from prep school, drink overpriced cocktails in Fulham and think that going to Peter Jones is a hoot. For all these reasons and many more, one does not turn to, say, Princess Beatrice, or Sophie-the-one-thats-married-to-Edward, or anyone else with the surname of Windsor for fashion moments. Its like asking a camel to please step through the eye of this needle. Its just not fair on the camel. Or the needle. But then this weekend someone called Gabriella Windsor got married and the fashion magazines got very excited. Not over Gabriellas dress, which was fine, but over the outfit worn by her guest Amelia Windsor (feel free to use diagrams to keep up). Lady Amelia Windsor is our inspiration for wedding-guest dressing, cooed Harpers Bazaar, while Elle decreed that her dress ticks all the trend boxes. Please, describe it, Elle: This linen dress has a sweetheart neckline, voluminous sleeves and an adorable floral print. Riiiight. What we are witnessing here, folks, is the backlash against bodycon dressing. For the past two or so years, going out looking as if youre wearing a full-body bandage has been the uniform for modern young female style, thanks to the Kardashians, who have yet to start a trend that looks good on anyone. This became not just a victim of its own success, but overly associated with cheap knock-offs by ubiquitous brands such as boohoo.com, Quiz Clothing and PrettyLittleThing. And so, we see, once again, the natural life-cycle of a trend, as something that was once edgy starts to look just a bit downmarket. So hold up that Lycra minidress you bought for 15 from Asos.com as the sun sets and sing with me as one, people: its the circle of life! The cirrrrrrrcle of liiiiife! Fashion is not known for its sense of moderation, or common sense, so its inevitable that the reaction against bodycon would be an overcorrection, which means sack dresses. Call it Laura Ashley chic, prairie dress style or the return of the tent dress, but what we are really talking about is women wearing a load of old curtains. Now look, I utterly loathed the bodycon trend. But there is something pretty hilarious about the reaction against them, which has gone so far that a royal sloane wearing a textbook example of a sloaney dress is now deemed the dernier cri in fashion. I mean, I cant bear the Kardashians, but if the choice on the menu is between the Kardashians and 1980s Sloane Square then Id like to speak to the chef, please. And we havent even reached rock bottom, folks. Probably the label most associated with the prairie dress look is the New York brand Batsheva, designed by Batsheva Hay, which sells oddly childlike dresses for adults or, as the website puts it, plays with American styles of feminine dress, from Victorian to pioneer, from housewife to hippy. Truly, nothing more fashion forward than taking inspo from a Victorian housewife! This week, on Instagram, Hay posted a photo of some Amish women with the caption: Winning street style, which felt like a joke but also, you know, not. Lets just take all explicitly anti-feminism clothes, call it punk and Instagram ourselves while the world burns. Thats fashion, folks! | https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2019/may/22/how-have-fashionistas-ended-up-wearing-a-load-of-old-curtains |
Are Social Security Offices Closed on Memorial Day? | Find out if your local Social Security field office is likely to be closed on Monday, May 27, due to the federal holiday before you make the trip. If your plan is to head to your local Social Security field office first thing Monday morning to get a replacement card, save yourself a wasted trip. Social Security offices usually aren't open on federal holidays including Memorial Day, which in 2019 falls on May 27. Your best bet is to wait until Tuesday, the day after Memorial Day, when offices re-open. SEE ALSO: 13 States That Tax Social Security Benefits Use the Social Security Office Locator to find the location nearest you. In additional to holiday closures, you can also find information on office hours and office closings (either temporary or permanent). In general, Social Security field offices are open weekdays, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. (except Wednesdays, when offices close at noon). Offices are closed on weekends. 2019 Federal Holidays for Social Security Offices Federal HolidayDate Observed New Year's Day Tuesday, January 1 Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Birthday Monday, January 21 Washington's Birthday Monday, February 18 Memorial Day Monday, May 27 Independence Day Thursday, July 4 Labor Day Monday, September 2 Columbus Day Monday, October 14 Veterans Day Monday, November 11 Thanksgiving Day Thursday, November 28 Christmas Day Wednesday, December 25 If you discover that your local Social Security field office is closed due to a holiday or for some other reason, many Social Security services are also available online or by telephone (call toll-free: 1-800-772-1213). To access most online services, from reviewing your earnings history to checking your application status, you'll need to set up a free My Social Security Account. EDITOR'S PICKS Copyright 2019 The Kiplinger Washington Editors | https://news.yahoo.com/social-security-offices-closed-memorial-174044009.html |
How well are Minnesota prosecutors responding to sexual violence? | Every four years, Americans go to the polls and cast millions of wild guesses about the people who run their justice system. Over decades of voting, Ive been as guilty as anyone. We choose prosecutors and judges blindly because were information-starved. Youd probably want to start with prosecutors. Judges might symbolize the justice system, but they have far less power. Prosecutors decide whether and what to charge. Then they usually present plea agreements to judges, ready for sign-off. It would also be good to start with the crimes that matter most, the ones most of us can agree represent the reason we want a justice system in the first place. Crimes like child sexual abuse and rape. Understanding how your prosecutor handles sexual violence will tell you just about all you need to know about his or her character and competence. These are the troublesome cases, the often hard-to-prove cases, the cases with young and traumatized victims who might not make ideal witnesses. In 2018, the National Association to Protect Children (PROTECT) set out to uncover how county prosecutors in one state handle sexual violence cases. We chose Minnesota, where court data is good, and examined a decade of felony cases. The data paints a picture the average citizen has never been able to see, in Minnesota or in any other state. A lot of factors matter when it comes to evaluating criminal-justice performance. First is how willing a county is to prosecute sexual assault in the first place. Take, for example, two Minnesota counties of similar size, Sherburne and Carver. Over a decade, Sherburne, led by county attorney Kathleen Heaney, had 120 convictions for rape and sexual abuse. Carver, under county attorney Mark Metz, succesfully prosecuted at half that rate, with just 61 convictions. Taking sexual violence seriously is about more than prosecution rates alone. Ramsey County and neighboring Anoka County prosecuted sexual assault at similar rates but with dramatically different outcomes. In Ramsey, 72% of sexual assault cases against adults brought by St. Paul prosecutor John Choi and his predecessor resulted in prison sentences. In Anoka, under prosecutor Tony Palumbo, just 33% did. Disparities like these are seen in smaller counties, too. Over a decade, Clay and Rice Counties each had exactly 54 felony criminal sexual conduct convictions. Yet, 78% of Clays cases resulted in prison time, while just 33% did in Rice. Judges do matter, of course, when it comes to sentencing. However, more often its a prosecutors charging and pleading decisions that determine whether a meaningful sentence will be imposed. Good sex-crimes prosecutors charge appropriately and are willing to go to trial. Others seem to avoid that hassle at all costs. One way to get a quick and easy conviction without much effort is to offer stays of imposition, a type of probation that reduces charges to a misdemeanor. For victims under 13, Ramsey County used stays to reduce charges to misdemeanors just 13% of the time. In neighboring Washington County, misdemeanor stays were given in 70% of those cases. Often, prosecutors blame weak outcomes on a desire to spare victims the trauma of court. However, sexual exploitation crimes put a hard drive on the witness stand, rather than a vulnerable child, and are easy to prove and win. These are horrific human rights crimes, turning children into sexual commodities through traffic in video and photos of child rape. In Washington County, under prosecutor Peter Orput, less than 3% of child sexual exploitation cases resulted in prison, and 81% of the rest had charges reduced to misdemeanors. Orput represents Minnesotas prosecutors on the states Sentencing Guidelines Commission. With the release of PROTECTs Community Safety Tool, Minnesota is now the only state in the nation where citizens have ready access to information like this. Heres hoping they use it. Grier Weeks is a senior executive with the National Association to Protect Children. PROTECTS Minnesota Community Safety Tool can be found at protect.org/safetytool. | http://www.startribune.com/how-well-are-minnesota-prosecutors-responding-to-sexual-violence/510240712/ |
Will the Supreme Court take up a Roe v. Wade showdown in 2020? | Senator Amy Klobuchar speaks outside the Supreme Court at a pro-choice activist rally on Thursday. Repealing Roe v. Wade amid a presidential campaign could have a dramatic effect on the race. Multiple states have passed strict abortion limits in hopes of sending a Roe v. Wade challenge to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court may well be headed for an election-year fight over abortion rights, but its not likely to be a blockbuster showdown over Roe v. Wade. Courtwatchers anticipate that the justices will agree to take one or more cases related to abortion restrictions in the coming term, drawing attention to the polarizing issue as the 2020 presidential campaign moves into a critical phase. Story Continued Below Further stoking the speculation is the passage of sweeping new abortion limits in several states that are largely designed to trigger a Supreme Court battle, with Republican lawmakers hoping that a high court transformed by President Donald Trumps judicial picks will bring down the landmark 1973 ruling that guaranteed abortion rights nationwide. These lawmakers have helped pass new laws in Mississippi and Georgia banning abortions after a fetal heartbeat can be detected about six weeks into pregnancy. And just last week, Alabama went even further, passing a near-outright ban on all abortions at any time during pregnancy, even in cases of rape or incest. The deliberate escalation by the states has led to talk that a head-on challenge to Roe could be before the justices in their next term, which opens in October and typically produces its most hard-fought decisions in the following June. That would be June 2020, weeks before the Democratic and Republican Conventions and just months before Trump and a Democratic nominee are likely to square off at the polls. COUNTDOWN TO 2020 The race for 2020 starts now. Stay in the know. Follow our presidential election coverage. Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time. A potential repeal of Roe amid a presidential campaign could have a dramatic and destabilizing effect on the race and thats at least in part why legal experts on both sides of the abortion divide say they dont see it happening, at least not in the near future. The most likely and correct path is for these bans to be blocked by lower courts and the Supreme Court will not even step in, said Julie Rikelman of the Center for Reproductive Rights. I think Chief Justice John Roberts would probably prefer that they not get into that in the middle of an election, said Caroline Fredrickson of the American Constitution Society, a liberal legal group. Pro-life lawyer James Bopp Jr. said he doesnt think a case squarely aimed at eliminating Roe will ever be taken up by the high court. I think it extremely unlikely the court will ever take a direct attack on the Roe case, said Bopp. The court just doesnt operate that way.This idea that youre going to force them to reconsider Roe v. Wade is just absurd. Bopp favors overturning Roe, but hes dismissive of the new laws that seek to ban abortion of a fetus before it has attained viability. Theres a lot of ill-informed hype on both sides about these measures.Theyll never go into effect, he said. New Window Interactive: How 12 court cases could challenge abortion access under Roe vs. Wade Bopp said he believes at least two justices, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh, have no desire to be involved in a frontal attack on Roe. The pro-life advocate noted that last December both men appeared to side with the courts Democratic appointees in declining to hear a case about the rights of states to curtail funding for Planned Parenthood, which provides abortions as well as an array of other health services. Roberts and Kavanaugh refused to take up a case that only involved state funding of Planned Parenthood, so to think from that were going to infer that theyre anxious to overturn Roe v. Wade?...Thats light years away, Bopp said. Not that I dont want that [but] theres no indication whatsoever of that. Another obstacle to the Supreme Court considering the new abortion bans anytime soon is the rhythm and pace of the federal court system. Cases typically take months to be decided in a trial court, then proceed to an appeals court, where many more months can pass before a decision is made by a three-judge panel. Sometimes there are efforts to get the full bench of an appeals court to take the case. At the Supreme Court, cases usually need to be in the pipeline by October to stand a chance of being heard in the spring and decided by June. There really isnt enough time for any of these bans to get to the court in the next term, Rikelman said. But the likely absence of the strictest measures from the high courts docket doesnt mean abortion will be entirely off the agenda. Abortion-related cases could reach the justices in the form of emergency stay applications, although those dont usually garner the attention of a fully briefed and argued Supreme Court case. And challenges that dont squarely attack Roe but involve laws regulating abortion facilities and providers are either currently before the justices for potential review or could be in that position by fall. Perhaps the most likely issue for the Supreme Court to take up is a case over a Louisiana law requiring physicians who provide abortions to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital. In 2016, the court struck down a similar Texas law by a 5-3 vote in a case known as Whole Womens Health v. Hellerstedt. However, one member of the majority in that case Justice Anthony Kennedy has since left the court and been replaced by Kavanaugh. And the vacant seat of late Justice Antonin Scalia has been filled by Justice Neil Gorsuch. It would be unusual for the Supreme Court to take up such a similar case so soon after deciding an earlier one, but in February the justices voted, 5-4, to put the Louisiana law on hold. Usually, when the court steps in under such circumstances, it eventually grants review in the case. Rikelman says she hopes the court will do that this fall, but will find the case so close to the earlier one that it skips over full briefing and argument and simply reverses the 5th Circuit decision that turned down a challenge to the law. One thing prompting chatter among courtwatchers is the indecision that seems to have infected the courts consideration of abortion-related cases in recent months. Last Friday, the justices had their 14th closed-door conference where they were set to discuss a case challenging an Indiana law regulating disposal of fetal remains and prohibiting abortions based on race, sex or disability of the fetus. Again, the justices punted, putting the case down again for this Friday. A challenge to another Indiana law requiring an ultrasound test at least 18 hours before an abortion will be on conference for a 2nd time this Friday, while an Alabama law banning what the state calls dismemberment abortions was scheduled for five court conferences and pulled each time. Some lawyers say the unusual delays suggest some horse-trading may be underway among the courts conservatives. The votes of only four justices are needed to take up a case. Sometimes repeated conferences mean a dissent from the denial of review, or certiorari, is being written. But 15 conferences for the same case is rare. Its puzzling, to be honest, said Florida State University law professor Mary Ziegler, an expert on the history of abortion law. If they arent going to hear these cases, why dont they just deny cert. If they are, theyre just pushing it closer and closer to the election and probably engendering maximum controversy.Theres something going on behind the scenes. I think theres a lot of negotiation going on internally among the right-wing justices about how to do this in a way that doesnt give those who believe in womens access to health care a campaign issue, said Fredrickson. Fredrickson said she fears the various regulations effectively making abortion impossible without ever triggering the uproar that would accompany overturning Roe. When you shut down all the clinics in a state, its a ban even if its not called that, she said. Regardless of what the Supreme Court does, litigation over new abortion laws seems certain to continue to play out as the presidential race heats up. Just Tuesday, lawyers were before a federal judge in Jackson, Miss., jockeying over the law that state enacted in March that bans abortion at the time a fetal heartbeat is detected, sometimes as early as six weeks. U.S. District Court Judge Carlton Reeves said the states move smacks of defiance against a ruling he issued last year blocking a ban on abortions before 15 weeks, CNN reported. A federal appeals court is likely to hear arguments about that ruling later this summer, keeping attention on the issue even without a high court fight. A POLITICO/Morning Consult poll released Tuesday shows Americans still divided on the abortion issue, but with a majority appearing to favor maintaining Roe. About 55 percent of voters said abortion should be legal in all circumstances or up to the point of viability, while 42 percent say it should always be illegal or limited to cases of rape, incest or risk to the mother. And roughly half of voters said they think its not likely the Supreme Court will overturn Roe. | https://www.politico.com/story/2019/05/22/supreme-court-roe-vs-wade-2020-1340075 |
Can the Storm find any silver lining in all the recent setbacks? | SEATTLE Sue Birds first words at the news conference Tuesday to discuss her knee surgery said it all. I mean, Im bummed. Shes not alone. To be a Seattle Storm fan these days is to wonder if this is some sort of karmic payback for the franchises third WNBA title last September. As if the hoop gods said, Thats enough frivolity for one franchise for awhile. Even before training camp began, it has been a non-stop barrage of bad news. It started with Breanna Stewarts Achilles tear, followed by coach Dan Hughes revelation of a cancer diagnosis, and now a newly disclosed injury that could sideline Bird, the teams point guard and spiritual leader, for the entire season. Not surprisingly, there was a lot of internal talk Tuesday about how the Storm can still thrive through all this adversity. Gary Kloppenburg, the acting coach during Hughes recovery, said gamely that hes still optimistic that the Storm, who open the season Saturday, can have a strong season. Now its going to be us against the world, Kloppenburg said. Everybody wants us to fail. We can pull together and do something with what we have. Thats a nice sentiment, and the absolute proper one for the team to rally behind. But the reality is that this is likely to be simply too much loss of elite talent for any team to overcome. And silver lining department that predicament might ultimately provide the Storm with a different sort of payoff, if youre willing to suffer and wait. Happily, Hughes is recovering well from his cancer surgery, according to Kloppenburg, and already is talking about returning to practice this week. But Stewart, the reigning league MVP, and Bird, the best point guard in league history and still hugely productive at age 38, arent going to be walking through those doors. Well, technically they are, but only to stand on the sideline and serve a sort of coaching and motivating role. And in a league that Bird correctly characterized as hyper-competitive because of all the talent compressed into 12 teams, coaching tips and back-pats will take you only so far. Even Bird acknowledged as much. She said the teams little-picture goals have to remain the same improving every day. There can still be ways we finish the season on a positive note that dont necessarily come in the form of a championship, she said. But that doesnt mean the Storms championship run has to be over. Stewart is a mere 24 years old and there is no reason she cant be the same dominating player next year, and well beyond. Age is always a factor for Bird, of course, but she had a brilliant season last year and talked Tuesday of her desire to play again. Im getting this to make me better, she said of the impending arthroscopic surgery to remove a loose body in her left knee. Im getting this to extend my career. Its to get better and to move forward and continue to play. Some people might call me crazy for doing that, but here I am. Players like Jordin Canada Birds replacement at point guard talked about stepping up as a team in the absence of its superstars. Were all prepared for it, she said. Im very optimistic we can be an outstanding team, still, even with all the setbacks weve had, Kloppenburg added. But a more tangible hope for the Storm which no one obviously wants to articulate is that it might now find itself in the sweepstakes for a high draft choice. They acquired Stewart and Jewell Loyd, two players who helped fuel the resurgence, by virtue of the No. 1 overall draft choice. This year, there is another difference-making player who will be available Oregons star guard, Sabrina Ionescu, the consensus top collegiate player. While there might be some position overlap with Bird and Canada, Ionescu is the sort of uber-talented player who can help carry a team. Because of new rules designed to curtail tanking, which use two-year cumulative records to determine the odds of the WNBAs four non-playoff teams, the Storm is unlikely to get the No. 1 choice. They would have about a 10% chance if they had the fourth-best record among the lottery qualifiers. But even at No. 4, a high-quality player is likely to be available, one who can make a strong impact in 2020. This scenario doesnt fall into the realm of tanking by the Storm, mind you. Rather, its having so much talent depleted via injury that even a teams best effort might well not be enough. It was already going to be a steep uphill road without Stewie. Without Bird, it will be near impossible for the Storm to defend the title. So, Storm fans, maybe the new model should involve the San Antonio Spurs. Beset by injuries in 1996-97, including a key one to David Robinson, the Spurs tumbled from 59-23, 62-20 and 55-27 the previous three years to go 20-62 that season. The No. 1 draft choice, which happened to be Wake Forest star Tim Duncan, an instant NBA superstar. The Spurs recovered from that temporary one-season hiccup to win five titles in Duncans reign. Bird said Tuesday that the key for the Storm is to not worry about the ones who arent there. They have to write their own story. Maybe theres still a way for a happy ending. Just a different one than expected. 2019 The Seattle Times Visit The Seattle Times at www.seattletimes.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. | http://www.startribune.com/larry-stone-can-the-storm-find-any-silver-lining-in-all-the-recent-setbacks/510259922/ |
