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How do Dragic, Whiteside decisions impact Heats cap space? | Riley: I can give him some help on it because I have a background in coaching. Miami Heat President Pat Riley talks to the media during the season-ending press conference at the AmericanAirlines Arena on Saturday April 13, 2019 in Miami. Up Next SHARE COPY LINK Miami Heat President Pat Riley talks to the media during the season-ending press conference at the AmericanAirlines Arena on Saturday April 13, 2019 in Miami. The Miami Herald Heat mailbag is here to answer your questions. If you werent able to ask one this time, send your questions for future mailbags via Twitter (@Anthony_Chiang). You can also email me at [email protected]. Unlimited Digital Access: Only $0.99 For Your First Month Get full access to Miami Herald content across all your devices. Im sure its more complicated than that. Anthony Chiang: Youre right. This is a complicated one with a lot of different layers. Let me start with this disclaimer: Its unlikely that Goran Dragic or Hassan Whiteside will opt out of the final year of their respective contracts before the June 29 deadline. But the fact is their pending decisions will make a big impact because they are the Heats two highest-paid players next season if Ryan Anderson is waived by July 10, as expected, to reduce his 2019-20 cap hit from $21.3 million to $15.6 million. Now, back to the question. Dragic has a player option in his contract for next season worth $19.2 million, and Whiteside has a player option in his contract for next season worth $27.1 million. If both players surprisingly decide to opt out, the Heat still would not have enough cap space to sign a max player. But it would get the Heat a lot closer to opening a max slot, with just a few additional moves needed to get it done. Heres a breakdown of what it could look like if Dragic and Whiteside both decide to opt out (Note: Excluding cap holds, the Heats 2019-20 payroll (factoring in Andersons likely release) is at about $134 million. That includes the four players (Derrick Jones Jr., Yante Maten, Duncan Robinson, Kendrick Nunn) who dont have full 2019-20 salaries guaranteed yet. It also includes Dragic and Whiteside. But it doesnt account for an allocation for the Heats first-round draft pick this year. The projected salary-cap threshold for next season is $109 million ,and the projected luxury-tax threshold for next season is about $132 million.) If Dragic and Whiteside both opt out of their player options, it would eliminate about $46 million from the books for next season. The Heats payroll would be at about $88 million. That gives Miami about $21 million in cap space, which is not enough to sign a max player. If the Heat then waives and stretches Andersons contract before July 10 to cut his cap hit to $5.2 million in each of the next three seasons, the Heat would open about $28 million in cap space this summer when also accounting for the salary of this years first-round pick. That would be just enough to sign a player with six years or fewer of NBA experience to a max deal. Of course, the Heat could make additional moves to free space if Dragic and/or Whiteside inform the Heat they will opt out of their contracts for next season. But opening max-level space will be a challenge, which is why the 2020 and 2021 offseasons are still the most realistic for the Heat to make significant changes. Anthony: When looking for the players with trade value on the Heats roster, you have to look at the contracts attached to each one of them. Whiteside and Dragic will be on expiring deals this upcoming season if they do not opt out, so that definitely will have some value. Probably Dragic more than Whiteside because the point guard will make $8 million less than the center. James Johnson and Dion Waiters each has two seasons remaining on deals, with Johnson still owed about $31 million and Waiters still owed about $24 million during the next two years. Johnson and Waiters have not played up to their contracts because of injuries and other issues, so their trade value isnt too high right now. As for Kelly Olynyk, he also has two years remaining on his deal with about $26 million owed during that time. Olynyk is an intriguing case because he has been solid during the first two seasons of his contract with the Heat and has posted the top plus-minus on the team during that stretch. Theres some trade value when it comes to Olynyk, but Miamis top assets are still its young players (Bam Adebayo, Josh Richardson and Justise Winslow) and its draft picks. Sports Pass for $30 per year Get unlimited access to all Miami Herald sports stories and videos for $30 Subscribe now #READLOCAL | https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/nba/miami-heat/article230893389.html |
Will Natalie Halcro's Surprise Anniversary Party for Parents Rhonda & Jim Get Spoiled By a Family Member? | A surprise for mom and dad! In this exclusive clip from Sunday's season premiere of Relatively Nat & Liv, Natalie Halcro pulls aside siblings Stephanie Halcro and Joel Halcro to discuss their parents' upcoming 40th wedding anniversary. "I think we should throw them a surprise party," Nat suggests to her siblings at a family dinner. "I want it to be fabulous, not just like a picnic style thing." Although Nat gains her siblings' approval, she asks if they'll be able to help her pull it off as it's "really last minute." While self-proclaimed "black sheep" Stephanie agrees to assist Nat in this plan, she seems somewhat hesitant. This may be because the rest of the Halcro clan teases her for her hippy ways. "I have beliefs in things and practices that they don't understand," Stephanie admits in a confessional. "Some tease me that I'm a hippy or that I'm a witch." | https://www.eonline.com/news/1044413/will-natalie-halcro-s-surprise-anniversary-party-for-parents-rhonda-jim-get-spoiled-by-a-family-member?cmpid=rss-000000-rssfeed-365-topstories&utm_source=eonline&utm_medium=rssfeeds&utm_campaign=rss_topstories |
Has Donald Trump reached point of no return on Huawei? | Before taking off for Tokyo last week, Donald Trump threw a bone to investors fretting about the fate of negotiations to end the US trade dispute with China, which have taken a negative turn. The US president said there remained a good possibility that an agreement would be reached. But, more importantly, he added that a deal could include a resolution to the stand-off over Huawei, the Chinese telecoms network company accused by the US of violating sanctions, stealing intellectual property and practising espionage. The timing of Mr Trumps intervention was as remarkable as it was incongruous. Just a week earlier, the US had placed Huawei on a commerce department special blacklist of foreign entities that are considered risky from a national security perspective sharply tightening export controls on sales to the Chinese company from the US. One explanation may be that he wanted to juice the markets again on a day when they had fallen sharply amid worries about the risk of a full-blown US-China trade war. Another is simply that Mr Trump sees Huawei as a bargaining chip, rather than as an existential menace. From a practical perspective, there is no obstacle to Mr Trump playing the Huawei card in the trade talks if national security is invoked. He could instruct William Barr, the attorney-general, to drop the charges against the company and Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer under house arrest in Canada, and in her case withdraw the extradition request. Although the US justice system prides itself on being clear of government interference, those lines have been blurred in the past in extreme cases and that could happen again. From a political and economic perspective, however, Mr Trump may have reached the point of no return on Huawei, and backtracking would be problematic. For one thing, China hawks on Capitol Hill and within Mr Trumps political base have been delighted with the blacklisting of Huawei, and would be severely disappointed if Mr Trump let the company off the hook. Mr Trump would also face criticism that he had damaged the credibility and independence of US authorities which have taken on Huawei over the years. On the corporate side, American businesses have scaled back their Chinese sourcing and investment in favour of third countries especially in the advanced technology sector a process that was neatly captured by Paul Triolo of Eurasia Group in a note last week. For Chinese companies, the lesson is, reduce your dependence on the global ICT supply chain, or risk exposing your future viability to long-arm actions by the US, Mr Triolo said. For US suppliers, it is reduce your exposure to Chinese customers and suppliers to avoid running afoul of US authorities. Mr Trump often gets away with performing big policy U-terms, but a settlement on Huawei would take the biscuit. Greens surge raises red flag for trade officials The surge of Green party support in several countries in the European Parliament elections on Sunday will undoubtedly trigger debate about the implications for trade policy, particularly in Brussels. Environmental groups are often sceptical of globalisation and have opposed trade deals they see as dictated by the interests of large companies rather than the health of the planet. It may be too early to tell. But the bigger picture is that mounting popular awareness of the climate crisis will have trade officials across all continents scrambling to adapt. In reply The US-China stand-off over Huawei has the rest of the world hunkering down, hoping not to get caught in the crossfire and wishing the fight would go away, writes Free Trade co-author Alan Beattie. Huawei equipment is so integrated into the world's ICT supply chains that having to choose between boycotting its kit and angering the US is not a pleasant prospect. Several European governments, in what one tech industry lobbyist called a heads down and get it done mode, have already resisted US pressure to exclude Huawei from their 5G networks. Certainly, some are excluding the company from their core networks because of security concerns. But European and Japanese governments and companies, above all, want to avoid making a binary choice between the US and China. They are fervently hoping that the US presidents actions are a bargaining tactic rather than the beginning of a tech cold war. Chart choice The US has shifted its imports away from China towards the rest of the world (from Deutsche Bank Research). Big number $1bn Japans prime minister Shinzo Abe claimed Japanese companies had invested that amount in the US since his last meeting with Mr Trump in April. Further reading The Trump administrations top export control official is an Iranian-born lawyer known for working on catfish trade cases. Colby Smith sets things straight (FT) | https://www.ft.com/content/0214a4e4-8158-11e9-b592-5fe435b57a3b |
How did radiation affect the 'liquidators' of the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown? | The 1986 nuclear power plant explosion in Chernobyl hurled huge amounts of radioactive material into the air. In the minutes to years that followed, around 530,000 recovery operation workers, such as firefighters, called "liquidators," went in to put out the fires and clean up the toxic mess. These liquidators, who worked between 1987 and 1990, were exposed to high levels of radiation, on average around 120 millisievert (mSv), according to the World Health Organization. That's over a thousand times more powerful than a typical chest X-ray , which delivers 0.1 mSv of radiation. And some of the very first responders were exposed to levels astronomically higher than that. [5 Weird Things You Didn't Know About Chernobyl] It's like walking into a giant, powerful X-ray machine shooting radiation everywhere, said Dr. Lewis Nelson, chairman of emergency medicine at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. Except, in this case, most of the radiation consisted of an even more damaging type of radiation than X-rays, called gamma-rays. This radiation, as it passes through the body, is ionizing. This means that it removes electrons from atoms in the body's molecules, breaking chemical bonds and damaging tissues. Very high levels of ionizing radiation cause "radiation sickness." At Chernobyl, 134 liquidators quickly developed radiation sickness, and 28 of them died from it. These people were exposed to radiation levels as high as 8,000 to 16,000 mSv, or the equivalent of 80,000 to 160,000 chest X-rays, according to the World Health Organization. Radiation sickness mostly manifests in the gastrointestinal tract and the bone marrow, Nelson said. Those areas have rapidly dividing cells, which means that instead of being tightly coiled and a little more protected, the DNA is unraveled so that it can be copied. That makes it more susceptible to the radiation (this is also why radiation therapy works to target cancer cells, which also rapidly divide). Within a couple of hours of the exposure, people with radiation sickness develop symptoms such as diarrhea and vomiting, Nelson said. When cells cannot properly divide, the mucosa or tissue lining of the GI tract also break downs, releasing cells and the bacteria that live in the gut (including in the stool) into the bloodstream. This would make even a healthy person sick, Nelson said. But because the radiation is also stopping the bone marrow from producing infection-fighting white blood cells, the body can't fight those infections. People who have radiation sickness therefore have a weakened immune system and frequently die of blood poisoning, or sepsis, within a couple of days, he said. High levels of radiation can also cause burns and blisters on the skin, which show up minutes to a few hours after the exposure and look just like a sunburn, Nelson said. While the GI-tract symptoms and burns happen almost immediately to a couple of hours after exposure to the radiation, the bone marrow survives for a couple of days. This means there is a latency period, when the person might even seem to improve, before showing symptoms of sepsis. The people who survived radiation sickness from Chernobyl took years to recover, and many of them developed cataracts because the radiation damaged the eye lenses, according to the World Health Organization. Lower exposures But much of the health focus around Chernobyl survivors has focused on the long-term consequences of the radiation exposure in these areas. The main consequence, for them, is an elevated risk of cancer. "But remember, the cancer risk is something you see 10 years down the road, so you have to live for 10 more years in order to see [that]," Nelson said. So the cancer risk is generally more of a concern for those who survived Chernobyl but were exposed to lower levels of radiation. The data on this risk is murky, with very approximate numbers, but it is estimated that 270,000 people in the Ukraine, Russia and Belarus who wouldn't have otherwise developed cancers did develop these illnesses. This mainly manifested as thyroid cancer, directly caused by radioactive particles of iodine-131 released by the explosion. The thyroid needs iodine in order to produce hormones that regulate our metabolism. But if it doesn't have enough of the healthy, nonradioactive iodine found in many foods, it absorbs the radioactive iodine, and this can eventually lead to thyroid cancer. This is why in the HBO series "Chernobyl," people take iodine pills; filling those stores of iodine in the thyroid prevents it from absorbing the radioactive iodine. These radioactive particles, which also include others such as cesium-137 enter the body through contact with the skin or through the mouth and nose. In Chernobyl, these particles were thrown into the air, carried by winds and later fell back down in surrounding areas, contaminated crops and water, and the people who ate them. Originally published on Live Science. | https://www.foxnews.com/science/how-did-radiation-affect-the-liquidators-of-the-chernobyl-nuclear-meltdown |
Do British SMEs Finally Have Justice In Their Sights? | In the absence of an appropriate compensation offer, most people would contemplate taking legal action in such circumstances only to discover a loophole in the law that stands in their way. Any day now, the UKs Supreme Court is due to hand down its view on whether the courts interpretation of the law in this area should be rethought if so, small businesses might finally be in a position to sue banks they believe have driven them to the wall. The loophole in question is known as reflective loss. The issue is that once a business goes into insolvency and an insolvency practitioner is appointed to handle its administration, directors and shareholders no longer have recourse to the law. Even if they believe the insolvency was caused by a third party, they have no rights to pursue this party for their losses. In theory, the insolvency practitioner does have the right to pursue such cases on the business's behalf. But since insolvency practitioners are appointed by a businesss creditors which very often include the banks its not in their interests to fight such cases aggressively. Theyd rather not bite the hand that feeds them. Successive banking scandals have seen small businesses run up against this problem. Hundreds of firms believe their banks forced them out of business in the aftermath of the financial crisis and the subsequent recession, often by making unfair demands; to add injury to insult, the banks often stand accused of stripping these businesses of their most valuable assets. To date, however, small businesses attempts to fight back have been hampered by the reflective loss principle. Getty Now, however, a cross-party group of MPs hopes to change the rules of engagement. The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Fair Business Banking has intervened in a case currently going through the courts; it has asked the Supreme Court to use the case to consider whether the reflective loss rules can be changed in certain circumstances. With a judgement expected imminently, its possible that small businesses will soon have the right, for the first time, to sue banks whose actions they believe have unfairly forced them into insolvency. "We are delighted the Supreme Court have allowed us to make this unprecedented intervention," says MP Kevin Hollinrake, Co-Chair of the APPG on Fair Business Banking. "The mechanisms in place for the directors and shareholders of insolvent businesses to obtain redress and receive compensation for creditor misconduct are unsatisfactory. We hope to establish that the rule against reflective loss must not restrict the rights of these individuals to bring a claim, and must not restrict them from accessing justice when their business has been taken from them through the misconduct of their bank. For hundreds of businesses whose owners believe this is exactly what has happened to them including victims of RBSs much-criticised Global Restructuring Group this would represent some good news at last. Until now, the most obvious victims of high-profile banking scandals have won limited compensation payments, but many other firms with a burning sense of injustice have received nothing at all. Theres no guarantee, of course, that suing the bank would pay off. And many small businesses would consider the costs of taking legal action to be prohibitively high. For this reason, other changes to the law including the launch later this year of a financial services tribunal to intervene in such cases may represent a better bet for firms seeking justice. Nevertheless, many small businesses will welcome the opportunity to finally have their day in court. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidprosser/2019/05/28/do-british-smes-finally-have-justice-in-their-sights/ |
Can Sony Try To Steal The Show At E3 Without Mentioning PS5, Or Even Going? | Credit: Naughty Dog. Sony, in a not-quite-unprecendented-but-still-very-unusual move, will be skipping E3 this year. It's a big deal: the PlayStation manufacturer has been the bulwark of the pre-E3 press conferences for years now, summoning up not only major software announcements but also wild stagecraft, from live orchestras to birch trees and last year's strange, progressive press conference that moved from room to room. So we shouldn't expect any pageantry quite like that at the show this year, and it's not hard to see why: Microsoft is coming to show guns blazing with at least one new console reveal, and Sony is pursuing a different, less flashy strategy for its unnamed next-gen console that's obviously named the PlayStation 5. That doesn't mean it isn't trying to take advantage of the hype, however. Sony's E3 is coming this week, it would seem. We're getting new trailers for Death Stranding and The Last of Us Part 2, two of its most-talked-about upcoming exclusives and stars of the show last year. And it seems likely that these trailers are going to come with that one piece of information that companies typically reserve for the big stage: the release date, which some are rumoring could be in 2019. If these are indeed coming that soon, it will be huge news: not new console-level huge, but huge. It's actually not that far off from Sony's E3 last year, in a curious way. Microsoft has used its stage to talk about hardware and services in the past few years, showing off the system-level stuff that's more its domain than a straight game publisher. Sony, however, has doubled down on its phenomenal first-party development for a while now, culminating with last year's show that focused on four games and four games only, foregoing the traditional preambles from higher up executives extolling the business side of the operation. It's a successful strategy for the modern E3: Microsoft has arguably revealed much bigger additions to its console in the form of things like backward compatibility and game pass. But these don't make trailers in the same way a big AAA game does, and as a result, Sony has just proven itself handier with stagecraft and hype for a while now. Microsoft has the stage to itself this year when it comes to hardware, and that's doubtless going to be the talk of the show. But as we've seen in the past, you need software to back up your hardware reveal: it's great to have a powerful machine, but we need to see that power deployed with a big, dancy game to actually be able to conceive of what that means. For Microsoft, that likely means Halo, Gears of War and at least one AAA-scale surprise. These are good options, but Sony's reputation for high-level AAA development is great at producing hype. Sony's strategy isn't a bad one: it's clearly not ready for the grand reveal of the PS5, but by hanging back and focusing on its exclusive games it handily reminds us why we might have already decided to buy a PS5: to play these exclusives. The real question will be whether or not whatever Microsoft brings will be enough to make us stop talking about these games, and for how long. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidthier/2019/05/28/can-sony-try-to-steal-the-show-at-e3-without-mentioning-ps5-or-even-going/ |
Can a business owner require staffers to get vaccinated? | NEW YORK Small business owners worried about the spread of measles may want to be sure their staffers have been vaccinated, but before issuing any orders, they should speak with a labor law attorney or human resources consultant. An employer generally is prohibited from requiring employees to undergo medical procedures including vaccinations under the Americans with Disabilities Act; a company that tries to force staffers to be vaccinated can find itself being sued by angry workers. But there can be exceptions, especially in places where there's a measles outbreak or where government officials have ordered vaccinations to protect the public's health. If an employer is sued for requiring vaccinations, or even firing a staffer who refuses to be vaccinated, a court is likely to defer to the judgment of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other public health officials, says Howard Mavity, an employment law attorney with Fisher Phillips in Atlanta. And the CDC, which has identified nearly 900 measles cases in nearly half the states, has declared outbreaks in parts of New York state and California, and in Michigan, Georgia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Washington state. The CDC considers three or more cases to be an outbreak. The CDC calls measles highly contagious so much so that if one person has it, up to 90% of those around them will also get it unless they are not protected. It can have serious complications including neurological problems and blindness. The disease was declared eliminated in the U.S. in 2000, but the number of cases has been rising. Owners who want their staffers vaccinated against measles are on the strongest ground in places where there are known outbreaks, Mavity says. "They have a decent chance of prevailing" in the case of a lawsuit, he says. But Mavity says judges' decisions would rest on the facts of an individual case. What isn't clear is whether a staffer who claims an exemption under law from required vaccinations because of religious or health grounds can be disciplined or fired for not getting a measles shot. Owners are best advised not to make any requirements about vaccinations, or take any action against employees, without getting legal advice first. Companies should also know that they may not have the same protection when it comes to annual influenza vaccinations as they might have with measles. But health care companies where workers are in contact with patients may have more power to require vaccinations. The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in December upheld the right of a health care company to fire a staffer who refused to be vaccinated against rubella. At health care companies, management might decide to require unvaccinated staffers to wear masks or work in jobs where they don't have contact with patients. _____ Follow Joyce Rosenberg at www.twitter.com/JoyceMRosenberg . Her work can be found here: https://apnews.com | http://www.startribune.com/can-a-business-owner-require-staffers-to-get-vaccinated/510516122/ |
Is the rain finally over in the San Francisco Bay Area? | 1 / 15 Back to Gallery For the first time in two weeks, there's no rain in the forecast for the San Francisco Bay Area. The week ahead will see a spring-like pattern with morning fog, sunny afternoons and seasonably warm temperatures. This streak of pleasant weather will be welcomed by many after an unseasonably wet period soaked the Bay Area, raining out many picnics, parades and Little League games. "We're finally breaking out of this pattern that we've been stuck in for several weeks," says Matt Mehle, a forecaster with the National Weather Service office in Monterey. "For San Francisco itself we don't have any rain in the official forecast looking six to 10 days out. The only chance would be night and morning drizzle from the marine layer. We're starting to get into our summer type pattern. After morning fog, San Francisco and the greater Bay Area will see sunny skies Tuesday with highs in the high-60s on the coast and in the high-70s, maybe even low-80s inland. On Wednesday temperatures will climb even higher with inland areas more likely to break into the low-80s. ALSO: Yosemite looks like a snow globe, and summer is just around the corner Clouds may move into the region and temperatures could drop Thursday as a weak system moves across Northern California. "The only area we have any mention of rain or chance of thunderstorms is across the North Bay on Thursday, and that's even a stretch," says Mehle. "The storm is most likely to stay north of the North Bay." On Friday, warm weather returns and the weekend is likely to see the highest temperatures of the week. "Over the weekend we could get close to 70 in downtown San Francisco and that will last into early next week," says Mehle. Downtown San Francisco has seen 1.94 inches of rain since May 1. Normal rainfall for the entire month is .70 inch. "The last time May has been this wet was in May 1998 when 3.92 inches fell," according to the National Weather Service. May 2019 so far ranks as the city's 12th wettest May on record, and it's likely to remain that way with no rain in the forecast through the end of the month. | https://www.sfgate.com/weather/article/Is-the-rain-finally-over-in-sf-california-13900785.php |
Is quest for Canadian oil independence more a political pitch than economics? | OTTAWA - Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer says he wants to end Canadian imports of foreign oil by 2030, a move experts say would mostly affect purchases from the United States and could endanger deep trade relationships. Scheer raised the idea in a recent speech, stating Canada shouldnt buy oil from rogue states with poor human-rights and environmental records, like Iran, Venezuela and Saudi Arabia. In dollar terms, the vast majority of Canadian oil imports about 64 per cent came from the U.S. last year, while 18 per cent came from Saudi Arabia, six per cent from Azerbaijan and three per cent from Norway. Nigeria, the United Kingdom and Algeria were also sources of imports last year into Canada. Canada hasnt imported any crude from Iran or Venezuela in recent years. Meanwhile, virtually all the millions of barrels of crude oil Canada exports each day are sold to the United States. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW Pedro Antunes, chief economist for The Conference Board of Canada, said outright oil independence is not a big economic issue for the country. Alleviating transportation and logistical pressures on Albertas oilsands is far more important, he said. If youre really just trying to target all of our oil imports, then yeah I think that might cause some difficulties, Antunes said. We have some very open trade relations with some of the countries that are oil importers into Canada. Scheer also said he no longer wants to depend on oil from the United States, which he called Canadas biggest economic competitor. He argued that an energy-independent Canada would be a Canada firing on all cylinders. Part of Scheers plan includes the creation of a cross-Canada utilities corridor to ease pipeline construction and to open up new domestic markets for oilsands bitumen. Like the Conservatives, the Greens have also made a pre-election pledge for different reasons to end Canadas reliance on foreign oil imports. Green party Leader Elizabeth May, whose ultimate objective is to wean Canada completely off oil by 2050, has promised to end foreign crude imports as soon as possible. Since May opposes new pipelines, she envisions moving more raw bitumen by rail, with help from investments to improve train services, until Canada stops consuming oil. Talk of any determined push towards Canadian crude independence appears to be a message crafted to appeal to some voters. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW | https://www.thestar.com/business/2019/05/28/is-quest-for-canadian-oil-independence-more-a-political-pitch-than-economics.html |
Can businesses force workers to get vaccinated? | Business owners concerned about measles outbreaks should consult lawyers or human resources experts on how to tackle the issue. Employers are generally prohibited from requiring employees to undergo any medical procedures, such as vaccinations, under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers measles outbreaks so contagious they affect up to 90% of the people around them. Business owners worried about the spread of measles may want to be sure their staffers have been vaccinated, but before issuing any orders, they should speak with a labor law attorney or human resources consultant. An employer generally is prohibited from requiring employees to undergo medical procedures including vaccinations under the Americans with Disabilities Act; a company that tries to force staffers to be vaccinated can find itself being sued by angry workers. But there can be exceptions, especially in places where there's a measles outbreak or where government officials have ordered vaccinations to protect the public's health. If an employer is sued for requiring vaccinations, or even firing a staffer who refuses to be vaccinated, a court is likely to defer to the judgment of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other public health officials, said Howard Mavity, an employment law attorney with Fisher Phillips in Atlanta. And the CDC, which has identified nearly 900 measles cases in nearly half the states, has declared outbreaks in parts of New York state and California, and in Michigan, Georgia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Washington state. The CDC considers three or more cases to be an outbreak. Measles outbreak continues to spread across the U.S. The CDC calls measles highly contagious so much so that if one person has it, up to 90% of those around them will also get it unless they are not protected. It can have serious complications including neurological problems and blindness. The disease was declared eliminated in the U.S. in 2000, but the number of cases has been rising. Business owners who want their staffers vaccinated against measles are on the strongest ground in places where there are known outbreaks, Mavity said. "They have a decent chance of prevailing" in the case of a lawsuit, he said. But Mavity said judges' decisions would rest on the facts of an individual case. What isn't clear is whether a staffer who claims an exemption under law from required vaccinations because of religious or health grounds can be disciplined or fired for not getting a measles shot. Owners are best advised not to make any requirements about vaccinations, or take any action against employees, without getting legal advice first. Companies should also know that they may not have the same protection when it comes to enforcing annual influenza vaccinations as they might have with measles. Health care companies where workers are in contact with patients may have more power to require vaccinations. The Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in December upheld the right of a health care company to fire a staffer who refused to be vaccinated against rubella. At health care companies, management might decide to require unvaccinated staffers to wear masks or work in jobs where they don't have contact with patients. | https://www.cbsnews.com/news/can-business-owners-require-workers-to-get-vaccinated-to-fight-measles-outbreaks/ |
Where Are the Black Park Rangers? | Each product we feature has been independently selected and reviewed by our editorial team. If you make a purchase using the links included, we may earn commission. RaceAhead has been enjoying a spate of new readers and subscribers of late, for which we are very grateful. As a result, Ive decided to occasionally re-run an updated version of some of our foundational columns, to give everyone a sense of the work and each other. This one about fly-fishing and the hidden racism in everything has become the basis of a longer presentation Ive delivered to corporate and other audiences and was repurposed into the lead-in to a spectacular town hall on blind spots at last years Fortune MPW Next Gen in Laguna Nigel, Calif. It also seemed like a good way to kickoff summer. The man youre about to meet, Madison Grant, was recently covered in an in-depth piece on white nationalism by The Atlantics Adam Serwer; it filled me with enormous pride that regular raceAhead readers already knew who he was. Many thanks to raceAhead, Broadsheet and Fortune Next Gen super-star Katrina Jones, the first-ever head of diversity and inclusion for Twitch, for prompting me with this tweet lamenting the lack of kids of color in storybooks about nature: The path to being the lone black woman fly fishing in Montana may start here I came to fly-fishing late in life, and I wish I hadnt. It is joy to me. The purpose of fly-fishing is to trick trout by presenting an imitation of a bug that looks both real and delicious, and is precisely what they want to eat at that moment in time. Now, trout have only one job, and thats to be the most excellent at being a trout as they can be. And the bigger they are, they better they are at it. Its humbling. (Stay with me here, the race part is coming.) Heres the thing about fly-fishing: Its a nerds game and an endless puzzle trying to figure out what the trout are taking and why, how the water temperature and air pressure is affecting their appetites, and if theyll believe that the wind just blew this beautiful grasshopper into their food lane. Thats the game. Someday I will trick him and then Ill do what I always doIll let him go because its just such a privilege to be part of something bigger than myself. You learn about knots and water flow and snowmelt and follow the mating habits of bugs like paparazzi chasing Kardashiansand how climate change means bark beetles are surviving the warming winters, killing off unprecedented acres of Ponderosa pine trees across the West. Ponderosa pines smell like vanilla cake. Not just vanilla and not just cake, but vanilla cake. I love knowing that, and I love knowing that you practically have to hug them to smell it. But every year I go back to Montana, I see more dying off and know the world is changing and it makes me sad. This cynical girl from Harlem, USA, didnt grow up with anyone who fished this way. But it has changed my life more than I could have thought possible. It is a transformational experience to stand in a river and join an ecosystem already in progress. But I almost missed it all. Because heres the other thing about fly-fishing. In the now hundreds of days Ive spent casting over the years, Ive never met a person of color on or associated with the river. Not once. Not in a fly-shop. Not one guide, not a park ranger, nobody who works for a rafting company, nothing. Not even an expert on YouTube where I get most of my pointers. Once, just once, I saw a black man working in a tiny brew pub near a river in rural Montana, we met eyes, and Im pretty sure we each thought the other was in witness protection. On one level, this is normal to me. Im used to being the only one or close to it, from family to school to my career. I accept the risks, even defy them, even while standing in a natural environment which is hostile specifically to me. While its survivable, being the only one is also lonely. But people of color are lonely by design. Lets stick with nature for a second. When you first wake up to the beauty of the American outdoors, the ghost of John Muir, the romantic naturalist and conservation advocate, is the first person you tend to meet. His spirit still animates the Sierra Club, which he founded in 1892. But the National Park system, which turned one hundred in 2016, was also influenced by another persona conservationist, zoologist and white supremacist named Madison Grant. Grant wrote a book called The Passing of The Great Race, a breathtakingly racist treatise that was immensely popular when it was published in 1916. It armed generations of leaders with enough pseudoscience to justify segregation, eugenics, race war, workplace discrimination, and the violent oppression of inferior races particularly immigrants. Adolph Hitler cherished the slim volume, quoted from it in his speeches and allegedly wrote a letter to Grant calling it his bible. The Yale and Columbia educated Grant traveled in high-tone circles, and his flattering notions of Nordic superiority were embraced by the Manhattan aristocracy, including Teddy Roosevelt, who so loved Grants work that he wrote a letter that was turned into a blurb for the book. Grant was the real deal. If you like the Bronx Zoo, you can thank him. If you like Yellowstone Park, tip your cap to Grant. And if you suspect that all immigrants are sub-human criminals bringing disease and disorder, then the ghost of Grant may be whispering in your ear. At the time of Grants greatest influence, Jim Crow was in full swing and along with it, the Great Migration, as desperate black citizens moved North and West looking to escape the caste system of racial segregation. Grant and his cronies envisioned the National Parks as a respite for white men who needed to refresh their spirits in the face of this insidious onslaught; their refreshment also came at the expense of indigenous people whose land was ripped away, destroying treaties along with their lives. A hundred years later, the destination cities of the Great Migration like Baltimore, Chicago, and St. Louis- are still reckoning with the aftermath of his thinking. And across the country, people of color often still feel unwelcome in even the cultivated outdoors, like the golf courses and tennis clubs where business traditionally has been done. The National Park Service has been working to reckon with their own complicated past, and I admire and thank them for it. Their diversity report is not good. The vast majority of their employees have always been white, as is the Park Foundation board. Park visitors are primarily white, and numerous surveys show that people of color feel uncomfortable in these natural spacesciting racist treatment from park police and rangers, and in general, feeling unsafe and unwelcome. Part of the work has been an important debate about whether or not to fully acknowledge the influence of Grant, Americas racist uncle. The way we navigate that history is by not flinching, Michael Brune, Sierra Clubs executive director told CityLab. It is true that there were a lot of individuals who were white supremacists or eugenicists or who were making racist comments who were part of the beginning of the conservation movement, or who fought successfully to create national parks. So its important to understand our history as a movement, and, as a country, learn from it. Grant and his ilk are part of the reason why there isnt a legacy of park rangers of color, or for that matter, conservationists, fly shop owners, hiking guides, and people of every hue refreshing their spirits and enjoying the trout the Lord made. That nobody in subsequent leadership sought to excise his influence made it systemic. Theres your pipeline problem, and we need to talk about it. And then go fishing. Tight lines, good people. | http://fortune.com/2019/05/28/where-are-the-black-park-rangers-2/ |
Can private sector investing help save Brazils rich biodiversity? | It has been less than a year since Adam Kanzer made the move from Domini Impact Investments to head of stewardship, Americas, for BNP Paribas Asset Management. So we cant yet assess Kanzers accomplishments in his new role. But we can take it as a positive sign in the realm of sustainable and responsible investing. Lets back up. Domini is a name unlikely to resonate with many Canadian readers, but the New York-based firm has been at the forefront in incorporating environmental and social considerations into its investing MO since its inception in 1991. In fact its more accurate to state that universal human dignity and ecological sustainability have been the firms primary drivers, what once might have been deemed faith-based standards, before the investment community started to wake up, slowly, to the imperative of ethical investing. Or sustainable investing. Or socially responsible investing. Or ESG investing (environmental, social and governance). Domini prefers the term impact investing. Its trademarked branding line: The way you invest matters. For two decades Kanzer took the lead in Dominis shareholder advocacy. Eight months ago he assumed the newly created stewardship position at BNP, the French colossus that dates its roots back to 1848 and today has more than $630 billion in assets under management and operations in more than 30 countries. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW This spring, BNP joined with 56 institutions targetting large publicly traded agricultural companies that source soybeans from Brazil, especially the vast savannah known as the Cerrado, which has been massively deforested as a result of soybean production. Theres been a lot of attention on palm oil the last few years, which is appropriate, Kanzer acknowledged in an interview. But the focus on deforestation has to not so much shift as broaden. The Cerrado region in Brazil is very rich in biodiversity and a key soya production area. Each farmer is permitted to deforest a significant percentage of their land, and were concerned about (Brazilian President Jair) Bolsonaro coming into office. Hes made a lot of statements about climate and deforestation that are alarming. A strong private sector initiative is needed to push back on that. That private sector initiative is being led by environmental groups Ceres and PRI, and their call-to-action on sustainable forests. Its not about boycotting Brazil, Kanzer said. Its about continuing to produce soya, continuing to produce beef products, but do it in a way that respects the forest and local biodiversity. We should all know about the Cerrado Manifesto, which warns that the destruction of even a third of the savannah that remains would equate to the loss of about 8.5 billion tons of carbon dioxide sequestration. Dont stop there. If all youre worried about is net greenhouse gas emissions, which is critically important to worry about, you may miss some of the most critical aspects of preserving forests. In essence you could say, well, we could trade a forest in Indonesia for a forest in Brazil as long as the greenhouse gas emissions are net zero. But you cant do that for biodiversity and you cant do that for the local community and you cant do that for the local weather systems or the water table. Perhaps its a mistake to say agri-companies have been targetted by BNP and the other institutional investors concerned about deforestation in Brazil . What they are asking for are traceability commitments and measurable monitoring of sustainable protocols. The group of investors, by the way, represent $5.6 trillion (U.S.) of assets under management. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW Kanzers is an important voice on this. Back in 1998, when he started with Domini, the world of socially responsible investing was so small for the most part people didnt really know what to do with us. Companies didnt really know what to make of us. Other investors didnt really know what to make of us. The imperatives of traceability and supply chain management think off-shore labour conditions gained little traction then. One of my first conversations with a company was about labour conditions in their supply chain, Kanzer recalled. I distinctly remember the company saying, Well, you have to understand, we dont own these factories. Yes, the still-fresh reminders of Rana Plaza work against the belief that these problems have been fixed. There are still a whole lot of companies that are hoping they dont get a phone call from an investor because theyre really not doing very much, Kanzer said. He takes solace from the large firms he cites the Gap as one that have put real programs in place, including publicly disclosed traceability reports. It takes a larger leap of faith to believe the electronics company he is in current discussions with will effectively address the forced Malaysian labour that it is complicit in employing. It seems important to ask about corporate behaviour in a down cycle. Theres always a risk that the bottom line will take over in a pinch, Kanzer said. In a way, climate change and biodiversity may be the most effective vectors for forced change. Weve gotten to the point where whether you care about sustainability or not, if youre ignoring climate change youre ignoring massive potential risk in your portfolios. | https://www.thestar.com/business/opinion/2019/05/28/can-private-sector-investing-help-save-brazils-rich-biodiversity.html |