Does Philip Green think his offer stands a sporting chance? | Here comes Sir Philip Green, pleading poverty from Monaco. Or rather, its Lady Green, as the owner of the Arcadia fashion empire, who wants to shrink the business by 23 stores and would like landlords to take a whack in the form of rent cuts and lease re-jigs on another 194 premises in the UK. Arcadias Topshops in the US will close. And the affected UK landlords can have 20% of the proceeds from any future sale of Arcadia. One assumes the Greens think this proposal stands a sporting chance of being accepted by creditors, but two points are worth making. First, the proposed equity injection into Arcadia, at 50m, looks tiny. The company can grumble about challenging retail headwinds but the other reason for the state of disrepair is lack of investment. In the context of a group of Arcadias size, an extra 50m looks a drop in the Med. Second, the other parties here are the pension fund trustees, the Pensions Regulator and Pension Protection Fund. It is hard to believe any will be impressed by a proposal for Lady G to inject an extra 100m into the pension schemes over three years while Arcadia itself halves regular annual payments to 25m. That barely moves the dial when the deficit is 750m on one accounting basis and memories of BHS are fresh. Company voluntary arrangements are an exercise in negotiation. In the shoes of the landlords and definitely in the position of the pension bodies you would be unwise to think the Greens offer is their best. On pensions, at least, the owners can surely do better than this. British Steel is the chance to show joined-up policy British Steels fall into insolvency is a very big setback but is far from being the end, said the business secretary, Greg Clark. The first part of that statement is obviously correct. Proving the truth of the second is where hell earn his ministerial salary, assuming hes not swept away in the latest Westminster carnival. On day one, Clark made some correct moves. The government has provided an indemnity to the official receiver to allow him to continue to pay wages and operate British Steels assets, an essential requirement given that blast furnaces, once turned off, tend to stay shut. And Greybull Capital, British Steels former owner, is now out of the picture, which is a small mercy. Well await the receivers report to learn how much genuine risk capital Greybull contributed since 2016, but its clear that, when the going got tough, the unlovely private equity outfit was unwilling to dig deep. The challenge for Clark is to find a more suitable owner. His mention of expressions of interest is encouraging but the government will probably have to assemble a financial package to convert interest into a deal. It should push the limits of the state-aid rules to do so. The knock-on effects of the irreversible closure of the Scunthorpe steelworks would be horrendous. Jobs and environmental clean-up costs top the list, but Clark should also consider the impact on the competitive position of UK customers, not least state-owned Network Rail. If you really want to operate a joined-up industrial policy, nows the moment to show how its done. A public-private partnership wont be the governments preferred outcome, but it should be prepared to go there. M&S big returns on small risk for underwriters As we change the culture of the business we are clear that challenging costs will become a core part of our philosophy, says Marks & Spencer. Sign up to the daily Business Today email or follow Guardian Business on Twitter at @BusinessDesk M&Ss cash-call, officially a 601m affair, will raise only 571m by the time the underwriting banks, lawyers and advisers have taken their cut. The 30m of fees and expenses might be defensible if the underwriters, who will collect about half the sum, were shouldering genuine risks. But theyre not. M&Ss shares would have to collapse by 26% in the next three weeks for the underwriters to be on the hook. That risk is remote. Current trading is in the public domain; the dividend cut was priced in; the terms of the partnership with Ocado, the reason for the cash-call, havent changed one jot. M&S reckons it got the going rate on fees. Within a rotten system, it probably did. But try explaining to shopfloor staff how 30m is fair. | https://www.theguardian.com/business/nils-pratley-on-finance/2019/may/22/does-philip-green-think-his-offer-stands-a-sporting-chance |
Will a couple that cooks together, stay together? | Open this photo in gallery ILLUSTRATION BY JAMIE BENNETT First Person is a daily personal piece submitted by readers. See our guidelines at tgam.ca/essayguide. Almost every childhood memory I have is centred on food. Telling stories over laughter around a crowded table at holiday dinners. The sound of sugar being stirred into a cup of tea, the smell of roasting vegetables, the feeling of heat coming from the kitchen, all conjure a familiar feeling of love and comfort inside me that cannot be reproduced by any other means. My favourite memory of all is that of my grandfather kneading bread. My grandmothers illness left her weakened, but determined to maintain a sense of normalcy, she continued to bake several loaves of bread on a weekly basis. I remember watching her, a colourful scarf covering her bald head, a cloud of flour above her, filling a bowl with ingredients that she measured by feeling. A recipe that was never written down but that she knew by heart. She would mix it until it came together and then turn it out onto the kitchen table, where my grandfather would roll up the sleeves of his dress shirt, remove his wedding ring and begin to work the dough. Together, they would bake all the bread that they needed for the week. Ample loaves that rose high above the pan, that my grandmother would bless before tucking into the oven, filling their bungalow with the scents of comfort and love. When she eventually died, my grandfather never made bread again. To this day, I have never tasted bread that was as good as theirs. No other loaf I have come across has ever been made with that kind of powerful, unconditional love. When my husband came to me last December, shortly after Christmas, and told me he wasnt happy, that he thought he wanted to separate, I found myself thrown into the absolute depths of despair. We had been together nine years, married for seven. We had two children and a home and a dog. We, on paper, were perfect. But sometimes perfection becomes mundane, and love begins to drift. When it was about to be taken away, I realized that the routine day-to-day was disguised happiness all along. I had never known this kind of distress in my 31 years and had no skills to cope. I couldnt work. I couldnt sleep. I had two children to look after, so I couldnt drown my sorrows in alcohol. So, I did what I knew how to do. I cooked. Story continues below advertisement I pored over cookbooks. The more complicated the recipe, the less likely I was to have time to think about the disaster my life had become. Over the next few months, I attempted to suture my open wounds in the kitchen. In the beginning, the kitchen was my solace. I enjoyed the solitude as I fried Brussels sprouts in bacon fat and butter. I battered chicken and stirred honey-garlic sauce and revelled in the control I had while standing over the stove. On exceptionally cold days, I would switch to soup. Thick chowder with chunks of fresh fish and generous amounts of cream. Cracked black pepper sprinkled over and crusty bread on the side to soak up the remnants. I couldnt think into the next minute. Every day was full of uncertainty. The only things I knew for sure was that 5 p.m. would come, and we all had to eat. And I always knew we would sit at the table as a family for supper. I poured my heart onto the plate. It was cathartic. I purged my body of sadness and anger and fear and used those emotions to create beautiful meals. I aggressively minced garlic and crushed tomatoes. I used cayenne when rage filled my insides. Brown sugar when sadness washed over me. Vinegar when I felt bitter. Whatever emotion I tossed into our meals only made them more delicious. One evening, over a simmering Bolognese, I began to feel that we would all be okay, no matter the outcome. That I would survive this. As time wore on, my semi-estranged husband began to inquire about suppers. These conversations began to feel somewhat normal. He began spending time in the kitchen, at first as a spectator, but soon chopping peppers for pasta or incorporating spices into ground beef for meatloaf. Because we were in such close quarters, we would talk as we cooked. Initially, it felt robotic. Just going through the motions. But it slowly turned into a new dance we were learning the steps to. His initial plan was to move out on March 1 as he knew of a place close to our family home that would become available on that date. March 1 came and went. He did not. Story continues below advertisement In the spring I delved into barbecue. Together we made burgers stuffed with pepper jack cheese and seasoned with roasted garlic that he would grill while I simmered beer and bacon jam to spread on the buns. Conversations had become easy again. We would chat about our day as we manoeuvred our way around, peeling vegetables, mixing sauces, occasionally brushing elbows, him placing his hands on my waist as he passed me to get to the fridge. By May, he had begun making reservations at restaurants we had never been to. We would sip wine and craft beer over five-course meals we would have never tried before. We would talk for hours about everything. No awkward pauses. No conflict. Conversations broken only by the arrival of caramelized onion tart, seafood bouillabaisse and laughter. On Christmas morning, he placed a roughly wrapped gift in my lap. Mastering the Art of French Cooking. The weight of both the book and its meaning lay heavy in my lap. Sitting there in the early morning light, surrounded by mountains of torn paper, two squealing children, tears streaming down my cheeks and with my husband by my side, I knew that we had come full circle. Just plain work had saved our marriage, but the food had healed our souls. His gift was the beginning of a new adventure; to be filled with trial and error, work, commitment and love. Seasoned heavily with laughter and an occasional argument to taste. Im looking forward to coq au vin and chocolate souffle, in between rustic homemade pizzas and traditional chocolate chip cookies. Maybe one day, well even tackle bread. Lauren Byrne lives in Newfoundland. | https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/first-person/article-will-a-couple-that-cooks-together-stay-together/ |
Is Uber Eats about to offer a monthly subscription for unlimited deliveries? For $10? | CLOSE A new report says Uber plans to roll out a fleet of food-delivery drones by 2021. Buzz60 In what may be the most amazing news for anyone who prefers food delivered to the front door over making an effort to be around people at a restaurant, Uber Eats is reportedly on the verge of offering a monthly subscription service that would eliminate delivery fees. Reports from several tech blogs, including Engadget, are that the monthly subscription, or Eats Pass, would cost $9.99 and would mean free delivery from any restaurant. Or at least "free" in the sense of not having to pay the extra 15% fees added to current orders. Also, Eats Pass would not cover the cost of the actual food. But anyone who orders more than once a week via Uber Eats knows those delivery fees add up quickly. Memorial Day Sale: If you'd pay $9.99 a month for Uber Eats, then you're going to love our $1 for 3 months supscription sale There's no word on when Uber would roll this new feature out, but TechCrunch has said the ride-share company that now operates a large chunk of the food-delivery market has confirmed the news to them. Uber Eats is working on Eats Pass (What's up with the placeholder texts though ) pic.twitter.com/AhhjuJTWe0 Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) May 22, 2019 Read or Share this story: https://www.tennessean.com/story/entertainment/dining/2019/05/22/uber-eats-subscription-10-service-could-coming/3769973002/ | https://www.tennessean.com/story/entertainment/dining/2019/05/22/uber-eats-subscription-10-service-could-coming/3769973002/ |