How Are Recent Data Breaches Affecting Consumer Trust In Companies? | originally appeared on Quora: the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. Answer by Ethan Winchell, COO @ Truework, on Quora: On a national level, data breaches like Facebook and Equifax have, maybe for the first time, made people aware of how much data is aggregated on them. The scale of these breaches is what continues to shift public sentiment. Previously, data privacy was difficult to internalize, it was difficult to care because it hadnt directly affected people. Over 80 million people were affected by the Cambridge Analytica Scandal, and nearly twice that many in the Equifax breach. We dont know the intersection of these populations, but it is safe to say that almost half of the US population was impacted by one of these two breaches alone. When people began to investigate if they were affected, they were forced to reckon with the scale of the data these companies had amassed on them. Most upsetting was the fact that consumers had not realized the data they had consented to share. It reminds me of a dream where you find yourself naked in front of a crowd- the feeling of having your privacy suddenly stripped away, leaving you extremely vulnerable. In response, credit bureaus have begrudgingly begun to offer credit freezes and even Facebook has made public comments about how the future of their social network will be private. These public postures paint a clear picture that consumer tech companies are trying to repair their public perceptions by showing users how they are actively taking steps to limit the amount of data that can be shared on their platform. In our product, consumers by default have all of their data frozen. Whenever a request is made on their data, they receive an alert where they are able to see who requested the information, an exact copy of the data being requested, while also having the ability to approve or deny the requested release of information. Weve seen strong feedbackassociated with these improved controls on personal data. My favorite is I love how I have to give permission on if I approve this verification. Makes me feel safe and in control of my own info. This question originally appeared on Quora - the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. You can follow Quora on Twitter and Facebook. More questions: | https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2019/05/28/how-are-recent-data-breaches-affecting-consumer-trust-in-companies/ |
What Skills Should Aspiring Data Scientists Develop? | originally appeared on Quora: the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. Answer by Dan Wulin, Head of Data Science & Machine Learning at Wayfair, on Quora: This is a good question, but it is also a difficult one to answer with specifics. There is a wide range of how data science is defined within industry and a corresponding wide range of technical skills that may be relevant depending on the role being discussed. Ill start by laying out broad intellectual skills that I believe are important and then will touch on technical skills that I also have seen being generally useful. There are common intellectual skills that we recruit for on the Data Science & Machine Learning team at Wayfair and I imagine that most teams screen for a similar set: Excitement to learn & engage with a variety of quantitative & engineering problems : Any meaningful data science problem will necessarily have a variety of known & unknown challenges at the outset that will need to be addressed in the course of solving it. One needs to have a willingness & excitement to learn the technical skills necessary to cope with this. The challenges that might arise are strongly context dependent, but can range anywhere from needing to leverage newer machine learning algorithms that are less polished and appear in recent research literature, to having to engineer a robust data pipeline to ensure your model will function appropriately in production settings, and more. You need to be flexible and effective when you change gears. : Any meaningful data science problem will necessarily have a variety of known & unknown challenges at the outset that will need to be addressed in the course of solving it. One needs to have a willingness & excitement to learn the technical skills necessary to cope with this. The challenges that might arise are strongly context dependent, but can range anywhere from needing to leverage newer machine learning algorithms that are less polished and appear in recent research literature, to having to engineer a robust data pipeline to ensure your model will function appropriately in production settings, and more. You need to be flexible and effective when you change gears. Strong bias towards transparency with outcomes & findings : This is a generally useful trait, doubly so in technical fields. No one will know the details of what you are working on better than you, so it is important that your manager, business partners & data science peers get a full picture of how your work is going so that they are able to work effectively with you. To give an example, if you are encountering a roadblock in your work, it is incredibly valuable to be able to directly identify this, the problem you are seeing and potential root causes to the team around you so you can brainstorm solutions. This level of transparency does not come naturally to many people because it involves a certain amount of humility to say that you ran into a roadblock, but is a big part of the scientific thinking that one needs to be effective. : This is a generally useful trait, doubly so in technical fields. No one will know the details of what you are working on better than you, so it is important that your manager, business partners & data science peers get a full picture of how your work is going so that they are able to work effectively with you. To give an example, if you are encountering a roadblock in your work, it is incredibly valuable to be able to directly identify this, the problem you are seeing and potential root causes to the team around you so you can brainstorm solutions. This level of transparency does not come naturally to many people because it involves a certain amount of humility to say that you ran into a roadblock, but is a big part of the scientific thinking that one needs to be effective. Knowing when (not) to be a perfectionist: Again, this is a generally useful trait and it is especially dangerous in technical fields when one does not have it. There is almost an infinite level of depth one can take any problem - I often use the example that many of the problems we work on at Wayfair could be the focus of a single Ph.D thesis (the point is that there are a ton of interesting & unanswered questions that arise in any project). Strong data scientists will have a sense of what is good enough to create a minimum viable product and there will often be a mix of areas where the data scientist needs to pursue perfection versus areas where less-than-perfect is perfectly acceptable. One can learn most of the above through shear force of habit if its not something that comes naturally. The two primary paths to honing these skills are (1) working on actual data science problems (either via Kaggle or once you begin your first role) and (2) getting an advanced degree, either a masters degree or Ph.D. On a technical skill level, it is hard to go wrong with learning Python and standard machine learning packages like NumPy, scikit-learn etc. I would also recommend that aspiring data scientists learn as many best practices from the software engineering world as possible - many members of the Wayfair Data Science team join very comfortably scripting in Python but less comfortable writing production level code, so this is a great dimension to differentiate oneself along. Outside of this, I would recommend to pick one or two more advanced topics (deep learning, NLP, learn to rank) to dig deeper on. More than all of this, one of the best things that you can do is to work through as many realistic problems as possible. This question originally appeared on Quora - the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. You can follow Quora on Twitter and Facebook. More questions: | https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2019/05/28/what-skills-should-aspiring-data-scientists-develop/ |
What Can The Average Person Do To Safeguard Their Digital Identity? | originally appeared on Quora: the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. Answer by Jerry Cuomo, IBM Fellow and Vice President Blockchain Technologies, on Quora: Speaking at the most obvious level, and I don't know if you're like me, but my digital life is a mess. I have my digital identity spread all over the universe and I have a feeling I'm probably not the exception. But the biggest risk you take is when you leave your digital mark around the world and when you share your private information because you quickly lose track of it and the companies managing your digital identity don't always have the means to completely keep track of it. So, there are standards emerging powered and fueled by blockchain that are the greatest safeguard I've seen since the advent of the digital era, which is pretty profound! In consortiums like SecureKey's Verified.Me, and in some of the standards initiatives around Sovrin, there is a movement towards more self-managed identity or self-sovereign identity. This means you keep control of your identity and lend it to others. So think about this as you, the person in control of your digital identity, writing a lease or an agreement to lend someone the use of your identity, but it's got an expiration date that has been established and is fulfilled. You can imagine how smart contracts could be used to write those leases. Well, if you're in Canada, download the Verified.Me application and you can run a free credit score against it and you'll start to see the advent of what taking control of your digital identity means. One misconception that I hear is that you actually put your personal identity information on a ledger that would be a very bad idea. You keep your identity in a wallet on your cell phone, and yes, you can lose your cell phone, but there's very little chance of everyone losing their cell phone on the same day. With blockchain-based identity, that is the ultimate safeguard that puts identity theft on notice. And I would venture to say that the days of big data breaches are certainly numbered. This question originally appeared on Quora - the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. You can follow Quora on Twitter and Facebook. More questions: | https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2019/05/28/what-can-the-average-person-do-to-safeguard-their-digital-identity/ |
What Are Naming Rights Deals In Major League Baseball Really Worth? | A considerable amount of marketing dollars and media exposure if you're one of the 18 Major League Baseball parks with a naming rights deal. New research from Joyce Julius & Associates shows corporations with naming rights in MLB averaged $12.3 million in exposure in just the first six weeks of the season (March 28 - May 8, 2019). Considering the average naming rights deal is costing those corporations $5.2 million annually, it looks like pretty good bang for the buck. Average media mentions during the period totaled 7,888 for stadiums with a naming rights partner. Miller Park in Milwaukee lead the pack at 15,396 total media mentions. Miller Park is the first of the current naming rights deal set to expire, which may also be the reason it led in mentions. Ahead of the expiration in 2020, the Brewers announced American Family Insurance as the new naming rights partner, replacing Miller after 20 years. The deal is reportedly for 15 years, but other terms have not been disclosed. Stadium Team Total News Media Stories Estimated Exposure Value Guaranteed Rate Field Chicago White Sox 4,194 $7,043,564.37 T-Mobile Park Seattle Mariners 5,503 $7,454,416.76 Comerica Park Detroit Tigers 5,430 $8,295,964.09 Minute Maid Park Houston Astros 5,554 $8,318,347.78 Globe Life Park in Arlington Texas Rangers 5,542 $8,665,929.45 Chase Field Arizona Diamondbacks 5,585 $8,930,744.67 SunTrust Park Atlanta Braves 5,373 $8,961,311.87 Petco Park San Diego Padres 6,508 $10,201,536.89 Great American Ball Park Cincinnati Reds 6,298 $10,278,367.08 Oracle Park San Francisco Giants 6,958 $10,686,708.32 Progressive Field Cleveland Indians 6,992 $11,193,923.14 Tropicana Field Tampa Bay Rays 7,179 $11,757,353.08 Busch Stadium St. Louis Cardinals 7,777 $11,975,041.79 PNC Park Pittsburgh Pirates 8,441 $13,214,407.52 Target Field Minnesota Twins 9,089 $14,233,595.18 Citizens Bank Park Philadelphia Phillies 10,912 $17,776,808.71 Citi Field New York Mets 12,643 $20,144,739.13 Miller Park Milwaukee Brewers 15,396 $23,127,713.81 Data from Joyce Julius & Associates According to data Sports Business Journals Resource Guide LIVE, existing naming rights deals average 22 years in length and $107.9 million in total value. Citi Field, home of the New York Mets, comes in as the highest in total value and annual value at $400 million over 20 years for an average annual value of $20 million. The next highest is Oracle Park in San Francisco, which is reportedly $300-350 million over 20 years for an average annual value of $15-17.5 million. On the low end is Guaranteed Rate Field, home of the Chicago White Sox, which is a 10-year $20.4 million deal with an average annual value of $2.04 million. Two other stadiums are worth noting because although they appear to have naming rights deals, the circumstances surrounding the name is somewhat different than the others. Coors Field in Denver is arguably the best naming rights deal in sports. When Denver was awarded an MLB franchise, Coors contributed $30 million, $15 million of which landed its name on the stadium in perpetuity. Perhaps the only better deal is the Rogers Centre in Toronto, which is aptly named for the team and stadium's owner, Rogers Communications. Stadium Team Total News Media Stories Estimated Exposure Value Rogers Centre Toronto Blue Jays 11,494 $19,513,923.17 Coors Field Colorado Rockies 12,152 $18,386,878.67 On the surface, the research from Joyce Julius & Associates seems to suggest stadiums without naming rights partners receive more media coverage. For the 10 stadiums without naming rights, an average of 13, 522 stories appeared during the period, worth an estimated $21.8 million. Stadium Team Total News Media Stories Estimated Exposure Value OaklandAlameda County Coliseum Oakland Athletics 4,363 $7,148,773.58 Kauffman Stadium Kansas City Royals 6,778 $10,953,595.33 Angel Stadium Los Angeles Angles 6,720 $11,291,280.99 Marlins Park Miami Marlins 7,707 $12,988,044.82 Oriole Park at Camden Yards Baltimore Orioles 8,217 $13,180,663.02 Nationals Park Washington Nationals 8,766 $14,566,092.14 Dodger Stadium Los Angeles Dodgers 20,519 $33,110,954.22 Fenway Park Boston Red Sox 22,562 $35,672,966.55 Wrigley Field Chicago Cubs 22,560 $35,952,730.10 Yankee Stadium New York Yankees 27,032 $42,818,857.50 However, four of those stadiums push the average with more than 20,000 mentions each: Fenway Park, Wrigley Field, Dodger Stadium and Yankee Stadium. Without going into factors like how many home games have been held in each stadium this season and the records of the respective teams, it's not difficult to ascertain why these four dominate the news media given they're all historic brands located in major markets. For those who do having naming rights, the value of media exposure alone seems to justify the cost. However, it certainly isn't the only factor considered when making the decision to invest in naming rights, nor should it be the only metric measured in evaluating the continued investment. This is a smart marketing investment for us," said Jack Salzwedel, American Family Insurance chair and chief executive officer. "We do not have the mega-advertising budget of other large insurance companies. Our marketing philosophy is to pursue creative, authentic and inspiring opportunities that align with the principle of value. This is one of those opportunities." American Family was founded in Madison, Wisconsin and is committed to creating a new multi-purpose office in downtown Milwaukee. In addition to its new deal with the Brewers, the company also has the title sponsorship for Summerfest and the American Insurance Ampitheater. The next naming rights deal in MLB to expire will be PNC Park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 2021. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kristidosh/2019/05/28/what-are-naming-rights-deals-in-major-league-baseball-really-worth/ |
Will Felicity Be Back for Arrow's Final Season? | We have likely seen the last of Felicity Smoak. After it was announced that season eight would be Arrow's last, Emily Bett Rickards announced that she would be leaving at the end of season seven, and we'd be saying goodbye to Felicity just a few episodes later. The season seven finale sent Felicity into hiding in the present day, in a cabin where we know she'll raise her and Oliver's daughter into the Mia we all know and love. In the future, Felicity stepped back from her work as a vigilante, visited Oliver's grave which listed his death in 2019 (hello, 2019 crossover), then had the Monitor take her to wherever Oliver is, from whence she can never return. | https://www.eonline.com/news/1044999/will-felicity-be-back-for-arrow-s-final-season |
Could David Johnson win NFL Comeback Player of the Year? | The NFL Comeback Player of the Year Award is generally given to a player who has overcome injury to return to play at a very high level. But it doesn't have to be. The Arizona Cardinals' David Johnson should be a candidate for the award this season for overcoming bad coaching and scheme fits last season, according to Touchdown Wire's Doug Farrar. The running back, who had a quiet 2018 (at least by his standards), could be in for a huge season this year under coach Kliff Kingsbury, Farrar wrote. Farrar has Johnson among his nine NFL Comeback Player of the Year Award candidates for the upcoming season, writing that the dynamic back could see a return to his 2016 form. Farrar wrote: "Johnson wasnt injured in 2018 he played all 16 games for the Cardinals after losing all but one game the season before to a dislocated wrist but his production declined severely in an offense designed by former offensive coordinator Mike McCoy and carried out by replacement Byron Leftwich after McCoy was fired halfway into the 2018 season. One of the most versatile and dynamic backs in the NFL, Johnson was used more as a between-the-guards power back and nominal receiver, completely negating his rare outside speed and comprehensive route-running abilities. New head coach Kliff Kingsbury is too smart to put Johnson on the shelf like that, and you can expect a serious uptick from his 1,386 yards from scrimmage in 2018. After all, he led the NFL in yards from scrimmage with 2,118 in 2016, the last time he was healthy and in the care of a competent offensive coaching staff." Stay in the know. Subscribe to azcentral.com today. azcentral sports' Bob McManaman talked to Johnson about his role with the Cardinals last month. The running back seemed excited to see what he could do under Kingsbury's offense. "I see it going really great, really good, Johnson said. Ive talked to guys (who are familiar with Kingsburys offense) like Christian Kirk and he said a lot of people have heard he doesnt run the ball, but he told me personally that their running backs have gotten the ball a lot as far as running the ball. Ive heard that Kliff is really good at putting his guys in open space, especially as running backs, and giving them open space to try to get the yards catching the ball, and doing things like that. Johnson, 27, will be featured prominently in the Cardinals' offense, both as Arizonas workhorse running back and as an integral receiver, both in the traditional sense and out of the backfield, McManaman wrote. Arizona Cardinals running back David Johnson could have a very big season in 2019. (Photo: Michael Chow/azcentral sports) Kingsbury offered a hint of Johnson's role during the NFL owners' meetings. I think hes going to be really excited with what we do, Kingsbury said. I knew he really wants to get back to the form he had in previous years and thats our goal to make sure were doing things hes comfortable with and can excel at and he likes to do. Were going to try and build things around him. Farrar listed eight other candidates for the Comeback Player of the Year Award and his list had a heavy NFC West feel. San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, Seattle Seahawks safety Earl Thomas and Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp were among the other players to make his rankings. So did a former Arizona Cardinals standout: Deone Bucannon. Farrar listed the safety/linebacker as another possible candidate for a huge rebound year. Bucannon signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, coached by former Cardinals coach Bruce Arians, in the offseason. Farrar wrote of Bucannon: "Like David Johnson, Bucannon wasnt injured last season he was just lost at the mercy of a coaching staff that frequently had no clue what to do with its most talented players. Head coach Steve Wilks and defensive coordinator Al Holcomb didnt share their predecessors enthusiasm for Bucannons versatility, preferring players with more fixed roles. He signed a one-year, $2.5 million deal with the Buccaneers this offseason, and Tampa Bay defensive coordinator Todd Bowles has historically had a better idea what to do with hybrid players. In the right system, Bucannon can really make a difference, especially if hes designated to replace speed linebacker Kwon Alexander, signed by the 49ers." Cardinals OTAs | https://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/nfl/cardinals/2019/05/27/arizona-cardinals-david-johnson-win-nfl-comeback-player-year/1250580001/ |
Will The 2020 Presidential Candidates Be Truly Inclusive of People With Disabilities? | Getty Earlier this month, Democratic presidential candidate New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand pledged to have a person with a disability serve in her Cabinet if she gets elected. I will commit to making sure someone with disabilities is part of my administration and in my Cabinet, Gillibrand said in response to a question from a disability rights activist who had pressed her on her plans to meet standards for inclusion. I will continue to lead on issues of fighting for [the] disabled members of our communities, she said. Gillibrand's pledge follows Mayor Pete Buttigiegs promise to include people with disabilities in campaign ads and hiring them as campaign staff, as he stated in April. Buttigieg and Gillibrand are the only candidates thus far in the 2020 presidential race who have mentioned people with disabilities on a large scale in their campaign. Otherwise, disability rights and its community have been mainly untouched during this early stage of the race. If disability issues are mentioned, its merely a footnote. For the disability community, this negligence is, unfortunately, familiar. Over 56 million Americans have either a physical or developmental disability, and they make up the largest minority group in the country. The statistics are likely underestimated and misrepresented since was reported from the 2010 Census. Another source, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, says there are currently 61 million Americans with disabilities. Throughout the presidential race, candidates have worked to appeal to minority voters such as people of color and women, but they are paying little to no attention to the largest minority group, the disabled community. For the 2016 election, disability rights advocates Gregg Beratan, Andrew Pulrang and Alice Wong founded the #CripTheVote social media movement. The movement is aimed to activate and engage disabled people on policies and practices essential to the disability community. It is grounded in online conversations encouraging individual and collective action in the face of inequality, ableism, and oppression in all forms. Nearly four years later, progress continues to be slow. However, the Democratic candidates have been making small efforts to be inclusive of this community, efforts that should have been included long ago. It is only now that candidates are adding closed captioning in their announcement videos and sign language interpretations at their rallies. Although, the two accommodations should be mutually inclusive Beto ORourke had three ASL interpreters at his presidency announcement event; however, he forgot to include captioning in the video coverage of the speech. What these candidates should focus on is integrating disability into every aspect of their platform. It is easy to make promises or to provide simple accommodations, but what should be at the core of every candidates agenda are thorough and comprehensive action plans to address the issues facing the disability community. Bernie Sanders is the only candidate, to date, to have a whole pledge dedicated to disability rights on their campaign website. Yet, not all of his campaign materials are accessible to the Deaf or blind voters. Demonstrating a commitment to disability rights will take far more than merely acknowledging people with disabilities. It is important 2020 contenders mention disabled people when listing other marginalized communities, but merely mentioning disabled people is not enough to earn the disability vote in 2020, Colleen Flanagan, a disability rights activist and the co-founder and executive director of Disability Action for America, told Rewire.News. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/sarahkim/2019/05/28/2020elections-disabilities/ |
How Did Medtronic Fare In Q4, And What Can We Expect From Fiscal 2020? | Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) recently reported its Q4 fiscal 2019 results, which were above our estimates, led by the Restorative Therapies Group. This note details the companys Q4 performance, and Trefis forecasts for the full fiscal 2020. In addition, you can see more of our data for Health Care companies here. Medtronic reports its revenues under four segments ~ Cardiac & Vascular Group, Minimally Invasive Therapies Group, Restorative Therapies Group, and Diabetes. Cardiac & Vascular Group includes cardiac rhythm management devices for the diagnosis, treatment, and management of heart rhythm disorders and heart failure. It also includes coronary balloons, drug-coated balloons, and thoracic stent graft systems, among others. The segment revenues of $11.51 billion in fiscal 2019 accounted for 38% of the companys total revenues. Minimally Invasive Therapies Group includes devices and therapies for neurological problems and imaging systems among other products. The segment revenues of $8.48 billion in fiscal 2019 contributed 28% to the companys top line. Restorative Therapies Group primarily includes devices and implants for conditions relating to the spine, musculoskeletal system, brain, and nerves. The segment generated revenues of $8.55 billion in fiscal 2019, accounting for 27% of the companys total revenues. Diabetes includes sales of diabetes management products, which primarily consist of insulin pumps, and continuous glucose monitoring systems. The segment revenues of $2.58 billion in fiscal 2019 contributed 8% to the companys total revenues. Medtronics total revenues were flat y-o-y at $8.15 billion Q4 fiscal 2019. However, they were up 3.6% on a constant currency basis. This can partly be attributed to currency headwinds, and weakness in Cardiac & Vascular Group, which offset growth seen in Restorative Therapies Group and Minimally Invasive Therapies Group. The companys revenue has largely trended higher in the recent quarters from $7.38 billion in Q1 fiscal 2019 to $8.15 billion in Q4 fiscal 2019. Adjusted earnings per share grew 8% from $1.42 in Q4 fiscal 2018 to $1.54 in Q4 fiscal 2019. The growth in earnings can be attributed to 140 bps improvement in adjusted operating margins, led by the companys focus on its Enterprise Excellence Program, and lower share count. Medtronics Enterprise Excellence is its restructuring program, which was announced last year, and it is aimed at gross savings of $3 billion by 2022. Medtronics average revenue growth rate of 2.3% is higher than its peers. Medtronics revenue grew from $7.37 billion in Q3 fiscal 2018 to $8.15 billion in Q4 fiscal 2019. Intuitive Surgicals revenue grew at an average of 2.1% from $892 million in Q4 2017 to $974 million in Q1 2019. 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. Abbotts revenues have declined at an average of -0.1% from $7.58 billion in Q4 2017 to $7.54 billion in Q1 2019. Medtronics total revenues will likely grow 4.1% to $31.8 billion in fiscal 2020. This growth will likely be led by Restorative and Minimally Invasive Therapies Group. Cardiac & Vascular Group revenues could grow in low single-digits to $11.8 billion in fiscal 2020. The segment should see continued growth in Evolut PRO Valve. However, Q4 segment performance was impacted by the replacement cycle for its drug-coated balloons among other products. The sales were likely impacted by the U.S. FDA probe on paclitaxel-eluting stents and balloons. The company has guided for a low single-digit growth in revenues in fiscal 2020, led by its loop recorder, and catheters. Minimally Invasive Therapies Group could see revenues growth of 4.6% to $8.9 billion in fiscal 2020, likely led by continued demand for its patient monitoring products, along with sealing instruments, and advanced stapling products. The company will also launch its soft tissue robotics program outside the U.S. in fiscal 2020, and it has guided for a mid-single-digit segment revenue growth for the full fiscal. Restorative Therapies Group could see revenue growth of 4.5% to $8.6 billion in fiscal 2020, led by higher demand for its brain and pain therapies, which have seen strong growth in the recent quarters, led by its Intellis spinal cord stimulation platform, and StealthStation surgical navigation systems, among other products, and this trend should continue in the near term. Diabetes could grow in high single-digits to $2.6 billion in fiscal 2020, benefiting from the expansion of 670G, along with expected launch of 780G, which is an advanced version of its hybrid closed-loop system with features around carb counting, remote monitoring, and remote software downloads, among others. Medtronics full fiscal 2020 earnings will likely be $5.50 per share on an adjusted basis, reflecting 5% growth over the prior fiscal. Earnings growth can be attributed to higher revenues and lower share count, along with slight improvement in margins, as guided by the company. Average consensus earnings for fiscal 2020 ~ $5.44. Our price estimate of $119 for Medtronic is based on a 22x price to earnings multiple, and earnings of $5.50 per share in fiscal 2020. The multiple for Medtronics valuation is close to that of its peers, including Abbott and Boston Scientific. Explore example interactive dashboards and create your own. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2019/05/28/how-did-medtronic-fare-in-q4-and-what-can-we-expect-from-fiscal-2020/ |
What Happens If 10-Year Treasuries Flatten Near A Zero Yield? | BLOOMBERG NEWS I feel like Im ankle deep in seawater as I boogie in a New Orleans disco while a hurricane rages outdoors. Face it, brothers and sisters, the market at 18 times earnings stands fully priced and dangerous. Weve seen Boeing and Qualcomm taken out and shot. Facebook is called on the carpet almost daily for mishandling clients data. Nobody now can model Apples numbers if a full-fledged trade war with China unfolds. Energy stocks trade like theres too much world supply while paper like Alcoa, U.S. Steel and Freeport-McMoRan stand cut in half or worse. Consider, the country is saddled with a Federal Reserve Board that cant find its ass with both hands. First, they feared inflation, but today wont dare deal with deflationary indicators facing the country: Housing starts turned wobbly, Detroits auto selling rates rest flattish, capital spending, expected to turn zippy with the corporate tax rate cut goes nowhere. Ex the inventory build past quarter and better trade stats, quarterly, GDP rose little more than 1%. This reflects sluggish personal consumption expenditures, the critical sector of GDP composites. Carnage in the heartland is deep-seated but rarely remarked upon. Not only U.S. Steel and Alcoa but oil service stocks still getting recommended by analysts, trade like death warmed over. Schlumberger, forever considered an institutional grade property, currently sells to yield over 5%, a rare occurrence. A few years ago, management blithely overestimated worldwide drilling and exploration industry budgets. Occidental Petroleum is leveraging itself dangerously in its bid for Apache. Im attracted by Occidentals yield over 5%, but oil prices next five years determine the wisdom of this deal. Exxon Mobils five-year chart traces a classically bearish head and shoulders formation. If China tops out, worldwide copper demand and pricing work much lower. Freeport-McMoRan, a Carl Icahn pick, is close to sinking into single digits. Oil, copper, steel and aluminum already dwell in depressed-priced territory with no sign of improvement. Industrial heartland properties like Deere and Caterpillar face declining demand abroad. Dow Chemical suffers from depressed margins in petrochemicals, worldwide. Western Europe hardly grows more than 1%, even with 10-year Treasuries yielding zilch in Germany. Our stock market hardly yields 2% and still sells at a big premium over book value. I thumbed back to my 60-year charts on interest rates and stock market valuation for historical guidance on their interplay. First, lemme point out that Ive owned AT&T for some time with nothing to show for it, despite its yield north of 6%. Nobody cares. Before dealing with interplay between interest rates, inflation and stock market valuation be aware of enormous changes going on in sector weighting since the 1950s, pre-technology America. In the fifties, when you graduated Harvard with an M.B.A. you hoped for a career at DuPont, U.S. Steel, Dow Chemical or Standard Oil. Maybe, Coca-Cola. Until Bell Laboratories licensed its discovery of the transistor, Texas Instruments and Intel were small potatoes. American Express was the growth stock in financials with the entry of its green card. Boeing was about to introduce its 707 jet aircraft, putting airlines on the map. RPMs grew 25% or more, per annum. General Motors and U.S. Steel were bluest of blue chips. Even as late as 1990, technology and financials lumped together hardly equaled oil sector weighting. Industrials and materials sectors were sizable then. Now the market is dominated by technology and financials. Energy and industrials are lesser lights. Near trillion-dollar market caps like Apple, Amazon and Microsoft along with a few other internet and e-commerce names comprise over 20% of S&P 500 Index weighting. Tech paper trades at least 50% more volatile than the S&P 500. Interest rates, whether they be 2% or 5%, have no impact here. If projected revenues for these babies come in 1% below analyst consensus, all hell breaks loose. As late as 2001, General Electric stood as numero uno in the S&P 500, a 4% weight at $416 billion. Microsoft, at least was runner up with Exxon Mobil at its heels, but nobody got rich on Exxon. When macroeconomics is a big yawn, todays situation, the market cottons on to story stocks and makes wild extrapolations of earnings and price-earnings ratios. Low interest rates and dormant inflation invariably push up price-earnings ratios for growth stocks. Im hanging in with Microsoft, Amazon and Facebook, overweighted, fingers crossed. No Apple and less of Alibaba. The analyst consensus is useless because invariably they get caught up in euphoric rationalizations of price-earnings multiples and Ebitda ratios. Nobody factors in GAAP versus non-GAAP variances in earnings which easily range over 20%. Consider, price-earnings ratios by 2015 broke out of a 10-year resistance at mid-teens. History confirms such valuation just so long as 30-year Treasuries rest below a 4% yield. A real yield of 2.5% keeps the market ticking comfortably at 16 times earnings. But the real yield currently is hardly more than 1% which suggests players see lower inflation numbers ahead. All this is confirmed by commodity deflation and no more than 3% wage gains, if that, for the heartland. A P/E ratio of 18, what we have now is only confirmed when the real long-term Treasury yield is between 2% and 4%. The market has built in buoyant operating profit margins for major corporations but this is a pure seat-of-the-pants projection. Back of mind is the concept of necessary fallibility. Charts cant isolate inflection points. You can miss these by years. Axiomatically, politics leads economics and our president is a perpetual loose cannon. Ultimate irony on leading indicators is they dont always work when you expect them to kick in. Corporate liquidity, now enormous, hasnt worked in forecasting rising capital expenditures. Its more fashionable to buy back stock which favors management above shareholders. Net, net, I see the present price-earnings ratio near 18 as an iffy prospect. Everything has to go right to sustain such a pricey level. Im more comfortable with a mid-teens P/E and this would take the S&P 500 down 10%. Added to my AT&T position with the yield over 6%, competitive with anything that walks, inclusive of high-yield bond paper, closer to a 5% return. For internet and e-commerce paper like Amazon and Facebook, lets hope the market is focused on earnings power a year or two ahead, but this is bull market kind of rationalization. Sosnoff and / or his managed accounts own: Qualcomm, Facebook, Freeport-McMoRan bonds, Occidental Petroleum, AT&T, Amazon, Microsoft and Alibaba. [email protected] | https://www.forbes.com/sites/martinsosnoff/2019/05/28/what-happens-if-10-year-treasuries-flatten-near-a-zero-yield/ |
Where are the Huskies in the NFL? | 1 / 38 Back to Gallery During their rise to the top of the Pac-12, the Washington Huskies have established themselves as one of the premier programs in the conference. Depending on who you talk to, they might even be considered one of the best programs in the entire country. While consecutive bowl game losses to big-time opponents may have taken some of the shine off of the Dawgs, the program has continued to deliver in one major area: developing NFL talent. Eight Huskies were drafted this year, with three more signing as undrafted free agents. This class was just the latest to come out of Montlake, though: 30 former Washington players are currently on NFL rosters. Shaq Thompson established himself as a rock-solid linebacker for Carolina. Budda Baker holds things down at safety for Arizona, and rookie cornerback Byron Murphy will join him in the secondary this year. RELATED: 5 bold predictions for Seahawks in 2019 Fortunately for Huskies fans who root for the Seahawks, a couple of Dawgs have found their way into the VMAC. Second-year tight end Will Dissly started his first year in spectacular fashion before being sidelined with an injury, while rookie linebacker Ben Burr-Kirven is looking to secure a roster spot as a fifth-rounder. Ironically, a quartet of Huskies will take the field for the L.A. Rams this year: Marcus Peters, Cory Littleton, Greg Gaines and Taylor Rapp could potentially make up a full third of the starting defensive roster. Not all pro Dawgs have had consistent paths at the NFL level. Danny Shelton, a former first-round pick, was roundly considered a disappointment during his early years in Cleveland. He ended up on a little team called the Patriots instead and picked up a Super Bowl ring for his efforts. Click through to see where you can find all the former Huskies currently on an NFL roster. | https://www.seattlepi.com/sports/college/article/Where-are-the-Huskies-in-the-NFL-13901263.php |
How many college football teams really have a chance to win the national title? | Dave Bartoo, known as the College Football Matrix, joined me on the radio show to talk about college football on Tuesday. Listen to the full interview here. I asked Bartoo how many teams have a legitimate chance to win the national title next season. His answer may surprise you. Two. This year its two," he said. Total outlier. On the fallacy of strength of schedule in College Football Playoff world: The strength of schedule that is used it all win-loss record based. They use it for seeding. They do not use it for who is in or who is out... heres your biggest fallacy and its about as worthwhile to talk about as the playoff expansion... strength of schedule has nothing, nothing ever to do with the quality of team. You cant determine the quality of team by strength of schedule. He also talked about recruiting profiles, coaching staffs, and much more. Listen to the full interview here: | https://www.oregonlive.com/beavers/2019/05/how-many-college-football-teams-really-have-a-chance-to-win-the-national-title.html |
Could making recycling pay save the planet? | Image copyright Getty Images Sail up the Pearl River from Hong Kong, and you come to the industrial city of Dongguan, where you'll find what may be the world's biggest paper mill, larger than 300 football pitches. It's owned by Nine Dragons, a recycling company started by Zhang Yin, also known as Cheung Yan, once ranked by Forbes as the world's richest self-made woman.. Nine Dragons is - or, perhaps, was - the largest importer by volume of American goods into China. Waste paper - typically with some unwelcome trash mixed in. Tonne upon tonne was baled, stacked on to ships and sailed to China, where workers manually sorted through it. It is a crucial job: if waste paper is too contaminated, it cannot be recycled. It is also a job that is hard to automate successfully. It needs humans. So rich countries started shipping their waste to countries where workers are poor enough to sort it for wages low enough to turn a profit. 50 Things That Made the Modern Economy highlights the inventions, ideas and innovations that helped create the economic world. It is broadcast on the BBC World Service. You can find more information about the programme's sources and listen to all the episodes online or subscribe to the programme podcast. From the 1980s until very recently, this system worked smoothly. China's fast-growing economy exported lots of manufactured goods, and instead of ships returning empty, they were loaded with waste for China to recycle. Entrepreneurs such as Mrs Yin made a fortune. Image copyright Getty Images But as China got richer, the government decided it no longer wanted to be a dumping ground for the world's trash. It 2017, it announced its National Sword policy, under which China would only accept well-sorted rubbish containing no more than half of 1% of stuff that should not be there. That was a big change - contamination rates used to reach 40 times that. The amount of waste being shipped to China plunged. Governments and recycling companies scrambled to adjust. Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Indonesia has taken more of the world's plastic waste since China's ban There is a reason the "reduce, reuse, recycle" mantra is in that order. Rinsing and refilling glass bottles makes more sense than crushing and melting them to make new ones. Examples of reuse go back before paper, to papyrus: Ancient Greece gave us the word "palimpsest", which literally means "scraped clean to be used again". The Romans melted old bronze statues to sculpt new ones, and 1,000 years ago, Japan pulped paper to make more paper. For centuries people have scraped a living by scavenging for scrap, such as rags to sell to paper mills. Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Rag collectors pictured in Paris in 1913 But that was all driven by market incentives: the raw materials were too valuable to be thrown away. The idea that we should recycle because it is the right thing to do is much more recent. Consider a Time magazine article from August 1955 headlined "Throwaway Living". The adjective is not pejorative - it is celebratory. "Disposable items cut down household chores," it says. Image copyright The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images A smiling family fills its bin with paper plates, plastic cutlery and other objects which, the article tells us, "would take 40 hours to clean - except that no housewife need bother". A TV ad campaign known as "The Crying Indian" helped shift the mood, in America at least. First shown in 1971, it shows a Native American man paddling his canoe down a trash-polluted river, and standing by a road as a passing motorist tosses a bag of fast-food detritus at his feet. "People start pollution," runs the voiceover. "People can stop it." Image copyright Alamy The Native American man turns to the camera, a single tear rolling down his cheek. But the advert was not all it seemed, and not just because the actor turned out to be a second-generation Italian immigrant. It was funded by an organisation backed by leading beverage and packaging companies. At the time, deposit schemes were common: buy a fizzy drink, and get some cash back when you return the bottle. This model assumes it is the manufacturer's job to provide the incentives and logistics for returning waste. The Crying Indian had a different message. People were responsible for their own waste. Deposit schemes fell out of fashion. Recycling logistics became seen as a matter for local government. Image copyright Getty Images Historian Finis Dunaway argues that turning "big systemic problems into questions of individual responsibility" in this way was a bad idea. It made recycling less about effective action, more about making ourselves feel good. That seems to chime with research by behavioural economists at Boston University, who found that people who know they can recycle tend to act more wastefully. That would not matter if recycling was cost-free, but of course, it is not. The economist Michael Munger also argues that it is a bad idea to leave waste disposal to the free market. If you charge people what it costs to safely dispose of their rubbish, you tempt them to dump it illegally instead, and that is much worse. More things that made the modern economy: But once we use taxes to subsidise waste disposal, we risk incentivising the behaviour in the Time magazine article - people can chuck stuff away when society bears the costs. One solution is the moral persuasion of The Crying Indian adverts. But that also creates a problem, says Munger, in an essay for US think tank The Cato Institute. He says we should simply compare the costs and benefits of recycling each kind of waste - glass bottles, tin cans, plastic coffee cups etc against other options. Image copyright Getty Images Well-designed landfills are nowadays pretty safe, and we can harness the methane they produce for electricity. Modern waste incinerators can be a clean-ish source of power. That brings us back to the conundrum posed by China's National Sword policy. Paring back recycling programmes would make sorting easier. But it seems like a backward step. Taiwan - once dubbed "garbage island" - now famously has one of the highest recycling rates in the world. By making sure that waste disposal "sits firmly in the public consciousness", Ying-Ying Lai, head of the Taiwan Environmental Protection Administration's waste management department, told the Smithsonian Magazine. Perhaps we need systemic answers: maybe regulators can encourage new business models like those bottle deposit schemes making manufacturers think through the incentives and logistics for recycling their products. Many of these discussions are happening under the voguish phrase "the circular economy", a concept also cited by Taiwan's Ying-Ying Lai. Or perhaps technology will come to the rescue. One UK start-up says that it can turn mixed plastics - notoriously difficult to recycle - back into the oil from where they came. A mall in Australia recently gave a debut to an artificial intelligence-enabled trash can which senses what is put in it, and sorts it accordingly. State-of-the-art sorting facilities use robots, lasers, magnets and air jets to separate different recyclable streams. None of this can yet compete with the scale of the work done by low-cost labourers in China and beyond - but maybe closing off that option will prove just the spur to innovation that the industry needs. The author writes the Financial Times's Undercover Economist column. 50 Things That Made the Modern Economy is broadcast on the BBC World Service. You can find more information about the programme's sources and listen to all the episodes online or subscribe to the programme podcast. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-48214033 |