Is the plastic bag bill the Ohio legislatures latest attempt to prevent home rule in Cuyahoga County? | COLUMBUS, Ohio A bill that would nullify Cuyahoga Countys proposed ban on plastic bags would be the latest effort to block local leaders from enacting regulations they feel are needed in their communities, local government representatives said. We have a charter government, Cuyahoga County Councilwoman Sunny Simon said. Our voters in Cuyahoga County voted for this new charter government. We have explicit home rule (in the Ohio Constitution) that allows us to govern ourselves. Interesting that they cut our funding in many ways but when it comes to us doing something trying to protect our lake, they interfere. House Bill 242 is sponsored by two Republican lawmakers who live on the opposite side of Ohio from Cuyahoga County. However, one of the sponsors, Cincinnati-area Rep. George Lang, said he introduced the bill to reduce regulations, and said he hasnt been keeping track of the governments that want to ban single-use plastic bags. However, Simon, a Democrat and sponsor of the plastic-bag measure, said HB 242 is not surprised by House Republicans. This is how they operate. Add plastic bags to the list of issues the Ohio General Assembly has prohibited local governments from regulating. The legislature has prohibited local governments from enacting gun control measures, establishing $15 an hour minimum wage, regulating oil and gas operators, using red-light traffic cameras and banning trans-fats. Many are confused about the law on traffic cameras. There have been conflicting laws and court decisions. Generally speaking, Ohios larger cities lean to the left. The Ohio General Assembly has a Republican supermajority. Many of the Republicans are from rural areas. It can be frustrating when theres a disagreement on policy. The first place the legislature turns to, is to undermine home rule rights of municipalities, said Keary McCarthy, executive director of the Ohio Mayors Alliance. Wed like to see when there is an issue of policy disagreement between state and local leaders the first thing that should happen is a discussion of why this policy is an important overriding state interest. Simon is more skeptical. Its not surprising that they are catering to the plastic and chemical lobby groups in Columbus, (which are) pushing them to intervene, to stop what is a global movement to stop the pollution on land and water, and interfering with local officials ability to protect it," she said. Lang, the bill sponsor, said he received a legal analysis from a Columbus law firm on the same legislation last year, which didnt pass, that said his bill doesnt violate home rule. To read the analysis, scroll to the bottom of this story. Some readers may have to click here to read it. My intention is not going after anybody, he said. My intention is to make Ohio more business friendly. Currently Ohio has over 6,000 taxing jurisdictions. If youre a business looking to relocate in Ohio, thats a big strike against Ohio. All were trying to do is be more business friendly. He said he is concerned about out migration the trend of people leaving Ohio. I want to be that state that businesses come here so that people come here, Lang said. But Simon is also concerned about people leaving the area. Were losing population by droves in the state of Ohio because of the policies they set forth, she said. This would be part of young people not wanting to move here --- with a backward state government that doesnt seem to understand the Great Lakes are the largest fresh water body in the world, a resource that will be more needed with global warming. Not every state constitution has home rule provisions that guarantee self-governance. Usually, lawmakers praise home rule, said Rep. Bride Rose Sweeney, a Cleveland Democrat. Unfortunately when that doesnt fit our particular agenda or narrative, we abandon that principle, she said. | https://www.cleveland.com/open/2019/05/is-the-plastic-bag-bill-the-ohio-legislatures-latest-attempt-to-prevent-home-rule-in-cuyahoga-county.html |
Could the cold affect the swarms of midges showing up on Cleveland radar? | CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The midges arrived in Cleveland on right schedule this year, with Cleveland Metroparks naturalists spotting them Sunday at Huntington Reservation. The small, winged insects are often mistaken for baby mayflies. Midges are smaller, with short wings and straight bodies. The males feathery heads earn them the nickname of muffleheads. Midges are much smaller than mayflies, with smaller wings and straighter bodies. (Marty Calabrese, Cleveland Metroparks, @naturalistMarty) As soon as Lake Erie waters start warming to the mid-50s, eggs laid in the fall begin to hatch. Sunday was a warm day, with air temperatures reaching the 80s. Since then, temperatures dropped with highs in 50s and 60s. But the colder weather wont affect the midges, Cleveland Metroparks naturalist Marty Calabrese said. The insects live only a few days. As long as its a warm day when they emerge, thats all it takes for them, he said. It doesnt matter if its a cold day tomorrow. Clevelanders will see the insects for the few weeks, dusting cars, porches and gas station pumps. The National Weather Service posted a radar image where you can see the swarms of midges on the coast. We are currently watching everyone's favorite insect battling the wind here along the lake. We see higher values of... Posted by US National Weather Service Cleveland OH on Tuesday, May 21, 2019 While mayflies -- which will arrive in June -- are a positive sign for the health of Lake Erie, midges arent usually seen as positive or negative, Calabrese said. Midges can actually tolerate pollution. People usually view large clusters of insects as a nuisance, but midges dont bite and are food for fish, bats, birds and other insects like dragonflies. Theyre an important part of the ecosystem, Calabrese said. | https://www.cleveland.com/news/2019/05/could-the-cold-affect-the-swarms-of-midges-showing-up-on-cleveland-radar.html |
Is gossip healthy? | by Jessie Blaeser Gossip has a reputation for toxicity. When you talk behind someone elses backgood or badyoure breaking that persons trust. For this reason, most would agree that gossiping is bad for everyone involved. But, almost everyone does it. According to one study, most gossip is simply neutral chit-chat and can actually benefit those engaging in it. Some people feel that confiding in your friends and colleagues in the form of gossip is healthy. Gossip is typically referred to as a toxic behavior, but nearly everyone does it on a daily basis. According to a study from the University of California, people spend an average of 52 minutes per day talking about other people. The study also found that most of that chatter is neither positive nor negative, but "nonjudgemental chitchat." But, even in the cases when gossip does take a negative turn, researchers agree that the conversation can still have a positive effect. NPRs Allison Aubrey reports on the studys findings: "I think gossiping can be a smart thing to do," says Elena Martinescu, a postdoctoral researcher at King's College London who has studied gossip in the workplace. "It allows people to keep track of what's going on and form social alliances with other people," Martinescu says. Rather than divide a group, gossip can actually bring people together and even lead to further cooperation. "When you gossip, you can keep track of who is contributing to the group and who's being selfish," Martinescu explains. "And by sharing this information, you can exclude those group members who are social loafers." Negative gossip can be extremely dangerous. Spreading false information can create a cycle of reputation damage and bullying that is almost impossible to stop once its started. As The Spruces Debby Mayne puts it: No one ever benefits from malicious discussion about other people. At the end of the day, gossiping hurts your own reputation just as much as it can hurt the reputation of others. Even if your words lack malice, by gossiping, you send the message that you cannot be trusted. No matter how juicy or benign, gossiping should be avoided at all costs. 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-gossip-healthy.html |
Why would Wynn Resorts consider selling Encore Boston Harbor? | While a Boston newspaper columnist labeled Wynn Resorts CEO Matt Maddox as Mad Matt, he probably is angrier about what led the company to be in a regulatory mess. Matt Maddox, CEO of Wynn Resorts Ltd., during an interview with the Review-Journal on Monday, Feb. 19, 2018. Richard Brian Las Vegas Review-Journal @vegasphotograph Encore Boston Harbor in Everett, Massachussets, under construction Friday, Aug. 24, 2018. The resort, scheduled to open June 2019, will have 671 rooms including 104 suites. (K.M. Cannon/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @KMCannonPhoto Mad Matt. Thats what one of the newspaper columnists in Boston is calling Wynn Resorts Ltd. CEO Matt Maddox after the puzzling May 17 disclosure from Wynn and MGM Resorts International that they were discussing the possible sale of Encore Boston Harbor the $2.6 billion resort that will open June 23. Just as quickly as the two companies sent word that they were in talks came the announcement that the discussions had ended. Both companies went their separate ways with kindly statements about how much they liked their current host communities. But it gave everybody a chance to speculate why Wynn would even think about bailing out after going through eight years of regulatory hurdling, a massive sexual harassment scandal, a probing investigation, the public humiliation of three days of hearings and a record fine of $35 million by the Massachusetts Gaming Commission. Columnist Joan Vennochi of the Boston Globe theorized that Maddox was angry at Massachusetts for some of the sanctions specifically leveled at him by the commission. The commission ordered a $500,000 fine against Maddox, that he get leadership coaching, and the appointment of a monitor chosen by the commission and paid for by Wynn to review operations at Encore Boston Harbor for three years. Ultimately, she concluded that the talks were designed to divert attention from the fact that MGM Springfield hasnt been nearly as successful as what most people had projected and that it was possible Encore Boston Harbor would be disappointing as well. On the plus side for the companies, a sale would have enabled Wynn to escape from a weaker-than-anticipated market and MGM could take over a brand new building in a market likely to be superior to Springfields. Theres a certain amount of logic to that, although one must wonder why the financial analysts couldnt figure out the economics of the two regions a long time ago. Everybody knew Massachusetts was going to try to run a tight regulatory ship, that the state would have a tax rate more than three times Nevadas, that Connecticut has a strong, competitive tribal gaming market within easy driving distance of Massachusetts casinos, and that there was little opportunity to expand with that states one company-one casino rule. Maddox likely isnt as angry at Massachusetts as he is with his one-time Svengali, former Chairman and CEO Steve Wynn, who got the company into its mess in the first place, regardless of whether he did or didnt sexually harass employees over decades, as he has been accused (and has denied). One of the things the on-again-off-again sale talk did was affirm how dramatically different the rules are in Nevada and Massachusetts. The fact that MGM would have had to get rid of MGM Springfield a building that restored some of the historic charm of that citys downtown area in order to acquire the Boston resort is a big one. In Nevada, there are few barriers for a single company to own multiple casinos. The fact that host communities Springfield for MGM and Everett for Boston Harbor would have a say in any resort sale was another roadblock that would have existed if Wynn and MGM found a way to make a deal work. Other cities near Encore Boston Harbor eight, including Everett would be allowed to weigh in because casino traffic generation could affect streets and roads in those municipalities. Some of those rules are bound to make any Nevada gaming executive mad. Contact Richard N. Velotta at [email protected] or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on Twitter. | https://www.reviewjournal.com/business/business-columns/inside-gaming/why-would-wynn-resorts-consider-selling-encore-boston-harbor-1670189/ |