Are rare earth minerals China's trump card in its trade war with US? | Image copyright Getty Images Image caption China carries out most of the mining and production of rare earth minerals China has been signalling that it may restrict the export of rare earth minerals to the United States as the trade conflict between the two countries escalates. It is by far the largest producer of these raw materials, vital for many American industries including high-growth sectors such as electric car and wind turbine production. Last year, the US Geological Survey designated these minerals critical to the economy and national defence. "China is seriously considering restricting rare earth exports to the US," tweeted the editor of Chinese state-run Global Times this week. Rare earth minerals are a group of 17 elements used in production in a huge number of sectors, including renewable energy technology, oil refinery, electronics, and the glass industry. Although called "rare", they are actually found relatively abundantly in the Earth's crust, according to the US Geological Survey. However, there are relatively few places in the world that mine or produce them. Extraction is both difficult and potentially damaging to the environment. Chinese mines account for around 70% of global output. Myanmar, Australia, and the United States plus a few other countries which mine only small amounts, account for the rest. China's dominance of rare earth mining Yearly mine production (tonnes) In the refining of rare earth ores, China is even more dominant. Last year, almost 90% of all the processing into usable oxides was done in China. An Australian company operating in Malaysia produces almost all the rest. Over the past five years, China's exports of rare earth oxides have almost doubled, according to official Chinese statistics. Around 80% of the rare earths imported by the United States comes from China, according to US government data. Estonia, France and Japan also supply processed rare earths to the US, but the original ore comes from China. The one rare earth mine operating in the United States sends its ore to China for processing - and already faces a 25% import tariff imposed by China. There is an option for the US to import from Malaysia, but not in the quantities required. Also, the Malaysian government has threatened to discontinue production because of environmental concerns. It's certainly possible, but this would take time and the sources of ore could be limited if China were ruled out. Until the 1980s, the US was in fact the largest producer of rare earths. China has restricted exports of rare earths before. In 2010, they did it against Japan, over a territorial dispute. The restriction of exports to the United States, if enforced, could have a major impact on major US industries worth trillions of dollars that rely on rare earth minerals. Read more from Reality Check Send us your questions Follow us on Twitter | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-48366074 |
Can team sports help teens overcome childhood adversity? | (Reuters Health) - Children who suffer adverse experiences like abuse and neglect may be less likely to have mental health problems in adulthood if they play team sports as teenagers, a U.S. study suggests. FILE PHOTO: Young boys play in a park during an unusually warm winter day in the Brooklyn borough of New York December 15, 2015. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson /File Photo Adverse childhood experiences, commonly called ACEs, can include witnessing parents fight or go through a divorce, having a parent with a mental illness or substance abuse problem, or suffering from sexual, physical or emotional abuse. ACEs have been linked to whats known as toxic stress, or wear and tear on the body that leads to physical and mental health problems that often continue from one generation to the next. The current study focused on whether team sports - which have been linked to a variety of physical and psychological benefits - might diminish the potential for lasting mental health problems among adults with a history of ACEs. Researchers followed 4,888 teens exposed to ACEs and 4,780 teens without this exposure for more than a decade, starting when they were 15 years old on average. Teens who played team sports had 24 percent lower odds of receiving a depression diagnosis by young adulthood and 30 percent lower odds of receiving an anxiety diagnosis, the study found. Our data indicate that team sports participation in adolescence may be associated with better mental health outcomes in adulthood due to increased self-esteem, increased feelings of social acceptance, and feeling more connected to the school environment, said lead study author Dr. Molly Easterlin of the University of California Los Angeles and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. It may change how kids navigate school or develop relationships, Easterlin said by email. It may make them more resilient. Among the teens in the study with ACE exposure, 21 percent reported two or more ACEs, according to the study in JAMA Pediatrics. The most common ACE was having a single parent, which impacted about 27 percent of all study participants, followed by parental incarceration, which impacted 17 percent, and parental alcohol misuse, reported by 14 percent. Sexual abuse was the least commonly reported ACE, affecting about 5 percent of the teens, followed by physical abuse at 9 percent and emotional neglect at 11 percent. Much of the connection between team sports and the reduced potential for anxiety or depression appeared to be explained by social rather than physical aspects of sports participation, researchers report in JAMA Pediatrics. Feeling more connected to the school community, feeling socially accepted, and having a higher self-esteem together explained 16 to 36 percent of the reduced depression and anxiety risk associated with team sports. The study wasnt a controlled experiment designed to prove whether or how team sports during adolescence might directly impact mental health in adulthood. Its also possible that instead of team sports causing better mental health, that the reverse was true and youth with better mental health were more likely to choose to play team sports. Even so, the results offer fresh evidence of the potential for team sports to help at-risk kids, said author of an accompanying editorial Mercedes Carnethon of the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University in Chicago. Team sports are particularly beneficial for youth because they bring together a group who works together to achieve a shared goal, Carnethon said by email. The lessons learned about helping one another, compromise, persisting through difficulties and dealing with inevitable losses have parallels with life, Carnethon added. These lessons can help youth weather the challenges that they face in their personal lives as a result of their adverse childhood experiences. SOURCE: bit.ly/2EE6Arc JAMA Pediatrics, online May 28, 2019. | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-childhood-sports-adversity/can-team-sports-help-teens-overcome-childhood-adversity-idUSKCN1SY2IT?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2FhealthNews+%28Reuters+Health+News%29 |
How much does it cost to raise a child with autism? | Open this photo in gallery Kaye Banez stands by her 7-year-old son Lazarus, who has been diagnosed with autism, while he peels the paint from the picnic bench trying to focus away from the surrounding noises in Richmond, B.C., on May 18, 2019. Rafal Gerszak/The Globe and Mail Kaye Banez was on maternity leave with her second child when her firstborn was diagnosed with autism. A month later, the university department where she worked was shut down, leaving her unemployed. Exhausted, with a newborn in tow, she spent the following months driving her son Lazarus, then two years old, to appointments to ensure he received behavioural intervention therapy for his food avoidance and speech issues. Her husband, a ramp agent at Vancouvers airport, took night shifts to be able to help out during the day. I couldnt get back to full-time work again, says Ms. Banez, 40, who lives in Richmond, B.C. We had to go with what the therapists schedules were because theyre hard to get. Story continues below advertisement Fast forward five years and the Banez family now spends upward of $6,000 a year out of pocket on a variety of therapies, as well as specialized swimming and music lessons. Although Lazarus communicates more effectively, eats a variety of foods and plays piano, Ms. Banez has had to juggle multiple part-time jobs to pay for his therapy jobs that give her flexibility to handle his appointments. When Lazarus turned 6 in 2018, the $22,000 a year he was receiving from the B.C. government was cut off. In British Columbia, autism funding drops to $6,000 a year after a childs sixth birthday, with $16,000 redirected to the school the child is attending. This leaves us parents having to either cut the therapy hours dramatically or we pay out of pocket, Ms. Banez says. We are constantly stressed out and frustrated that we cannot provide our son more access to therapy, and activities that would help him learn and grow and catch up with his peers. Its hard not to be emotional. Stories such as Ms. Banezs are playing out across Canada as families of autistic children grapple with a patchwork of provincial and federal funding that varies widely from province to province. Ontarios system is currently under a controversial review. What is the norm is that many kids are on multiyear wait lists for provincial funding, which means desperate parents must pay for interventions privately. And the costs of paying for autism-related services are steep. Annual support costs can vary from about $26,000 to $130,000 a person, according to the Ontario Association for Behaviour Analysis. Many families cut back on the therapies their children need even though research shows that Applied Behaviour Analysis, the gold standard of autism therapy, and the more clinical Intensive Behavioural Intervention are most effective before the age of 5. Story continues below advertisement Story continues below advertisement Others make huge financial sacrifices, such as quitting their jobs, cashing in investments or selling their homes. Ron Malis, a Toronto-based financial adviser who has multiple clients with autistic children, says many families struggle with the costs of funding treatment. Some quit their jobs or stop contributing to registered retirement savings plans. I have families selling their homes and moving into rentals, he says. Ms. Banez and her husband own a townhome, having sold two condos they had bought as investment properties. She works part-time now and the family is attempting to rebuild its savings. We have significant debt, she says. It weighs on us. The cost of Lazaruss care is high. The Banez family pays $300 a month for three hours a week of behavioural intervention sessions. A behavioural consultant charges the family $120 a month for food-avoidance therapy. Then there are therapy team meetings and school meetings that total $2,000 a year, as well as private school tuition. Swimming lessons with Canucks Autism Network cost $40, which pays for eight weekly sessions, and piano lessons costs $110 a month. We used to live very comfortably, going on vacations, she says. I used to have a significant amount [in] RRSPs." Story continues below advertisement The psychological toll is enormous. On a good night, I usually sleep three to four hours, she says. Janet McLaughlin, an associate professor in health studies at Wilfrid Laurier University, polled 654 Ontario families in 2018 about the financial impact a diagnosis of autism can have. She found that 45 per cent of mothers surveyed worked less than desired, downgrading their careers, while 21 per cent of fathers reported the same. Parents go to extreme measures to support their children while on wait lists, she says. They dont want to deny their children early-intervention therapy. Amanda Mooyer is struggling with this very issue. Her older son, Izak, now 4, was diagnosed with level 2 autism, which requires intensive support, on his third birthday. In late April of this year, her younger son, Finn, 2, was also diagnosed. Izak has been waiting to receive funding under Ontarios Autism Program, meaning that the Mooyer family has had to pay for the majority of his therapy out of pocket to the tune of $10,000 a year. Finn is now on an 18-month-plus waiting list for funding. Under the current program, once the boys are approved, they will receive $20,000 until they turn 6. There are no retroactive payments for previous out-of-pocket costs. Story continues below advertisement The family decided to rent in Keswick, Ont., two years ago, so that Ms. Mooyers mother could help with Izaks care. But her mother became ill and died. The family enrolled Izak in ABA therapy for 3.5 hours a week at $45 an hour, which they pay for privately. Some speech therapy for Izak was covered under early intervention services, a provincial program. Experts recommend 25 hours a week of this type of therapy for maximum benefit, but Ms. Mooyer cannot afford more therapy. While a family member paid for the first couple of months of therapy, she has now placed him in a daycare for two days a week at $160 a month. She also has to pay for his sensory aids, such as weighted blankets, a sensory swing and chew toys for teeth grinding. Ms. Mooyer is also considering a summer speech-therapy camp for Izak. Although her husband has a salary of more than $100,000, Ms. Mooyer, 30, took a part-time job at Wendys to help make ends meet, which eventually she had to quit. Before having her children, she worked full-time at the U.S. Consulate in Toronto. She is currently attempting to complete college courses to requalify as an American Sign Language instructor. [My husband] gets paid well but we are still struggling, she says. The family has cashed in their RRSPs to pay for Izaks therapy. They worry what they will do when Izak turns 6 and his funding drops to $5,000 a year. Finn, too, will require intensive therapy and Ms. Mooyer knows that the earlier he gets it, the better. We are living day by day, Ms. Mooyer says. My husband is my rock we hold each other up. Unfortunately, for most families with moderately to severely autistic kids, the financial burden does not abate, Ms. McLaughlin says. A recent study by Autism Canada found that 60 per cent of medical costs associated with autism are accrued after age 21. Story continues below advertisement This never goes away, she says. | https://www.theglobeandmail.com/investing/personal-finance/household-finances/article-how-much-does-it-cost-to-raise-a-child-with-autism/ |
Is the world becoming more gay-friendly? | Image copyright Reuters When Taiwan became the first place in Asia to legalise same-sex unions, hundreds of gay people marked the occasion by registering to marry. It marked a significant change on the island, where the majority of people only relatively recently became supportive of same-sex relationships. In many other places there has also been a shift - often a rapid one - towards more liberal attitudes. For example, in 2007, one in five South Koreans said homosexuality should be accepted, -but, by 2013, that figure had doubled. Attitudes among the public also appear to have softened in other places including Argentina, Chile, the US, Australia, India and many in Western Europe. But these changes do not always mean full equality. In Taiwan, for example, the government stopped short of granting full adoption rights. Elsewhere, some nations are bringing in stricter anti-gay laws and same-sex relationships remain illegal in about 69 countries. On Friday, Kenya's High Court upheld a law banning gay sex. Pockets of opposition In some countries, opposition towards gay relationships is deeply entrenched and may be growing. For example, in Ghana, where gay sex can be punished with a prison sentence, attitudes have become even less accepting. In 2013, a poll suggested 96% of Ghanaians believe society should not accept homosexuality. Elsewhere, official punishments for gay sex may provide insights into how residents, or at least their leaders, view homosexuality. For example, Brunei recently made sex between men punishable with death through stoning, although it has since backtracked on this. Another issue is that while laws and perceived attitudes may appear to have become more relaxed in some countries, the reality may be very different for the LGBT community there. For example, while Brazil's Supreme Court has recently voted in favour of making homophobia and transphobia crimes illegal, it did so in response to a large number of killings of LGBT people. Studies suggest the reasons are often linked to three factors - economic development, democracy and religion. One theory is that a nation's economy shapes the attitudes of its people - including how they feel about LGBT rights. Often, poorer nations tend to be less supportive, partly because cultural values tend to focus more on basic survival. Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Celebration marches were held in India after gay sex was decriminalised in 2018 When people are concerned about things like clean water, food, shelter and safety, they can become more reliant on others. This dependency tends to promote strong group loyalty - increasing support for its norms, including "traditional" heterosexual family structures. People living in richer nations, by contrast, tend to have a lot more security. As a result, they are more likely to have freedom to make the decisions that suit them, and to believe in self-expression. Not everyone in richer countries is more tolerant of gay relationships, but the data we have indicates they tend to be more supportive. Democracy is also thought to play a role. In democracies, principles like equality, fairness, and the right to protest are more likely to form part of the actions of government and residents. As a result, people who are sometimes seen as different, like gay and lesbian individuals, may be more likely to gain acceptance. But people can need time to adapt to democracy. Compared with longer-term democracies, former communist nations such as Slovenia and Russia appear to have been slower to develop more tolerant attitudes. Another factor is the role of religion. Western Europe, with its relatively low levels of religious belief, has been at the forefront of legalising same-sex marriage. Denmark, Belgium, Norway, Spain and Sweden were among the first countries to do so. Image copyright Getty Images Some Middle Eastern and African nations, where Islam or conservative Protestant religious faiths are most commonly practised, have some of the least tolerant attitudes. Gay sex is illegal in almost half of the countries in Africa and Asia, with between 60% and 98% of people there saying that religion is "always important". This is much higher than in Europe, where gay sex is legal in all countries. But while richer, more democratic and less religious nations tend to be more tolerant, there are many exceptions. China, for example, has low levels of religious beliefs, but polls suggest its people are a lot less supportive of gay rights than their Taiwanese neighbours. Shift in attitudes Nations have always differed in terms of economic development, democracy and religion. One suggestion is that attitudes change as older generations pass away and are replaced by younger, more liberal people. Another is that people of all different age groups may change their views and some research does suggest this has been the case. In the US and many other nations, popular culture and the media appear to have played a role in the rapid liberalisation of attitudes. Image caption Ellen DeGeneres (r) with wife Portia de Rossi, presents a talk show viewed by millions From the 1990s onwards, some highly likeable gay and lesbian television characters - such as Will from Will and Grace - and TV personalities like Ellen DeGeneres began to appear. Popular culture makes it possible for people who would not necessarily know an openly gay individual to know one in a virtual sense. Real life contact is also important, as it's more difficult to dislike a gay or lesbian person who is a friend or family member. In the US, 22% of people in 1993 said they had a close friend or family member who was gay or lesbian. By 2013, 65% said that they did. In this way the "coming out" movement, which encourages people to self-disclose their sexual or gender identity, has been highly successful. More like this Nevertheless, it cannot be assumed that all countries will, sooner or later, introduce laws that are more gay-friendly. Some view being gay as a Western import, and may feel that the US and Europe are using economic power to impose their will on them. For example, in 2009 Uganda considered a bill which would have made gay sex punishable with death in some circumstances. In response, several nations threatened to cut their funding, and the World Bank postponed a $90m (70.7m) loan. Similarly, Turkey has struggled to walk a thin line between supporting conservative Islamic views and maintaining policies that the EU would support. There is also an argument that Brunei's initial decision to introduce the death penalty for gay sex may be an attempt to appeal to Muslim tourists and investors. Elsewhere, political candidates may back harsh laws as a way to generate publicity and gain public support. Attitudes and policies in many nations have clearly been shifting. But the suggestion that more will follow in their footsteps is not a foregone conclusion. About this piece This analysis piece was commissioned by the BBC from an expert working for an outside organisation. Amy Adamczyk is Professor of Sociology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and the Programs of Doctoral Study in Sociology and Criminal Justice at The Graduate Center, City University of New York. Edited by Eleanor Lawrie | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-48337639 |
Is another DeSantis shakeup coming at Miami Dade College? | Dr. Eduardo J. Padron, who is retiring after 25 years as Miami Dade College president, applauds during the Commencement ceremony for MDCs Hialeah and Wolfson campuses, at the Wastco Center in Coral Gables, on May 04, 2019. [email protected] A push by new members of the Miami Dade College Board of Trustees to drastically lower the bar to become the colleges next president is fueling speculation that the search to replace the retiring Eduardo Padrn is being rigged to favor a specific candidate. On Thursday, the seven-member board will decide whether to eliminate prerequisites set in place by the prior board of trustees to ensure the next college president will hold at least a terminal degree the highest degree in their field and have a minimum six years of experience in education administration. The special meeting, scheduled at the behest of three of the four trustees recently appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, will take place four days before a deadline for applicants to submit their rsums. The search has been going on for three months. The newest trustees pushed to reconsider the criteria for the job last week, questioning whether the college is preventing capable but unconventional applicants from being among the 400 or so who have applied to succeed Padrn. But the idea of an 11th-hour change is raising alarms among faculty, who warn that the search appears as if it is being massaged to favor a specific person. Unlimited Digital Access: Only $0.99 For Your First Month Get full access to Miami Herald content across all your devices. SAVE NOW The integrity of the entire selection process is at risk, Mark Richard, the retired head of the United Faculty of Miami Dade College, wrote Friday in a union letter addressed to the seven trustees. Respectfully, the Board of Trustees needs to push back on those who might seek to capture the presidency as political spoils. Richard said he perhaps naively believes the process to be above board, and did not suggest who might benefit from the change. But in his letter, he referenced rumors that have persisted for months that politically connected trustees are angling to land a specific candidate: Was the Miami power structure heading to a new low in an effort to actually politicize the selection of a college president not at just any college, but at a national treasure of higher education? The application process has already been modified once to benefit certain unnamed candidates who apparently want to keep their names secret as long as possible. Last month, a selection committee led by Board Chairman Bernie Navarro gave a headhunting firm the discretion to add its own preferred candidates to a list of finalists who applied by a June 3 deadline. But Navarro who has already defended a decision to consider candidates who hold a juris doctorate as opposed to a Ph.D. said in an interview that giving some candidates extra time to apply doesnt materially change the process. On the other hand, he said the former board of trustees deliberated the minimum requirements back in February, and the colleges headhunter and selection committee have put in considerable effort since then. To undo that would be very difficult for me, Navarro said. But as chairman, Navarro said he also has to acknowledge the desires of the four new trustees, whom DeSantis hastened to put in place at the urging of the previously constituted board. And three of the four new appointees were clear last week that they think the college ought to consider executive-type candidates who may not come from academia. I am not comfortable as a new trustee that we did not explore a broader pool and a more diversified candidate set, said new trustee Michael Bileca, who spearheaded Republican education priorities during his time in the Florida House. Marcell Felipe, an attorney appointed by DeSantis and sworn in as a trustee last week, said he agrees with Richard that the search should not be politicized, but disagrees that new trustees are doing anything untoward by questioning the process. As it stands, the college hopes to name a new president by July to replace Padrn when he retires in August. I can certainly delegate my duties but not my responsibility. Thats a rubber stamp vote and Im not going to do that, said Felipe, arguing that another DeSantis appointee to the MDC board, Carlos Migoya, has done a good job as CEO of Jackson Health System despite his prior lack of experience in healthcare. Im just saying lets take a step back and lets open this up a little bit more to get a better pool of candidates. Or, alternatively, lets slow this thing down. I just got here. The Miami Dade College Board of Trustees will meet at 8 a.m. Thursday in Room 2106 at the downtown Miami Wolfson Campus. Finalists are scheduled to be interviewed June 19 and 20 by a selection committee. | https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/education/article230908948.html |
Was 'Aladdin' Boosted By The Memes Mocking Will Smith's Genie? | Aladdins marketing campaign got off to a wobbly start when the first pictures of Will Smiths Genie were posted in human form, in what resembled low-budget Arabian Nights cosplay, without even a glimpse of the wispy blue giant. Many fans assumed that Disney had drastically changed the new Genie (who already had the audacity of not being Robin Williams), into an unfamiliar form, completely removed from the original. The nostalgia element seems vital to the success of the new wave of Disney reboots, and Will Smith himself had to assure fans that, yes, the Genie would still be blue and smoky. But when the first trailer dropped and delivered a genie with the promised hue of blue, the design proved incredibly jarring; its likely that the CGI wasnt as polished as it should have been (though the final version still looked a bit strange). The familiar face of Will Smith was clumsily plastered onto a puffy blue body, hitting the heights of the uncanny valley and sparking a meme wildfire throughout social media. pic.twitter.com/l9rcqonXuZ Walt (@UberKryptonian) February 11, 2019 The negative reaction to almost every piece of marketing prompted box office analysts to lower their expectations, yet Aladdin proved another massive hit for Disney, Tim Burtons disastrous Dumbo not a sign of reboot fatigue, but simply a forgettable film. Or, more likely, catering to the wrong kind of nostalgia - the nineties seems to be where the money is. The Will Smith Genie meme proved remarkably mutagenic, with fans really showing their creativity, warping Smiths Genie into more and more grotesque forms. Eventually, Sonic the Hedgehog came along and stole the uncanny valley crown, but Sonics dreadful redesign was often blended with the Genie, the memory of Aladdin providing material for the new Sonic memes. In a way, the Genie paved the road for the mass meme-mockery of Sonic the Hedgehog, and comparatively, looked vastly superior. Smiths strange Genie prompted thousands of meme-creators to dedicate an inordinate amount of time thinking about the film, creating posts that were shared numerous times, sparking conversations and ensuring that Aladdin was never forgotten, even if it was being laughed at. Corporations recognized the marketing potential of memes long ago, but they can't control the content created by the masses. Perhaps it doesnt matter if the memes are mean-spirited - a funny, durable meme is free advertising, on an almost immeasurable scale. But Smiths Genie didnt just look odd; it was also being compared, inevitably, to Robin Williams legendary performance, an impossible act to follow. The relentless mockery might just have allowed the audience to absorb the disappointment, digesting the dramatic change before finally enjoying the movie for what it was. Perhaps the creators of Sonic the Hedgehog shouldn't have been so hasty in correcting Sonics design; the nightmarish, mutated hedgehog might just have been the films strongest asset. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/danidiplacido/2019/05/28/was-aladdin-boosted-by-the-memes-mocking-will-smiths-genie/ |
Should Fresno Grizzlies have apologized for Ocasio-Cortez video? | A baseball team, patriotism, Ocasio-Cortez and an apology: Heres what happened The Fresno Grizzlies minor league baseball team played a Memorial Day video on its scoreboard May 27, 2019, and later apologized for equating Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez with Kim Jung-un and Fidel Castro. Up Next SHARE COPY LINK The Fresno Grizzlies minor league baseball team played a Memorial Day video on its scoreboard May 27, 2019, and later apologized for equating Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez with Kim Jung-un and Fidel Castro. The Fresno Grizzlies apologized for a video played during the teams Memorial Day game that depicted Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez alongside Kim Jong-un and Fidel Castro. But not everyone thinks the team needed to apologize. Some people on Twitter called the video accurate, likening the congresswomans ideologies to that of the dictators. Haha.. Awesome video! Keith Rovere (@krovere5) May 28, 2019 Unlimited Digital Access: Only $0.99 For Your First Month Get full access to The Sacramento Bee content across all your devices. SAVE NOW I mean, when that person advocates for a economoc system that has literally killed thousands of people, I can kind of see where they might get that idea. Brad Bell (@Brad__Bell) May 28, 2019 A few readers also commented via the Fresno Bees website, saying the team shouldnt have apologized. She is a public figure and subject to comments and opinion. The issue here is its not the narrative that the left likes so its obviously going to get push back and outrage. Frightened businesses want to be pc so they cave. Welcome to the new normal, wrote reader J. Murray. Some readers, meanwhile, commented via the Fresno Bees website that they agreed with the Grizzlies decision to apologize. Reader Paul Loveland wrote: They should be fined and put on notice that calling a Congresswoman an enemy of freedom as part of the entertainment at a minor league ball game is grounds for terminating the franchise. Come on. It was distasteful, disrespectful and completely inappropriate. I have been a Fresno Grizzly supporter my entire life but no more. I will never buy tickets or attend any event held there, wrote reader Miguel Lopez. While many city leaders thanked the Grizzlies for their apology, another said Ocasio-Cortezs beliefs should be denounced. The first part of the video beautifully honored the tremendous sacrifice of our veterans that died defending our freedoms and values. The end of the video linked Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez to two dictators and was inappropriate, said Fresno City Council Member Garry Bredefeld. However, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez is a proud, self-proclaimed socialist, Bredefeld said. This philosophy and form of government has caused intense misery and pain to millions of people across the world. Socialism is the exact opposite of our founding principles and traditional values. It offers the phony promise of everything being free as long as youre dependent on government and people like Ocasio-Cortez rather than the capitalistic freedom and ingenuity of the individual. Her beliefs should and must always be denounced. With her understanding of how math works with budgets, Id say its pretty spot on. Shes trying to internally cripple the economy and I would say that makes her an enemy Ryan Kitts (@RyanKittsBTC) May 28, 2019 I dont see anything wrong here Tyson (@tysonjfisher) May 28, 2019 That is the greatest video in the history of video. James L. Turman Jr. (@H60turbo) May 28, 2019 The saddest part of this whole thing is that the grizzlies apologized. Please stop being snowflakes. john suss (@jecs831) May 28, 2019 I didnt find the error and watched it twice. I thought it was an incredibly truthful video. Vickie Freeman (@vlfAKAfreebird) May 28, 2019 A spokesperson for Ocasio-Cortezs office declined to comment on the video, but AOC herself, as shes known on Twitter, weighed in with a string of tweets Tuesday afternoon. All of this is to say that words matter, and can have consequences for safety, she said in her last tweet. For those who believe in free speech: Whose free speech do you believe in? some folks using free speech to defend racism are also supporting folks passing laws to allow running over protesters. What people dont (maybe do) realize is when orgs air these hateful messages, my life changes bc of the flood of death threats they inspire. Ive had mornings where I wake up & the 1st thing I do w/ my coffee is review photos of the men (its always men) who want to kill me. Tell The Bee here. Loading... | https://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/article230917878.html |
Will day off help Cleveland Indians Jose Ramirez rediscover his swing, break slump? | BOSTON -- Indians manager Terry Francona doesnt know if it will work. He just knew that Jose Ramirez looked like he needed a day off. If not for his own well being, well, his batting average definitely needed a break. Ramirez sat and watched the Indians lose to Boston, 12-5, on Monday. The two-time All-Star was back in the lineup on Tuesday night. He singled against David Price in his first at-bat before the game was delayed by rain. I cant sit here and tell you hes going to turn into a .400 hitter because he had a day off, said Francona before the start of Tuesdays game. "I just thought it was good for him. I thought hed been grinding. When youre up around a couple hundred at-bats (193), thats a lot of grinding without a day off. Most guys, this time of year, have already had a day off. He plays hard. Hes not the biggest guy and he beats himself up on the bases. I felt he could just wake up (Monday morning) and take a deep breath. I thought that would be good for him. Ramirez went into Tuesdays game hitting .197 (38-for-193) with four homers and 15 RBI in 52 games. He had an OPS of .593. After 52 games last year, Ramirez was hitting .296 (60-for-203) with 16 homers, 39 RBI and a 1.005 OPS. Francona said he hadnt given Ramirez a day off until Monday because he didnt want to deny him a chance to get hot. For what hes been through, hes been amazingly consistent in the way hes handled himself," said Francona. I think for us who know him pretty well, weve seen signs of frustration. You can just tell its bothering him. Hes human. Hes been one of the best hitters in baseball and hes been scuffling for a while now. Postcards from the desert: Outfielder Bradley Zimmer (right shoulder, oblique) is making progress in extended spring in Goodyear, Ariz. Hell continue to play outfield in games through the weekend and could be moved to Class AAA Columbus after that. Right-hander Mike Clevinger (right shoulder) will throw his second game in extended spring training on Saturday. If that goes well, look for him to join Columbus or Class AA Akron on a rehab. Hes eligible to come off the 60-day injured list on June 7. Right-hander Danny Salazar (right shoulder) threw to batters for the first time this year on Tuesday. Outfielder Tyler Naquin (left hamstring, calf) will join Columbus in Norfolk, Va., and play Tuesday and Wednesday. The Indians will then re-evaluate whether hes ready to rejoin the big-league club or continue his rehab assignment. Naquin has already made two rehab starts for Class AA Akron. He played 10 innings in right field and went 1-for-5 with a double. Finally: The Tribes bullpen has shown the biggest improvement in ERA in the big leagues. Theyve gone from 4.60 to 3.11, a difference of almost 1 1/2 (1.49) runs. The Rockies are second, taking 0.60 runs off their ERA from last year (4.62 to 4.02). Get Tribe Insider texts in your phone from Paul Hoynes: Cut through the clutter of social media and communicate directly with the award-winning Indians reporter, just like you would with your friends. It's just $3.99 a month, which works out to about 13 cents a day. Learn more and sign up here. You can sign up for free text messages from Cleveland.com reporters for May. Heres a link to show you how. | https://www.cleveland.com/tribe/2019/05/will-day-off-help-cleveland-indians-jose-ramirez-rediscover-his-swing-break-slump.html |
What are the odds 16-seed Oregon State can make it to College World Series? | Oregon State heads into the 2019 NCAA baseball tournament as the No. 16 national seed. Which isnt as daunting as it sounds. The Beavers are the overall 16 seed on the 64-team bracket. To compare it to a 64-team bracket with which most are familiar the NCAA basketball tournament OSU is the equivalent of a 4-seed. Four seeds have been known to make a title run in NCAA basketball. History, though, says Oregon State will have a steep uphill climb to make it to the eight-team College World Series, let alone repeat as national champions. The NCAA introduced a 64-team bracket for baseball in 1999. For OSU to advance to the CWS, the Beavers must win their regional, and then a best-of-three super regional series, likely against top-seeded UCLA. In 20 previous regional tournaments, the overall No. 16 seed which has the luxury of playing at home won 10 times. Also lost 10 times, including the past two. Regionals are not a slam dunk for the overall No. 1 seed, but odds are much more favorable. The top seed is 17-3 in surviving the regional tournament. In 20 tournaments, the overall 16 seed has made it to the College World Series once. In 2003, 16-seed Texas swept its best-of-three super regional series against top-seed Florida State. The overall No. 1 seed has played the 16-seed in nine super regionals, winning eight times. The 16 seed has also reached the super regionals once when the top seed flopped in its regional. In 2014, overall top seed Oregon State lost in the regional, but 16-seed Oklahoma State was unable to capitalize, losing to UC Irvine in the super regionals. Here is the history of overall 16 and 1 seeds in the regional and super regional tournaments: 2018 1 Florida won its regional, defeated Auburn 2-0 in super regional 16 NC State didnt make it out of regional 2017 1 Oregon State won its regional, defeated Vanderbilt 2-0 in super regional 16 Clemson didnt make it out of regional 2016 1 Florida def. 16 Florida State 2-1 in super regional 2015 1 UCLA and 16 UC Santa Barbara lost regionals 2014 1 Oregon State lost in regionals 16 Oklahoma State won its regional, lost to UC Irvine 2-0 in super regional 2013 1 North Carolina def. 16 South Carolina 2-1 in super regional 2012 1 Florida def. 16 NC State 2-0 in super regional 2011 1 Virginia won its regional, defeated UC Irvine 2-1 in super regional 16 UCLA lost its regional 2010 1 Arizona State def. 16 Arkansas 2-0 in super regional 2009 1 Texas def. 16 TCU 2-1 in super regional 2008 1 Miami def. 16 Arizona 2-1 in super regional 2007 1 Vanderbilt and 16 Virginia lost their regional 2006 1 Clemson won its regional, defeated Oral Roberts 2-0 in super regional 16 Oklahoma State lost its regional 2005 1 Tulane won its regional, defeated Rice 2-1 in super regional 16 Louisiana State lost its regional 2004 1 Texas won its regional, defeated Vanderbilt 2-0 in super regional 16 Virginia lost its regional 2003 16 Texas defeated 1 Florida State 2-0 in super regional 2002 1 Florida State won its regional, lost to Notre Dame 2-1 in super regional 16 South Alabama lost its regional 2001 1 Cal State Fullerton def. 16 Mississippi State 2-0 in super regional 2000 1 South Carolina won its regional, lost to Louisiana Lafayette 2-1 in super regional 16 East Carolina lost its regional 1999 1 Miami def. 16 Wake Forest 2-0 in super regional | https://www.oregonlive.com/beavers/2019/05/what-are-the-odds-16-seed-oregon-state-can-make-it-to-college-world-series.html |
Can Grocery Stores Embrace Change And Technology? | Getty Technology is going to be a huge component of the grocery landscape in the years to come, but grocers still have their work cut out for them. Dana Krug, vice president and general manager of food and beverage at Phononic, shared more about the challenges grocers face in an interview. "According to consumer research we conducted last year, 50% of consumers feel that grocery stores have not yet figured out how to use technology like other retailers have. With Amazon throwing another gauntlet down, we are likely to see other players in the space doubling down on their food technology investments," Krug says. Phononic's research has found that 89% of shoppers want to shop in a grocery store that understands how to make buying groceries an easier and more efficient experience. A key way this can be achieved is through the layout of the store: 92% of customers say it is important that the layout of the store makes it easy to find things, and food executives agreed, with 87% saying it has proved successful to create an optimized store layout. For seven in 10 executives polled by Phononic, this meant changing their layouts to accommodate micro-visits. Getty "Today, we are seeing consumers moving away from long shopping trips to these more frequent and shorter trips. As a result, fewer customers are traversing the full store, choosing instead to simply pick-up their goods at the front or make a bee-line to specific items. Whats more, when consumers do decide on a longer shop, they are mostly spending their time along the perimeter of the store where the prepared foods, produce and deli offerings reside," Krug shares. Krug believes that by distributing refrigeration and freezing technologies throughout the store, instead of relegating them to the very front or very back, grocers can win on experience by placing natural pairings together more easily. "Chilled salsa and hot queso right next to the corn chips in the snack aisle, chilled wine and cheese in the cracker aisle, mozzarella, tomato and basil for paninis, etc. There are so many examples. By removing the limitations of traditional refrigeration and freezing units, grocers can truly conform the layout of their stores to the way customers want to shop," Krug says. In addition, stores will need a continued investment in technology that speeds up consumer shopping trips by reducing wait times, such as cashierless checkout, and innovations that may eliminate checkout altogether, such as sensor technology that integrates with brands mobile apps and mobile provider payment functions, like Apple Pay and Samsung Pay. These efforts will be supported and aided by advancements in indoor positioning systems (IPS) that will allow grocers to study how people move throughout their aisles and deliver personalized offers to improve the experience right to their mobile phones. In the years to come, shoppers can expect to see their in-store experience incorporating even more digital functionalities, like mobile barcode scanning of products that calls up reviews, price comparisons and customized pairing recommendations based on dietary preferences and purchase patterns. Retailers are also looking to automated technologies to improve processes on the business end and to augment the efforts of employees. For example, robotic janitors in Walmart or Martys in Giant Food Stores are improving the shopping experience by freeing up employees time, so they can interact more with customers. Among other innovations being explored are self driving grocery delivery services. "While still young, were seeing these growing quickly, with Kroger recently announcing plans to expand its autonomous grocery service partnership to a second market. Notably, when we asked consumers in our most recent survey about the future of the grocery experience, they predicted that the traditional grocery store will still be a go-to destination, but nearly 20% said they will shop more online and pick the items up. A smaller fraction, 17%, intends to embrace delivery from their traditional grocers. This shows that while still relatively immature, customers see a lot of potential in the delivery experience," Krug says. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/lanabandoim/2019/05/28/can-grocery-stores-embrace-change-and-technology/ |