What are the closing costs for a home seller? | As a first-time home seller, you know how much you owe on the mortgage, and you have a good idea of your home's market value. But then come all of the closing costs you are responsible for. Unlike buyers, sellers are usually on the hook for real estate agent commissions and title insurance. All told, closing costs for a seller can amount to roughly 6% to 10% of the sale price, according to Realtor.com. Let's start with the most significant closing cost the seller typically pays: the real estate agent commissions. It's common for the seller to pay the commission for both the seller's and the buyer's agents. That's usually a 6% hit to your bottom line 3% of the home's selling price to the agent on either side of the transaction. And it doesn't help to have just one agent involved. A single real estate agent will expect to get the full 6% commission. Of course, you can negotiate fees when you hire an agent, but it's too late to make any deals when you are sitting around the closing table. Among the other closing costs that a seller could expect to pay is the lender's title insurance policy. Before a sale, a title search is conducted to verify ownership. A title policy protects the lender (and the new home buyer if they opt to buy a policy of their own) against unexpected ownership claims that may arise against the property. While not common, an ownership claim can trigger legal disputes and the fees that come with them. All the closing costs that are often the seller's responsibility include: a property or deed transfer tax, recording fees, any outstanding liens or judgments against the property, repairs required following a home inspection, real estate agent commissions and title insurance. There are additional closing costs that are split between the buyer and seller, too, including property taxes and any homeowner association dues. Which party pays what fee may be negotiable, but many filing and recording fees or transfer taxes are determined by the state or local jurisdiction. And as for knowing for sure what's going to be your financial responsibility, there's only one definitive guide: the purchase contract. Hal M. Bundrick is a writer at NerdWallet. E-mail: [email protected]. Twitter: @halmbundrick. | http://www.startribune.com/what-are-the-closing-costs-for-a-home-seller/510290172/ |
Should People Be Allowed to Get Rich on Global Warming? | Pompeos example of ice-free Arctic shipping lanes carries some more confusing ethical issues. The shipping industry happens to account for three percent of all the worlds carbon dioxide emissions, meaning they played a not-insignificant role in actually helping open up those shipping routes. Then again, shipping through those shortened routes means the industrys carbon footprint could actually shrink, even as their profits rise. There are obvious ethical differences between rooting for climate change to continue and just trying to adapt to it. But its not always easy to make those distinctions in business practices. There seem to be no sharp lines between simply responding to climate change through adaptation, taking advantage of climate change to develop new economic opportunities, and being actively invested in ongoing climate change, said Hourdequin. For more clear-cut examples, like our morally bankrupt pharmaceutical executive, the question is how we might curtail it. Legislators have been harping on the scourge of pharmaceutical price hikes for some time now, and though the conversation remains partisan, some Republicans, including President Donald Trump, are starting to align with Democrats on ideas to solve it. We are capable of picking sides when it comes to questionable capitalist practices. In cases where the temptation of profiteering is strong, certain safeguards could be useful, Hourdequin says. These would likely need to be domain-specific: real estate rules, pharmaceutical regulations, agricultural policies, and so on. In each of these domains, it might be possible to define more clearly what profiting from others vulnerability looks like, and how it might be avoided. This would not be easy. In 2007, as fraud and grift in Iraq and Afghanistan ran into untold billions, legislators attempted to close a loophole in the laws against war profiteering. (It wasnt illegal to profit off of undeclared wars.) They failed. Any attempt to, say, institute a toll on Arctic shipping lanes, with the money going to the Green Climate Fund, would undoubtedly run into the considerable lobbying might of the industry. The word profiteer evokes a certain mustache-twirling brand of evil, but clearly there would need to be some sober-minded efforts at defining before the attempts at reining in the practice could even begin. In a 2012 article for the Minnesota Law Review, Vanderbilt Law School professor J.B. Ruhl argued that it will be difficult to lump the climate change winners into the same category as war profiteers and post-hurricane price gougers. Imagine a farmer that pours her savings into a new type of seed specifically designed to tolerate warmer temperatures: Much like the beachfront property speculator, her attempt at adaptation means she is now financially incentivized to hope the crisis remains unsolved. She does not, however, sound much like a post-hurricane price gouger. Or imagine someone invents a truly efficient and scalable way to pull carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. Dale Jamieson, a professor of environmental studies and philosophy at NYU, calls the potential climate profiteering examples, from shipping to Dengue drugs, just business as usual. The rich and powerful will always find ways to profit off of others misfortune. The argument for capitalism has never been that particular acts are ethical, he said, but rather that a system in which each person seeks their own interests makes everyoneat least in aggregatebetter off. Given that laissez-faire capitalism is largely responsible for global warming, theres no moralor practicalcase for letting the system run its course, in the hopes that private innovation can somehow stave off catastrophe. We will have to increasingly restrain and punish the polluters, of course. But we may also have to make it a little harder to profit as the planet burns up. | https://newrepublic.com/article/153891/people-allowed-get-rich-global-warming |
Is U.S. ready for 2020 elections? | ANALYSIS/OPINION: There was a time when blacks werent permitted to vote in America, and the truth and consequences of even trying to vote are etched in the nations history and Americans memories. Not the candidates, mind you for who will be, will be. This query is in reference to apolitical choices: Electronic and paper balloting. Military, absentee and early balloting. Polling locations. And theres the biggie: voter registration. Voter registration is the right we should all take quite personally. Forget the Russian collusion, an issue already decided just not as decisively in the minds of American voters in 2016. What we should be doing now is looking at what our local and state elections officials are doing. Some jurisdictions, such as the nations capital, allow 16-year-olds to register to vote. Its a scary thought, especially when you discover that election laws, rules and guidelines arent as tough as you might imagine. Essentially all one needs to do, in most states, is take a few pieces of paper with their name and address on them social services and welfare documents included and presto, youre a registered voter. I certainly dont take kindly to the fact that students can register at age 16 and vote in D.C. elections at age 17. The city merely tells them they cannot. How reassuring. Voting fraud is a serious enough. Consider what happened in the city in 2012, when an activist walked into a polling place and verbally identified himself as Attorney General Eric Holder. The polling clerk proceeded to offer him a place to sign as Eric Holder. Fortunately, the man walked away. That definitely scares me because D.C. polling folks do not ask for any ID. None. Zero. Zilch. So, every time I hit the polls, I say a little prayer. I fully grasp why so many Americans oppose voter ID laws. A bunch of white men letting loose Ol Yellers and German shepherds would frighten the dickens out of me, too. So I get it. But todays thieves can steal your identity and your money online, and you can vote online. Wait for the bureaucracy to kick in. Wait for a special ballot. These are the times to be proactive. Find out what your city, county and state are doing right now. Go online and check them out, especially if you did not vote in the midterms or the last presidential election. Youll get a new perspective on voting rights and perhaps your first on voting fraud. And you should do so long before the 2020 primaries before fraudsters bite you where itll really hurt. Photo IDs, after all, are as critical to prove who you are as who you are not. Check it out. Deborah Simmons can be contacted at [email protected] Copyright 2019 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission. | https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/may/13/is-us-ready-for-2020-elections/?utm_source=RSS_Feed&utm_medium=RSS |
Are the Raiders destined for Hard Knocks? | If executives at HBO could design an NFL team to feature on their show Hard Knocks, it might look something like the Raiders. Theres a charismatic head coach whos comfortable in front of the cameras from years working in TV. A Pro Bowl receiver who doesnt shy away from drama, working with a new team after a messy split from his last one. A rookie running back who experienced homelessness as a youth and overcame struggles to become a first-round pick. Throw in an affable quarterback whose toughness was questioned by some pundits last year, a linebacker whose history of controversy included giving the aforementioned receiver a concussion, and the backdrop of a franchise playing its final season in its longtime home, and it seems all the camera crews would have to do would be focus in and hit record. Oh, and technically, if chosen for Hard Knocks, the Raiders cant say no. On May 17 last year, HBO announced the Browns as the subject for its annual training-camp documentary. In previous years, the announcement came as late as June. An HBO spokesman said via email Wednesday that the network doesnt discuss the selection process until the announcement is made. Teams can be exempt from the show if they have a first-year head coach, made the postseason in the past two years or have been featured on Hard Knocks in the past 10 years. That whittled this years candidates to five teams : the Raiders, 49ers, Lions, Giants and Washington. NBC Sports Bay Area reported this week the 49ers will not be featured. That would rule out a candidate whose appeal includes quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo returning from an ACL injury, a candid voice in cornerback Richard Sherman and No. 2 overall draft pick Nick Bosa transitioning to the NFL. New York just drafted a likely successor to quarterback Eli Manning in Daniel Jones. Washington also has a Gruden (Jay) as head coach and drafted a quarterback in Dwayne Haskins. Detroit head coach Matt Patricia, as Jon Gruden pointed out this spring, has a good beard. Still, arguably none of those teams offers as many compelling story lines as the Raiders. Not that theyre eager for the spotlight. Owner Mark Davis told ESPN at the NFL owners meetings in March he would prefer not to have the Raiders featured, even joking that he would fire Gruden and hire him back as a new head coach to avoid it. It would be disruptive, Davis told ESPN. Weve got a lot of business to take care of, get ready for the season. I appreciate that they might think wed be great TV, but weve got something to accomplish. Its likely most teams feel that way. Patricia apparently tried to divert HBOs attention away from the Lions this year, saying: I think Jon Gruden is an excellent choice for that show. I think the Oakland Raiders and everything theyve got going on right now would be fantastic viewing for everybody to watch. Gruden responded by saying: Patricia is going to do a great job on Hard Knocks. One factor HBO might weigh is whether the Raiders could be even more compelling next year, when they are scheduled to move to Las Vegas assuming they dont make the playoffs this season or part with Gruden (who signed a 10-year contract before last season and most likely isnt going anywhere). Before the Raiders move to an entertainment capital, though, capitalizing on their entertainment value might be too tempting a prospect to ignore. Matt Kawahara is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @matthewkawahara | https://www.sfchronicle.com/raiders/article/Are-the-Raiders-destined-for-Hard-Knocks-13848265.php |