Did Hollister Drive Profits At Abercrombie & Fitch's In Q1? | 2018 Bloomberg Finance LP Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE: ANF) is set to announce its first quarter results later today, followed by a conference call with analysts. The apparel retailer is expected to post a quarterly loss of $0.43 per share, which represents a year-over-year improvement of 23.2% while revenues are expected to fall marginally to $733.5 million. The improvement in earnings are expected to be driven by sales growth in the Hollister brand and expansion in the companys digital segment. Per Trefis estimates, Abercrombies shares have a fair value of $29 which is about 15% ahead of the current market price. In addition, here is more Trefis Textiles, Apparel and Luxury Good Industry Data. A Quick Look at Abercrombie & Fitchs Revenue Sources Abercrombie & Fitch reported $3.6 billion in Total Revenues in Fiscal 2018. This included 2 revenue streams: Abercrombie : $1.4 billion in FY 2018 (40% of Total Revenues). This brand is a specialty retailer of high-quality apparel and accessories for men and women. : $1.4 billion in FY 2018 (40% of Total Revenues). This brand is a specialty retailer of high-quality apparel and accessories for men and women. Hollister : $2.2 billion in FY 2018 (60% of Total Revenues). Hollister is focused on teens globally and also includes the intimates brand, Gilly Hicks. Trefis Key Factors To Watch for In Q1 Digital Sales Will Continue To Augment The Companys Growth The growth in e-commerce has resulted in a fundamental shift from brick-and-mortar to the online platform over the last decade, and retail companies have been forced to embrace this trend in order to remain relevant. At the same time, digital and in-store shopping are also becoming increasingly integrated. ANF has invested heavily in growing its Direct to Consumer segment, as the company shifts its focus to digital sales from physical store sales. The companys strategy is yielding results, as evidenced by the fact that digital sales exceeded $1 billion in 2018 roughly 35% of total sales volume. We anticipate the DTC segment to be the key driver of the companys top line in coming years. Hollister Growth Likely To Remain Strong The Hollister brand has been pivotal to Abercrombie & Fitchs turnaround in recent years, led by consistent growth across genders and channels. The brand posted a 6% improvement in its comps in Q4 (its ninth consecutive quarter of growth in the metric) driven by better-than-expected sales across product categories. Further, the brand has done well to evolve itself with changing trends and customer preferences. The companys Swim and Intimates line, Gilly Hicks, continues to attract new customers to the Hollister brand. Moreover, the companys new spot offerings at Gilly Hicks have aided the brands growth. Taking all this into account, we expect the Hollister brand to continue to drive a bulk of the companys growth over the foreseeable future. Company Likely To Benefit From Its Loyalty Program Abercrombies loyalty program grew significantly in 2018, with its total member count reaching 28 million while its Awesomeness TV series generated more than 21 million YouTube views. Also, the companys focus on its loyalty program and marketing campaign has helped it achieve positive cross-channel traffic comp. The company plans to leverage the data collected through its loyalty program to engage with its customers better on a personalized level, which in turn should help the company to improve its customer retention ratio. We expect the company to invest more in this program and improve its customer engagement across markets. Impact Of Tariffs On China Production To minimize the impact of tariffs imposed by the U.S. on China, Abercrombie plans to cut down production in China to 20% in 2019 and also intends to slash the amount of China-sourced goods flowing into the U.S. by half in the near future. This is likely to elevate the companys operating expenses, which should hurt the companys bottom-line. However, the company continues to see strong demand for its retail products in China and the tariffs are unlikely to have any material impact on the companys retail segment products. Trefis Price Estimate Based on our forecast, Abercrombie & Fitchs EPS for full-year 2019 is likely to be around $1.23. Using this figure with our estimated forward P/E ratio of 23x, this works out to a price estimate of $29 for the companys shares, which is about 15% ahead of the current market price. Explore example interactive dashboards and create your own | https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2019/05/29/did-hollister-drive-profits-at-abercrombie-fitchs-in-q1/ |
Who Will Win The Cricket World Cup And The $4 Million Prize? | Getty The Cricket World Cup is almost here. And, much like the protracted game itself, it will be around for some time. Despite having just a measly 10 10! - teams competing, the World Cup is played over a six-week timetable as teams play each other in a lengthy round robin format to qualify for the semi-finals. Shameless politicking aside notably the controversial reduction of teams from 14 in 2015 the World Cup will undoubtedly conjure some magical moments over the next 46 days in the U.K. And there is a lot of money to be made. The winner receives $4 million amid the total prize pot of $10 million. Lets answer some burning questions ahead of the tournaments opener on Thursday. Crickets showpiece global event has only increased by a measly two teams since the opening edition in 1975 although it peaked with 16 in 2007. The seeds of the controversial cull was in 2007 when India was knocked out early in the tournament staged in the Caribbean. "It was done for financial reasons and broadcasters wanted more Indian matches," Ehsan Mani, ICC president from 2003-06, told me last year before he became the Pakistan Cricket Board chairman. "It is a hypocritical decision and it's not acting in the best interests of the game. The World Cup should be a celebration of the sport and it is a disgraceful decision. It is very disappointing that the ICC didn't revisit the decision. The powerful boards of India, England and Australia did nothing to overturn the decision despite much public backlash over the years. Its all a mighty shame during a time when Associate teams below the top tier are thriving and have never been stronger magnified when Scotland stunned world No.1 England last year. The pizzazz of the Associates energized an otherwise lethargic opening few weeks of the 2015 World Cup and that spark will be sorely missed. With other major sports, notably soccer and basketball, boasting 32-team World Cups, cricket continues to be unable to shackle its elitist perception. There is a genuine sense that England will score 500 at some stage in the tournament. That is an indication of their batting heft but also reflective of the World Cup marked by flat pitches on the small U.K. grounds. ODI batting has been lit by a fuse in recent years a little like how NBA scoring has been in overdrive due to the propensity of teams unleashing the three-pointer. A score of 270 used to be a good total but now feels totally inadequate. Personally, I always preferred lower scoring ODI contests where there is a more even balance between bat and ball. Some of my favorite matches, like the classic 1999 semi-final between Australia and South Africa, were low-scoring nerve-janglers. However, Im probably in the minority in this Twenty20 turbocharged era where a newer breed of fan craves nonstop sixes like they are playing a video game. Still, when the stakes are raised like weve seen in the NBA playoffs where scores have skewed lower expect the game to slow down in the knockout stages when the pressure is amplified. 270 might actually prove a match-winning score. The top two teams are the hot favorites with most expecting them to meet in the final. If the batting conditions hold up, England really should win the World Cup through their futuristic, mesmerizing batting lineup led by the audacious Jos Buttler who is revolutionizing batting through his array of party tricks. Their bowling is serviceable enough but if the batting falters then alarm bells could ring. England, of course, will have to deal with unusually high expectations from their compatriots and anything other than a victory will be seen as a disappointment. India, meanwhile, have a well-rounded team and arguably the best balanced attack led by No.1 bowler Jasprit Bumrah which should be pivotal in the knockout stages. Captain Virat Kohli could be the difference in the tournament and amid his absolute peak he might make a resounding statement. Big players raise their game and there is no one bigger in cricket than the India talisman. After a heavy workload during the past year, a jaded Kohli struggled in the Indian Premier League (IPL), but you would expect the maestro to be at his absolute best at the World Cup. Indias batting is always strong but feels particularly top-heavy and reliant on the top three of Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan and Kohli. They still rely heavily on legend MS Dhoni, who is nearly 38, to anchor the innings and he has remarkably continued to be crickets Benjamin Button as he memorably proved at the recent IPL. There is still much burden on the evergreen Dhoni who will be hoping he can hold off the ravages of age for one last run. Australia. There are a lot of red flags over this group and their stellar recent run feels a bit like fools gold but as an Australian its hard not to get caught up in the mythology over the team at World Cups. Australia has, after all, completely dominated the event over the last two decades and its got to that stage like the Golden State Warriors where you just have to back them until the bitter end. Fueling momentum, Steve Smith and David Warner are back from their lengthy ball-tampering bans. Smith, who is unleashing 12 months of anger and frustration at helpless bowlers, has looked once again impregnable in the middle during the warm-up matches. Combined with a hungry Warner, the former leaders feel like they might actually inspire the team to great heights a far cry from initial fears they might sabotage the goodwill building in Aaron Finchs group. If they do then Australia will complete a remarkable redemptive comeback that right now - feels still somewhat fantastical. It would also ensure old foes England are mired in familiar woe marked by despondent English fans returning to being fatalistic supporters. Its going to be a wild six weeks. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/tristanlavalette/2019/05/29/who-will-win-the-cricket-world-cup-and-the-4-million-prize/ |
Did Donald Trump Lose $1 Billion On Purpose to Avoid Taxes? | The New York Times announced that it had ten years worth of Donald Trumps tax data from official Internal Revenue Service tax transcripts from 1985 to 1994. Losses: almost $1.2 billion over the period and no federal income tax for eight out of the ten years. Trump responded on Twitter that real estate developers in the 1980s and 1990s were entitled to massive write offs and depreciation that could show losses for years. Appreciate depreciation The first step to clearing confusion is to understand that losing money doesnt mean companies and people dont walk away with cash. Theres lots of legal ways to report the non-cash losses [but] that doesnt mean you dont have the cash in your pocket., said Thomas Patrick Dore, Jr., a concurrent professor of law at the Notre Dame Law School and professor of practice at the Fitzgerald Institute for Real Estate, as well as senior counsel in Davis Polks Real Estate Group in New York City. The main tool is depreciation. In accounting, theres an assumed natural lifespan for assets that companies buy. If you were in the trucking business and you had to buy new tires, you could take a loss for the amount it cost you to buy the tire, Dore said. But when you buy the building, you cant deduct the whole cost of the building. Instead, the company deducts the initial cost of the building over some standard useful life. Depending on the specifics, that can be decades. Thats the key to long-term paper losses. Morris Armstrong, an enrolled agent who can represent people before the IRS, provided an example. You buy a condo for $275,000 and rent it out, he said. The depreciation is $10,000 a year and you rent the condo for $2,000 a month. At the end of each year, youve seen total depreciation of $10,000 and rental income of $24,000. Now you pay for the real estate taxes, insurance, maintenance and mortgage interest, which total $20,000, Armstrong said. At the end of it all, you have business coststhe depreciation and the other expensesof $30,000. Because the rental income is less than the costs, your rental business has a $6,000 loss. But because $10,000 of the loss is only on paper, you have $4,000 cash in your pocket. The difference between renting the condo and big real estate development is only one of size. Add more zeros, the basic concept does not change, Armstrong said. And all the while, the market value of the building can keep climbing, making the developer wealthier. If the loss is bigger than the income from the property, you carry it forward as a net operating loss, said Francine Lipman, a tax law expert and professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas law school. Its especially great if you can do it with somebody elses money. Someone like a Donald Trump might borrow significant amounts from banks, use their money to buy property, operate the property, deduct the depreciation as well as interest from the mortgage and other expenses, take home a lot of cash, and technically be losing money in their tax filings. Many real estate people would like to build a portfolio, have it grow, and keep building, said Tim Wallen, CEO of MLG Capital. If Im always growing, new deals create losses. I could be generating losses on the new stuff Im doing to offset the profits on the old stuff. Although that may not be possible to do indefinitely, it is possible to pursue that strategy for long periods. Charles Harder, a lawyer for Trump, according to the Times, wrote to the newspaper to say that the type of documents they had were notoriously inaccurate and would not be able to provide a reasonable picture of any taxpayers return. The reporters for the story checked with Mark Mazur, currently director of the Urban Brookings Tax Policy Center and a former director of research, analysis and statistics at the IRS, about the quality of the data. Mazur reportedly told the Times that such transcripts were handy summaries of tax returns. However, a summary would not have enough detail to determine what actually happened because of a difference between paper losses and real losses. The first is an accounting acknowledgment of something that technically lowers value but may not mean a cash outlay, versus the second. Mazur told Fortune that theres no way to tell the difference with transcripts, or even filed 1040s. The details are buried in other forms, such as the 8825 or 5498. And frequently, real estate development is done as deals owned by dedicated legal entities like limited partnerships, which pass along profits to the partners rather than having them held by a corporation. To know the degree to which losses were paper or tangible would require having the tax filings of the legal entities, which in this case would be the limited partnerships that technically own and run a given building or real estate project. In short, with the information available, there is now way to know if Trump was living hand to mouth while losing more than $100 million a year on average or eating caviar with a golden spoon. But if he had been engineering paper losses to avoid paying taxes, he wouldnt be the only real estate mogul to have done so. More must-read stories from Fortune: Warren Buffetts best stock picks over the past year Pornhub should think twice about buying Tumblr Staggered boards are paying off for stock investors Why debt ceiling may become a buzzword this summer Dont miss the daily Term Sheet, Fortunes newsletter on deals and dealmakers | http://fortune.com/2019/05/09/trump-taxes-paper-losses/ |
Which quarterbacks deserve to get contract extensions? | Were entering the quiet period of the NFL season with the draft behind us, but theres still a few pieces of unfinished business lingeringmost notably, the franchise quarterbacks entering the final years of their contracts with no extensions yet. Albert Breer, Jenny Vrentas and Conor Orr discuss whether teams should extend their aging quarterbacks. (Listen to the latest The MMQB NFL Podcast here. The following transcript has been edited and condensed for clarity.) Jenny Vrentas: Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers said this week that he is at peace with playing out the final year of his current contract with the team. He's one of a number of older quarterbacks who went into this offseason in the last year of their deals. Ben Roethlisberger has since been extended while Eli Manning and Tom Brady have not. Albert Breer: I thought this one was an interesting topic just because we dont hear a lot about Eli being in a contract yearbut he is. And you start to hear things late leaking out of the Manning camp that he wants to play past this year. Brady has already said that he wants to play past this year repeatedly, and he doesnt have a contract. And Rivers is sitting out there too. Ben didnt take a whole lot less [on his two-year extension]. I think Bens was $32 [million] a year, something like that. All Brady has to do is sit there, because his cap number is $27 million this year. He sits there, and they have to tag him next year, and his tag number is $32.4 [million], right. Eli and Rivers is not to that degree because their cap numbers arent as big this year, but theyre both near $27 million. So those guys can both sit thereall these guys can sit thereand get much closer to the top of the market. I think its interesting, because wheres the middle ground for each of these guys. Ben clearly did not take a discount. Conor Orr: I dont know. I mean, if Im any of those guys, you have to take care of yourself. I mean, Brady is differentthat situation is just different in New England. But if all these [quarterbacks] start hopping off the Ferris wheel, all of a sudden I think youre impacting everybody elses right to earn. Right now, its a pretty sweet deal where everyone that signs a new contract is essentially just making a million dollars less than the previous guy. Breer: All right, lets make this simple. I think we can all agree on this one, and well just get this out of the way. If Brady goes to the Patriots asking for a new contract, you give it to him. Vrentas: Right. Orr: 100% Breer: O.K. Vrentas: Oh boy. Orr: [Laughs.] Breer: I gave you the easy one first, and we got a little bit of an easier one next. This is the tough one. If Eli Manning comes to you tomorrow and says, I want to keep playing, I want to be here. I know you just drafted my successor. I want a chance to compete, I want a new contract now. Orr: I say, Im going to tell you something that somebody has never told you before, which is no. Vrentas: Wow. Breer: That would be confrontational for John Mara. Orr: This is why I dont own the Giants or have any sort of high-ranking position anywhere. I emotionally cannot handle it. Vrentas: I agree, [I would also say no], I just dont know that they would. Right now the ideal situation would be to handle it like a coach contract, where you just kind of add a year on [laughs]. ... I mean if they say they dont want to rush Daniel Jones theyve probably got to have a plan beyond this year. Breer: Eli probably has less leverage now that they have the guy. No matter what you think of Daniel Jones, the next guys in the building now. ... I say wait. Vrentas: Just see how the year goes. Breer: I want to see three months of Daniel Jones in the building. Dont need to see him in games. Just three months of what he looks like in the building, and get an idea of whether or not he can be ready in 2020. Ill say at the end of the summer lets talk. And it might be a no at the end of the summer. If Jones looks good, maybe its a no at the end of the summer. Vrentas: Totally yes. Theyre definitely counting on him playing beyond this year, because they havent made that bold move to get a successor. I mean, they took Easton Stick mid-draft. Breer: Well, they did what the Giants did with Kyle Lauletta last year. Vrentas: Yeah, just the old take a quarterback in a late round thing, right. Breer: Honestly I think theyre a team that should have been in the Josh Rosen business. Theyre the team that like stuck out to me throughout. I know they didnt love him, but that would have been I think a worthwhile swing for themto flip a second-round pick to do it because theyve got a pretty complete roster. They dont have any glaring holes they really had to take care of. I think that they did well in the draft. I think Adderleys going to be a good safety for them. Jerry Tillery should be a good player playing next to Bosa and Ingram. To me theyre the team that made the most sense as a Rosen suitor. Orr: it's interesting too. If you're the Giants, there is no leverage working against you. We'd talked about this a couple of times in the podcast about sort of the settling of the quarterback market and a lot of teams are much more content than they used to be. Breer: It almost feels like there was a market for a few years there where it was like, for the bridge [quarterback] and the price of the bridge went up and now it seems like it's collapsed. Vrentas: That's a great point. Breer: You had Sam Bradford, [Mike] Glennon, Tyrod [Taylor] got 16. ... Vrentas: Josh McCown got a ton. Because all those teams are preparing for that year when there were five quarterbacks drafted in the first round. Breer: All those teams were like, All right lets bring in a guy that we feel comfortable starting if the rookie isn't ready to start. And you know we're good with the price thats fine. Like that's what a quarterback costs. Breer: The Redskins didnt spend, right. I dont have it in front of me. Maybe that bridge quarterback market isnt there anymore ... Orr: At the end of that [Ben] McAdoo season where [Manning] was benchedthat was the time. That was the time to go if you were gonna go. But I think that there was either no foresight there or no desire I guess to move on. Breer: So neither of them are in the class of Brady. Rivers, I don't think is that far off, and I dont think Elis in the class of Rivers or Brady anymore. I would put Rivers and Eli in two different categories. Orr: I would say Eli and Flacco, I would say theyre close. Breer: Flacco is the guy in Denver where its like, lets see if this works out and if not, his contracts not guaranteed, we paid a fourth-round pick for him, so no big deal if it doesnt work out. Vrentas: Yeah, thats what I meant about like youre not even a bridge guy. Its not like they like invested a ton. It wasn't like those big bridge contracts. Plus, I mean Locke might not even work out. You know they may have to go dip in the quarterback well again. Breer: They might but they've got the flexibility to do it like that's what I like about Denver's at right like Denver. They they only spend us to one walks it's like if it doesn't work out the new you can still draft [Alabama QB] Tua [Tagovailoa] next year. Herbert next year, youll be fine. I think Denver maintained most of their flexibility anyway. Email us at [email protected]. | https://www.si.com/nfl/2019/05/09/quarterback-contract-extensions-eli-manning-philip-rivers-tom-brady |
Do CBD-infused massages live up to their marketing claims? | CBD has been popping up as an ingredient in drinks, snacks, and even cosmetics across the country. The latest wellness trend is derived from cannabis but doesn't contain THC, the chemical that gets you high. CBD, or cannabidiol, is being marketed as the answer for all kinds of health problems, and a growing number of spas across the U.S. are adding CBD-infused massages to their list of services. "CBD is great for relieving inflammation and pain and it's also good for relaxation and reduction of anxiety and stress," Demetri Travlos, a massage therapist at Chillhouse in New York City, told CBS News. But experts say the CBD trend is taking off faster than the science can keep up. "We are still at the beginning of trying to understand what CBD does in the body," said Dr. Margaret Haney from Columbia University Medical Center. Haney is internationally recognized for her research on cannabis. She says while she's excited about the potential of CBD, right now there is little evidence to support its medical claims. "We don't know as scientists if it gets absorbed, how it's acting, what dose one needs, so there's so many unanswered questions. I need placebo-controlled evidence to be convinced," Haney said. Still, CBD has many advocates. Breanna Arrington is an actor and a personal trainer, so it was a major setback when she recently injured a muscle in her hip. "An injury will definitely not only not allow me to do my 'job-job', but also it takes a little bit of me away, a little bit of me dies," she said. Physical therapy didn't help, so a few months ago she turned to massages using cream infused with CBD. Arrington says she quickly saw results. She gets a CBD massage twice a month and says, "I'm back doing the things that I like to do, back at Taekwondo, back lifting, using my body in dynamic ways." Experts say consumers should be aware that products made with CBD are not currently regulated by the FDA. In March, U.S. health officials announced the FDA will hold a public hearing on May 31 to gather more information on the science, manufacturing and sale of cannabis compounds like CBD. One major concern is that CBD labels are not always accurate. A 2017 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found 70 percent of the 84 CBD products tested were mislabeled. "You're really flying by the seat of your pants when you buy this stuff," Marcel Bonn-Miller, Ph.D., of the University of Pennsylvania, told the Associated Press. A product labeled as containing 100 milligrams of CBD may only have 5 milligrams, or it may have 200, he said. Bonn-Miller is now an adviser for a company that sells CBD and other cannabis products. He didn't work in the industry when he did the research. "I wouldn't trust any of it until I knew independently it was safe," he said. Experts recommend asking to see testing reports before purchasing CBS products. | https://www.cbsnews.com/news/do-cbd-infused-massages-live-up-to-their-marketing-claims/ |
Whats the Best Way to Get Rid of a Bad Aftertaste? | Ordering a dish loaded with garlic or onions can be a commitment. The flavors can linger on the tongue long after a meal is over, no matter how many breath mints you pop. Cordelia Running, director of the Saliva, Perception, Ingestion and Tongues (SPIT) lab at Purdue University, says that aftertastes are generally caused by little bits of the actual flavor stimuli that might hang around: physical remnants of food that get caught in the mouth, for example, or molecules that remain in the saliva or mucus. Potent foods, such as garlic and onions, may cause an even lengthier aftertaste because molecules associated with their taste and scent can get into the bloodstream and circulate throughout the body, Running explains. Once theyre in the blood, the substances can ooze out through the fluids between your cells, Running says, getting into saliva and sweat and potentially contributing to a lasting taste or smell. The compounds are also passed up through the lungs and throat before exiting through the mouth, another way they can contribute to aftertaste. The substances are so pervasive that pregnant womens amniotic fluid may even smell different after they eat garlic, research shows. TIME Health Newsletter Get the latest health and science news, plus: burning questions and expert tips. View Sample Sign Up Now Raw, chopped garlic and onions are the worst offenders, Running says. When you smash something like garlic or onions, you damage the cells, she explains. You release enzymes that are present in that food, that the plants evolved to protect themselves from being smashed and eaten in other words, the enzymes that give onions and garlic their stinky, burning properties. Brushing and flossing are good first lines of defense against a bad aftertaste, since they can remove physical food particles lodged in your mouth. But if those compounds get into your bloodstream, no amount of brushing will cure your breath completely, Running says. If it really is coming from these things in your bloodstream, you may just smell like garlic for a while. You could also try canceling out the aftertaste with other odors or flavors, Running says, but you run the risk of creating a mixture that leads to more unpleasantness. One study from 2016 suggests that apples, mint leaves or lettuce are the best foods to eat to get rid of an aftertaste, because they contain substances that may counteract the stinky ones in your blood. Parsley and milk may also work, according to the chemistry blog Compound Interest. If that doesnt do the job, you may just have to wait it out, Running says. Even then, it may take people different amounts of time to fully process certain foods which may explain why some people are tormented by aftertastes for hours, and others hardly notice them. How fast does it pass through your intestines? Running says. Theres an enormous range of variability from one person to the next. As with many things, prevention is the best medicine. Cooking garlic and onions before eating them neutralizes those potent enzymes and in turn cuts down on aftertaste, Running says. Write to Jamie Ducharme at [email protected]. | http://time.com/5584027/how-to-get-rid-of-aftertaste/ |
Can Jeremy Corbyn heal the Brexit divide? | Image copyright PA Jeremy Corbyn wants to ditch the labels of Leave and Remain, to stop worrying about the "48" and the "52" and to concentrate on the country as a whole. He says only Labour can bring the two warring sides together. In other words - time to move on. The idea of turning the page will be tantalising to millions, but peeling those labels off our politics is, for now at least, probably wishful thinking. In his own party, the most fevered question is over whether to allow, even help Brexit on its way, or to have another referendum to try to stop it - that's an issue of Leave or Remain. Just after he gave his speech in Kent, launching Labour's European election campaign, two party activists expressed the difference precisely. One of them told us they were "disappointed with the party's half-and-half" approach to Brexit, and keen for another referendum to stay in. Moments before, a different party member told me: "Us Remainers lost. We have to get out of Europe," and was really worried that holding out the possibility of another referendum was hurting Labour on the doorstep. Second, the central argument in Parliament has been for many, many, months, whether to back the deal that takes us out even if it's flawed, or to continue to reject it - again that's an issue of stay or go. At some point, probably not next week, that question will be front and centre again, the noisy cases on both sides being made in Westminster, where the two labels fundamentally ARE the argument. And the arrival of the Brexit Party and Change UK mean too that, for the next couple of weeks at least during the European elections, the clash between Leave and Remain will be deafening. More importantly than any of that, of course, is where the public is. And since 2016 it has been the case that, when you talk to voters in different parts of the country, so often they identify themselves as Leavers or Remainers. And there is academic evidence to suggest that those labels might be stronger now for some voters than attachment to any political party. Plenty of politicians and maybe many members of the public might wish we could turn the clock back, or somehow leap forward to a time when those labels don't really mean much. But until there is some kind of resolution to Brexit, it's hard to see that happening. And there is a new and genuinely different divide opening up that defies party lines too - not a clash between those who backed Brexit, and those who want to remain in the EU but between politicians who think the last three years have changed things for good and those who believe sooner, or probably later, the process will be sort of complete and politics can return to something that's a bit more conventional. A dispute which is not between Leave or Remain, but maybe between "returners" and "revolutionaries". It is not about what side you took on the European issue itself, but about whether you accept or reject the notion that it has changed politics for good. A sub-plot of the pretty brazen Tory leadership contest that's going on while Theresa May ploughs on is whether the tentative candidates think they can get Brexit "done", then pursue a rather familiar Tory trajectory, or whether Brexit is a starting point for a bigger, more lasting change to the political landscape. Don't worry if you don't like that pair of labels. In Westminster, another set will be along sooner or later. But the Leaver or Remainer tags are stuck for now, for good reason. As so often with Brexit, despite his sincere objections to the Tory approach, you can't help feeling that Mr Corbyn just wishes it was all over. Given the levels of frustration around, that may well find some public sympathy. But telling us that the labels ought to be a thing of the past, is not the same as making that true. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-48217654 |
Who is Patrick Shanahan, Trump's pick for defense secretary? | President Trump intends to officially nominate Patrick Shanahan, who has been acting defense secretary since Feburary, to be defense secretary, after several months in the position in an acting capacity, following the departure of Defense Secretary James Mattis. Here's what to know about the new defense secretary: Background Before he was named acting defense secretary, Shanahan, a longtime Boeing executive, served as deputy defense secretary. Shanahan was vice president and general manager of the Boeing 757 program, and he also worked on the 737, 747, 767, 777, and 787 commercial airline programs. He was then vice president and general manager for Boeing Rotorcraft Systems in Philadelphia, where he responsible for all U.S. Army Aviation programs and site activities in Philadelphia and Mesa, Arizona. His career at Boeing was a mix of military-related and commercial positions. He was vice president and general manager of Boeing Missile Defense Systems, and next next served as senior vice president of Airplane Programs at Boeing Commercial Airplanes. He became senior vice president of Supply Chain & Operations at Boeing in 2016. Mr. Trump nominated Shanahan to become deputy defense secretary in March 2017, so that he could assist with the president's planned expansion of the military. Former Sen. John McCain threatened to block his nomination during confirmation hearings in June 2017, charging that Shanahan had ducked questions on whether he believed the U.S. should supply Ukraine with weapons to combat Russian aggression. Shanahan said he would have to look at the issue. "You have been associated for the last I don't know how many years with one of the five corporations that provide 90 percent of the defensive weaponry, the weaponry to defend this nation," McCain said at the time. "And your answer was, 'Well, I'd have to look at the issue.' That's not good enough Mr. Shanahan." Shanahan was confirmed despite McCain's reservations by a vote of 92-7 in July. Shanahan's advancement to the post of acting defense secretary was met by some criticism by Democrats who claimed that his experience at Boeing meant he could be compromised in deals involving the company. Boeing landed $20 million in defense contracts after Shanahan was confirmed, the Daily Beast reported, but the Defense Department insisted that Shanahan had recused himself from matters involving the company. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, one of the few senators to oppose Shanahan's confirmation, told the Daily Beast that she believed "confirming a chief operating officer who would be forced to recuse himself from all matters relating to the department's second largest vendor was never a good idea." The Defense Department Office of the Inspector General investigated allegations that Shanahan had promoted Boeing and disparaged its competitors. In April, the inspector general cleared Shanahan, finding that the allegations were not substantiated and that he had "fully complied with his ethics agreements and ethical obligations regarding Boeing and its competitors." Shanahan and the wall After Mr. Trump declared a national emergency to build a wall at the southern border, Shanahan told reporters on Feb. 16 that he had not yet decided how much money the Defense Department would redirect to the project. The White House said that Mr. Trump would obtain the funds with the $3.6 billion Congress had already allocated to military construction projects, and $2.5 billion would come from the Pentagon's drug interdiction program. However, Shanahan has suggested that number could be smaller. "I will go in and review that analysis now that an emergency has been declared," Shanahan told reporters, according to the Associated Press. "Very deliberately, we have not made any decisions. We have identified the steps we would take to make those decisions." | https://www.cbsnews.com/news/who-is-patrick-shanahan-trumps-pick-for-defense-secretary/ |
Why dont we celebrate Mother-Daughter Day instead? | First Person is a daily personal piece submitted by readers. See our guidelines at tgam.ca/essayguide. Open this photo in gallery SHTONADO At six, my daughter announced, Daughters Day should be part of Mothers Day. The more I think about it, the more I agree. Mothers Day seems like a perfect time to value all women. Mothers, daughters or both. Ladies with no children, gals with no moms and those who get separated from parents or children, for whatever reason. Imagine a day of celebration for all who dream of and all who deserve more appreciation. There is no question that my own single-motherhood and fast-paced career felt more fierce than unforgettable at times. I was young. Finances, time constraints and daily struggles to be a good parent to a daughter I adored all conspired to overwhelm me at times. Recently I moved to Edmonton to be closer to my daughter, Tan, her husband, and my two treasured grandchildren. Shortly after I settled in, my daughter invited me to join them for lunch, and for a turn on the skating rink. Id assumed my daughter might glide gracefully around the rink just like Id watched her glide through life. Tans grace alongside my sketchy skating skills reminded me of mothering clumsily at times. Mothering, like skating that day, came without instructions. I was afraid my feet would fail me. I was afraid Id fall on my face. The ice had just been resurfaced so it felt more like greased glass than the lumpy rough stuff I manoeuvred on a shallow lake near home as a kid in Halifax. But I grabbed my grit, sucked up any apprehension and was determined to run (or skate) the gamut. Just like motherhood, I planned to stay the course despite the story Id heard from the only other grandmother in my circle, who warned me that shed just broken her wrist skating with her 11-year-old grandson in that same Edmonton arena. By the time I laced up my rented skates, both grandchildren were already on the ice displaying their finest moves. I panicked a bit as they whirled and twisted their ice-skating shapes around me. I felt unprepared for Frankies swan-like-swirls and surprised by Hendriks flypasts at breakneck-hockey-hero speed. Story continues below advertisement I was anything but graceful, and stepped to the rinks edge much like we step toward motherhoods uncertainties. Sure, I was freaked out by my inabilities, but I felt supported by a lifetime of love. I knew it wouldnt matter that I wasnt exactly a twirling figure skater or that Id never won a mother-of-the-year award. I clung to the rinks orange boards much like a peel clings to a tangerine, and I circled the arena at tortoise-like speed trying to catch the same stride I fought for while mothering my incredible daughter. Before long I had to admit this somewhat clumsy ability to get from one place to the next was my stride, much like my sometimes lopsided steps and stumbles to raise my incredible daughter. Eventually, I realized that not only did I enjoy skating with Tan, I felt comfortable trying something new alongside her. I felt relaxed enough to laugh at my amazingly awkward attempts to move two feet in any one direction at a time. Much like my attempts to parent well, my skating wobbles left me determined to try and try again, until my feet learned to at least move in a forward motion. Mother-daughter celebrations need special moments such as this, where love is enough, where laughter lingers, and where no broken bones occur. Within societys growing awareness of womens worth, perhaps Mothers Day could offer an ideal moment to celebrate more women in more diverse situations. Its been suggested that my own mother failed her seven children, mostly because of her inability to be there for them while she tried to survive an abusive relationship and then died in her thirties. Motherhood may not have offered her its traditional pleasures and joys, but she was also a daughter of my amazing Nana. Mother-Daughter Day would give voice to the joy of being somebodys daughter, even if caring relationships and bonds slip off tracks or if bumps on the ice come between them. Story continues below advertisement Love shared on a Mother-Daughter day celebrates that lifetime bond and lets us thank our daughters uniquely: to thank them for loving our grandchildren even more than we love them. (If thats possible!) Mother-Daughter Day would be a time when all females are reminded of their immense personal worth, just for being somebodys daughter. Its a bouquet that we would give with sincerity and communicate with thankfulness. This year, I plan to celebrate the day with my daughter and her family. Youll find us picnicking and playing outside together as a way to celebrate daughters and mothers in our lives, as I hope you will also enjoy meaningful moments and memories in yours. Ellen Weber lives in Edmonton. | https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/first-person/article-why-dont-we-celebrate-mother-daughter-day-instead/ |
Can Workhorse really afford to save the GM plant in Lordstown? | CLOSE Sherrod Brown is a Democrat, Rob Portman a Republican. Both want to save an Ohio auto plant. Cincinnati Enquirer Ohio's hottest tech company right now has a web site that doesn't work. With two Wednesday morning tweets, President Trump declared a struggling Cincinnati-area company would be the savior of thousands of lost Ohio jobs at the shuttered Lordstown Chevy Cruz plant that was idled in March. Workhorse Group's home page crashed under the crush of new web visitors and stayed down much of Thursday. Investors also tripled the value of their stake after the penny stock soared from 84 cents per share to close at $2.65. It was the most money investors have seen in a long time: the Loveland company, which makes battery-powered electric vehicles, has lost nearly $150 million since its inception in 2007. General Motors confirmed the automaker was in talks with Workhorse and a related separate business entity headed by its founder but no deal had been reached. "Workhorse has innovative technologies that could help preserve Lordstown's more than 50-year tradition of vehicle assembly work," said GM CEO Mary Barra on Wednesday, excluding any mention of potential job figures. The only thing missing from the potential deal is the money to pay for the sprawling 6.2 million-square-foot complex and the check is hardly in the mail. Buy Photo Workhorse Group, pictured, Wednesday, May 8, 2019, in Loveland, Ohio, is expected to purchase General Motors' idled Lordstown Assembly plant to build electric trucks. (Photo: Kareem Elgazzar/The Enquirer) Last year, Workhorse generated sales of $763,000 about a third of the revenues of a typical Frisch's Big Boy restaurant or a quarter of a McDonald's. The company also lost $36.5 million. The company is burning through investors' cash and would need way more to finance a deal to acquire the Lordstown facility, which was part of a massive $1.8 billion write-off of five plants and related pension charges. GREAT NEWS FOR OHIO! Just spoke to Mary Barra, CEO of General Motors, who informed me that, subject to a UAW agreement etc., GM will be selling their beautiful Lordstown Plant to Workhorse, where they plan to build Electric Trucks. GM will also be spending $700,000,000 in Ohio... Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 8, 2019 ....in 3 separate locations, creating another 450 jobs. I have been working nicely with GM to get this done. Thank you to Mary B, your GREAT Governor, and Senator Rob Portman. With all the car companies coming back, and much more, THE USA IS BOOMING! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 8, 2019 A day before Trump's tweets, the company disclosed to regulators it could be insolvent by next month: "Our existing capital resources will be insufficient to fund our operations through the first half of 2019," the Workhorse stated as it reported more red ink. "If we are not able to obtain additional financing and/or substantially increase revenue from sales, we will be unable to continue as a going concern (stay in business)." Workhorse lost $6.3 million and had sales of just $364,000 for the quarter ended March 31. The company has $2.8 million of mostly borrowed money on hand. Earlier this year, company founder Steve Burns was replaced as CEO by No. 2 executive Duane Hughes. The new leader said the company had a "new attitude and focus." In 2019, Workhorse has shifted its focus on bringing a new electric cargo van to market to fulfill a backlog of orders. The company is also exploring the sale of other non-core assets, such as drone technology in its aviation unit. The potential deal for acquiring the Lordstown plant reportedly hinges on Workhorse scoring a $6.3 billion contract from the U.S. Postal Service to manufacture next-generation postal trucks. If that happens, Workhorse would become a minority owner of a business entity headed by Burns that would purchase the old Chevy plant. Several Ohio leaders expressed skepticism. NEWSLETTERS Get the Business Report newsletter delivered to your inbox We're sorry, but something went wrong Get top business headlines at the start of each day and be alerted of important business news as it happens. Please try again soon, or contact Customer Service at 1-800-876-4500. Delivery: Daily Invalid email address Thank you! You're almost signed up for Business Report Keep an eye out for an email to confirm your newsletter registration. More newsletters Gov. Mike DeWine admitted the takeover scenario included a number of ifs, saying: "As far as Lordstown, this is probably not yet the day to celebrate." For the latest on P&G, Kroger, Fifth Third Bank and Cincinnati business news, follow @alexcoolidge on Twitter. Read or Share this story: https://www.cincinnati.com/story/money/2019/05/09/can-workhorse-pay-to-save-the-gm-plant-in-lordstown/1155108001/ | https://www.cincinnati.com/story/money/2019/05/09/can-workhorse-pay-to-save-the-gm-plant-in-lordstown/1155108001/ |