Would we have survived the Cuban missile crisis if Donald Trump had been president in 1962? | Trump's disregard for U.S. intelligence is increasingly risky as threats mount, from Iran and North Korea to climate change and Russian intervention. Millions of Americans could have been killed in a matter of minutes. Thats how terrifying it was during the Cuban missile crisis easily the most frightening moment of the Cold War. The only reason we are here today is because President John F. Kennedy and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev were able to work together to avoid nuclear holocaust. And, it should be noted, it was a close call. We ask such questions about Trump because his relationship with the U.S. intelligence community has been deeply rooted in hostility and paranoia from Day One. Its perfectly normal for a president to push back against the IC and to question it. But Trumps public, often belittling attacks on the experienced men and women who work to keep us safe reflects something different: an apparent lack of interest in, or respect for, data and analysis that fail to validate his preexisting views. Sen. Mark Warner, vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. put it best: People risk their lives for the intelligence he just tosses aside on Twitter. President Donald Trump (Photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images) Read more commentary: Method to Trump's China trade war madness: It's bad for America but good for him Trump is edging toward war with Iran. Impeachment isn't the answer. Yet. And therein lies the danger to us all. One example, especially pertinent now as tensions mount with Iran: Trumps handpicked director of national intelligence former Indiana Sen. Daniel Coats, a Republican told Congress in January that Iran, while still a menace, was complying with the 2015 agreement designed to prevent it from developing nuclear weapons. Yet Trump believed what he wanted to believe. The Intelligence people seem to be extremely passive and naive when it comes to the dangers of Iran, he tweeted. Nor does Trump buy U.S. intelligence on North Korea. He still seems to think Kim Jong Un will magically give up his nuclear weapons, even though the IC assessment doesn't see it that way. Trump hasnt caught on to the fact that Kim, the brutal leader of a tiny, impoverished country, is the one making demands now, giving the U.S. president until Dec. 31 to shape up and stop being impracticable. Trump once gushed like a giddy teenager about how he fell in love with Kim and now wants another date a third summit. But the president doesnt get that he has been dumped. His insistence that everything remains on track, all intelligence to the contrary, is not a prescription for wise policy. Trump also says the Islamic State terrorist organization has been wiped out; his own intelligence chiefs say no: ISIS still commands thousands of fighters in Iraq and Syria, and it maintains eight branches, more than a dozen networks, and thousands of dispersed supporters around the world. And Trump has famously said that climate change is a hoax. His own intelligence chiefs warn of environmental and ecological degradation, as well as climate change, that are likely to fuel competition for resources, economic distress and social discontent through 2019 and beyond. Then, of course, is the most famous example of all: Trump tossing his intelligence chiefs under the bus on Russia. Youll recall that stunning news conference last year in Helsinki, where Trump sided with Russian President Vladimir Putin and dismissed the U.S. intelligence community's findings that Moscow interfered in the 2016 election. Cross your fingers if a true crisis erupts We have a president who doesnt believe in facts, dismisses his intelligence advisers, places his faith in dictators and gets his news from blow-dried bootlickers on Fox & Friends. This is what sets Trump apart from his predecessors. Weve certainly questioned past presidents and their handling of crises notably and most recently George W. Bushs overreliance on what turned out to be faulty intelligence leading to the 2003 invasion of Iraq. But weve never seriously wondered whether Bush, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln,.Franklin Roosevelt or any other presidents cared about themselves more than the country, or were somehow selling out or beholden to a foreign power. It is extraordinary, and disturbing, that such questions continue to be asked of our current president. This is why we can thank our lucky stars that 2 1/2 years into his presidency, Trump hasnt been confronted (as far as we know) with the kind of crisis that would force him to make, in a highly pressurized, short-time frame, decisions that JFK had to make, decisions that in minutes could mean life or death for millions. Thank God it hasnt come to that, for I honestly dont know whether Trump based on all we know and have seen since January 2017 would make such decisions based on whats best for national security or whats best for Donald Trump. Paul Brandus, founder and White House bureau chief of West Wing Reports, is the author of "Under This Roof: The White House and the Presidency" and is a member of USA TODAY's Board of Contributors. Follow him on Twitter: @WestWingReport You can read diverse opinions from our Board of Contributors and other writers on the Opinion front page, on Twitter @usatodayopinion and in our daily Opinion newsletter. To respond to a column, submit a comment to [email protected]. Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2019/05/16/donald-trump-intelligence-community-disdain-national-crisis-decision-dictators-column/3678884002/ | https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2019/05/16/donald-trump-intelligence-community-disdain-national-crisis-decision-dictators-column/3678884002/ |
Why are there so many candidates for president? | (The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.) Hans J. G. Hassell, Florida State University (THE CONVERSATION) Seven Democratic presidential candidates gathered on national television early in the 1988 campaign to debate each other. The field of candidates, derided by Republicans as the Seven Dwarfs, pales in comparison to the 24 Democratic candidates who have at last count declared their candidacy for president. The seven Democrats on the stage in 1988 represented an unprecedented number of candidates vying in a presidential primary. Now, 17 of the 24 declared Democratic presidential candidates have currently met the standards set by the Democratic National Committee to qualify for participation in this election cycles debates. And in 2016 the GOP used two debate stages to accommodate the 17 declared candidates. I study political parties and their role in electoral politics. And I believe the rise in the number of presidential candidates in recent years results from divisions within the party coalitions and from easier access to vital campaign resources money and media that were not present in previous election cycles. The old way Political parties are not monolithic organizations. Parties consist of a network of groups with different policy interests who work together. For example, within the Democratic Party there are labor organizations, environmentalists and civil rights groups, each with different priorities. Each group would ideally prefer a candidate who will champion their ideas and strongly support their policy preferences. But a primary filled with many candidates who attack one another risks harming the eventual nominees standing with voters. Likewise, these divisive primaries may cause supporters of a candidate who fails to win the nomination to withhold their support of the nominee. So to avoid the problems created by a divisive primary, these groups must coordinate behind a single candidate who may not be everyones or anyones first choice. This requires the groups within the party to compromise, subordinating their groups interests in favor of a win for the party. In previous election cycles, where the average number of candidates who declared their candidacy and campaigned actively through the first primaries and caucuses was much smaller, these groups have worked together effectively to stand behind one candidate. Money, media and staff As my research shows, unified parties are able to discourage candidates from running or encourage them to drop out. They do this by making it difficult for the candidates they dont prefer to acquire the vital electoral resources that are necessary to win the nomination: media coverage, campaign funds and quality campaign staff. Donors, staff and the media take cues from party elites about which candidates are the partys choice. They are less likely to support, work for or cover those lacking the partys support. Reforms to the presidential nomination process in the early 1970s took choosing a nominee out of smoke-filled back rooms. But parties have continued to influence the outcome through their control of the money and other campaign resources necessary to win the nomination. While these resources are available in abundance within the party network, they were previously harder to find outside of that network. In previous years, candidates who realized it would be hard to amass the necessary resources through party support ultimately declined to run or dropped out quickly, resulting in much smaller presidential fields. Declining party influence In recent years, things have changed. Parties may still have the ability to push a candidate through the nomination when they are united. But I believe party unification and power over electoral resources has also declined in these four areas: 1. Media control In the past, candidates were reliant on the media to publicize their candidacy and get their message to voters. Party leaders and elites consistently have better connections with the media establishment and use those connections to promote preferred candidates. But todays media environment allows candidates to bring their message directly to voters. Social media bypasses reporters and editors and those who have connections to them so more candidates have easier access to this key campaign resource. 2. Candidate ambitions Before, running for president was almost entirely about advancing ones political career. As Paul Tsongas, the former senator and presidential candidate, once said, When you get to the Senate, half the people around you are running for president. You see them and you think you are just as good as they areSo you start to think about running yourself. Now, a run for higher office can be a means to other opportunities outside of politics. Republican Sen. Rick Santorum, a presidential candidate in 2016 and 2012, became a pundit on CNN. Another candidate, the GOPs 2008 vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, ended up with a show on cable news. While parties still pressure candidates to withdraw, candidates may be less responsive than in the past. Thats because they care less about the desires of party elites since they may not be as interested in a career in party politics. 3. Fundraising Changes in campaign finance have also helped candidates find sufficient money outside of the party network to launch their campaign. The rise of super PACs and other independent political entities has allowed candidates to gain access to large sums of money from a small number of donors. Campaign finance rules previously encouraged candidates to rely on a larger base of wealthy donors many of whom took cues from party elites. At the same time, the internet and social media have also expanded the role of small donors who are not traditionally involved in party politics. Small dollar donations have taken a more important role in campaign funding. 4. Party disunity Lastly, party coalitions have also become more divided. Divisions within the Republican Party coalition became more evident during the Tea Party movement. Similar ideological divisions have emerged in the last two election cycles between Democratic Party leaders and the more liberal wing of the Democratic Party. The rise of differences and divisions within the parties makes it harder for the groups within the party network to coordinate on a single candidate. Here to stay While the number of candidates running for president in 2020 may be unprecedented, a crowded debate stage is unlikely to be a strange sight in the future. The divisions within parties and the availability of money and media coverage outside of the traditional party network mean that potential candidates will continue to see and take opportunities where previously they did not. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here: http://theconversation.com/why-are-there-so-many-candidates-for-president-116571. | https://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Why-are-there-so-many-candidates-for-president-13849874.php |
Will ABC Recast Constance Wu Following Her Fresh Off the Boat Tweets? | Constance Wu is staying put at Fresh Off the Boat. During a call with press to discuss the new 2019 fall TV schedule, Karey Burke, president of ABC Entertainment, addressed Wu's tweets following Fresh Off the Boat's renewal. "There's been no thought to recasting Constance," Burke told press. "We love what she does on the show and we love the show. I did actually know that Constance had another opportunity that had Fresh Off the Boat not gone forward, she would've pursued. But we never really considered not bringing back Fresh Off the Boat. The show is just too strong for us and we love it." | https://www.eonline.com/au/news/1041282/will-abc-recast-constance-wu-following-her-fresh-off-the-boat-tweets |
Are the Warriors better without Kevin Durant? | Last week, shortly after Kevin Durant strained his right calf landing awkwardly on a mid-range jumper, Quinn Cook left the Warriors bench to visit his close friend in the locker room. Asked Wednesday whether he had worried about not being on the bench in case Golden State head coach Steve Kerr tried to sub him into Game 5 of the Western Conference semifinals against Houston, Cook said, That was the last thing on my mind. Cook had yet to play in the series, and it was a tight game. But over the past week, much has changed as the Warriors have navigated life without Durant. Cook as well as a slew of other Golden State players is enjoying a bit of a postseason renaissance. As Durant watched on TV, the Warriors held off the Rockets in Game 5, eliminated them in Houston two days later and routed Portland in Game 1 of the West finals Tuesday. Golden States movement-heavy system, which often gave way to Durant in isolation situations, has resurfaced. Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry are unleashing scoring barrages as the Warriors eradicate the lapses in urgency that occasionally had plagued them. On the surface, such a query might seem hyperbolic. Durant one of the best scorers in NBA history was at the peak of his powers before the calf injury. The numbers suggest otherwise. In their past 29 games in which Curry plays and Durant doesnt, the Warriors are 28-1. Golden State has outscored opponents by 29 in the 137 minutes this postseason Curry has been without Durant. With Durant averaging 34.2 points on pace for the second-highest postseason clip in 25 years (LeBron James averaged 35.3 in 2009) on 51.3% shooting (41.6% from 3-point range) over their first 11 playoff games, the Warriors posted a net rating of 5.6. That number is 13.2 over their past two outings without Durant. Asked how Golden State could excel at such a level without Durant, Thompson struggled to answer, pausing before he said, Honestly, I dont know. A little familiarity with us playing together so long? Durants recent absence has underscored a curious truth about the Warriors: Although Durant might be the best player in the world, he isnt their most important. As Draymond Green put it in November, Curry isnt just a big part of the system. He is the system. His revolutionary range was at the front of Kerrs mind as he designed Golden States offense. Currys presence improves his teammates shooting percentages more than anyone else in the NBA. By demanding opponents to defend him 30-plus feet from the rim, Curry creates tons of room for Thompson, Green and others to operate. Durants ability to score at will in isolation offers the Warriors an excellent bail-out, but his game doesnt do as much to raise the play of his teammates. In fact, Golden State sometimes gets overly reliant on Durants one-one-one success, which makes its offense predictable. When Durant is sidelined, Curry and, by extension, the rest of the Warriors play a freer, more egalitarian brand of basketball. Instead of force-feeding Durant and watching him drill fade-away jumpers, Golden State moves more off the ball, trying to channel the pass-happy ethos of Hickory High and the showmanship of the Harlem Globetrotters. Over the past five seasons, the Warriors are 296-62 with Curry and 26-26 without him. Since Durant signed with Golden State in July 2016, it is plus-1.3 per 48 minutes with Durant on the floor and Curry off, a far cry from its plus-12.1 with Curry on the floor and Durant off. For much of the first 11 games of this postseason, Curry and Thompson lagged behind expectations. But over the past two games, with Durant sidelined, they have combined for 122 points. The Warriors bench, an afterthought the first five games of the Houston series, has outscored the opponents bench 69-45. Among the players whove made timely contributions are previously seldom-used reserves Jonas Jerebko, Jordan Bell and Cook. When Kevin went down, that was the message in our film session the next day: Everybody be ready, were going to play everybody, Kerr said. I think guys were excited for their opportunities, and the last couple of games, theyve really done a good job taking advantage. Although plenty of analytics indicate that Golden State is better without Durant, no data can fully quantify the value of having Durant down the stretch of a playoff game. This is a player whose worth spikes as the stakes heighten. There is a reason why Durant, not Curry, won the past two NBA Finals MVP awards. In that sense, Durants injury might have come an ideal time. West finals Warriors lead 1-0 All games 6 p.m., ESPN/95.7 Game 1: Warriors 116, Blazers 94 Thursday: at Oracle Arena Saturday: at Portland Monday: at Portland Wednesday: at Oracle Arena* May 24: at Portland* May 26: at Oracle Arena* * If necessary Off Court podcast Scott Ostler and Connor Letourneau look ahead to Game 2 of the Western Conference finals. sfchronicle.com/offcourt Read More Even if the Warriors decide to sit Durant until a potential NBA Finals appearance, they should be able to survive the Blazers without him. In the meantime, the rest of the roster is building self-belief, an asset should such players need to come up big on the sports biggest stage. I know (Durants) excited to get back, said Cook, who scored eight points in the Warriors Game 1 win over Portland. We cant wait to have him. Connor Letourneau is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: [email protected]. Twitter: @Con_Chron | https://www.sfchronicle.com/warriors/article/Are-the-Warriors-better-without-Kevin-Durant-13849230.php |
Why did a Rhode Island police officer pull over a self-driving shuttle on its first day? | CLOSE Elizabeth Keatinge tells us about Tesla's Autonomy Investor Day where robotaxis were discussed. Buzz60 PROVIDENCE, R.I. A self-driving shuttle got pulled over by police on its first day carrying passengers on a new Rhode Island route. Providence Police Chief Hugh Clements said an officer pulled over the odd-looking autonomous vehicle because he had never seen one before. "It looked like an oversize golf cart," Clements said. The vehicle, operated by Michigan-based May Mobility, was dropping off passengers Wednesday morning at Providence's Olneyville Square when a police cruiser arrived with blinking lights and a siren. It was just hours after the public launch of a state-funded pilot for a shuttle service called "Little Roady." The shuttle offers free rides on a 12-stop urban loop that links to a train station. Each vehicle holds six people, including an attendant who takes control when the self-driving technology falls short, such as on difficult left turns with oncoming traffic. Clements said the curious police officer had a cordial conversation with the attendant and didn't issue any tickets or warnings. Self-driving Teslas: Elon Musk vows fully self-driving Teslas this year and 'robotaxis' ready next year A self-driving shuttle, one of a fleet of vehicles unveiled in February by May Mobility, got pulled over by police on its first day carrying passengers on a new Rhode Island route. (Photo: Matt O'Brien, AP) A co-founder of May Mobility said the pilot is partly about learning how the vehicle can coexist with Providence's pedestrians, motorists and, yes, police officers. "The officer was curious. That's something we see and welcome," said Alisyn Malek, who is also May's chief operating officer. "It's a great opportunity to be able to have the dialogue about who are we, why are we out on the street." In a part of New England known for impatient and aggressive drivers, local officials have braced themselves for how motorists will react to the slow-moving vehicles. Built by Minnesota-based Polaris Industries, the vehicles have a glass roof and resemble a tiny bus, but with seats that snugly face each other. Officials chose a route that has little traffic, but connects commuters from neighborhoods underserved by public transit to Amtrak, commuter rail and other bus stops. The pilot is partially funded from a government settlement with Volkswagen for modifying vehicles to cheat on emissions tests. During a one-year pilot, the service will be free to riders. May Mobility's contract with Rhode Island includes options to extend the service for two more years. "It's important we embrace this type of technology slowly and work out any nuances," Clements said. "That's why the program is being put on a small, very predictable route. It's a low-speed roadway." Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2019/05/15/police-officer-pulls-over-self-driving-shuttle/3686826002/ | https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2019/05/15/police-officer-pulls-over-self-driving-shuttle/3686826002/ |
Which Countries Are Best At Preventing Low Birth Weight? Which Need To Do More? | Six years ago, I was traveling in India, working on a story about measles. I was visiting a public hospital in New Delhi, when I walked into the waiting room and saw the tiniest baby I had ever seen. An elderly woman perhaps a grandma was cradling the newborn in her arms. The little baby was wrapped in a blanket, and a tiny knit cap covered her head, which wasn't much bigger than a small orange. The newborn could not have weighed more than four pounds. I couldn't believe this infant was simply sleeping in the hospital waiting room. For the first time, the World Health Organization has estimated the progress made in preventing low-weight births a condition that raises the risk of health problems for a child's entire life. And the progress is slow too slow, says epidemiologist Joy Lawn at the London School of Tropical Medicine. Click here. Each year, more than 20 million babies are born weighing less than 5.5 pounds, the WHO reports Wednesday in The Lancet Global Health journal. Half of these babies are born in South Asia and a quarter in sub-Saharan Africa. Since 2000, the world has reduced the rate of low-weight births by only about 3%, from 18% to 15%, the study found. Almost all that progress comes from low- and middle-income countries, where more than 90% of these births occur. "Shockingly, progress is really slow in high-income countries," says Lawn, who helped to lead the study. For example, there has been almost no improvement in the U.S., U.K., Germany, Australia and New Zealand in the past 15 years. For the study, Lawn and colleagues collected data on 281 million births from 148 countries. For countries lacking comprehensive health records, the team used household surveys to estimate the rate of low-weight births in 2015. Sweden leads the world with the smallest rate, at 2.4%. Bangladesh has the worst rate, at 28%. The U.S. ranked 31st, with an 8% rate 20 slots below China. That rate means more than 300,000 babies are born in the U.S. each year weighing less than 5.5 pounds. The study mentions two major reasons for the relatively high rate in the U.S.: the prevalence of fertility treatments and high rates of unnecessary C-sections. In southern Asian countries, the major issue is poor maternal nutrition, which can restrict fetal growth. In Africa, the major drivers are high rates of teenage pregnancies and infections during pregnancy. Regardless of the underlying reasons, being born underweight can have health repercussions for decades. "Low birth weight is probably the single piece of information about you that most predicts your health throughout your whole life course," Lawn says. It increases the risk of stunting, disabilities and developmental delays during childhood and chronic conditions such as heart disease later in life. "All of these outcomes result in human suffering, but they also perpetuate intergenerational poverty," Lawn adds. In other words, if the world can decrease the rate of low birth weight babies, it will simultaneously help reduce the rate of poverty. But the problem has been a tough one to fix. Back in 2012, the World Health Assembly set the goal of reducing low-weight births worldwide by 30% before 2025. To reach that figure, Lawn says, the world would have to speed up its progress by more than double. "This is a wake-up call to governments, to the U.N. and to all partners," Lawn says. "We must do more to tackle low birth weight. We owe it to every newborn around the world and to their families." | https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2019/05/15/723290601/which-countries-are-best-at-preventing-low-birth-weight-which-need-to-do-more?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=health |