Do Arizona high school football coaches need liaisons to help with college recruiters? | CLOSE More Arizona high school football coaches are relying on help in the rapid-fire recruiting age Richard Obert, azcentral sports The head coach still is the point man when it comes to the high school football player's college recruitment. But times have changes in Arizona with so many college recruiters sweeping through to take a look at the ever-growing talent pool that comes with population growth, suburban sprawl, and ramped-up year-round training. Some coaches seek help. At Goodyear Desert Edge, Steven Ortiz Sr., a former assistant coach, is working full-time, with a paid stipend, to help head coach Jose Lucero with the college coaches and recruiters. He get players in the 4A program connected in hopes of getting college educations paid for. "We have a very talented group of boys and I try to maximize it as much as possible," Ortiz said. "There are a lot of parents who don't understand the recruiting process." Desert Edge recruiting liaison Steven Ortiz poses for a portrait with his son, cornerback Steven Ortiz, Jr., during spring practice on Tuesday, May 7, 2019, at Desert Edge High School in Goodyear, Ariz. (Photo: Sean Logan/The Republic) Ortiz can speak to them with first-hand experience, as he goes through the process now with his son, 2021 defensive back Steven Ortiz Jr., a four-star, who has offers from Nebraska, Arizona, Oregon, Penn State, Rutgers, Syracuse and Northern Arizona, as he gets ready for his junior season. Ortiz Sr., is regularly sending email blasts about the Desert Edge players to college football coaches all over the country, hoping that someone responds. "It's about building relationships with colleges and taking care of the academic side of recruiting," Ortiz Sr., "I share their Hudl and send them out to coaches. I send to 100 coaches every day. If I get two or three back, it's a successful day. "At the end of the day, whatever response we get, it's in their heads." Stay in the know. Subscribe to azcentral.com today. Lucero said his decision to hire Ortiz to be the college coaches' liaison was based on how to get kids to the next level. "Recruiting in 2019 has really changed and there are faster and better ways to get an athlete's information out there," Lucero said. "I felt that having a coach that can focus on just the recruiting process is going to be beneficial." Part of Ortiz's job is sitting down with parents and players and discussing the NCAA Clearinghouse, the college-test scores and dates, the grade-point average and core curriculum requirements. "Am I going to miss the field?" Ortiz asked. "Without a doubt, because I'm not going to have that relationship with the boys, coaching them on the field. But I'm doing another avenue, which is helping the program out. It's 24/7. It's tough to be a coach on the field and also do this job, if you're doing it the right way." Ortiz, who is retired and has ample time to commit to the players, says he's not in it just until his son graduates. He's given himself a seven-year plan at Desert Edge as long as Lucero is leading the program because he says he is committed to what Desert Edge is growing as a budding football powerhouse. "My dad talks to a lot of the coaches, and so does Lucero," Ortiz Jr., said. "They both help me out a lot. I can focus more on school. Lucero talks to the coaches. I come in and say, 'What's up,' and I go back to class." Desert Edge head coach Jose Lucero watches drills during spring practice on Tuesday, May 7, 2019, at Desert Edge High School in Goodyear, Ariz. (Photo: Sean Logan/The Republic) Kirk Sundberg, who is starting his second year heading Chandler Valley Christian's 3A program, came from perhaps the most prestigious high school football school in Colorado, Valor Christian, which produced the McCaffrey brothers and seven state championships in 11 years. He said Valor had a recruiting liaison. "At Valor, during the open recruiting-visitation periods, we would routinely have at least a half dozen coaches come through each day," Sundberg said. "If you dont have someone to help manage that, it can be really hard to get anything else done. "On the flip side, most college coaches tend to want to interact with the high school coach anyway. The liaison can help with the organization and reception of coaches, but ultimately the high school coach should talk with the college guys." Potential pitfalls in recruiting Some coaches don't feel the need to hire a liaison to deal with recruiting. Scottsdale Saguaro has had 36 players sign with Division I colleges for football during Jason Mohns' seven years leading the program. His 2020 class has 11 players with D-I offers. "As the head coach of a program, I think it is my responsibility to handle the recruiting of my athletes," Mohns said. "I am blessed to have a supportive administration that has put me in a position to be able to commit the time it takes to handle those responsibilities." He knows that isn't the case everywhere. "If a high school head coach doesnt have the time to handle the recruiting aspect of the job, a liaison can be helpful," Mohns said. "But I also think there are some pitfalls in letting a parent or outside agent handle that responsibility. I feel strongly that whoever handles that responsibility needs to be on campus full-time, which is why it should fall on the shoulders of a head coach or on-campus assistant, if possible." Phoenix Desert Vista coach Dan Hinds says it's a group effort on his staff that helps with kids being contacted by college coaches. Digital age speeds up recruiting In the 18 years coaching, Hinds has seen recruiting go from a booster buying 10 VCRs and burning game film copies all day Saturday, before putting them in large envelopes to send to as many colleges as possible. "When the age of the DVD came around, we thought that was cool as heck," Hinds said. "Saved us lots of time. We purchased a DVD burner and did the same thing with them. The digital age of social media has changed the game dramatically once again." Coach Dan Hinds runs football practice at Desert Vista High School, Wednesday, October 3, 2018. (Photo: Tom Tingle/The Republic) Twitter is instant recruiting communication. College coaches have become more tech savvy on how to send their messages to kids on Twitter without crossing the NCAA infraction line. Athletes are constantly posting Hudl highlights and pinning them to their Twitter profiles, and send them to colleges in tweets. Those tweets have even more impact when their high school coaches retweets it. Coaches on staffs will work social media to get kids noticed by colleges, trying to stay relevant as it becomes more competitive, almost cut-throat, with constant highlights and profiles sent out on Twitter. "We have coaches on staff on social media, mainly Twitter, staying relevant and out there, using social media to get out players highlights and information out there constantly," Hinds said. "I am the one who uses the contacts I have, and the relationships that I have made to reach out to coaches, talk to coaches about our players and get coaches to come by the school in the recruiting times. Hinds has been told by college coaches that they prefer to talk to a high school head coach as opposed to a liaison. "I always make myself available for those visits," he said. "I have lost track of how many kids have gone on and played at the next level since Desert Vista has opened, but I am told it is in the hundreds. It takes a lot of work, but for me, it is so worth it, helping kids reach their goals to play on." Picking up the slack Dave Lawson, whose son Lance graduate from Mesa Red Mountain two years ago, has remained with the football program as a liaison for head coach Mike Peterson and to steer college recruiters to the right kids. His title is director of football operations at Red Mountain. "In our situation, it is a tremendous asset," Peterson said. "Between Dave and myself, and position coaches who share a recruiting part, and coordinators who share a larger recruiting part, we can always be available for calls, texts, meetings, meetings, prospect lists." Peterson said sometimes other duties, such as teaching a class pull him away, but Lawson is able to pick up the slack. "The two of us are also able to reach out to twice as many coaches, than I would be able to alone," Peterson said. "He reaches out to one group this week and I another group. Then we exchange groups and eventually recruiting seeds are planted and nourished." Parents have taken to the recruiting fast lane, causing coaches to try to keep up, making sure their kids aren't being steered down a wrong path. Reality also has to be part of the recruiting game plan. Not everybody is going Power 5, and if it's Division II or NAIA, it's still saving parents thousands of dollars during their college years. "I am the recruiting liaison," Gilbert Highland head coach Brock Farrel said. "I host the coaches that come on campus. I show the players how to make highlight films. I send transcripts to college coaches. I still believe that the head coachs honest assessment of a player carries weight with other coaches." To suggest human-interest story ideas and other news, reach Obert at [email protected] or 602-316-8827. Follow him on Twitter @azc_obert. Support local journalism: Subscribe to azcentral.com today. | https://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/high-school/2019/05/09/arizona-hs-football-recruiting-changes-liaisons-team-efforts/1157009001/ |
Does GDP tell the whole economic story? | Answering a simple "How are you?" with an honest detailed answer may lead to an awkward silence. After all, it's often just longhand for "hello". But the government's official number-crunchers at the Office for National Statistics genuinely care about the response. Next week, they'll publish their statistics into how people across the country are feeling about their lives. Not quite. They've realised that how we've traditionally measured living standards or economic well-being isn't up to scratch. We typically turn to GDP - gross domestic product. That's the measure of how much companies, individuals and the government earn/spend/produce (in theory, each of those give the same answer), with an adjustment for exports less imports. It measures the nation's net income, but may not tell the whole story. First, there are things which can skew the big picture. Take the first three months of this year, for which figures are due out later on Friday. At the time, many companies were busy stockpiling components and finished goods due to fears of a no-deal Brexit. That makes growth look stronger, but that buzz of activity reflects contingency planning rather than a response to strong demand. And it may mean less of that activity further down the line, making growth look weaker in subsequent quarters. Winners and losers Even without distortions, GDP may not reflect the individual situation. The fates of government businesses and households will differ hugely in any quarter. The ONS provides a breakdown of some details. It has recently delved deeper into households' situations with a well-being dashboard, which looks at things such as incomes, debt and anxiety levels (Spoiler alert: the most recent version shows most things on the rise). And there'll be winners and losers across the country. The Bank of England has also doubled down on work to highlight the fate of different regions. But then there's what is left out by GDP: basically, anything unpaid, from volunteering to housework. In other words, items that aren't termed "market activity". Economist Paul Samuelson joked that if a man marries his maid, GDP falls. It's not so much a joke as a criticism (and not just of outdated gender stereotyping) that statisticians fail to value certain types of work. The problem is that without payment, such work is hard to put a price tag on. The Bank of England manages the economy by setting interest rates to influence spending and borrowing, while the government uses the figures to gauge how much tax might come in. And of course, there's a multitude of other factors - from crime to gender equality, biodiversity, access to clean energy and education levels - that hit our current and future living standards. These are just a few of the Sustainable Development Goals that the US has spelled out. The ONS has embarked on a marathon task to identify and measure hundreds of indicators to reflect those. They are about two-thirds of the way there - and even when they have finessed them, collecting the information on a regular basis may not be quick as gleaning GDP information. The number-crunchers acknowledge the need for a more "holistic" gauge of our well-being. GDP is three little letters that represents more than a trillion pounds of crucial and relatively easy to collect information on the financial state of our economy. It isn't perfect, but it still has its uses. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-48219687 |
Could aviation ever be less polluting? | The aviation industry is under pressure to reduce carbon emissions, yet air travel continues to grow in popularity around the world. Can technological innovation help square this circle, or should we simply fly less often?3 Once a byword for innovation and progress, many people now view aviation as dirty and dangerous to the environment. It contributes about 2% of the world's global emissions, and this is set to rise. IATA, the airline trade body, predicts that passenger numbers will double to 8.2 billion a year by 2037. Planemaker Boeing forecasts there will be demand for 42,700-plus new aircraft over the next 20 years. Airbus predicts much the same. Yet by 2050, the European Union wants the industry to reduce emissions of CO2 of 75%, of nitrous oxide by 90%, and noise by 65%. And a new Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation, agreed by 70 countries, comes into force in 2020. Rolls-Royce, one of the world's major aero-engine makers, says its new-generation UltraFan, more than 10 years in development and scheduled to be ready for service in the middle of the next decade, will be 25% more fuel efficient than its first generation Trent engine. Image copyright Havahaber Image caption Rolls-Royce says its UltraFan engine is 25% more fuel-efficient than some earlier engines Airbus says that while all-electric aircraft are still some way off, due to battery weight and range issues, it is more hopeful about developing a hybrid-electric plane. The manufacturer believes greener, quieter hybrid aircraft could be flying commercially by 2025. Airbus has joined Siemens and Rolls-Royce to develop the E-Fan X demonstrator aircraft, which is scheduled to fly next year. Although the E-Fan X is a very important project, says Prof Iain Gray, director of aerospace at Cranfield University, the current state of battery tech means that the electrification of larger and long-haul aircraft is a long way off. "Gas turbine engines will be here for decades. Most research [into electrification] is around very small aircraft," he warns. Biofuels made from plant material or animal waste have often been touted as a sustainable alternative to kerosene-based jet fuels. Image copyright LanzaTech Image caption LanzaTech's Freya Burton thinks governments need to invest more in biofuels But given that a major airline might use more than four billion gallons of fuel a year, there is currently no biofuel plant in the world capable of producing even a fraction of what is needed, says Freya Burton, chief sustainability officer at Chicago-based LanzaTech, one of the leading players in the field of turning industrial waste into fuel. "The SAF [Sustainable Aviation Fuel] sector is at a tipping point," she says. While using bio-products blended with fossil fuel is a proven concept, the necessary infrastructure and investment to scale up production is far from ready, she believes. Last year, LanzaTech supplied biofuel to help power a test flight by Virgin Atlantic between Orlando, Florida, and London. LanzaTech specialises in making ethanol via captured waste gases. But its biofuel for Virgin only accounted for 6% of the fuel mix. Other companies are experimenting with food waste or algae, and several airlines are looking into the feasibility of using biofuels. Image copyright LanzaTech Image caption LanzaTech's gas-to-ethanol plant in China is one source of biofuel But there are a myriad of regulatory issues around the certification of biofuel for the safety-critical airline industry. Some biofuels in storage can degrade over time, and some have even affected rubber parts used in engines. Another problem, says Ms Burton, is that biofuel is currently more expensive than fossil fuel - and will remain so until there are economies of scale. IATA says the global airline industry's fuel bill was about $180bn (138bn) in 2018, the biggest cost after labour. Given their wafer-thin margins, airlines have little incentive to buy more expensive fuel. LanzaTech claims it could have three gas-to-ethanol plants ready in the UK by 2025 if it secured the necessary airline customers and government backing, producing about 125 million gallons of SAF a year. Although the UK government is looking at the feasibility of a SAF plant, there is no sign of a decision any time soon. More Technology of Business Air traffic controls, too, are playing their part. Contrary to popular belief, the number of aircraft caught in circling patterns over Britain's main airports is falling, says James Deeley, deputy head of environmental affairs at the UK's National Air Traffic Control (NATS). Better air traffic management tech means that planes hundreds of miles from a destination airport now slow their cruising speed to avoid above-airport congestion. Similarly, aircraft are now better able to find the optimum height when facing strong winds or make use of the jet stream to save fuel. "It's all just so much more efficient," he says. Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption How to reduce your carbon footprint when you fly They can also fly more direct routes or fly closer together without compromising safety, says Mr Deeley. "We've made some 400 changes in the last few years to improve the utilisation of airspace. They amount to a big difference." This equates to about $175m in fuel savings over the last few years for aircraft using its airspace, he says. Other incremental improvements involve changing the way air flows over wings to reduce drag, and using more cutting edge materials to make engines and airframes lighter. Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Climate change campaigners and environmental groups think we should curtail how often we fly But critics say none of this technological innovation is enough. "Biofuels are not the clean fuel they're claimed to be, and risk taking land away from food production and destroying forests," says Mike Childs, head of science at environmental lobby group Friends of the Earth. And electric planes are "little more than a pipe dream right now", he says. "And given the alarming rate of aviation expansion this sort of technology won't be readily available until it's far too late". Prof Gray commends aviation's progress, but agrees that much more must be done. "No other industry has spent so much money on improving its performance. But all the benefits that have been made are being offset by growth in air traffic." The inescapable conclusion seems to be that, if we really want to reduce aviation's carbon emissions, we should all fly less often. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-48185337 |
Should prisoners have the right to vote? | On April 24, the state of Texas executed white supremacist John William Bill King. He was a murderer, but he also would have been a voter if Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders had his way. King was found guilty of the brutal and notorious 1998 murder of James Byrd Jr., a black man, by chaining Byrd to the back of a truck and dragging him to his death. With his conviction and incarceration, King forfeited many of his rights and freedoms including the right to vote. But then, King deprived James Byrd of all his rights and freedoms, including the right to life. Sanders says incarcerated felons like Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, and by extension King, should still be allowed to vote from their prison cells. Had that been an option in Texas, King likely would have supported candidates proposing to lighten the penalties of those found guilty of hate crimes and murder. Maybe. The U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics reports there were 1.5 million prisoners in state and federal correctional facilities in 2016. Thats a lot of people, and in close races the prison vote just might make the difference. To be sure, most prisoners are in for less heinous crimes than Kings some for relatively minor offenses. Even so, the public has an interest in ensuring that serious and violent criminals are locked up and off the streets. Criminals, by contrast, have an interest in being out of prison. And people vote their interests. Historically, felons have lost the right to vote, sometimes permanently. But things are changing. Both conservatives and liberals have been rethinking punishment and looking for ways to give ex-cons a second chance and reintegrate them into society. The National Conference of State Legislatures reports that in 14 states and the District of Columbia, felons lose the right to vote while incarcerated, but that the right is automatically reinstated upon release from prison. Twenty-two states reinstate the right to vote only after felons have completed their parole or probation time. And in 12 states, felons must take some additional steps, such as petitioning a governors pardon, to have their voting rights restored. Only two states, Maine and Sanders home state of Vermont, allow felons to retain the right to vote from jail. Defenders of jailhouse voting claim Vermont prisoners have always had the right to vote, and that it hasnt caused any problems though one might point out they keep electing Sanders. But even if true, Vermont is a rural state that ranks next to last in population and has the lowest crime rate of any state, according to the U.S. Crime Index. Sanders and others argue that limiting felons voting rights is unjust. Several countries are also reconsidering their criminal punishment laws. Some are letting those convicted of minor or nonviolent crimes continue to vote while incarcerated. Thats an issue worthy of public consideration and debate. But its appropriate and just for the state to restrict the rights of those who choose to deprive others of their rights, including the right to life. James Byrd was never able to vote again, thanks to John William King. It is difficult to see why King and others guilty of similarly heinous crimes should retain their right to vote. Merrill Matthews is a resident scholar with the Institute of Policy Innovation, a research-based public policy think-tank. He wrote this article for Tribune News Service. | http://www.startribune.com/should-prisoners-have-the-right-to-vote/509721092/ |
Could desalination help prevent water wars in the Middle East? | Video In the Middle East its long been feared that increasing competition over shared natural supplies of fresh water because of growing populations and climate change could lead to water wars. But in the past decade, desalination technology has made huge advances. Israel now produces most of its drinking water from sea water, and other parts of the region are looking to do the same. But there are concerns about environmental damage caused by the shortage of rainfall and some desalination processes. Our Middle East correspondent Yolande Knell visited Hadera desalination plant in northern Israel and the Sea of Galilee. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/science-environment-48217277/could-desalination-help-prevent-water-wars-in-the-middle-east |
How can we fix the motherhood-penalty problem? | In the small but fun! subset of mothers who like to toss around socio-economic data, theres a graph that has been making the rounds over the past few months that sends panic through the crowd every time it pops up. It shows mothers earnings dropping off a cliff when they have children, and never fully recovering. And its in Denmark of all places, where policy makers are supposed to know how to fix all socio-economic problems. Affordable and flexible daycare, as well as legislation that prevents discrimination and favours pay equity would help women avoid the steep pay cuts that come with motherhood, Heather Scoffield writes. In Canada, theres a shortage of conclusive analysis, but all the signs point in the same direction: the cost to mothers of having those little bundles of joy is significant, and it compounds over time. Obviously, when a mother gives birth, her wages sink like a stone because she usually takes maternity leave. By definition, wages are much lower. Initial research in Canada suggests she does not make as much as her childless cohort. It takes her a long time to climb back. And she never fully catches up especially if she gave birth at a relatively young age, in her 20s as opposed to her 30s. Article Continued Below Theres a wealth effect over time what researchers call the motherhood penalty that is difficult to dissect, and so its difficult to confront. According to RBC Economics, new mothers in their 30s take about six years to re-establish their earnings path after having a baby. For new mothers in their late 20s, their pay sinks about 14 per cent further than older mothers. It inches back again when they rejoin the workforce, but even after 10 years, a stubborn gap remains. Many women seem to be mitigating the damage by increasingly choosing to have their babies later in life after theyve established their careers, have some solid experience and have found good jobs with benefits and protections, says Andrew Agopsowicz, a senior economist at RBC. Indeed, the fertility rate for women in their 30s is on the rise nearly double for women aged 35-39 in 2017 compared to 2000. The average age of a first-time mother in Canada is also climbing. But it would be too easy to blame the motherhood penalty on overt discrimination in the workplace. Not all employers are simply anti-mother. Researchers at the University of Torontos Institute for Gender and the Economy see an inclination for new mothers to change jobs, or even completely change occupations, when they re-enter the workforce. Moms are looking at the demands of their old jobs long hours, inflexible work arrangements and dont see a way to fit them into their new lives, says assistant professor Dionne Pohler. So they opt for, or are pushed into, jobs that may offer better benefits, shorter hours or more flexible work arrangements that are compatible with daycare. A pay cut comes with the territory. Article Continued Below But thats mainly a middle- and upper-class womans experience, Pohler says. For low-income mothers whose jobs require them to be on site or performing shift work during off-hours, the motherhood penalty is harsh and often insurmountable. It doesnt show up in the data as a steep pay cut because their pay is already low. There are some partial solutions. Affordable and flexible daycare is at the top of the list, as well as legislation that prevents discrimination and favours pay equity. And the federal governments new use-it-or-lose-it five weeks of leave for new fathers should tilt the balance a bit, says Nora Spinks of the Vanier Institute of the Family. But the Scandinavians have plenty of pro-mother social policy too, and they still have a motherhood-penalty problem. Sociologist Sylvia Fuller at the University of British Columbia is looking to employers for solutions, and she has found that bureaucracy can actually be a mothers friend. Companies with established human-resource departments or unions that set ground rules for flexible work arrangements and hours make for a welcoming workplace for parents in general. Public-sector workplaces are safe harbours. But Fuller sees a need for policy-makers to put their heads into how to help low-income parents whose work is more precarious and less formal. Dionne would like to see an effort to put a monetary value on the invisible work that mothers do along with government-funded compensation so that caregiving in general is accounted for in the formal economy. Dont get your hopes up, researchers say. As long as women are the primary caregivers in society, by the time they reach their 50s, theyre taking care of their parents. Heather Scoffield is an economics columnist based in Ottawa. Follow her on Twitter: @hscoffield | https://www.thestar.com/politics/political-opinion/2019/05/09/how-can-we-fix-the-motherhood-penalty-problem.html |
Why are Missouri lawmakers sanctioning LGBT discrimination? | Support growing for bill to protect LGBT Missourians, sponsor says This is the 20th year that the Missouri Nondiscrimination Act has been filed. Democratic Rep. Greg Razer of Kansas City, one of two openly gay members of the Missouri legislature, is a sponsor of the bill that would make it illegal to fire someon Up Next SHARE COPY LINK This is the 20th year that the Missouri Nondiscrimination Act has been filed. Democratic Rep. Greg Razer of Kansas City, one of two openly gay members of the Missouri legislature, is a sponsor of the bill that would make it illegal to fire someon Ron Calzone, a conservative activist from Dixon, Missouri, had something to say. The Missouri House Committee on General Laws heard testimony Wednesday on bills designed to outlaw discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. The idea that Missouri law should treat all citizens equally was apparently too much for Calzone, who testified against the legislation. He said anti-discrimination laws enslave property owners. I believe that we have a God-given right to discriminate, he told the committee. We actually have a God-given responsibility, a duty, to sometimes discriminate, he added. Unlimited Digital Access: Only $0.99 For Your First Month Get full access to The Kansas City Star content across all your devices. SAVE NOW #ReadLocal Asked if he believed a restaurant owner could eject someone based on race or religion or gender, Calzone said yes. If a restaurant owner doesnt want to serve people with freckles, that should be his choice, he told the group. Calzones views will lead most Missourians to roll their eyes. Yet his testimony was a clarifying moment: In some parts of the state, in some minds, private business signs that say whites only or no Irish need apply or no women allowed are still acceptable, even laudable. That may explain why the states legislature is likely to continue to allow landlords and business owners to discriminate based on sexual orientation. Missouri Rep. Greg Razer sponsored one of the bills that would add protections for LGBTQ Missourians. I was a closeted teenager, he told The Star. LGBT teenagers are five times more likely to commit suicide than their heterosexual counterparts. Yet what we get from the leadership in this building is silence and inaction. Absent a miracle, his anti-discrimination measure will die when the legislature adjourns May 17. The legislatures perpetual silence on discrimination is deeply disappointing. No Missourian should be kicked out of his or her home or denied a job simply because someone thinks a tenant or applicant might be gay. All persons are created equal and are entitled to equal rights and opportunity under the law, the Missouri Constitution says. Apparently the states lawmakers missed that part. But their refusal to approve gender and sexual orientation protections in state law is a practical disaster, too. Lawmakers have effectively posted a heterosexuals only sign at the border, to their shame and the states detriment. Calzone disagrees with all of this, of course. Forcing someone to serve someone they do not want to serve is a form of slavery, he told The Star Editorial Board in an email. Depriving anyone of full participation in society because of gender or skin color or sexual orientation is the most fundamental denial of ordered liberty and individual dignity. And it should be outlawed. The legislature should add gender and sexual orientation protections to state law this year and send the long overdue message that discrimination will not be tolerated in this state. | https://www.kansascity.com/opinion/editorials/article230218744.html |
Is extremism really getting worse? | There is a widely-held narrative that we are living through a time of worsening intolerance in the UK, with people becoming more vitriolic and polarised. But Dr Julian Hargreaves, an adviser to the government's Commission for Countering Extremism, challenges the evidence. He wants research to produce a better-informed debate - systematically mapping levels of intolerance, looking at how labels such as "Islamist extremism" can skew the picture and asking whether there are other ways of looking at patterns of extremism. The commission, set up in the aftermath of the Manchester Arena terror attack, has the task of assessing the scale of extremism and finding ways to tackle any support for such violence. Nobody sees themselves as an extremist. Dr Hargreaves, a researcher specialising in Britain's Muslim communities, defines it as an attempt to "exclude or coerce" - but with the distinguishing feature of being "harmful". It does not have to be violent. He gives the example of some Muslim voices who argue on religious grounds against voting. Image copyright PA Image caption The Commission for Countering Extremism was set up after the Manchester Arena terror attack "I would argue that's a form of extremism," says Dr Hargreaves, based at the Woolf Institute in Cambridge, a college dedicated to building bridges between faiths. "Or far-right groups with a racist message - they might not be advocating violence, but those messages can easily fuel violence." But he says extremism should not be confused with religious "fundamentalism", which can be a more orthodox, but legitimate, expression of belief. He rejects the way "the two have become interchangeable". "There are all kinds of people who are very much outside the mainstream, but whose views are by most definitions harmless," he says. Dr Hargreaves, with a research background in both criminology and religion, says it would be very "dicey territory" to adopt a perspective in which "strong religious views could be seen as extremist". He also says intolerance could sometimes be seen as a positive force - such as greater intolerance of sexism, racism or homophobia. The inquest following the London Bridge attack, which started this week, shows the appalling consequences of violent extremism. But away from the intense scrutiny following such terror attacks, Dr Hargreaves says the bigger picture can remain much less clear. Change the labels, change the trend The labels used to describe extremism can also completely change the apparent trends. The most recent figures from the Prevent counter-terror programme in England and Wales, published in December, showed a sharp fall in referrals over "Islamist extremism", down from 61% to 44% in a single year. This could be seen as a significant breakthrough against radicalisation. Image caption Julian Hargreaves wants more objective evidence in claims about extremism But what really made the difference was putting many more into another category, "mixed, unstable or unclear ideology". This reconfiguring meant that at a stroke "Islamist extremism" became a minority of the cases, with 44% of referrals. The "unstable and unclear" now accounted for 27%, while 18% related to right-wing extremism and 11% were "others", including environmental campaigns and the far left. This more "nuanced" approach, he says, made "unstable" the second biggest group, and rather than a counter-terror intervention, he says some might need mental health services or housing and employment advice. Dr Hargreaves says there might be other ways of looking at extremism - as a way of behaving rather than a way of believing. This could include an overlap with addictions. "In a lot of cases the individuals had been referred to addiction services and had documented problems with drink or drugs," he says. There might be connections with mental health problems too. "Paranoid, psychotic delusions are not that far removed from types of grievances you often hear around people with extremist views," says Dr Hargreaves, part of the expert group for the anti-extremism commission. He says that his contribution is to keep pushing for more evidence. Segregation There will be a survey of levels of tolerance - which he says will look at whether intolerant attitudes are really increasing, rather than becoming more visible through social media. He questions the reliability of unelected "community leaders" who might have their own agendas. Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Another side of "intolerance" is that people are less likely to tolerate prejudice, says Dr Hargreaves Claims about segregation and prejudice, such as in northern towns in England, he argues, might miss the positive local connections taking place. "It's important not to generalise. The situation on the ground can be more complicated. "Communities are muddling through in that classic British way, sometimes away from the top-down initiatives and policy strategies." He warns against "pointing fingers" at particular groups - including white, working-class communities. "Policy-makers would do well to have a little more sympathy for communities that have undergone change," he says. The values and beliefs of "socially conservative" groups should not be marginalised, he says. Dr Hargreaves is not convinced by "grand narratives" about ideological battles. "It's much more useful to move away from grand, heroic language and think of these issues as being akin to public health issues. "Taking a public health approach means providing the data needed, moving beyond headlines about 'rising extremism' to think about who is at risk, where are they, what are the risks?" He says the "role of family, friends and communities is still undervalued in policy circles" - and better use should be made of moderate religious leaders. But he says relying on stereotypes about extremism is a "disservice to communities". | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-48126648 |
Is 'American Idol's Bobby Bones running for president? | Fans voted country radio personality and American Idol mentor Bobby Bones into the winner's circle of Dancing With the Stars last November. Now he has his eye set on a different type of November election one for governor or possibly president. I do feel like at some point I will hopefully be the governor of Arkansas, maybe even the president, Bones told People magazine. I dont even like saying I want to be a politician because its such a grody word. I feel the only way Im going to win is if they see me as them cause thats the only reason Ive been able to do anything so far. Bones, born Bobby Estell, has perfected the art of overcoming the odds to succeed. Bones was born to a teen mother in Hot Springs, Arkansas, in 1980. His mother suffered from drug and alcohol addiction over the course of her life and his father was absent. Bones grew up in a trailer park where, without a bedroom of his own, he slept on the couch and crammed his belongings underneath. In 1998, he became the first person in his family to graduate high school. His mother died in her 40s from drug and alcohol abuse but managed to get her GED. At 39 years old, Bones is now a two-time New York Times best-selling author, singer, songwriter, musician, comedian, philanthropist, one of country musics most popular syndicated radio hosts, a reality-show winner and part of the cast of American Idol. In 2017, Bones was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame. His statement to People isnt the first time hes expressed an interest in politics. In January of 2017 he tweeted that he had spoken to his boss and that he was very serious about pursuing the Governorship of Arkansas. In November he told Fox News that he would love to be governor of Arkansas and that he wanted to help people who grew up like he did, give them a chance with education and hopefully, (become) president." During the same conversation, Bones said hes a registered independent. Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/2019/05/09/bobby-bones-governor-arkansas-president/1159681001/ | https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/2019/05/09/bobby-bones-governor-arkansas-president/1159681001/ |
How does voting work in European elections? | Image copyright Getty Images More than 400 million people are eligible to vote in this month's European Parliament elections, in one of the biggest democratic exercises in the world. In the last election in 2014, 168,818,151 people took part, with a turnout of just over 40%, and five million ballots were spoiled. That makes it bigger than the US presidential vote, though not even close to the size of India's election, which is the largest. This year's elections will take place on four days with three voting systems, but it will all come together thanks to a set of common principles- and the willingness of member states to tweak their national election rules to suit. Here's how it all works. Voting takes place across three days, depending on where the election is being held. 23 May: Netherlands, UK 24 May: Ireland, Czech Republic (which has two-day voting also on 25 May) 25 May: Latvia, Malta, Slovakia 26 May: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden Voting times vary from country to country, in line with local customs. And each country elects a different number of MEPs, roughly in line with their population so France (74) and the UK (70) have more seats than Ireland (11) or Latvia (8). And for some, voting is compulsory so there's no escape - in Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, and Luxembourg. Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The UK will vote on a Thursday - and keep results secret until Sunday night Counting is also done on a country-by-country basis but the results are kept secret until all voting is finished. The results will be announced from 23:00 Brussels time (22:00 BST) on Sunday, 26 May, so that the announcement of results from the UK or other early voting countries cannot affect voters somewhere else. Every country is free to use its own system for voting, and there are plenty of differences. The voting age, for example, is set by national law. And there is some sort of postal or proxy system in place everywhere except Czech Republic, Ireland, Malta, and Slovakia. Most countries elect their MEPs in one single big national constituency - so Germany has, for example, 96 German MEPs. But a handful Belgium, Ireland, Italy, Poland, UK have multiple constituencies. The most important common rule, however, is that countries must use a proportional system. This is different to the first-past-the-post system used by the UK in its national elections (the only EU country to do so). So the UK has to change its voting system to a more representative model for EU elections. In effect, there are three systems in use: Closed lists Used by: UK (except Northern Ireland), Portugal, Spain, France, Germany, Romania, Hungary In a closed-list system, political parties make a list of their candidates in order from top to bottom preference. Voters then vote for the party they like but they cannot vote for an individual person or affect the order of the people on the list. Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Spain is among the countries that operate a closed-list system Depending on the results and the amount of seats available, seats are handed out to the people on the list in order of preference. So the top party list might get its top two or three people elected, the second-place may get one or two, and so on. The exact distribution method depends on the country. The UK uses something called the D'Hondt method to figure out how to allocate seats; a similar but slightly different system called the Sainte-Lagu method is used in Germany and some other countries. The general principle, though, is that the party with the most votes should get the most seats and who in the party gets those seats is decided by the party leadership. Preferential lists Used by: Finland, Sweden, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Bulgaria, Greece, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Poland, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark Preferential lists or "open lists" are very similar to the closed list system detailed above, except that voters can influence which individual person wins a seat by affecting the order of people on a list. Exactly how much influence the voter has on the order of candidates varies from country to country. Generally, voters pick a candidate to vote for and their vote counts for both the party and that individual person. If the candidate gets a significant number of votes, they may be elected ahead of higher-placed people on the list. Some countries give a few "preference votes", others just one; some countries allocate seats based on the number of votes; others only guarantee a seat if a candidate beats a certain target such as winning 5% or 10% of all votes. Single Transferable Vote (STV) Used by: Ireland, Malta, Northern Ireland Proponents of STV claim it is the most representative system, but it is only used by a handful of countries in European elections. On the ballot paper, voters vote for the candidate they like best by writing the number "1" in a box. They then vote for their second-favourite as number "2" and so on for as many or as few people as they like with no restrictions. When it comes to counting the votes, organisers first figure out what the election "quota" is. If there are four seats and 100,000 people cast a vote, then the quota would be 100,000 divided by five, plus one - or 20,001. The reason for the maths is that only four people could possibly achieve this number of votes. Four times 20,001 is 80,004: there would be just 19,996 votes left - not enough to reach the quota. The formula works for any number of seats (just divide the total votes by the number of seats plus one), and any number of votes. Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Day two of counting in Ireland's 2016 election - ready to redistribute the votes So the votes are all counted, and if someone reaches the quota, they are elected. If they do not, the worst performer is eliminated - and all their votes are redistributed to the second-place preference on each ballot paper. When someone is elected, any extra votes they have that don't matter (because they already reached the quota) are likewise re-distributed. This is the transferable part of the single transferable vote. The idea is that every vote is counted towards someone, and that no vote is wasted on obvious winners or losers. It is, however, much more complicated to count. Some countries have an electoral threshold - where, by law, a party or a candidate needs to gain a certain percentage of the national vote to qualify for a seat. The idea is to prevent very small, fringe, or extremist parties from winning seats without meeting a minimum level of support - usually a small percentage. France, for example, is a single constituency with 74 seats - so, without a threshold, it would take just 1.4% of the vote to win a seat. But France has set its minimum threshold at 5%. The countries where thresholds apply for the 2019 elections are: | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-48198648 |
Which bank is winning the mortgage war? | Mortgage borrowers have never had it so cheap as they have in the last few months but not all of the banks have been playing hard to win over borrowers. Three of the major banks are now offering ultra-low one year fixed term rates of 3.89 per cent while those who want to fix for longer over three years can secure 3.95 per cent - the first time three year rates have been below 4 per cent. But research by the Herald shows some banks have been much more aggressive in acquiring new home loan business than others. State-owned Kiwibank has made the biggest push growing its home loan book more than 9 per cent in the year to March 31 - much more than the market overall which is up 5.3 per cent to $260 billion. Advertisement But it remains a minnow compared to the Australian owned banks with less than 7 per cent of the home loan market. BNZ, owned by Australia's National Australia Bank, has also been on a big drive to grow its loan book increasing it more than 8 per cent and taking its share of the mortgage market to 15.9 per cent as of March 31. Bruce Patten, a mortgage broker with Loan Market, said BNZ had definitely been in acquisition mode and that had been driven by its re-entry into the broker market. "That has been a real driver for them." BNZ resumed dealing with mortgage brokers in 2015 after 12 years of not using them. Mortgage brokers now account for 17.7 per cent of BNZ's mortgage origination, up from 13 per cent a year earlier, according to data released as part of its half year result last week. Patten said BNZ had lost market share as a result of pulling out of the broker market and they were now trying to "claw back" what had been lost during that time. It remains the smallest of the big four banks when it comes to home loans books. ANZ is the largest with around 30 per cent of the market, while ASB has around 21 per cent and Westpac is just shy of 19 per cent. Patten said Kiwibank was also using a limited number of brokers to boost its share but the bank had also been pushing its brand awareness under new chief executive Steve Jurkovich. READ MORE: The interview: Steve Jurkovich - big ambitions for the people's bank Patten said part of reason people had been moving to Kiwibank was price - competitive rates - and part of its was loyalty and citizenship. "An incredible number want to bank with a New Zealand-owned bank." But he said Kiwibank were also playing catch-up after losing momentum during a period when it had funding issues. John Bolton, chief executive of Squirrel Home Loans, said there had been a definite shift to use more brokers with ANZ - the country's largest bank - reporting 41 per cent of its home loans being generated via brokers. "If you went back seven or eight years ago it would be closer to 32 per cent." Bolton said BNZ was getting more of its natural share of the growth because it was using brokers while Kiwibank was using brokers in Auckland where it has had poor market share. In Australia around 60 per cent of all home loans are generated via brokers but it is lower than that here and thought to be around 40 per cent. Bolton said the growth was not surprising given how much more difficult it was for people to navigate bank credit policies. He said the other trends coming through in the last year was the decline in house sales in the Auckland market. From the peak in 2016 the Auckland market was down around 35 per cent, he said. There had also been a skew towards first home buyers playing a prominent role. Kelvin Davidson, senior property economist at CoreLogic said first home buyers had been a key source of lending growth in recent months. "So the banks targeting them in a big way will have been more likely to have grown market share. "Geography may well play a role too banks with larger presences in busy markets such as Wellington and Dunedin will have fared better." The slowest grower has been Westpac whose home loan book grew 3.5 per cent in the year to March 31, slower than the 5.3 per cent market growth and just 1 per cent in the six months to March 31. Westpac chief executive David McLean said it had grown at a slower rate than the market over the last six months after making an active decision to step out of the "intense competition" being seen. "We are selectively choosing where to compete." McLean expected the home loan market to grow at 4 to 5 per cent for the full year and said Westpac would definitely be back in the market in the second half of its financial year. How to get a good deal on your mortgage Squirrel's John Bolton said cash-backs were a big part of the market and should be taken into account as well as the interest rate as borrowers could shave up to 60 basis points off a mortgage rate by taking the cash-back into account. He warned people against breaking their fixed term mortgage and said break fees would be higher because rates had fallen in the last year. Make sure the numbers stack up before you leap. But Bolton said those who are close to coming off a fixed term should look at trying to lock in a rate. This can be done up to 60 days ahead of the end of the term. Bolton said switching banks may not be necessary to get a good rate and most of the banks were matching rates offered by other major banks. First home buyers should get advice especially if they have a deposit of less than 20 per cent. Brokers can look at ways to boost the deposit through using parent's house or term deposits as security which can bring the rate down. Bolton said people in their first home should try and get over the 80 per cent loan to value ratio as soon as possible to get a lower rate. This could be done through getting a house revaluation. | https://www.nzherald.co.nz/personal-finance/news/article.cfm?c_id=12&objectid=12228154&ref=rss |
Did Trump honor Red Sox or white Sox? | Opinion: Trying to pretend that President Donald Trump has not caused a widening racial and ethnic divide means not believing what you can hear with your own ears and see with your own eyes. President Trump holds a gift jersey at a ceremony honoring the 2019 World Series champion Boston Red Sox on the South Lawn at the White House in Washington. (Photo: Geoff Burke, USA TODAY Sports) Trying to pretend that President Donald Trump has not caused a widening racial and ethnic divide means not believing what you can hear with your own ears and see clearly with your own eyes. The most recent example was the appearance in the White House of last years World Series champion Boston Red Sox. Or so it seemed, the white sox. Nearly a dozen of the teams players of color decided not to attend the event, not to take a photo with Trump, not to shake Trumps hand. This included manager Alex Cora, who has close ties to Puerto Rico.' 'I don't fee comfortable...' Cora said, Some people still lack basic necessities, others remain without electricity and many homes and schools are in pretty bad shape almost a year and a half after Hurricane Maria struck. Ive used my voice on many occasions so that Puerto Ricans are not forgotten, and my absence is no different. As such, at this moment, I dont feel comfortable celebrating in the White House. Meantime, all of the teams white players attended. The teams chairman, Tom Werner, actually said, We dont see it as a racial divide. I think, to the extent that we can, baseball is apolitical. Actually, you cant because it isnt. From the time of the exclusion of black players baseball always has been political. And existing problem made worse Trump has made a difficult racial and ethnic divide much, MUCH worse with his language about s***hole countries, and disparaging Mexicans, and trashing black players like Colin Kaepernick for expressing dissatisfaction over the treatment of minorities, and saying there were very fine people on both sides of the protests in Charlottesville, where Neo-Nazis carrying tiki torches marched down the street shouting anti-Semitic chants and one of their thugs drove a car into a crowd, killing a woman. The Red Sox incident isnt unusual. Clemson Universitys national championship football team was invited to the White House and 74 percent of their African-American players skipped the honor. As one of the veteran players point out, Not saying anything against the players who went, but if you look at who wentfreshman and people fighting for playing timeyoull see what Im talking about. Plenty of other examples 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 Only six players who showed up were listed on Clemsons national championship depth chart. The University of Virginia mens basketball team, winners of the N.C.A.A. championship, also said it wouldnt go to the White House. It goes on. After the Golden State Warriors won the NBA championship high profile members of the team, as well as coach Steve Kerr indicated they werent interested in visiting the White House. Trump withdrew the invitation. Kerr said, "Not surprised. He was going to break up with us before we could break up with him." This isnt a problem of spoiled rich athletes. Divide and conquer strategy Its a problem of dividing the country along racial and ethnic lines. Its Trumps nativist strategy. He believes its what got him elected and that it will get him elected again. Divide and conquer. Divide the nation, conquer his opponent. A study by Sociological Quarterly in Iowa found that counties that went for Trump in 2016 werent driven by economic anxiety, as some argued. But by racism and sexism. Or, as the researchers put it, "In general, the counties that swung the most [from Obama to Trump] were those that were almost entirely white. Likewise, the Pew Research Center studied race relations since Trumps election and found that a majority of those polled believe the president has made things worse. (It mimicked a previous study.) They said that, under Trump, people feel more comfortable expressing racist views and that, to an extent, those views have become more acceptable. But if youve paid any attention to the news and to the things Trump says and does you dont need a scientific study or a public opinion poll to convince you that he has strained race relations. All you need to do is listen. And look. Like, for instance, at that photo of Trump with the Red Sox. And ask yourself, Wheres Mookie? Reach Montini at [email protected] Read or Share this story: https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/ej-montini/2019/05/09/donald-trump-red-sox-white-house-golden-state-warriors-racism/1161672001/ | https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/ej-montini/2019/05/09/donald-trump-red-sox-white-house-golden-state-warriors-racism/1161672001/ |
Is a tarnished UFC worth the risk to ESPN and Disney Studios? | On Saturday the UFC will return Rio de Janeiro for UFC 237. The event, which features a handful of former champions such as Anderson Silva and Jose Aldo, will mark the promotions second pay-per-view event since announcing an exclusive deal to host their PPV shows on ESPNs new streaming service, ESPN+. The deal means that fight fans in the United States are required to have ESPN+ subscriptions in order to then purchase the UFCs tentpole shows. Although the exclusive deal emphasizes ESPNs confidence in the UFC product, there are still several risks associated with their investment. In May 2018, the UFC and Disney, in conjunction with ESPN, signed an exclusive five-year media rights and distribution deal for live UFC content across all ESPN platforms. The entire rights package would cost ESPN $1.5bn over five years. The inaugural show took place in January 2019 and featured a champion v champion fight between TJ Dillashaw and Henry Cejudo. According to ESPN, the event resulted in 568,000 new subscribers, including 525,000 who signed up on the day of the fight alone. Two months later, the UFC extended its deal with ESPN until 2025 and announced that their PPV events would be purchased directly on ESPN+. However, while the event was a financial success and an impressive start to the partnership, it wasnt without its fair share of controversy. The UFC and ESPN endured staunch criticism from the media ahead of the inaugural show due to the promotions decision to include former NFL defensive end Greg Hardy a man once convicted for assaulting his ex-girlfriend in the co-main event spot. To make matters worse, Hardy was featured on the same card as Rachel Ostovich, who suffered a broken orbital bone after being assaulted by her husband. Hardy went on to a disqualification loss but returned last month also in a co-main event slot and scored a knockout victory. While Hardy likely wont fight again for several months, the UFC is set to spotlight another alleged domestic abuser on their upcoming UFC 237 event. The preliminary portion of the event will feature BJ Penn, the promotions first two-division champion and arguably one of the greatest fighters in the history of MMA. Penn recently made headlines when his estranged girlfriend filed a restraining order against him, alleging years of physical and sexual abuse. Penn is also under an active police investigation after allegedly threatening another man with a machete in a trespassing dispute. Despite this, Penn is still scheduled to compete on the UFC 237 PPV. Dana White: how the UFC's president became its biggest liability Read more The decision to promote Hardy on two separate occasions, as well as lack of foresight to remove Penn from their upcoming card underscores the UFCs tone-deaf approach to handling domestic violence. It also highlights ESPNs willingness to overlook controversy in exchange for new subscribers to its streaming platform, especially considering the channels well-documented financial troubles. Over the past five years, ESPN has lost more than 13 million subscribers. This steady erosion of paying customers is a problem for all traditional broadcasters and is due to the cord-cutting trend of viewers cancelling their TV packages and cable subscriptions in favor of internet-based media such as Netflix and Amazon Prime. As a result, the company underwent significant changes, which included laying off 150 employees in 2017. In March 2018, Walt Disney Co, which owns 80% of ESPN, hired James Pitaro, the former head of media at Yahoo, to serve as president of the sports network. One month later, ESPN unveiled its ESPN+ streaming service and announced its partnership with the UFC. The UFC reportedly has the youngest fan base among major US sports properties, comprised of a high percentage of millennials and adults in the 18-34 demographic. A large proportion of UFC fans are also heavy internet users and are used to using digital services such as Fight Pass, the UFCs own streaming service, to watch fights. Theoretically, this should be a good fit for ESPN, a company which is looking to build a young consumer base to anchor its subscription service. However, when you factor in the declining TV ratings and PPV sales in 2018, it becomes clear that both entities will be under immense pressure to ensure the deal is successful. While ESPN still has 86 million subscribers as of the final quarter of 2018, they continue to lose roughly two million viewers with each passing year, which has greatly affected profit margins, as well as parent company Walt Disneys stock value. As a result, ESPN is under a lot of pressure with its newfound investment in UFC, which in turn, places pressure on the UFC to match its media partners expectations. Despite that pressure, the UFC and ESPN have plenty of reasons to be optimistic about the deal. The UFC 234 prelims drew 1.34 million viewers on ESPN and became the most-watched preliminary card leading up to a UFC PPV in more than two years. UFC 235 topped that figure with a total of 1.48 million viewers. However, the UFC 236 prelims saw a significant drop, averaging 893,000 viewers. It was later reported in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that UFC 236 drew fewer than 100,000 PPV buys on ESPN+, which is unsurprising given the sudden change of platform. Another complicated facet of the UFC-ESPN deal is the decision to make ESPN+ the exclusive provider of UFC PPVs. While the financial details have not been disclosed, it is believed the UFC will receive a guaranteed revenue stream from ESPN in exchange for exclusivity. The added security gives the UFC leverage when negotiating with its top stars. For example, Brock Lesnar was supposed to make his long-awaited return from WWE to fight Daniel Cormier for the heavyweight title. When Lesnar attempted to negotiate a flat fee with the UFC to compete under the new ESPN+ PPV deal, he was turned down by the promotion. Instead, with guaranteed money from ESPN behind it, the UFC booked a rematch between Cormier and Stipe Miocic a fight that will draw fewer viewers than Lesnars return but will involve fighters demanding far less money. This newfound leverage will likely also impact UFCs relationship with its most valuable star, Conor McGregor. The Irishman has headlined four of the five highest selling UFC PPVs and, despite losing his most recent fight, remains the biggest draw in the promotions history. Yet despite McGregors status, the ESPN+ deal places him at a significant disadvantage during the negotiation process. The UFCs primary goal is no longer to sell PPVs but to create regular content that will draw new subscribers to ESPN+, something they can arguably achieve without McGregor. There is also a case to be made that McGregors recent brushes with the law make him an even more unappealing commodity for the UFC. While the UFC arguably no longer needs McGregor, ESPN can still profit from his presence on their streaming service, especially if he is able to draw in a casual audience to ESPN+. ESPNs agreement with the UFC is the networks first major deal under Pitaros helm and he will want to ensure that it is a successful venture. McGregor could be useful in that regard, even if only for a single fight. Therefore it is still possible that the promotion will reach an eventual agreement with the former champion. The UFC-ESPN agreement is an example of how sports organizations that rely heavily on individual talent and star power can be beneficial to a broadcaster looking to reestablish itself through new distribution channels. Nevertheless, in order to eventually recoup their hefty investment in the UFCs media rights, ESPN will likely have to put aside their progressive ethos and UFC unseemly side, such as the decision to promote questionable athletes like Hardy, Penn and McGregor. ESPN and the UFC declined to comment on this article when contacted by the Guardian. | https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/may/10/is-a-tarnished-ufc-worth-the-risk-to-espn-and-disney-studios |
How Would a Recession Shape the 2020 Presidential Race? | One way or another, the state of the economy will shape messaging in the 2020 presidential campaign. Research has shown a strong, growing economy historically favors the incumbent partys candidate for retaining office, while a stagnant or shrinking economy is typically a boon to the challenger. Theres been plenty of talk about recession, with 42% of economists expecting one to hit in 2020. Given the stronger-than-expected economic numbers so far this year, though, some economists are improving their outlooks. Lynn Vavreck, professor of American politics and public policy at UCLA and author of The Message Matters: The Economy and Presidential Campaigns, says past elections show that messaging does best if it meets certain criteria when challenging someone whos linked to a good economy. The challengers messaging has to focus on an issue on which public opinion is lopsided, they align with the view that the majority of voters hold, and their opponent is unlikelyor unableto change their position on the issue. Thats why you often see people building their whole campaign around things that are very broad and thematic, Vavreck says. She points to the example of the 1976 Jimmy Carter presidential campaign, which the Democrat built around the theme of being an outsider who would return trust to Washington. Gerald Ford, the incumbent Republican president, was stuck with a label of being a Washington insider, given that he had spent decades in politics. Granted, the outcome of messaging around a seemingly lopsided issue isnt always clear. Vavreck says Democrats vying to run against Republican President Donald Trump in the general election next year might find it tempting to focus on his characteristicssuch as the way he talks about women, his repetition of false and misleading statements, and the turnover rates among his staffbut Hillary Clinton already tried shining a light on such traits in 2016. And while Clinton won the popular vote, she lost the electoral vote. Part of the reason issues besides the economy took center stage in the 2016 race might have been in part because the economic conditions at the time created a tough call for candidates. The growth rate at the time hovered around 1% in the first half of the election year, which is a gray area for determining whether it represents growth or stagnation, Vavreck says. Clinton ultimately didnt take credit for the economy created under Democratic President Barack Obama as much as she could have, Vavreck adds. Looking to 2020, with party conventions still more than a year away, theres still plenty of time before well see the economic numbers that will actually shape voters choices. The change in GDP from January to June in an election year has a strong correlation with two-party vote share in presidential elections, Vavreck notes. And plenty could still change between now and then, if history is any indicator. Every Republican president since Teddy Roosevelt has had a recession start in their first term in office, and many Republican presidents had two recessions during their eight years in office, according to Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist of U.S. equity strategy at CFRA. The economic indicators that might typically flag a recession are currently a bit of a mixed bag, in Stovalls view. Housing starts fell 14.2% year-over-year, according to March data from the U.S. Census Bureau. Thats close to a blinking yellow light or even a faint red light for the economy, Stovall says. Recent yield curve data, on the other hand, provides a more optimistic outlook, Stovall says, since it has not been inverted on the two-year-to-10-year comparison, despite some of the panic earlier this year about a temporary inversion of the yield curve on the three-month-to-10-year comparison. Alicia Levine, chief strategist at BNY Mellon Investment Management, sees an overall strengthening of the U.S. economy going into 2020, especially as the global economy looks poised for an upturn. If we had global synchronized growth in 2017, and we had a global synchronized downturn in the second half of 2018, Id say in 2019 we have a global synchronized stabilization and uptick, Levine says. Part of the air pocket that the U.S. economy seemed to hit last year came from the rapid sell-off of stocks in the fourth quarter, she notes. That hit consumers hard because households are more exposed to equities today than at any time since the late 1990s, Levine says. A 20% hit to stocks in rapid fashionwhich is what we had in the fourth quarter its no surprise that would hit consumer confidence and consumer spending in the period immediately after. And thats what we saw coming in January and February, but by March we saw a bounce back in the consumer, Levine says. That kind of exposure in itself could be one factor to watch as the election approaches, especially considering how the stock market shapes outcomes. If the market declines from July 31 until October 31 of the presidential election year, Stovall says, the incumbent person or party has been replaced an average of about 90% of the time. I like to say that bull markets dont die of old agethey die of fright, Stovall says. And what theyre most afraid of is recession. | http://fortune.com/2019/05/10/2019-2020-recession-risk-election/ |
Will Gene-Edited Food Be Government Regulated? | Enlarge this image toggle caption Johannes Eisele/AFP/Getty Images Johannes Eisele/AFP/Getty Images The company Calyxt, just outside St. Paul, Minn., wanted to make a new kind of soybean, with oil that's a little healthier more like olive oil. As it happens, some wild relatives of soybeans already produce seeds with such "high oleic" oil oil that is high in monounsaturated fat. It's because a few of their genes have particular mutations, making them slightly different from the typical soybeans that farmers grow. Manoj Sahoo, the company's chief commercial officer, says this led to an obvious question: "Can we have those same mutations in the modern varieties which are grown by our farmers?" The company turned to a gene-editing technique, TALEN, that's similar to a more famous one called CRISPR. Sahoo describes it as a genetic scissors that can go in and cut the soybean plant's DNA very precisely. "It does the cut, and then it comes out. There is no foreign material or foreign genes in the soybean," he says. This is a vital point. If you take genes from another kind of plant, or bacteria, and insert them into a crop like soybeans, the result is considered a genetically modified organism, or GMO. You need government approval to sell a new GMO. Getting it can take years, and millions of dollars. If you just take a snippet out of a gene without inserting anything new, though, the product falls into a gray area. The European Union has decided that it's still a GMO. The U.S., though, says it's not. In fact, you may not need explicit government approval to sell that product. Companies and even university researchers can ask the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration to examine their new products, and the results of these voluntary "consultations" are public. The USDA has a website, for example, where one can browse dozens of agency responses to such inquiries. Calyxt went through this voluntary process with both the USDA and the FDA, and both agencies gave the company's high-oleic soybean a green light. "We think it is important to build consumer trust, and also [for] food safety, which is critical, to go through that oversight process," Sahoo says. On the other hand, there's a gene-editing company called Cibus, in San Diego, that never asked the USDA or the FDA to formally approve its new line of canola. Adding to the confusion is the fact that this canola was created using an older method of creating genetic mutations. The company induced lots of random mutations in canola plants by multiplying them in the lab in Petri dishes. Then it searched for and found exactly the mutation it wanted. Crops altered in this way have never been strictly regulated, so Cibus didn't need government approval for its canola. But Peter Beetham, the CEO of Cibus, goes further. If the company created this same kind of canola using newer gene-editing tools, he says, it also would not require any formal government review. Greg Jaffe, director of the biotechnology project at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, says it's a troubling precedent. "I don't think Cibus is violating any law, but I think that it points out the fact that this is a voluntary process, and that in the future, companies may not go through this process," he says. A lot of consumers will find that unacceptable, he says. Gene editing is new, it's powerful, and people will have a host of questions about it. They'll want to know, for instance, if their own food is genetically edited. "The first step in having a discussion about technology is knowing what's out there," Jaffe says. Jaffe is calling on the government to maintain a comprehensive and public list of every gene-edited crop that farmers are harvesting and selling. "I think that there should be a registry of these products, agricultural products that are going to go on the market, that have been gene edited," he says. I reached out to several biotech companies to see what they thought of Jaffe's idea. They were noncommittal. Several of them said that they do want some kind of government oversight of this technology. They say they've been convinced that it's essential for public acceptance of the technology. But the companies also are trying to avoid anything that suggests to consumers that gene-edited food is somehow different from every other food, and thus perhaps more dangerous. | https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2019/05/10/717273970/will-gene-edited-food-be-government-regulated?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=storiesfromnpr |
Why Make Movies About Writers? | Having earned his spurs directing and acting in movies of Henry V (1989), Much Ado About Nothing (1993), Hamlet (1996), Loves Labours Lost (2000), and As You Like It (2006), Kenneth Branagh is at liberty to make of Shakespeare what he will. Had he offered a souped-up Twelfth Night, set in the hot-rod capital of Illyria, with Dwayne Johnson as Malvolio and Vin Diesel as Sir Toby Belch, I would have been the first to line up. Instead, Branagh has gone for a quieter option, by giving us All Is True. The title is a clever thing, ifaith. For a start, it is the alternative title of Henry VIII, the play that was being performed at the Globe on June 29, 1613, when a cannon shot, designed to beef up the regal show, set fire to the roof. The entire theatre burned down. (It is surely a cause for regret that this chastening traditionof major dramatic endeavors being abruptly terminated by too many special effectshas not survived to the present day.) Moreover, to call any movie All Is True is a sly provocation, hinting that what follows may not be wholly reliable. Compare the legendary film, set in South America and laced with documentary footage, that was conjured up by Orson Welles in the nineteen-forties but left unfinished. Its All True. Branaghs movie is not, for once, an adaptation of a play. Written by Ben Elton, its all about Shakespeare: not the Maytime of his youth, or the glorious summer of his prime, but his withdrawalthe period after the conflagration at the Globe, when he quit London and went home to Stratford-upon-Avon with his memories, his dirty laundry, and his 401(k). What occurred between his return and his death, in April, 1616, is as open to rash conjecture as every other patch of Shakespeares life. We can, with some certainty, attest that he played very little golf with former dentists, but thats about it. Even the assumption that he stayed put for the rest of his days doesnt quite bear scrutiny, since a friend reported meeting him in London in November, 1614. The received wisdom, according to the Shakespearean scholar Jonathan Bate, is that the dramatist retired to Stratford, settled down to property dealing, minor litigation, and the life of the complacent country gentleman. This is a myth. But movies, like history plays, take no pleasure in verification. The part of Shakespeare in All Is True is taken by Branagh himself, or by as much of him as can be discerned behind a wig, a false beard, and an even falser nose. First came his Hercule Poirot, in Murder on the Orient Express (2017), when it seemed that Birnam Wood had bypassed Dunsinane and parked on Branaghs upper lip, and now we have his Bard. To make things worse, he is often viewed from the side, allowing us to gauge the precise angle at which the beard, short and sharp, has been glued on. It looks like some sort of digging tool, and, indeed, much of the movie is spent in Shakespeares garden. Maybe we are meant to suppose that, ever the innovator, he was the first Englishman to plant sweet damask roses with his chin. Also resident at New Place, the swell joint that he bought in 1597, are his wife, Anne (Judi Dench), and his daughter Judith (Kathryn Wilder). It has been ungallantly pointed out that, though Anne was Williams senior by eight years, the age gap between Dench and Branagh is almost twenty years wider; on the other hand, no chance to see her on film should be disdained. She finds in Anne the mordant fatigue of someone who has long since resigned herself to being ignored. Weary of her husbands reputation, she asks, Have you even once considered mine?, a jibe that is all the more piquant for being a perfectly scannable, if unwitting, line of Shakespearean verse. Judith is more blatant in her wrath. Her twin brother, Hamnet, died in 1596, and the movie contends that, whereas he was the apple of his fathers eye, she is regardedor so she believesas a useless, pointless girl. She and her mother sit and stew in the shadows, bent over their needlework (neither of them can read), and, after one fracas with her father, Judith storms out of the room. You can hardly blame her, given the bondage of the times. A woman is put upon this earth for one reason, she exclaims. It is a matter of record that, in 1616, she married a vintner named Thomas Quiney (who really was useless, not least at keeping his pants on), and the film shows Shakespeare rising at the wedding feast and assuring his guests that family is everything. Ah, yes. Look at the Lears. The challenge, of course, is to veer off the record in style. Cursed be he that moves my bones, we are cautioned by the epitaph on Shakespeares tomb, but that has not deterred us from rearranging the skeletal outlines of his life and cladding them in speculative flesh. In A Room of Ones Own, Virginia Woolf gives him an imaginary sister, wonderfully gifted, who, after being flogged for refusing marriage, escapes to London with dreams of becoming an actor. (They are foiled, and she kills herself.) Germaine Greer, meanwhile, has suggested that Judith became a maidservant in the Quiney household, before marrying Thomas to save his family from scandal. All power to Branagh and Elton, then, as they devise a peculiar plot about Judith and her lost brother, even supplying a whiff of spicy whodunnit. How did Hamnet die? his father inquires. For a while, I wondered if Branagh might be morphing back into Poirot. The problem is not that this film plays fast and loose. Nor that it slides into anachronism, with Shakespeare crowing over my vast, complex, and spectacularly successful business, as if he were in shipping or aerospace. At a pinch, I can even take the premptive puffery of the script, whereby lesser characters keep lauding his omniscient genius. (Serious bardolatry didnt get into its stride until the eighteenth century.) No, whats dismaying about All Is True is that it plays so slow and loose. The action seizes up. The mood is chronically autumnal. The women suffer under hats the size of fire hydrants. The music is mostly scored for piano and mush. And our attention is drawn, at inordinate length, to landscapes that look too fanciful to be rooted in the real. The falling leaves that swirl around our hero are clearly being driven by somebody just off camera, gunning his leaf blower to the max. And yet, if you skip the movie, youll miss out. For ten minutes, it holds you in its thrall. The occasion is a visit by the Earl of Southampton, to whom Shakespeare, early in his career, dedicated two long poems. He is played by Ian McKellen, who immediately strikes the right balance of gravity and sport. The two men sit by the hearth, warmed by its glow as Falstaff and Shallow were in Welless Chimes at Midnight (1965). The Earl credits his host with the finest, the most _com_plete, that most beautiful mind, Ill warrant, that ever existed in this world (no one but McKellen would think to stress that syllable), only to gaze upon him and ask, Why are you such a little man? Talk about lordly. They trade recitations of Sonnet 29Branagh with a half-angry admission of love, McKellen with amused and flirtatious hauteur. To watch these fine actors, with Shakespeare in their marrow, forgo the toil of modern dialogue for the gracious ease of verse, enfolded in firelight, feels like a privilege. Such an encounter, like most of the events in this movie, probably never took place, but the flame of the words requires no invention. Its all true. | https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/05/20/why-make-movies-about-writers |
What are the alternatives to endless growth? | Upside readers are calling for a shift to a sustainable economy. Another week, another report lamenting the decimation of wildlife and the threat of natural collapse. The UN tome was so gloomy it needed 1,800 pages to spell out the message: 1m species face extinction if we carry on like this. The OECD suggested that punitive taxes are the only way to discourage a rapacious approach to natural resources. But Upside readers have also been in touch advocating a shift of course away from growth at all costs and towards something more sustainable. Maria Smith suggested it was time to explore in greater depth whether we can escape the pursuit of endless economic growth. We are all familiar with the damaging impact that the pursuit of financial wealth has on society, culture and the environment. We need no reminding of this planets dangerous rate of warming or its peoples divide between those with too much and those without enough. Yet the supremacy of economic growth as an indicator of progress is still sought after by governments all over the world. As climate change has now begun to bite, the link between economic growth and environmental decline needs to be more thoroughly understood and accepted. Email us at [email protected] Elsewhere, it was a week of medical exploration in the sunlit Up(side)lands: Wim Hof reckons breathing techniques and cold water swimming can improve your mental health. Photojournalist Jonny Weeks gave it a go. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Wim and Jonny take a cold dip Photograph: Jonny Weeks/The Guardian A world-first deployment of a genetically modified virus to kill off a bacterial infection saved a British teenager and held out promise for new drugs that could be useful if antibiotic resistance continues to grow. And researchers concluded that teenage use of social media has a fairly negligible effect on life satisfaction. Data Remarkably, Britain went an entire week without using coal power for the first time in almost 140 years. The country is generating solar power at record levels. EU carbon emissions fell 2.5% in 2018 compared with 2017, according to Eurostat. What we liked The Irish Times piece about schoolgirls designing an app and a boardgame to help Syrian refugees settle in their new home. Also, this Vox article about a Canadian doctor who prescribes people money to help them get better. Clever. What we heard I am convinced cold water swimming is beneficial. Ive been swimming in the sea off Hove for over a year and have not had a cold or infection in that time. I turn 65 in a couple of weeks and suggest, if you havent already done so, you consider researching the benefits of strength training for all ages. John Nugent, via email I really enjoyed Jonny Weeks article & I thought you might be interested in how cold-water swimming has been instrumental in the recovery from severe depression of my swimming friend, Katie Maggs. A short award winning documentary has been made about Katies recovery - https://youtu.be/lvViuv0vIKU - & she has since been on a mission to help others who might now be suffering as she was. Mike Conboye, via email I have been publishing theoretical papers in regular scientific journals on the possible role of thermal cycling and thermal gradients in biology since 1983. (Search Muller thermosynthesis to explore further many of those papers are free-access.) In one of my papers, I describe a model for the emergence of the brain during evolution based on thermal gradients near the ventricles of the brain. But in order to do experiments, you need funding, and in order to obtain funding, you need to convince granting agencies who pay lip service to being open for new ideas but in practice only give attention to the regular paradigm. In Afghanistan, where book clubs are booming. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Bookish Photograph: Mohammad Ismail/Reuters Also in Amsterdam, where an ingenious new bioprocess to turn agricultural waste into a sugar substitute won the annual Chivas Ventures award. If you havent already, sign up here to get this email in your inbox every Friday afternoon. Then get in touch with us at [email protected] with ideas, tips and suggestions for coverage. | https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/may/10/what-are-the-alternatives-to-endless-growth |
What happens when a raindrop hits a puddle? | (The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.) Even before I entered the field of fluid flow research nearly 15 years ago, I was fascinated by the waves that appear after a raindrop hits a puddle. As I became focused on the study of unstable waves in liquid sheets geared toward mitigating undesirable waves in industrial coating and atomization processes my fascination with puddle waves turned into an obsession. It turns out that it all has to do with something called dispersion. In the context of water waves, dispersion is the ability of waves of different wavelengths to each move at their own individual speeds. Looking down on a puddle, we see a collection of such waves moving together as one ripple in the water. When a raindrop touches down, imagine it as a ding to the water surface. This ding can be idealized as a packet of waves of all different sizes. After the raindrop falls, the packets waves are ready to begin their new life in the puddle. However, whether we see those waves as ripples depends on the body of water that the raindrop lands on. The number and spacing of rings that you see depends on the height of the puddle. This has been verified in some very cool ripple tank experiments, where a drop of the same velocity falls into a container with water at different depths. Shallow puddles enable ripples, because they are much thinner than they are wide. The balance between the surface force between the water puddle and the air above it and the gravitational force tips in favor of surface force. This is key, since the surface force depends on the curvature of the water surface, whereas the gravitational force does not. An initially still shallow puddle becomes curved at the surface after the raindrop hits. The surface force is different for long waves than for short ones, causing waves of different sizes to separate into ripples. For shallow puddles, the long waves move slowly away from the point of impact, while the short waves move fast, and the really short waves move really fast, becoming tightly packed at the perimeter. This creates the enchanting pattern that we see. Raindrops may react differently in other situations. Imagine that rain is hitting a lake or ocean or those deep pothole puddles that require galoshes. Here, the raindrop hits the water, but the force due to gravity becomes more important. It moves waves of all sizes at the same speed which may overpower the rippling effect due to the surface force. The combination of teaching undergraduate partial differential equations while simultaneously continuing to research liquid sheets led to what Ive been calling the puddle equation. When solved, the equation creates an animated simulation of what happens after a raindrop hits a puddle. Its a simplified version of an equation in one of our groups more recent research endeavors, but its also consistent with the classical description of ripples. I use this approximate description of puddle waves as one way to get students excited about math by relating it to the world around them. The study of surface-force-driven waves is important for applications such as coating processes involved in making batteries and solar cells. Such waves also appear as a result of the leg stroke of a water strider insect, but research has found that the water strider isnt specifically looking to make those waves to enable travel. The beauty of puddle waves is no small thing by itself. By connecting nature with its primal language mathematics we gain access to its control panel, allowing us to observe every little detail, uncovering all the secrets. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here: http://theconversation.com/what-happens-when-a-raindrop-hits-a-puddle-115984. | https://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/What-happens-when-a-raindrop-hits-a-puddle-13834786.php |
Which loaned-out players should Chelsea recall for next season? | With Chelsea facing a transfer ban, they might want to bring back some of the 40 players they loaned out this season With Chelsea facing a transfer ban this summer, they may need to promote some of the young players they have loaned out over the last few seasons. The club have sent no fewer than 40 players on loan this season. The majority of them will probably never play first-team football at Stamford Bridge, but these 10 players will hope to stay at the club and fight for a place next season. Ola Aina, Torino Ola Aina turns 23 in October, so is running out of chances to impress the Chelsea manager. The Nigeria international has played at a high level this season, featuring regularly for a Torino side who are seventh in Serie A and still hope to play in the Europa League next season. The defenders versatility is to his advantage. He has operated from both the left and right flank in Walter Mazzarris 3-5-2 formation this season, making 28 appearances in the league. He will also take heart from that fact that Chelsea are not inundated with top-class options at full-back. Chance of staying next season: 5/10 Jay Dasilva, Bristol City A regular at left-back for the England Under-21s, Dasilva has profited from a challenging spell in the Championship, where he has competed with fellow youngster Lloyd Kelly for a starting place at Bristol City. Dasilva has only just turned 21 but, given the difficult season Marcos Alonso has endured, he will have eye on the Spaniards spot in the team. Another loan move looks likely for Dasilva but, if he keeps developing, he will hope to break into the Chelsea squad before long. With three assists for Bristol City this season, he offers a real attacking threat from wide. Chance of staying next season: 2/10 Eden Hazard shows what Chelsea will miss if this was his home farewell | Ed Aarons Read more Fikayo Tomori, Derby County A near ever-present for a team that has qualified for the Championship play-offs under Chelsea legend Frank Lampard no less Fikayo Tomori is one youngster Chelsea should not write off. Another regular for the England Under-21s, the centre-back has impressed this season and could come into the managers thinking as David Luizs contract runs down. Tomori started all but three of Derbys league matches this season and will hope to start another three before the end of the campaign. The play-offs will offer another test of his mettle, but the defender has stood up to the task all season, making the most tackles of any centre-back in the Championship (96). Chance of staying next season: 4/10 Reece James, Wigan Athletic Wigan flirted with relegation this season but James was instrumental in ensuring that Paul Cooks side ultimately stayed in the Championship. The teenager is primarily a right-back but his shift into central midfield helped spark a run of results that kept Wigan up. The 19-year-old was not struggling at full-back, but he was so good that it made sense to get him more involved in games. Having started 44 games, scored three goals and picked up three assists, James cleaned up at Wigans end-of-season awards, winning the player of the year, players player of the year and goal of the season trophies. He should be playing in the Premier League next season even if not at Chelsea. Chance of staying next season: 5/10 Kurt Zouma, Everton A Premier League regular for the last two seasons at Stoke and then Everton, Zouma could have a future at the Bridge. He is only 24, Gary Cahill is leaving and David Luizs situation is unclear. Zouma is strong in the air and makes a lot of interceptions but he may not be good enough in possession for Chelsea. Whether or not Maurizio Sarri is in charge next season, the onus is likely to be on playing out from the back so Zoumas modest pass accuracy is a concern. Chance of staying next season: 6/10 Tiemoue Bakayoko, Milan Bakayokos loan spell at Milan was going well until he lost his place due to behavioural reasons. Milan are now very unlikely to make a move for the Frenchman, but he has at least proven that he has talent. The 24-year-old didnt start a Serie A game until the last day of October but he secured a regular place due to some impressive all-action performances. Indeed, Bakayoko has made at least one tackle in all but one of his 23 starts this season and an interception in all but two. Chance of staying next season: 5/10 Mason Mount, Derby County Mason Mount has not disappointed at Pride Park. The 20-year-old has played an important role in securing a sixth-place finish and a play-off semi-final against Leeds. He has not posted the sort of figures he managed at Vitesse last season, but eight goals and four assists is a decent return from midfield. His pass accuracy is low at 76.7% but Mount takes the sort of chances that can unlock opposition defences. Derbys win rate this season has risen by 20% when he has been in the starting line-up. Chance of staying next season: 5/10 Christian Pulisic, Borussia Dortmund Christian Pulisic is the one guaranteed new face at Stamford Bridge next season after Chelsea signed him from Borussia Dortmund for 58m. Despite becoming Chelseas most expensive outfield signing, he has endured a frustrating campaign, perhaps even going backwards under Lucien Favre. The 20-year-old has made just 18 appearances in the Bundesliga this season, starting just seven of those game. Pulisic has scored three goals and set up three more, but he will hope to have a bigger impact at his new club next season. Chance of staying next season: 10/10 Transfer ban will stop Chelsea competing for title, says Maurizio Sarri Read more Tammy Abraham, Aston Villa Having been named in the Championship team of the year, Abraham will almost certainly be playing top-flight football again next season. His struggles in the Premier League with Swansea will be a concern for Chelsea, but he is a box finisher and he was never given the service he needed. The 21-year-old striker has scored 25 goals for Aston Villa in the Championship this season one every 126 minutes and, with Olivier Giroud looking likely to leave, Abraham will probably stick around. Chance of staying next season: 6/10 Michy Batshuayi, Crystal Palace After a dismal spell with Valencia at the start of this season, Batshuayi moved to Crystal Palace in January and has proven to some degree that he has what it takes to cut it in the Premier League. Whether that will be with Chelsea remains to be seen, but the Belgian scored his third goal in eight league starts for Palace at the weekend. The Belgium international will celebrate his 26th birthday in October so is surely reaching last-chance-saloon status at Chelsea. If the club can command a decent fee for the striker, they will probably cash in. However, should the coach whoever that may be decide that Abraham is not ready to step up, Batshuayi may be needed. Chance of staying next season: 5/10 Visit WhoScored for more statistics and ratings Follow WhoScored on Twitter and Facebook Follow Martin Laurence on Twitter | https://www.theguardian.com/football/who-scored-blog/2019/may/10/chelsea-on-loan-players-recall-next-season-transfer-ban |