Is Planned Parenthood controlling an Arizona school district's sex ed curriculum? | Cave Creek's sexual education curriculum attracted attention for mentions of homophobia, oral and anal sex. (Photo: Getty Images) Internet chatter suggests something salacious is afoot in Cave Creek schools. "Cave Creek, AZ schools partnering with Planned Parenthood," reads one blog headline in part. "Cave Creek Schools... Woops, they were caught," reads another. "Here are the secret changes to Cave Creek's sex ed curriculum." The posts are all published on the same blog, "Not in our schools," a site dedicated to stopping what it calls a "Planned Parenthood invasion." But officials say there is no Planned Parenthood invasion in Cave Creek, a school district north of Scottsdale with about 5,400 students. This week, Cave Creek's school board approved changes to the district's human growth and development curriculum after a few months of debate. A flurry of online speculation appears to have magnified the district's attempt to modernize its curriculum, which was last updated in 2002. "It's not brand new curriculum," Cara Herkamp, the district's director of curriculum, said. "We felt it necessary to bring the program up-to-speed from 2002, especially with the advent of things like social media and sexting." For more stories that matter, subscribe to azcentral.com. Though a blog post accused Cave Creek Unified of partnering with Planned Parenthood, district officials say those accusations are not true. The reproductive health organization was mentioned once in curriculum materials as a reference, included with more than a dozen other organizations. Board members eventually voted to remove the resource list that included Planned Parenthood. Other points of contention include lessons for middle-schoolers about oral and anal sex and the definition of homophobia. Sex education in 2019 Children don't have to attend sex ed classes in Cave Creek. The district's program is opt-in, so parents must sign a permission slip agreeing to allow their child to participate. The Human Growth and Development curriculum is taught to students in grades 4-8 in Cave Creek. It addresses sex and emphasizes that abstinence is the only 100% effective method for avoiding pregnancy, followingstate law and Board of Education rules. But it also tackles anatomy, how young bodies change during puberty, peer pressure and internet safety. Gina Durbin, Cave Creek Unified's director of education and community services, helped write the original curriculum in 2002. At that time, the number of sexually-transmitted infections reported in Arizona was rising and the state's teen pregnancy rate was dismal, she said. NEWSLETTERS Get the AZ Memo newsletter delivered to your inbox We're sorry, but something went wrong Get the pulse of Arizona -- Local news, in-depth state coverage and what it all means for you 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 AZ Memo Keep an eye out for an email to confirm your newsletter registration. More newsletters In 2005, the teen birth rate was 58.2 births per 1,000 females ages 15-19, one of the worst in the nation, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention statistics. The rate has since dipped to 22 in 2017, following a national trend. "We needed to be preventative and we needed to be able to educate our students because I don't believe they really understood what could happen," Durbin said. Additions to Cave Creek's curriculum in 2019 include: Learning in sixth grade the anatomically correct names and functions of reproductive organs. Learning in sixth grade about how the opposite sex goes through puberty. Learning the terms heterosexual, homosexual and bisexual in sixth grade, originally a seventh-grade lesson. Learning in seventh grade about how media influences students' decision-making. Defining in seventh grade anal, oral and vaginal sex. Lessons about homophobia Cave Creek was considering changes to its sex education curriculum months before legislators repealed a state law that forbid sex education promoting a "homosexual lifestyle." But the changes include increased discussion about sexual orientation, including lessons about bullying and homophobia. Some of the online criticism targeted the homophobia lesson, casting doubt on whether LGBT students are bullied. Chris Hazeltine, who teaches eighth grade in Cave Creek, said the lessons are important for his middle-school students who struggle with identity and bullying. "When we go to fight curriculum like this over social issues... It's a detriment to my students who are gay, are lesbian, are transitioning or may be nonbinary or queer," he said. "I find it silly that we are having these arguments." Several people online and during comment at an April school board meeting condemned the district for defining anal and oral intercourse to sixth graders. Ultimately, the curriculum was amended and those definitions were moved to the seventh-grade program. "Kids don't understand that when they have oral sex or anal sex, that they really are having sex, and you can transmit diseases via those two types of intercourse," Herkamp said. One of the blog posts about the curriculum changes was posted on a Cave Creek Facebook page, garnering more than 60 comments. Some supported the curriculum. Others objected to it. At an April board meeting, the debate turned into an in-person discussion. Shane Simonson, who spoke during the meeting, told the board he had six children in Cave Creek schools. He said that he believed teaching children about homophobia, anal and oral sex was "completely unnecessary." Rupal Khurmi, who identified herself as a Cave Creek parent and pediatrician, praised the curriculum, reading an American Academy of Pediatrics recommendation of sexual education. "School is a place where all children should have equal access to information," she said. It's unclear how many people object to Cave Creek's human growth and development curriculum. But Herkamp said 98 percent of fourth-, fifth- and sixth-grade families and 97 percent of seventh- and eighth-grade families opt into the program. Kathryn Hill's children all went through the program. The Cave Creek school board president recalled having after-school discussions about what they'd learned. "This is information provided in a scientifically accurate, non-emotional way," she said. "For kids who want to learn the science facts, that's what's given to them." Reach the reporter at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter @LilyAlta. Support local journalism. Subscribe to azcentral.com today. Read or Share this story: https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-education/2019/05/15/cave-creek-school-district-updating-sexual-education-curriculum-planned-parenthood-homophobia/3680552002/ | https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-education/2019/05/15/cave-creek-school-district-updating-sexual-education-curriculum-planned-parenthood-homophobia/3680552002/ |
Who's the real abuser in the case of the Chandler parents with a feverish child? | CLOSE A Chandler father provided home-security video of Chandler police breaking down the door of a familys home for a DCS-requested welfare check of a child with a spiking fever, after parents refused to give police permission to enter their home, saying their toddler son was fine. Courtesy of Chandler father Opinion: Every parent should be watching what the Department of Child Safety did to this Chandler family, and they should be afraid. Very afraid. At long last, sanity. A Maricopa County judge has ordered the state to return three Chandler children to their parents. This, nearly three months after police broke down the familys door to check on a feverish child. Heres the piece of the story that should give every parent nightmares: The Arizona Department of Child Safety objected this week to returning these three children to their parents. And despite their return home, the state retains legal custody of the kids. Granted, the parents made a mistake in not answering the door in February when police came to check on the boy at a doctors request. This debacle began on Feb. 25 when a Chandler mother took her 2-year-old unvaccinated son to the doctor for a 105-degree fever. Fearing meningitis, the doctor told the mother to take him to the emergency room. Instead, she took him home and called the doctor to report the fever was gone. Hours later, Chandler police were at the parents door, having been asked by DCS to check on the boys welfare. Police spent close to three hours trying to convince the parents to open the door. The father refused, insisting that the boy was OK. Finally, armed with guns and a warrant, officers kicked down the door. All three children were taken to the hospital where doctors determined the 2-year-old had a respiratory virus. DCS made them jump through hoops 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 Instead of sending the kids home, satisfied that no abuse had taken place, DCS took all three children away from their parents that night. Each was placed with a different foster family for two weeks before finally the state allowed them to live with their grandparents. Meanwhile, DCS proceeded to make the parents jump through all manner of hoops, including full psychological evaluations, drug and alcohol counseling and various other intrusions. All of which they have done, according to Juvenile Judge Timothy Ryan, who on Tuesday ordered their return. Yet still DCS, through the Attorney Generals Office, objects to their return home. The state argues the parents still need to go to individual counseling and sign forms authorizing the release of the results of those counseling sessions to DCS. There's no evidence the kids were abused There is no evidence to show these kids were abused by their parents. Theres no evidence to show a pattern of medical neglect. If there had been, DCS would have (appropriately) made an issue of it in court. The only logical answer is this agency, which operates almost entirely outside the publics eye, cant or wont admit it made a mistake. And there is no one in a position of authority willing to hold DCS accountable. But it's likely these kids were harmed And so comes payback the same sort that Chandler police delivered when the department recommended that the parents be charged just days after Arizona Republic reporter Dianna M. Nez broke story. Of course, no charges were ever brought. Prosecutors determined there was no reasonable likelihood of conviction. There is, however, a reasonable likelihood that these children, who range in age from 2 to 6, have been harmed. Just not by their parents. Reach Roberts at [email protected]. Read or Share this story: https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/laurieroberts/2019/05/15/arizona-department-child-safety-punishes-chandler-parents-feverish-mistake/3684818002/ | https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/laurieroberts/2019/05/15/arizona-department-child-safety-punishes-chandler-parents-feverish-mistake/3684818002/ |
Does raising Ontario speed limits to 120 km/h mean most drivers will travel at 140 km/h? | The current speed limit on 400-series highways is 100 km/h but no one is stopped by police unless they exceed 120 km/h. Statistics and research have proved that with increased speeds, more accidents, injuries and fatalities occur. This seem quite undesirable to me. We are surprised the insurance industry is not expressing some concerns, as this will affect their business. Traffic today includes a great deal more large transports on the roads. This is not likely to change and these vehicles require more distance to stop. Evidence shows that vehicles perform more efficiently at 100 km/h than at higher speeds. With our knowledge about the environment, higher emissions associated with increased speeds should be a concern. | https://www.thestar.com/opinion/letters_to_the_editors/2019/05/16/does-raising-ontario-speed-limits-to-120-kmh-mean-most-drivers-will-travel-at-140-kmh.html |
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