Was Shakespeare a Woman? | The controversy, almost as old as the works themselves, has yet to surface a compelling alternative to the man buried in Stratford. Perhaps thats because, until recently, no one was looking in the right place. The case for Emilia Bassano. On a spring night in 2018, I stood on a Manhattan sidewalk with friends, reading Shakespeare aloud. We were in line to see an adaptation of Macbeth and had decided to pass the time refreshing our memories of the plays best lines. I pulled up Lady Macbeths soliloquy on my iPhone. Come, you spirits / That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, I read, thrilled once again by the incantatory power of the verse. I remembered where I was when I first heard those lines: in my 10th-grade English class, startled out of my adolescent stupor by this woman rebelling magnificently and malevolently against her submissive status. Make thick my blood, / Stop up th access and passage to remorse. Six months into the #MeToo movement, her fury and frustration felt newly resonant. To hear more feature stories, see our full list or get the Audm iPhone app. Pulled back into plays Id studied in college and graduate school, I found myself mesmerized by Lady Macbeth and her sisters in the Shakespeare canon. Beatrice, in Much Ado About Nothing, raging at the limitations of her sex (O God, that I were a man! I would eat his heart in the marketplace). Rosalind, in As You Like It, affecting the swagger of masculine confidence to escape those limitations (Well have a swashing and a martial outside, / As many other mannish cowards have / That do outface it with their semblances). Did I tell this, / Who would believe me?). Kate, in The Taming of the Shrew, refusing to be silenced by her husband (My tongue will tell the anger of my heart, / Or else my heart concealing it will break). Emilia, in one of her last speeches in Othello before Iago kills her, arguing for womens equality (Let husbands know / Their wives have sense like them). I was reminded of all the remarkable female friendships, too: Beatrice and Heros allegiance; Emilias devotion to her mistress, Desdemona; Paulinas brave loyalty to Hermione in The Winters Tale; and plenty more. (Lets consult together against this greasy knight, resolve the merry wives of Windsor, revenging themselves on Falstaff.) These intimate female alliances are fresh inventionsthey dont exist in the literary sources from which many of the plays are drawn. And when the plays lean on historical sources (Plutarch, for instance), they feminize them, portraying legendary male figures through the eyes of mothers, wives, and lovers. Why was Shakespeare able to see the womans position, write entirely as if he were a woman, in a way that none of the other playwrights of the age were able to? In her book about the plays female characters, Tina Packer, the founding artistic director of Shakespeare & Company, asked the question very much on my mind. Doubts about whether William Shakespeare (who was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1564 and died in 1616) really wrote the works attributed to him are almost as old as the writing itself. Alternative contendersFrancis Bacon; Christopher Marlowe; and Edward de Vere, the 17th earl of Oxford, prominent among themcontinue to have champions, whose fervor can sometimes border on fanaticism. In response, orthodox Shakespeare scholars have settled into dogmatism of their own. Even to dabble in authorship questions is considered a sign of bad faith, a blinkered failure to countenance genius in a glovers son. Each of the male possibilities requires an elaborate theory to explain his use of anothers name. None of the candidates has succeeded in dethroning the man from Stratford. Yet a simple reason would explain a playwrights need for a pseudonym in Elizabethan England: being female. Long before Tina Packer marveled at the bards uncanny insight, others were no less awed by the empathy that pervades the work. One would think that he had been Metamorphosed from a Man to a Woman, wrote Margaret Cavendish, the 17th-century philosopher and playwright. The critic John Ruskin said, Shakespeare has no heroeshe has only heroines. A striking number of those heroines refuse to obey rules. At least 10 defy their fathers, bucking betrothals they dont like to find their own paths to love. Eight disguise themselves as men, outwitting patriarchal controlsmore gender-swapping than can be found in the work of any previous English playwright. Six lead armies. The prevailing view, however, has been that no women in Renaissance England wrote for the theater, because that was against the rules. Religious verse and translation were deemed suitable female literary pursuits; closet dramas, meant only for private reading, were acceptable. The stage was off-limits. Yet scholars have lately established that women were involved in the business of acting companies as patrons, shareholders, suppliers of costumes, and gatherers of entrance fees. Whats more, 80 percent of the plays printed in the 1580s were written anonymously, and that number didnt fall below 50 percent until the early 1600s. At least one eminent Shakespeare scholar, Phyllis Rackin, of the University of Pennsylvania, challenges the blanket assumption that the commercial drama pouring forth in the period bore no trace of a female hand. So did Virginia Woolf, even as she sighed over the obstacles that would have confronted a female Shakespeare: Undoubtedly, I thought, looking at the shelf where there are no plays by women, her work would have gone unsigned. A tantalizing nudge lies buried in the writings of Gabriel Harvey, a well-known Elizabethan literary critic. In 1593, he referred cryptically to an excellent Gentlewoman who had written three sonnets and a comedy. I dare not Particularise her Description, he wrote, even as he heaped praise on her. All her conceits are illuminate with the light of Reason; all her speeches beautified with the grace of Affability In her mind there appeareth a certain heavenly Logic; in her tongue & pen a divine Rhetoric I dare undertake with warrant, whatsoever she writeth must needs remain an immortal work, and will leave, in the activest world, an eternal memory of the silliest vermin that she should vouchsafe to grace with her beautiful and allective style, as ingenious as elegant. Harveys tribute is extraordinary, yet orthodox Shakespeareans and anti-Stratfordians alike have almost entirely ignored it. Until recently, that is, when a few bold outliers began to advance the case that Shakespeare might well have been a woman. One candidate is Mary Sidney, the countess of Pembroke (and beloved sister of the celebrated poet Philip Sidney)one of the most educated women of her time, a translator and poet, and the doyenne of the Wilton Circle, a literary salon dedicated to galvanizing an English cultural renaissance. Clues beckon, not least that Sidney and her husband were the patrons of one of the first theater companies to perform Shakespeares plays. Shakespeares life is remarkably well documentedyet no records from his lifetime identify him unequivocally as a writer. But the candidate who intrigued me more was a woman as exotic and peripheral as Sidney was pedigreed and prominent. Not long after my Macbeth outing, I learned that Shakespeares Globe, in London, had set out to explore this figures input to the canon. The theaters summer 2018 season concluded with a new play, Emilia, about a contemporary of Shakespeares named Emilia Bassano. Born in London in 1569 to a family of Venetian immigrantsmusicians and instrument-makers who were likely Jewishshe was one of the first women in England to publish a volume of poetry (suitably religious yet startlingly feminist, arguing for womens Libertie and against male oppression). Her existence was unearthed in 1973 by the Oxford historian A. L. Rowse, who speculated that she was Shakespeares mistress, the dark lady described in the sonnets. In Emilia, the playwright Morgan Lloyd Malcolm goes a step further: Her Shakespeare is a plagiarist who uses Bassanos words for Emilias famous defense of women in Othello. The idea felt like a feminist fantasy about the pastbut then, stories about womens lost and obscured achievements so often have a dreamlike quality, unveiling a history different from the one weve learned. Perhaps the time was finally ripe for us to see her. The ranks of Shakespeare skeptics comprise a kind of literary underworlda cross-disciplinary array of academics, actors (Derek Jacobi and Mark Rylance are perhaps the best known), writers, teachers, lawyers, a few Supreme Court justices (Sandra Day OConnor, Antonin Scalia, John Paul Stevens). Look further back and youll find such illustrious names as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Walt Whitman, Mark Twain, Henry James, Sigmund Freud, Helen Keller, and Charlie Chaplin. Their ideas about the authorship of the plays and poems differ, but they concur that Shakespeare is not the man who wrote them. Their doubt is rooted in an empirical conundrum. Shakespeares life is remarkably well documented, by the standards of the periodyet no records from his lifetime identify him unequivocally as a writer. The more than 70 documents that exist show him as an actor, a shareholder in a theater company, a moneylender, and a property investor. They show that he dodged taxes, was fined for hoarding grain during a shortage, pursued petty lawsuits, and was subject to a restraining order. The profile is remarkably coherent, adding up to a mercenary impresario of the Renaissance entertainment industry. Whats missing is any sign that he wrote. No such void exists for other major writers of the period, as a meticulous scholar named Diana Price has demonstrated. Many left fewer documents than Shakespeare did, but among them are manuscripts, letters, and payment records proving that writing was their profession. For example, court records show payment to Ben Jonson for those services of his wit & pen. Desperate to come up with comparable material to round out Shakespeare, scholars in the 18th and 19th centuries forged evidencelater debunkedof a writerly life. To be sure, Shakespeares name can be found linked, during his lifetime, to written works. With Loves Labours Lost, in 1598, it started appearing on the title pages of one-play editions called quartos. (Several of the plays attributed to Shakespeare were first published anonymously.) Commentators at the time saluted him by name, praising Shakespeares fine filed phrase and honey-tongued Shakespeare. But such evidence proves attribution, not actual authorshipas even some orthodox Shakespeare scholars grant. I would love to find a contemporary document that said William Shakespeare was the dramatist of Stratford-upon-Avon written during his lifetime, Stanley Wells, a professor emeritus at the University of Birminghams Shakespeare Institute, has said. That would shut the buggers up! FROM THE ARCHIVES In 1991, The Atlantic commissioned two pieces from admittedly partisan authors, Irvin Matus and Tom Bethell, to examine both sides of the argument: commissioned two pieces from admittedly partisan authors, Irvin Matus and Tom Bethell, to examine both sides of the argument: In Defense of Shakespeare Looking for Shakespeare By contrast, more than a few of Shakespeares contemporaries are on record suggesting that his name got affixed to work that wasnt his. In 1591, the dramatist Robert Greene wrote of the practice of underhand brokeryof poets who get some other Batillus to set his name to their verses. (Batillus was a mediocre Roman poet who claimed some of Virgils verses as his own.) The following year, he warned fellow playwrights about an upstart Crow, beautified with our feathers, who thinks he is the onely Shake-scene in a countrey. Most scholars agree that the Crow is Shakespeare, then an actor in his late 20s, and conclude that the new-hatched playwright was starting to irk established figures. Anti-Stratfordians see something else: In Aesops fables, the crow was a proud strutter who stole the feathers of others; Horaces crow, in his epistles, was a plagiarist. Shakespeare was being attacked, they say, not as a budding dramatist, but as a paymaster taking credit for others work. Seeke you better Maisters, Greene advised, urging his colleagues to cease writing for the Crow. Ben Jonson, among others, got in his digs, too. Scholars agree that the character of Sogliardo in Every Man Out of His Humoura country bumpkin without brain, wit, anything, indeed, ramping to gentilityis a parody of Shakespeare, a social climber whose pursuit of a coat of arms was common lore among his circle of actors. In a satirical poem called On Poet-Ape, Jonson was likely taking aim at Shakespeare the theater-world wheeler-dealer. Jonsons praise there did more than attribute the work to Shakespeare. It declared his art unmatched: He was not of an age, but for all time! The anti-Stratfordian response is to note the shameless hype at the heart of the Folio project. Whatever you do, Buy, the compilers urged in their dedication, intent on a hard sell for a dramatist who, doubters emphasize, was curiously unsung at his death. The Folios introductory effusions, they argue, contain double meanings. Jonson tells readers, for example, to find Shakespeare not in his portrait but his Booke, seeming to undercut the relation between the man and the work. And near the start of his over-the-top tribute, Jonson riffs on the unreliability of extravagant praise, which doth neer advance / The truth. The authorship puzzles dont end there. The authors linguistic brilliance shines in words and sayings imported from foreign vocabularies, but Shakespeare wasnt educated past the age of 13. Perhaps he traveled, joined the army, worked as a tutor, or all three, scholars have proposed. Yet no proof exists of any of those experiences, despite, as the Oxford historian Hugh Trevor-Roper pointed out in an essay, the greatest battery of organized research that has ever been directed upon a single person. Emilia Bassanos life encompassed the breadth of the Shakespeare canon: its low-class references and knowledge of the court; its Italian sources and Jewish allusions; its music and feminism. In fact, a document that does existShakespeares willwould seem to undercut such hypotheses. A wealthy man when he retired to Stratford, he was meticulous about bequeathing his properties and possessions (his silver, his second-best bed). Yet he left behind not a single book, though the plays draw on hundreds of texts, including somein Italian and Frenchthat hadnt yet been translated into English. Nor did he leave any musical instruments, though the plays use at least 300 musical terms and refer to 26 instruments. He remembered three actor-owners in his company, but no one in the literary profession. Strangest of all, he made no mention of manuscripts or writing. Perhaps as startling as the gaps in his will, Shakespeare appears to have neglected his daughters educationan incongruity, given the erudition of so many of the playwrights female characters. One signed with her mark, the other with a signature a scholar has called painfully formed. Weak and unconvincing was Trevor-Ropers verdict on the case for Shakespeare. My delving left me in agreement, not that the briefs for the male alternatives struck me as compelling either. Steeped in the plays, I felt their author would surely join me in bridling at the Stratfordians unquestioning worship at the shrinetheir arrogant dismissal of skeptics as mere deluded buggers, or worse. (Is there any more fanatic zealot than the priest-like defender of a challenged creed? asked Richmond Crinkley, a former director of programs at the Folger Shakespeare Library who was nonetheless sympathetic to the anti-Stratfordian view.) To appreciate how belief blossoms into facthow readily myths about someone get disseminated as truthone cant do better than to read Shakespeare. Just think of how obsessed the work is with mistaken identities, concealed women, forged and anonymous documentswith the error of trusting in outward appearances. I met Emilia Bassanos most ardent champion at Alices Tea Cup, which seemed unexpectedly apt: A teahouse on Manhattans Upper West Side, it has quotes from Alice in Wonderland scrawled across the walls. (off with their heads!) John Hudson, an Englishman in his 60s who pursued a degree at the Shakespeare Institute in a mid-career swerve, had been on the Bassano case for years, he told me. His zeal can sometimes get the better of him, yet he emphasizes that his methods and findings are laid out for anyone to refute if they wish. Like Alices rabbit hole, Bassanos case opened up new and richly disorienting perspectiveson the plays, on the ways we think about genius and gender, and on a fascinating life. Hudson first learned of Bassano from A. L. Rowse, who discovered mention of her in the notebooks of an Elizabethan physician and astrologer named Simon Forman. In her teens, she became the mistress of Henry Carey, Lord Hunsdon, the master of court entertainment and patron of Shakespeares acting company. And that is only the start. Whether or not Bassano was Shakespeares lover (scholars now dismiss Rowses claim), the discernible contours of her biography supply what the available material about Shakespeares life doesnt: circumstantial evidence of opportunities to acquire an impressive expanse of knowledge. Bassano lived, Hudson points out, an existence on the boundaries of many different social worlds, encompassing the breadth of the Shakespeare canon: its coarse, low-class references and its intimate knowledge of the court; its Italian sources and its Jewish allusions; its music and its feminism. And her imprint, as Hudson reads the plays, extends over a long period. He notes the many uses of her name, citing several early onfor instance, an Emilia in The Comedy of Errors. (Emilia, the most common female name in the plays alongside Katherine, wasnt used in the 16th century by any other English playwright.) Titus Andronicus features a character named Bassianus, which was the original Roman name of Bassano del Grappa, her familys hometown before their move to Venice. Later, in The Merchant of Venice, the romantic hero is a Venetian named Bassanio, an indication that the author perhaps knew of the Bassanos connection to Venice. (Bassanio is a spelling of their name in some records.) Further on, in Othello, another Emilia appearsIagos wife. Her famous speech against abusive husbands, Hudson notes, doesnt show up until 1623, in the First Folio, included among lines that hadnt appeared in an earlier version (lines that Stratfordians assumewithout any proofwere written before Shakespeares death). Bassano was still alive, and by then had known her share of hardship at the hands of men. More to the point, she had already spoken out, in her 1611 book of poetry, against men who do like vipers deface the wombs wherein they were bred. Prodded by Hudson, you can discern traces of Bassanos own life trajectory in particular works across the canon. In Alls Well That Ends Well, a lowborn girl lives with a dowager countess and a general named Bertram. When Bassanos father, Baptista, died in 1576, Emilia, then 7, was taken in by Susan Bertie, the dowager countess of Kent. The countesss brother, Peregrine Bertie, waslike the fictional Bertrama celebrated general. In the play, the countess tells how a father famous in his profession left his sole child bequeathed to my overlooking. I have those hopes of her good that her education promises. Bassano received a remarkable humanist education with the countess. In her book of poetry, she praised her guardian as the Mistris of my youth, / The noble guide of my ungovernd dayes. Bassanos life sheds possible light on the plays preoccupation with women caught in forced or loveless marriages. As for the celebrated general, Hudson seizes on the possibility that Bassanos ears, and perhaps eyes, were opened by Peregrine Bertie as well. In 1582, Bertie was named ambassador to Denmark by the queen and sent to the court at Elsinorethe setting of Hamlet. Records show that the trip included state dinners with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, whose names appear in the play. Because emissaries from the same two families later visited the English court, the trip isnt decisive, but another encounter is telling: Bertie met with the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe, whose astronomical theories influenced the play. Bertie was accompanied by a whole traine, but only the names of important gentlemen are recorded. In any case, Hudson argues, she would have heard tales on his return. Later, as the mistress of Henry Carey (43 years her senior), Bassano gained access to more than the theater world. Carey, the queens cousin, held various legal and military positions. Bassano was favoured much of her Majesty and of many noblemen, the physician Forman noted, indicating the kind of extensive aristocratic associations that only vague guesswork can accord to Shakespeare. His company didnt perform at court until Christmas of 1594, after several of the plays informed by courtly life had already been written. Shakespeares history plays, concerned as they are with the interactions of the governing class, presume an insider perspective on aristocratic life. Yet mere court performances wouldnt have enabled such familiarity, and no trace exists of Shakespeares presence in any upper-class household. And then, in late 1592, Bassano (now 23) was expelled from court. She was pregnant. Carey gave her money and jewels and, for appearances sake, married her off to Alphonso Lanier, a court musician. A few months later, she had a son. Despite the glittering dowry, Lanier must not have been pleased. Her husband hath dealt hardly with her, Forman wrote, and spent and consumed her goods. Bassano was later employed in a noble household, probably as a music tutor, and roughly a decade after that opened a school. Whether she accompanied her male relativeswhose consort of recorder players at the English court lasted 90 yearson their trips back to northern Italy isnt known. But the family link to the home country offers support for the fine-grained familiarity with the region that (along with in-depth musical knowledge) any plausible candidate for authorship would seem to needjust what scholars have had to strain to establish for Shakespeare. (Perhaps, theories go, he chatted with travelers or consulted books.) In Othello, for example, Iago gives a speech that precisely describes a fresco in Bassano del Grappaalso the location of a shop owned by Giovanni Otello, a likely source of the title characters name. Her Bassano lineagescholars suggest the family were conversos, converted or hidden Jews presenting as Christiansalso helps account for the Jewish references that scholars of the plays have noted. The plea in The Merchant of Venice for the equality and humanity of Jews, a radical departure from typical anti-Semitic portrayals of the period, is well known. Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? Shylock asks. If you prick us, do we not bleed? A Midsummer Nights Dream draws from a passage in the Talmud about marriage vows; spoken Hebrew is mixed into the nonsense language of Alls Well That Ends Well. Stephen Doyle Whats more, the Bassano familys background suggests a source close to home for the particular interest in dark figures in the sonnets, Othello, and elsewhere. A 1584 document about the arrest of two Bassano men records them as blackamong Elizabethans, the term could apply to anyone darker than the fair-skinned English, including those with a Mediterranean complexion. Thou wert as good kiss our arse.) In Loves Labours Lost, the noblemen derisively compare Rosaline, the princesss attendant, to chimney-sweepers and colliers (coal miners). The king joins in, telling Berowne, who is infatuated with her, Thy love is black as ebony, to which the young lord responds, O wood divine! Bassanos life sheds possible light, too, on another outsider theme: the plays preoccupation with women caught in forced or loveless marriages. Hudson sees her misery reflected in the sonnets, thought to have been written from the early 1590s to the early 1600s. When, in disgrace with fortune and mens eyes, / I all alone beweep my outcast state, /And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries, /And look upon myself and curse my fate, reads sonnet 29. (When Maya Angelou first encountered the poem as a child, she thought Shakespeare must have been a black girl who had been sexually abused: How else could he know what I know?) For Shakespeare, those years brought a rise in status: In 1596, he was granted a coat of arms, and by 1597, he was rich enough to buy the second-largest house in Stratford. Read: What Maya Angelou meant when she said Shakespeare must be a black girl In what is considered an early or muddled version of The Taming of the Shrew, a man named Alphonso (as was Bassanos husband) tries to marry off his three daughters, Emilia, Kate, and Philema. Emilia drops out in the later version, and the father is now called Baptista (the name of Bassanos father). As a portrait of a husband dealing hardly with a wife, the play is horrifying. Yet Kates speech of submission, with its allusions to the Letters of Paul, is slippery: Even as she exaggeratedly parrots the Christian doctrine of womanly subjection, she is anything but dutifully silent. Shakespeares women repeatedly subvert such teachings, perhaps most radically in The Winters Tale, another drama of male cruelty. There the noblewoman Paulina, scorned by King Leontes as a most intelligencing bawd with a boundless tongue, bears fierce witness against him (no man dares to) when he wrongly accuses Queen Hermione of adultery and imprisons her. As in so many of the comedies, a more enlightened society emerges in the end because the womens values triumph. I was stunned to realize that the year The Winters Tale was likely completed, 1611, was the same year Bassano published her book of poetry, Salve Deus Rex Judorum. Her writing style bears no obvious resemblance to Shakespeares in his plays, though Hudson strains to suggest similarities. The overlap lies in the feminist content. Bassanos poetry registers as more than conventional religious verse designed to win patronage (she dedicates it to nine women, Mary Sidney included, fashioning a female literary community). Scholars have observed that it reads as a transgressive defense of Eve and womankind. Like a cross-dressing Shakespearean heroine, Bassano refuses to play by the rules, heretically reinterpreting scripture. If Eve did err, it was for knowledge sake, she writes. Arguing that the crucifixion, a crime committed by men, was a greater crime than Eves, she challenges the basis of mens tyranny over women. | https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/06/who-is-shakespeare-emilia-bassano/588076/?utm_source=feed |
Do travelers really need noise-canceling headphones? | A bit of silence. Sometimes that's all we want. Whether it's halfway through a 10-hour flight with a crying baby, or trying to sleep through the snoring from the hotel room next door, the promise of noise-canceling headphones is probably one that every traveler finds intriguing. Such headphones are often expensive and for some people, they don't live up to the hype. I've spent much of the past five years traveling, taking dozens of flights and train journeys, and as someone who has reviewed noise-canceling headphones for even longer, I can definitively say "maybe." How (and when) noise-canceling headphones work Noise-canceling headphones, also called active noise-canceling headphones, use electronic processing to analyze ambient sound and attempt to generate the "opposite" sound. The result is less noise overall. Imagine ocean waves. There's the high part, the crest, and the low part, the trough. If you combined the positive height of the crest and the negative depth of the trough, the result would be a flat sea. Or for the math-inclined, if you add +1 and -1 you get 0. This is essentially what active noise-canceling headphones do. Add troughs to crests and crests to troughs. Except instead of seawater, it's sound waves. It's not perfect. These headphones don't "create" silence, nor are they able to eliminate noise. The crests and troughs do not perfectly cancel out. The absolute best noise-canceling headphones merely reduce noise, and work best with low-frequency droning sounds. So a loud hum is a quieter hum. The roar on an airplane is a quieter roar on an airplane. They also don't work well for all sounds. At higher frequencies, like the human vocal range and higher, the headphones do very little if anything at all. So if your hope is to block out the cries of the baby in Seat 15C, you're out of luck. Fast and transient sounds, like a door slam or a hand clap, also aren't blocked effectively. What's perhaps even more frustrating is that not all noise-canceling headphones work equally well. The best reduce a lot of noise, the worst reduce very little or nothing at all. There's no way to tell, looking at headphones' specs, which are which. Two headphone sets could claim to reduce the same amount of noise but perform completely differently. Only hands-on testing, ideally with objective measurements, can tell the difference. Wirecutter, the New York Times company that reviews products, does these types of measurements for all the noise-canceling headphones it tests. Noise-canceling headphones require a battery to power their electronics. Noise-isolating headphones, which do not require electronics and therefore can be far cheaper, work by creating a seal in your ear canal to block noise. Basically they are like earplugs, but with earbuds inside. If you can get a good seal, these work reasonably well. Getting a good seal can be a challenge, however, since everyone's ears are different and not all headphones will fit correctly. And even if you do get a good seal, noise-isolating headphones will not be able to block low-frequency sounds as well as the best noise-canceling headphones. They will reduce a wide range of frequencies, which can help. If you are a frequent traveler, good noise-canceling headphones will make any journey by plane, train or automobile far more pleasant. Even after a 12-hour flight, I'm not nearly as fatigued on arrival, thanks to the lower auditory onslaught. In-ear models are easier to sleep with, though still slightly uncomfortable, and are my preference. Over-ear models reduce a little more noise as they are able to passively block some sound because of their design, but they are always bulky on your head or in your bag. After I stopped reviewing these headphones for Wirecutter, I bought a pair of Bose QuietComfort 20s, a longtime Wirecutter pick, and I never fly without them. However, if you rarely travel, or you find higher-frequency noises like people talking, cars honking and noisy neighbors more annoying than airplane engine noise or background chatter, these headphones may not be worth it. Cheap earplugs, or perhaps noise-isolating earbuds, might work well enough. And it's worth keeping in mind that for the same money, regular headphones will likely sound better than noise-canceling headphones. Wirecutter has a review I wrote for earplugs to sleep in, and it might give you some ideas for which headsets to buy. As earplugs are lower in cost, they might be worth trying first. Overall, I think noise-canceling headphones are great, but I also travel frequently and have expectations about how well these headphones work. For infrequent travelers, however, this product might not necessarily be the must-have travel accessory that it might seem. Geoffrey Morrison is editor at large for Wirecutter; his work has also appeared on CNET. He wrote the bestselling sci-fi novel "Undersea." | http://www.startribune.com/do-travelers-really-need-noise-canceling-headphones/509717842/ |
Can parents ask visitors to get vaccinated before seeing the baby? | A: While immunization has become a political issue in some circles, that hasn't changed the fact that it still is primarily a parenting issue. Parents have a right to ensure that their child is safe from potential exposure to disease. While we can't control for public exposure, like when taking an infant to the grocery store, parents can insist that family members who will be in regular, close contact with the child be immunized. But keep in mind that the other family members have the right to choose not to get immunized. If that happens, the parents should consider other ways extended family can build a relationship with the child. This might mean allowing the family members to visit but not hold the baby. Consult with your doctor to determine how close the contact must be for disease transmission. This issue should never be an excuse to cut off all contact with family members. When discussing this matter, maintain a respectful tone that does not offend or personally attack others. ALYSON SCHAFER, parenting expert and author of "Honey, I Wrecked the Kids" A: No, you can't demand that other people get vaccinated or vaccinate their children. However, it is OK to ask if they have been vaccinated. If they haven't, then it's up to you to decide whether you want your baby potentially exposed to vaccine-preventable diseases. If you decide to keep the baby separated from nonvaccinated people, talk to your doctor about how long that should be. With some diseases, waiting even just a few months lowers the risk of germs spreading. It's understandable that you might be wary of creating issues with friends and family. But much of parenting involves creating boundaries. Always keep in mind that your child must remain your top priority. TARYN CHAPMAN, founder of the Vaccine Mom | http://www.startribune.com/can-parents-ask-visitors-to-get-vaccinated-before-seeing-the-baby/509712022/ |
How can I help my 76-year-old mother date safely online? | Tell your mum not to give out personal details and be wary if the person comes out with a sob story, says Annalisa Barbieri My father passed away three years ago after being happily married for 50 years to my mum. She has struggled with loneliness and lacks male companionship for support in everyday life. Before my dad died, he asked her to try to find another partner (if she could) so that she could continue sharing her life with someone else. Mum is 76, still very active, and has joined many different groups (U3A, canasta, ping pong, walking group, local history group, Spanish lessons) but struggles with the thought of being alone. But these activities occur during the week, and I dont live close to her, so there is considerable isolation during the evenings and at weekends. She has started to mention that she would like to find a partner and has begun exploring solo holidays. Recently she went online to look for companionship agencies and websites for older people. Later, I found out that she had registered with a group. I am very concerned that my mother has given her full contact details to an unknown party and someone can now easily identify that she is older, possibly more vulnerable and at home alone. Im very sorry to hear about your dad. Its great your mum is so involved in groups and forward-looking, but you are right to be concerned about the way she is handing over her details to anyone (not just online), essentially saying shes lonely and looking for company: that does potentially make her vulnerable. Of course, one can meet someone in real life and they might still end up being not who they seem, but its so much easier to be deceived online. There are essentially two trade bodies for dating agencies: the Online Dating Association (ODA), which looks after online services, and the Association of British Introduction Agencies (ABIA), which is for more traditional offline dating/matchmaking organisations. Members must follow quality and saftey guidelines set out by the bodies. Both also publish guidelines for the consumer on how to stay safe (see below). Ive included other links you might find useful, such as Age UKs guide to dating in later life. The obvious things to tell your mum are: stay on the agencys messaging service; dont give out personal details too quickly, and be wary if the person starts asking for money or comes out with a sob story. But also, before your mum signs up with an agency (and I would advise against handing over large sums of money, whatever organisation they belong to) make sure it has people in your mothers search group. Theres no point her signing up if theres no one near her or in her age range. Get her to look through various options to see which one fits with what shes looking for. She could do this with you or a friend. I feel trapped in the small town my partner loves Read more Your mum is older and perhaps more used to socialising in real life, so it might be an idea to remind her that people can say and be whatever they want online. If she does meet someone through a website, its a good idea to take things into real life when she feels comfortable but remind her that she must also stay safe: let someone know where shes going, meet in a public place, perhaps even take a friend because face-to-face contact is a much better way get to know someone and to work out their true intentions. There are other things you can do to protect your mother: check to see whether she has caller ID on her phone and whether her phone provider gives her the option to block undesirable numbers. I dont know which agencies she signed up for, but under the recent General Data Protection Regulation your mother has the right to be forgotten, so she can ask for all her details to be erased. Theres also a fine line between being concerned and helpful, and actually taking control of your mums life. So be aware that, while I appreciate you want to help, your mum has her own life. One of the things I learned when researching this is just how lonely older people can get but also just how much they dislike their adult children bossing them around. AIBA dos and donts of dating; ODA stay safe guidelines; Age UKs guide to dating in later life; Get Safe Online Send your problem to [email protected]. Annalisa regrets she cannot enter into personal correspondence. Comments on this piece are premoderated to ensure the discussion remains on the topics raised by the article. Please be aware that there may be a short delay in comments appearing on the site. | https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/may/10/how-can-i-help-my-76-year-old-mother-date-safely-online |
Are there any good movies based on video games? | The curse of the video game movie has long been documented, and the stigma that its impossible to make a good one regardless of how much money you throw at it or who plays the lead has dogged the genre for years. Video games are more lucrative than Hollywood films overall, yet video game adaptations still struggle to be taken seriously by studio executives, who often misunderstand what makes the source material so popular to begin with. Detective Pikachu and the case of the highest grossing media franchise of all time Read more The anatomy of what makes a game-to-film adaptation tick is particularly relevant now with the release of Detective Pikachu, an adaptation of one of the franchises lesser-known properties, a spinoff crime-solving game by the same name. Maybe, maybe not. In terms of charting an upward trend for the genre, Pokmon is probably the least useful example we can look at. After all, no other gaming franchise has reached nearly the same level of saturation, being a cultural mainstay since the first games debuted in 1996. In fact, MovieWeb reports Pokmon is the highest grossing media franchise of all time, topping Star Wars, the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Harry Potter. Video game franchises are often estimated to have revenues in the billions, with Tomb Raider worth $3bn, Warcraft $10bn and Mario $30bn. Pokmons lifetime to-date revenue is an astonishing $90bn. Pokmon may very well be an outlier, but the fact that the rating is certified fresh indicates that theres more at play than simply fan nostalgia. When considering what is the key element of a film, whether it be the costumes, effectsor the cast, Shelly Tan at the Washington Post writes that its the story thats most important and video game movies usually get that part wrong. A good story happens when the creative team has a passion for or at least deep understanding of the material on which the film is based. You wouldnt, after all, hire writers who hate comic books to craft the latest superhero film. Photograph: Courtesy of Warner Bros Pictures In speaking to CBR, Detective Pikachus director, Rob Letterman, said it was a big deal in our household to work on a Pokmon movie since weve been living with it for so many years. Between the cards, games and even manga, its been a big part of our household. Lead actor Justice Smith shares a similar passion for the source material, telling the Hollywood Reporter: I was a huge fan of Pokmon. I watched the anime. I had all the original cards. I played all the games It meant a lot to me as a kid. Detective Pikachu understands Pokmon. Its why the film works, writes Brian Ashcraft at Kotaku. There are exceptions to every rule, but an interest in the source material seems to have a definite effect on the end product. We can track this across other films that were critically panned yet beloved by fans. Paul WS Anderson first won the rights to direct the 1995 Mortal Kombat because of his demonstrated excitement for the games. I didnt know anybody in London, so all I would do is play video games for three or four hours at the arcade. One of my favorites was Mortal Kombat, Anderson told THR. Andersons adaptation grossed $122m worldwide and was embraced by fans for its remarkably high production values: it was filmed in several gorgeous locations in Thailand, had surprisingly good special effects for the time and cast Hong Kong martial arts veteran Robin Shou as the lead. Although way less gory than the games and full of corny dialogue, it stayed pretty true to its gaming roots. Anderson then took on the Resident Evil franchise, another series he was personally invested in. I loved the video game. I loved the movies that the video game was clearly based upon, Anderson said to Thrillist. Its a franchise that endured for 15 years, churning out six films focused on Milla Jovovichs Alice and grossing over $1.2bn worldwide. Collider credits them with delivering some good zombie action before it was a commercial craze and for delivering one kickass action heroine. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Laurie Holden and Radha Mitchell in Silent Hill. Photograph: Allstar/TRISTAR When it came to the iconic Silent Hill horror franchise, director Christophe Gans attempted for five years to obtain the film rights from Konami, eventually sending a video interview to them explaining how important the games were to him. Impressed with his dedication, they gave the OK. What resulted was a film that somehow managed to stay relatively true to the story while delivering truly haunting visuals and atmospheric tension through the use of the games music. The same could be said about Duncan Joness Warcraft. Jones had been playing Warcraft for more than 20 years, which is what drove him to pitch his ideas to Legendary and Blizzard Entertainment. The resulting CGI-laden epic was panned by critics but well-liked by fans, with a 28% critical score on Rotten Tomatoes versus a much more favorable 77% audience score. Forbes credits this to the film capturing the rich fantasy setting, creating relatable characters and investing heavily in the music and visuals. Pokmon Detective Pikachu review Ryan Reynolds grabs film by scruff of the neck Read more In contrast, its obvious when the creative team has only passing knowledge of the source material. Director Justin Kurzel of the critically panned Assassins Creed revealed to the Guardian that he was unfamiliar with the source material before signing on, saying: The last video game I played was Double Dragon as a kid. The stunt choreographer and actors on the set of the 1994 Street Fighter film were not even aware that each fighter in the game had a distinct martial arts style. Director Uwe Boll has been clear in his disdain for video games as a lower art form, and his nine video game adaptations were trashed across the board. The 1993 Super Mario Bros movie is possibly the only film to buck the trend, as production on the first ever video game film was so unabashedly chaotic that the resulting psychedelic hodgepodge of a movie, about parallel universes, dino humanoids and helpful fungi, became a cult classic. For everything else not involving two Brooklyn plumbers, it seems that choosing the right title, and the right people who have a respect for the material, can result in a film that has the highest chance of winning over critics, diehard fans and mainstream audiences alike. Thats not to say that every director of these adaptations needs to be a diehard gamer. But it seems to be a no-brainer that there should an adviser on set who can ensure that the creative team understands why a particular game was popular to begin with. When it comes to video games, its not all just mindless gunfights and gore. There are some genuinely moving, engaging, emotional story arcs in many of todays games that are ripe with adaptation potential, and if Hollywood wants to tap into even one slice of the thriving gaming market, theyd do well to understand that. | https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/may/10/detective-pikachu-movies-based-on-video-games |
Where Did the Beach Boys Sound Come From? | A few years before the Beach Boys made their first record, the three brothers who formed the original core of the group sang together in the bedroom they shared in a tract home in suburban Southern California. Close quarters fed close harmony, and Brian, Carl, and Dennis Wilson taught themselves to emulate the sound of the pre-rock vocal groupsthe Four Freshman and the Hi-Los, in particular. One voice short of the four necessary to fit the model, they enlisted their cousin Mike Love to join them, and beefed up the band with Brians schoolmate Al Jardine, who could play the guitar and the bass. Its slightly more than 50 years now since the group recorded its debut single, Surfin, written by Love and Brian Wilson for a small label called Candix Records. Begun as a vocal harmony group, the Beach Boys famously became something more, as Brian experimented with studio technology, sonic textures, and drugs. Re-organized (but not exactly reunited, since Carl and Dennis Wilson are no longer living), an assemblage of members of various early configurations of the group have been touring and this week released an overhyped new album with the cleverly jokey, if somewhat self-celebratory title Thats Why God Made the Radio. The album is, for the most part, nostalgic lite-rock silliness. The songs, put together by Brian Wilson and various collaboratorschief among them, Joe Thomas, an industrial music-content provider who had worked with Brian Wilson and the other Beach Boys on early projects; Jim Peterik, whose pedigree is contained in his big hit, Eye of the Tiger, for Survivor; Mike Love, who contributed lyrics of banality staggering even for him; and Jon Bon Joviyes, the actual Jon Bon Jovi. A couple of the tracks, From There to Back Again and Summers Gone, are sweetly lyrical; and only one, Spring Vacation, is absolutely terrible. The great strength of the album is the luxurious sound of its singers voices in harmony. That sound seems to have had quite a bit of help in the studio; Brian uses a quasi-ghost singer, Jeff Foskett, to sing his parts along with him, and I can recognize Auto-Tune on two tracks, Pacific Coast Highway and From There to Back Again. Still, its a beautiful sound that exists nowhere else in pop music. Thats not to say it came from nowhere, though. Since Doc Watsons death last week, Ive been attuned to the ways in which major innovators in one sphere of music (Watson in bluegrass, the Beach Boys in rock-era pop) built their innovations from early influences in other spheres (Watson in Western swing, the Beach Boys in pre-rock vocal harmony). In the Beach Boys case, we can see clearly how this could happen by imagining a day in the Wilsons house in the late 1950s. On the radio that God gave the boys, they would have heard the early rock-and-roll that provided the hot-rod attitude, as well as the chord structure, of their first songs. And on TV, they would have seen the male harmony groups that innovated the silkily intricate vocal work that would later come to be thought of as the Beach Boys sound. It came first from the Four Freshman, a quartet started by another team of brothers, Ross and Don Barbour; and the Hi-Los, a group led by the wildly inventive vocal arranger and singer Gene Puerling. | https://newrepublic.com/article/103966/beach-boys-sound-come-from |
Is a travel recession in the wings? | Maybe. Maybe. 1 / 1 Back to Gallery TravelSkills on SFGate is brought to you by Visa . Travel demand is almost always a good predictor of what's to come for the overall economy. It's like the canary in the coal mine. When consumers and big companies start to feel nervous about future prospects, travel is usually one of the first things to get cut (or reduced) from the family or corporate budget. So while employment and overall economic numbers still look like it's full steam ahead for the U.S. economy, the travel industry may be starting to feel a light recessionary chill. Some examples: "We have had 100plus straight months of travel expansion in the U.S., and there are now parts of the world that are just starting to join the travel revolution...But despite these positive factors, I see increasing and worrying signs about where worldwide demand is headed and evidence that suggests the U.S. is poised for a slowdown across every travel category" writes Clayton Reid, the CEO of MMGY Global, a giant marketing and communications firm in the travel space. MMGY's research shows an overall decline in demand for travel over the last two years, with a lot more travelers citing sensitivity to pricing as the reason for cutting back. It finds that business travel demand is currently a little stronger than leisure demand, which is propping up airfares and hotel rates, but that is also expected to decline in 2020. With economies outside the U.S. going soft, fewer travelers will be headed to big American gateway cities like New York or San Francisco, pushing down demand. Reid wrote, "According to The Wall Street Journal, 49% of economists predict a global recession late this year. Yes, that's only half of those polled, so the optimist in me wants to believe the other 51%. The problem: Half of the 51% think a recession is still coming in 2020, and, by the way, in 2007, only 44% of economists thought we were headed for a recession that came just months later." There are growing concerns about financial default and employment according to Squaremouth, a big travel insurance comparison site. The company says that interest in travel insurance that covers cancellations for work reasons or employee layoffs is way up-- +25 percent and +42 percent respectively. Consumers are also buying more insurance to cover airline bankruptcies, such as the recent shutdown by WOW Air. Don't miss a shred of important travel news! Sign up for our FREE bi-weekly email alerts! Booking Holdings, the giant online travel conglomerate that owns the likes of Kayak.com and Priceline.com, saw its total revenues decline 3 percent, year-over-year, to $2.8 billion in the first quarter of this year. The company's growth is now tepid compared to the 16 percent average annualized year-over-year revenue growth that it enjoyed between 2014 and last year according to a report in Yahoo Finance. And then there's this from the US Travel Association (USTA), which represents travel industry interests in Washington, DC: In March travel to and within the US increased 2 percent-- marking just over nine years of expansion. However, this growth was dampened by the news that international inbound travel fell a whopping 5.4% year-over-year in Marchafter edging down just 0.2% in February. "The outlook for international inbound travel remains lackluster, suggesting that a further loss of global market share is in the cards for the U.S. in 2019," said U.S. Travel Senior Vice President for Research David Huether. The group said that continued moderation in consumer spending, vacation intentions and business investment is expected to cause both segments of domestic travel to cool in the coming months. On a more positive note, when I ask Best Western Hotels & Resorts CEO David Kong how the hotel or travel industry is doing, he usually tells me to just look at the stock market. If it is rising, he says, then you can be pretty sure that the travel industry is going to follow suit. So, looking at the recent records being set on Wall Street, I think we will likely have one of the busiest peak summer travels seasons we've had in years. Who knows... Tell us what you think in the comments. Read all recent TravelSkills posts here Get twice-per-week updates from TravelSkills via email! Sign up here Chris McGinnis is the founder of TravelSkills.com. The author is solely responsible for the content above, and it is used here by permission. You can reach Chris at [email protected] or on Twitter @cjmcginnis. | https://www.sfgate.com/travel/article/travel-recession-13832563.php |
Is ScotRail right about peak fares? | In response to a user who tweeted that the peak time price hike was "ridiculous", ScotRail posted a tweet which has since been widely shared. The rail operator said: "Hi, we don't charge extra to travel at peak times, but we do offer a discount to travel at quieter times." Cue a stunned reaction from Twitter users. Skip Twitter post by @ScotRail Hi, we don't charge extra to travel at peak times, but we do offer a discount to travel at quieter times. ^Paul ScotRail (@ScotRail) May 9, 2019 Report One asked if the ScotRail account was joking and another questioned whether they were taking drugs. ScotRail replied that the charge at peak times was the "standard" fare and it was off-peak that was discounted "to encourage travel at quieter times of the day". Customers were loath to accept the answer and accused them of playing with words. ScotRail told BBC Scotland the practice of treating peak prices as the "standard" rate was used across the UK rail industry. A spokesman said it would "seem odd" to do it any other way. He said the off-peak "discount" was to try to fill spare capacity at times when the trains were less well used. Robert Samson, from watchdog Transport Focus, said the peak and off-peak fares had been around since the days of British Rail and it was really not possible to say which was the standard fare. But he said the "bottom line" was that peak travel was more expensive. "A lot of people have no option but to travel at peak times," he said. "If it is possible to travel off-peak then your journey can be more cost effective but many people are unable to do that and they are paying more." Mr Samson said he hoped a review of rail fares and the advent of smart cards might bring welcome changes to the charging structure. Image copyright Getty Images ScotRail said the vast majority of its 2,400 daily journeys had their price regulated by the Scottish government body Transport Scotland. However, that includes peak and off-peak fares and is mainly related to how much fares are allowed to rise. It does not state that peak fares have to be higher. The rail company argues that many trains are already full at peak time so it would not be a sensible move to reduce the prices. Mr Samson, from the passenger watchdog, said he thought ScotRail's tweet on the subject had been an attempt to engage in "levity". But he said they should not be joking about the very serious issue of people struggling to afford rail fares. ScotRail told the BBC the wording of its tweet was not new and had been used before on multiple occasions without creating a Twitter storm. The spokesman said he thought it was stating the obvious and had been surprised by the reaction. "I guess that is the risk you take by engaging on Twitter," he said. "But we'll continue to do that because it is important to keep responding." | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-48225716 |
Why has Phoenix's spring weather been so nice? How long will it last? | Chances are youve heard someone comment about the great weather weve been enjoying here in Phoenix this spring. I wish it could be like this all the time, is a commonly heard phrase. Temperatures have been a bit below normal this month we didnt even get past 80 degrees on May 7 and there has been enough moisture that we havent had the hot, dry days that seem intent on sucking every drop of water out of your body. And the forecast as doesn't call for triple digits until at least the end of next week. El Nio in the house Here's what we can thank for the pleasant weather: a pattern that has the jet stream farther south than normal for this time of year combined with the presence of El Nio conditions (warmer than normal waters in the eastern Pacific Ocean). Randy Cerveny, a climate researcher and meteorology professor at Arizona State University, explained. For more stories that matter, subscribe to azcentral.com. Often what well have is the storms come through but no moisture so you dont get anything out of it, Cerveny said. Here we actually have nice moisture to go along with the storms so were getting rain and for May, thats pretty darned unusual." It's also unusual for this weather pattern to linger this late in the season. "Whats interesting is I dont really see any big changes in the pattern," Cerveny said. "So were not looking at big 100-degree temperatures for at least the next week or so. Were going to keep this kind of cool, cloudy rainy situation. Cooler than average Through May 9, high temperatures have averaged about two degrees cooler than normal. That 80-degree high on May 7 was 12 degrees below normal for that date, according to the National Weather Service. Through May 10, Phoenix has recorded only one triple-digit day, compared to eight days by this time last year. Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (the official rain and temperature reporting station for the city) saw 0.01 inch of rain on May 7 and a trace on the following day. That total isnt particularly impressive, but its worth noting that May is the second-driest month of the year with an average rainfall total of only 0.11 inch. Also keep in mind that while the Sky Harbor gauge only saw a hundredth of an inch of rain, other parts of the city got close to a quarter of an inch. The rain gauge at Upper Sycamore Creek recorded 1.3 inches, according to Maricopa County Flood Control District numbers. According to the Climate Prediction Centers outlook for May, there is a 30% probability of above-normal rainfall for Arizona through the end of the month. That outlook also calls for an equal probability of normal temperatures during that same period. Anything is above normal because, frankly, we dont get a lot of rain in May, Cerveny said. What will happen, likely, is it will eventually dry out. This pattern can't last forever. The way the weather patterns work is by the time we get into June it will start warming up, Cerveny said. Thats actually needed in order for us to get monsoon thunderstorms later on. The extreme heat the state often experiences in June helps move an area of high pressure sometimes called the monsoon ridge into position to bring about the southerly winds needed to fuel monsoon storms. 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 State Climatologist Nancy Selover said the current weather patterns dont offer much insight into what might happen by the time monsoon conditions develop. Selover said the warm waters in the eastern Pacific could provide more moisture to fuel monsoon storms if other factors make that moist air accessible. On the other hand, Arizona's wet winter could cause a delay in the onset of the dry conditions needed for the monsoon to get cranked up. Just because El Nio is hanging on into summer doesnt mean it will have any impact one way or the other into the monsoon, Selover said. If it hangs around into fall, we might come back to another weak El Nio next year and have another wet winter. Id love to see that. Cerveny said it's simply too early to make tell. The monsoon is kind of a beast of itself, Cerveny said. Its driven by a lot of rather weird local types of things that go on. We havent really come up with a good way, frankly, to forecast whether its going to be a good monsoon or bad monsoon. "Right now all the signs are pointing toward it being a pretty normal monsoon. What that means is youre going to get probably four or five good, intense thunderstorms that everybody will be talking about. Reach the reporter at [email protected] or 602-444-8817. Or follow him on Twitter at @weldonjohnson. Support local journalism.Subscribe to azcentral.com today. Read or Share this story: https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/phoenix-weather/2019/05/10/phoenix-area-spring-weather-why-how-long-will-last/1159251001/ | https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/phoenix-weather/2019/05/10/phoenix-area-spring-weather-why-how-long-will-last/1159251001/ |
How well do electric vehicles perform in Minnesotas extreme cold? | Electric vehicles have come along way. Yes, they are quick, powerful and incredibly environmentally friendly. Star Tribune reader Michael Orange, an environmental consultant, posed that question to Curious Minnesota, the newspapers community-driven reporting project that invites readers to join the newsroom and ask the questions they want answered. The short answer is that cold temperatures do degrade electric vehicles performance. Electric vehicles perform at their peak in temperatures between 50 and 80 degrees, when the lithium-ion batterys power can focus on propelling the vehicle down the road and not be diverted using energy to heat or cool the cabin. The vehicles perform just as well as their gas-powered counterparts when it comes to traversing through snow and ice, but the cold drains batteries and impacts how far motorists can drive before they need to recharge, said William Northrop, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Minnesota. In winter, cold engine oil and idling can drag down fuel economy of even gas-powered vehicles by as much as 20% on short trips, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. But engines also produce extra heat that can be used to heat a cab without diminishing gas mileage. In electric vehicles, there is no extra engine heat, so the battery must heat the cabin, further diminishing the distance motorists can drive. A recent study by AAA found that electric vehicle owners can expect their driving range to decline by 41% when the mercury dips to 20 degrees. That means for every 100 miles of driving in optimal conditions, the range would drop to 59 miles. The study also showed some decrease in range when temperatures reach 95 degrees or higher, but the drop is not as severe as in the cold. Northrop, who drives an electric Volkswagen Golf, said those numbers were kind to Minnesota. He said his range drops by nearly 60% on the coldest of days. You just have to think about where you are going to charge, he said. If you drove and didnt turn on the heater, your range would be a lot higher. Some 1.2 million plug-in electric vehicles, including those from Nissan, Tesla and Chevrolet, have been sold in the United States, with sales particularly strong in areas such as Los Angeles, San Diego or San Francisco. But for electric vehicles to be broadly adopted, they must be able to have a consistent range and a charging capability in a variety of conditions, said Anna Stefanopoulou, director of the University of Michigans Energy Institute. Current batteries have other limitations in the cold, too, namely the reduced ability in accepting charge during [regeneration] braking or even during charging, she said. A recent study, she said, showed that when an electric vehicle battery was charged at 77 degrees, the battery got to 80% capacity in 30 minutes, but at 32 F, it was only charged to 44% after the same amount of time. Low mileage range has been one of the biggest knocks against electric vehicles, although newer models now can get more than 300 miles on a fully-charged battery. For most drivers, that is plenty. The average driver puts on only 29 miles a day, according to the National Household Travel Survey from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Thats well within the capabilities of current batteries. And technological advances will make it easier to keep a battery from going dead, Northrop said. Vehicles like Teslas, and the new Jaguar I-Pace electric, now let owners charge their vehicles from a far with an app. The number of places to charge is growing, too. Many employers offer charging stations and some parking ramps in Minneapolis have places to plug in. In the future, Northrop said drivers might even be able to park on a pad or drive over a sensor to get the juice they need. John Smart, with the Idaho National Laboratory, a battery testing center, said manufacturers are addressing the range problem by developing solid state batteries without liquid inside that can hold and store energy, and are less sensitive to cold and heat. Some new generation models are coming with electric heated seats and packs to keep batteries warm for optimal performance. Northrop said developers also are looking for ways to speed up the charging process, another hurdle for more widespread acceptance. Advances are coming so fast. You will see a lot of advances in the coming years, he said. | http://www.startribune.com/how-well-do-electric-vehicles-perform-in-minnesota-s-extreme-cold/508757611/ |
Is health care the place to be? | Four months into 2019 and the S&P 500 is up 15% yet health care appears to be on life support. This is in part because of the defensive nature of health care, which has not been helpful in a rally dominated by highly cyclical names (those like consumer discretionary and technology that tend to do best in a growing economy). It is also due to policy risk, which has ramped up dramatically as the 2020 U.S. presidential election is brought into focus. This policy risk is considerable and contributes to our decision to be neutral health care in our sector strategy but it is important to look beneath the surface. We tend to think of technology companies as being the biggest disruptors, but the innovation occurring within health care is arguably greater than any other area of the economy and is leading us to find some attractive investment opportunities in a beaten down sector. It seems that no matter who we listen to on the 2020 campaign trail, their policy vision poses a direct threat to some area of the health care sector, but also greater opportunity as many seek in some way to broaden the base of health care consumption and/or the level of federal subsidization of that usage. The Trump Factor The Trump administration has backed continued legal challenge of the Affordable Care Act, which could be revisited by the U.S. Supreme Court, and is also contemplating a post-2020 return to Affordable Care Act repeal and replace efforts. Repeal of the Affordable Care Act would increase hospitals' "bad debts" as fewer insured means less demand for health care services, and more people entering hospital emergency rooms without the means to pay the subsequent bills. The Bernie Effect Among 2020 Democratic hopefuls is a building chorus of "Medicare for all," and Bernie Sanders is one of the loudest voices. Obviously private insurance companies would feel pain from a move to a public insurance program and other health care providers could also see a cut to payments relative to private insurance rates. But certain providers could receive a lot more federal dollars from an increased base. With details scant, there is the potential for ramifications on the entire sector. The Common Ground While hard to believe, there is also one area of the health care space where Democrats and Republicans share common ground: cracking down on drug pricing. As an example of what political pressure can do to pharmaceutical stocks, in September 2015, the S&P 500 Pharmaceutical Industry Index fell 24% in a matter of days following a tweet from Hillary Clinton about the exorbitant price increase of a drug called Daraprim. The index has still not recovered. While the road to legislative action on any of these issues is at best incredibly long, winding, and covered by fog, it is prudent to proceed with caution. The veil of political uncertainty could weigh on the overall health care sector until or even beyond the 2020 election. The Opportunities That said, it would be unwise for the long-term investor to write off all health care stocks, as this also happens to be one of the sectors experiencing the most rapid pace of innovation. While politicians are understandably focusing on policy-based solutions to the problem of rising health costs, we expect innovation to be transformational for the industry and drive efficiencies going forward. We highlight three innovation themes that we expect to increase health care productivity, reduce costs, and offer potential investment opportunity: 1) Treating Sickness Preventing Sickness One of the most obvious ways to reduce health care costs is to take preventative steps to avoid the expensive treatment of illnesses once they have reached a critical stage. Emergency rooms are notoriously overburdened and understaffed, and they are the most expensive entry point into the health system, but several technologies aim to get ahead of the ambulance ride. Companies like Teladoc enable on-demand, remote medical care through a patient's phone or internet-connected device, removing the often costly and inconvenient physical trip to the doctor (or multiple doctors). As other examples, there is Apple's Series 4 Watch, which offers electrocardiogram (ECG) readings, and the Rochester Institute of Technology's cloud-connected seat containing biometric sensors to measure a person's ECG, blood oxygen levels, and body weight. These technologies come with the intention of solving a major problem in early diagnosis and preventative care: adherence to frequent and regular testing of vitals. And in many cases, these efforts represent early advances that we expect to evolve into critical tools for the overall health care ecosystem. 2) Doctor in Control Patient in Control Anyone who has switched doctors knows the "existential crisis" that is typical when transferring your medical records and often includes a faxyes, faxof reams of paper, sometimes at a per-page cost to the patient. In 2016, Google acquired Apigee, a company specializing in open but secure application programming interfaces that could transform the traditional closed ecosystem of electronic health records and allow the patient to "own" their records, driving efficiency up and costs down. 3) Treating the Ailment Treating the Person The traditional medical diagnosis process involves conveying symptoms to a physician who prescribes a treatment for the ailment or disease they believe to be causing those symptoms. But not everyone reacts to the same treatment in the same way, forcing multiple costly rounds of trial and error until the physician and patient find something that works. Now envision a world where a treatment was prescribed not only based on the ailment but also that patient's genetic markers, more quickly zeroing in on what treatment could be most effective for that specific person. That is being made possible through the partnership of 23andMe, the company that sells home DNA kits, with pharmaceutical companies to develop more "personalized" treatment plans through the use of genetic data culled from millions of customers. Going forward, it will be increasingly important for investors to balance the political risks with innovation opportunities, all with an eye toward reasonable valuations. In general, where the political risks are higherin managed care, hospitals, and pharmaceuticalsthe valuations based on forward-looking earnings estimates are more reasonable. Those areas seeing innovation but skirting the political spotlight, like medical devices and life sciences, tend to trade at higher valuations relative to their own history. At this time we are sticking with our neutral allocation to health care, but we think it would be a mistake to shun all health care stocks. Instead, we would advise taking a more surgical approach to investing in a sector that has become deeply out of favor yet presents numerous attractive opportunities. Disclosure: Wilmington Trust maintains a neutral position in the health care sector. | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/10/is-health-care-the-place-to-be.html |
How well do electric vehicles perform in Minnesota's extreme cold? | Electric vehicles have come along way. Yes, they are quick, powerful and incredibly environmentally friendly. Star Tribune reader Michael Orange, an environmental consultant, posed that question to Curious Minnesota, the newspapers community-driven reporting project that invites readers to join the newsroom and ask the questions they want answered. The short answer is that cold temperatures do degrade electric vehicles performance. Electric vehicles perform at their peak in temperatures between 50 and 80 degrees, when the lithium-ion batterys power can focus on propelling the vehicle down the road and not be diverted using energy to heat or cool the cabin. The vehicles perform just as well as their gas-powered counterparts when it comes to traversing through snow and ice, but the cold drains batteries and impacts how far motorists can drive before they need to recharge, said William Northrop, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Minnesota. In winter, cold engine oil and idling can drag down fuel economy of even gas-powered vehicles by as much as 20% on short trips, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. But engines also produce extra heat that can be used to heat a cab without diminishing gas mileage. In electric vehicles, there is no extra engine heat, so the battery must heat the cabin, further diminishing the distance motorists can drive. A recent study by AAA found that electric vehicle owners can expect their driving range to decline by 41% when the mercury dips to 20 degrees. That means for every 100 miles of driving in optimal conditions, the range would drop to 59 miles. The study also showed some decrease in range when temperatures reach 95 degrees or higher, but the drop is not as severe as in the cold. Northrop, who drives an electric Volkswagen Golf, said those numbers were kind to Minnesota. He said his range drops by nearly 60% on the coldest of days. You just have to think about where you are going to charge, he said. If you drove and didnt turn on the heater, your range would be a lot higher. Some 1.2 million plug-in electric vehicles, including those from Nissan, Tesla and Chevrolet, have been sold in the United States, with sales particularly strong in areas such as Los Angeles, San Diego or San Francisco. But for electric vehicles to be broadly adopted, they must be able to have a consistent range and a charging capability in a variety of conditions, said Anna Stefanopoulou, director of the University of Michigans Energy Institute. Current batteries have other limitations in the cold, too, namely the reduced ability in accepting charge during [regeneration] braking or even during charging, she said. A recent study, she said, showed that when an electric vehicle battery was charged at 77 degrees, the battery got to 80% capacity in 30 minutes, but at 32 F, it was only charged to 44% after the same amount of time. Low mileage range has been one of the biggest knocks against electric vehicles, although newer models now can get more than 300 miles on a fully-charged battery. For most drivers, that is plenty. The average driver puts on only 29 miles a day, according to the National Household Travel Survey from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Thats well within the capabilities of current batteries. And technological advances will make it easier to keep a battery from going dead, Northrop said. Vehicles like Teslas, and the new Jaguar I-Pace electric, now let owners charge their vehicles from a far with an app. The number of places to charge is growing, too. Many employers offer charging stations and some parking ramps in Minneapolis have places to plug in. In the future, Northrop said drivers might even be able to park on a pad or drive over a sensor to get the juice they need. John Smart, with the Idaho National Laboratory, a battery testing center, said manufacturers are addressing the range problem by developing solid state batteries without liquid inside that can hold and store energy, and are less sensitive to cold and heat. Some new generation models are coming with electric heated seats and packs to keep batteries warm for optimal performance. Northrop said developers also are looking for ways to speed up the charging process, another hurdle for more widespread acceptance. Advances are coming so fast. You will see a lot of advances in the coming years, he said. | http://www.startribune.com/how-much-are-electric-vehicles-affected-extreme-cold-heat-weather/508757611/ |
Should We Take Huntsman Seriously? | Much of the discussion of the Jon Huntsman candidacy revolves around whether the news media should treat him as a top-tier presidential candidate. The divide on this question is a divide between people who have a handle on the state of the Republican Party and those who don't. The reasons why Huntsman can't win are legion -- he's polling within the margin of error of zero; he's taken numerous moderate positions Republicans can't tolerate; he has worked for, praised and been praised by Obama; there's already another mainstream competent Mormon former governor competing for the same limited slice of the primary electorate; and Huntsman's own recognition that he's too moderate for the current GOP. But the main obstacle is that Huntsman differs with the entire Republican Party on the party's most fundamental strategic question, which is how to respond to Obama. Here's Huntsman early in 2009: In dozens of interviews over the past few weeks, he has characterized Republicans as "devoid of ideas" and "gasping for air," decrying the GOP's "gratuitous partisanship," comparing it to "a very narrow party of angry people," and describing its strategy as "obstruct and obfuscate grousing and complaining." When I ask him who he sees as potential leaders for the party, he says with a mischievous grin, "I don't know that we have one." So you had the Republicans assuming a posture of maximal opposition vis a vis Obama in early 2009. A few murmerings of dissent could be found, mainly among Republicans who subsequently left or were driven out of the party, like Charlie Crist or Arlen Specter. Huntsman was the most forceful dissenter, and he recognized that his dissent put him so far out of step with the party that he shelved his presidential ambitions and accepted an overseas post working for Obama. Since then, there has been absolutely no dissent whatsoever on the question of Obama. No Republicans is saying they should have cut a deal on stimulus, or health care, or anything. The posture of maximal opposition to Obama is the one single thing upon which the entire party agrees. | https://newrepublic.com/article/90422/should-we-take-huntsman-seriously |
Does Larry Summers make A Terrible Fundraiser? | Carol E. Lee and Jonathan Weisman have a story chronicling the gripes of various donors with President Obama's reelection effort. This seems like one of the less sympathetic but more avoidable complaints: The overtures to donors have not always gone smoothly. At a recent gathering of major donors here, former National Economic Council Director Larry Summers, who headlined a breakout session on the economy, got into an exchange with a donor that resulted in the man walking out of the session, according to people at the event. The donor told Mr. Summers that he'd had trouble getting approved for a loan, according to people present. After the man repeatedly returned to his personal troubles, Mr. Summers said that no one at the conferencewhere attendees were asked to raise $350,000was experiencing the kinds of financial difficulties faced by ordinary Americans. The man got frustrated and left the room, people at the event said. I guess I understand the thinking behind having Larry Summers in this role: He's a Clinton-era moderate with credibility among the financial industry. I'm generally a Summers fan (his Washington Post op-ed today is good) and in this particular question he was probably correct. But putting him in a position to lecture to, and debate with, people you're trying to raise money from is an epically terrible idea: If any audio of the event emerges, it will be interesting to see if the term "jackwagon" was used. | https://newrepublic.com/article/89861/does-larry-summers-make-terrible-fundraiser |
Is the U.S. Inadvertently Arming Mexico's Drug War? | On Monday, three Democratic Senators Dianne Feinstein, Charles Schumer, and Sheldon Whitehouse released a Congressional investigation finding that the majority of weapons recovered and traced from crime scenes in Mexico originated in the United States . According to ATF figures quoted in the report, of the 29,284 firearms recovered in Mexico and traced by authorities in 2009 and 2010, 70% were found to have U.S. origins. These weapons have played a major role in the bloodshed of Mexico s ongoing drug war, which claims thousands of victims every year. Among other reasons, Congress allowed the Federal Assault Weapons Ban (FAWB) to expire in 2004, making it harder to keep the most deadly guns out of the hands of drug traffickers. And the gun show loophole allows individuals to purchase weapons from private, unlicensed sellers at U.S. gun shows without going through a background check. The Congressional report doesnt attempt any specific estimates, and the sheer number of variables affecting the situation on both sides of the border makes it difficult to give a simple answer. However, a recent study has isolated and examined one major component of the problem. In a new paper, Arindrajit Dube of UMass-Amherst and Oeindrila Dube and Omar Garca-Ponce of New York University consider just one factor the expiration of the FAWB in 2004 and bluntly ask: Do more guns cause more violence? Noting that the FAWBs expiration created a natural experiment to examine the effect of U.S. laws on Mexicos crime rate, the authors reviewed data from 2002 to 2006 looking at years before and after the bans expiration and concluded that the 2004 change in U.S. gun law had differential effects on homicides in Mexican municipios with greater exposure to the policy shock. That is, homicides, gun-related homicides, and gun crimes increased because of the U.S. laws expiration, particularly in regions near the Arizona and Texas borders. There was no similar increase in the areas near California (perhaps, the authors suggest, because of California s stricter gun laws). | https://newrepublic.com/article/90022/the-us-inadvertently-arming-mexicos-drug-war |
Is Pawlenty's Growth Goal More Metro than National? | Thirteen metro areas (Baton Rouge, Coeur dAlene (ID), Fayetteville (AR), Huntsville (AL), Lake Charles (LA), Las Cruces (NM), Ocala (FL), Orlando (FL), Panama City (FL), Pascagoula (MS), Port St. Lucie (FL), St. George (UT), and San Jose) met the 5 percent growth goal for at least four years in a row during 2001-2009, while two (Coeur dAlene in every year from 2002-2006 and Pascagoula in every year from 2005-2009) did so for five years in a row. Pascagoula, along with Casper (WY) and Corvallis (OR), averaged at least 5 percent annual output growth during the entire 2001-2009 period. The state and metro economic growth experience has some lessons for the nation as a whole. Its easier to achieve rapid growth in a small region or state than in the nation as a whole. Simple arithmetic guarantees that the addition of a new plant or office, or the expansion of an existing one, will have a greater impact on economic growth in a small economy than in a bigger one. The kinds of tactics that governors and local officials use to grow their state and local economies have to be done on a proportionally larger scale to have a similar impact on the nation as a whole. Labor force growth makes a big difference. The states and metro areas that had several consecutive years of rapid economic growth were overwhelmingly ones that rapid population growth during the last decade. (Thats why so many of them are in the South.) That population growth meant that the available labor force grew quickly, too. At the national level, we cant count on immigration from other countries to grow our labor force as rapidly as some states and metro areas grew theirs through in-migration from other states and regions (as well as countries). Even if the economic recovery picks up steam, we also cant count on much growth in the percentage of people who are employed, since retired people will account for an increasing share of the population. The nation as a whole, then, doesnt have one of the important means by which states and metro areas can grow their economies quickly. Rapid growth is difficult to sustain or achieve beyond the first few years of recovery from a recession. Most of the metro areas that had at least three consecutive years of 5 percent growth had them immediately following the early 2000s recession. Of the 38 metro areas that met that target, 17 had their high-growth periods beginning in 2002 (and ending no later than 2005), while another nine had them beginning in 2003 (and ending no later than 2006). | https://newrepublic.com/article/90180/pawlentys-growth-goal-more-metro-national |
Does Racism Hurt The GOP? | David Frum points out the obvious racial incitement on the Drudge report: I've heard Republicans in private deplore the racial incitement that too often substitutes for conservative talk. UPDATE: MIAMI 'WAR ZONE' DURING URBAN WEEKEND ... 'I was scared for my life' ... Poet 'Da Real One' Gunned Down In Front Of Miami Poetry Cafe ... Violent crime explodes in Myrtle during Black Bike Week; 8-hour hell ... Rib Fest At Rochester beach turns rowdy ... Riot On Long Island ... Urban Melee In Charlotte ... Chaos causes DNC concern for convention ... Unruly urban crowd shuts down Nashville water park ... Emanuel shuts down packed Chicago beach; 'heat-related illnesses' ... REPORT: 'Dozens of gang bangers' ... TEEN GANGS UNLEASHED ON BOSTON BEACH Obama cracks down on civil rights abuses by big-city police departments ... Mainstream conservatives confine their criticism of racism in American life almost exclusively to anti-white racism or anti-black racism by people who are not members in good standing of the conservative movement. It's admirable to see Frum take this on, though I don't really consider him a member of the conservative movement in good standing himself. But the odd thing is that Frum includes this important point within a tactical argument for why Republicans must not blow their chance to win the 2012 election. ("Obama could lose if -- and here's the big if -- Republicans do not blow the opportunity by presenting themselves as Medicare-annihilating racist maniacs.") | https://newrepublic.com/article/89496/does-racism-hurt-the-gop |
Is Ayn Rand A Political Liability? | Regular readers of this blog know that I've taken a, er, healthy interest between Paul Ryan and Ayn Rand, who Ryan has credited as his inspiration for getting into politics, and whom he continues to tout. I think Rand explains a great deal about Ryan's worldview, of course. But I'm also fascinated with the politics of it. Rand was a crackpot, a hateful and ignorant cult leader. You don't see leading members of Congress openly touting the genius of Lyndon LaRouche. Amy Sullivan reports that one left-wing religious group is going after Ryan on the basis of his devotion to Rand: I don't consider Rand's contempt for Christianity the nuttiest thing about her, though the basis for her contempt -- that Christianity promotes compassion -- is fairly sick. But it's surely a potent fact. It will be interesting to see if the American Values Network raises enough money to really get its ad some circulation, and whether it sticks. | https://newrepublic.com/article/89470/ayn-rand-political-liability |
Are the Millennials Driving Downtown Corporate Relocations? | In spite of the U.S. Census data for the past decade showing continued job de-centralization, there is now much anecdotal evidence for the just the opposite. The Chicago Crains Business Journal reports that companies such as Allstate, Motorola, AT&T, GE Capital, and even Sears are re-considering their fringe suburban locations, generally in stand alone campuses, and may head back to downtown Chicago. The irony of Sears possibly moving back to downtown could not be greater, having abandoned the countrys tallest building for an equally huge, though horizontal, building 45 miles from the Loop over 20 years ago. The New York Times has been reporting this week that UBS, the huge Swiss banking firm, is considering moving their U.S. headquarters back into New York City, possibly to the next World Trade Center building, from Stamford, Connecticut. Even downtown Detroit, the basket case of American downtowns, has seen four major corporate arrivals in recent years most recently the headquarters of the parent company of Quicken Loans. The millennial generation is demanding it. Highly-educated young workers, the lifes blood of many industries, have been flocking to center cities in recent years. Trying to recruit this talent to Stamford, Conn., or Hoffman Estates, Ill. is exceedingly difficult. They are voting with their feet for a hip, high-density walkable lifestyle and a reverse commute to the burbs is not in the cards for most of them. The companies moved out to the suburbs to attract their baby boomer parents, raising their kids in suburban isolation. The millenials are doing what many generations have done in the past; they have rejected how they were raised. This once again shows that building a high quality residential base will lead to the attraction of jobsonly this time it is back to the future. | https://newrepublic.com/article/89745/are-the-millennials-driving-downtown-corporate-relocations |
How Much Trouble Does Obama Face In 2012? | Hart, the Democratic pollster, cites three reasons why Obama is staying afloat. One is his personal popularity, with this poll showing him with a 49 percent to 37 percent favorable/unfavorable rating. (Thats compared with 27 percent to 26 percent for Romney, 14 percent to 15 percent for Pawlenty, 24 percent to 54 percent for Palin and a record-setting 16 percent to 48 percent for former House Speaker Gingrich.) According to Hart, a second advantage is Congress, whose approval rating in the poll is a dismal 18 percent. A third reason is that the American public isnt blaming Obama for the current economy, with more than six in 10 respondents still saying he inherited the countrys economic problems from his Oval Office predecessor. Also, while a combined 47 percent believe George W. Bush and his administration are solely responsible or mainly responsible for the current economy, just 34 percent in the poll say the same of Obama and his administration. So, the public likes Obama and blames the bad economy more on Bush. Now, to be sure, none of this suggests that Obama is a shoo-in. His popularity seems to defy political gravity, allowing him to levitate above economic conditions that would sink most presidents. His political skills and the continued unpopularity of the Republican Party seems to keep him ahead of the competition. But it's entirely possible that 16 months from now, people will assign him more blame for economic conditions, or that the economy will worsen. Nevertheless, it seems clear that at the moment, Obama does not need "real improvement." He needs to avoid deterioration. | https://newrepublic.com/article/90063/how-much-trouble-does-obama-face-in-2012 |
How much did Florida spend on those new gas pump stickers? | How to avoid becoming debit card fraud victim Sgt. Aaron Clem of the Kennewick (Wash.) Police Department offers tips on minimizing the risk of becoming a victim of debit card fraud when making purchases in a store or at the gas pumps. Up Next SHARE COPY LINK Sgt. Aaron Clem of the Kennewick (Wash.) Police Department offers tips on minimizing the risk of becoming a victim of debit card fraud when making purchases in a store or at the gas pumps. Turns out, just a touch over $5,000. The new stickers 120,000 of them, to be exact signify that gas pumps have been inspected by the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Unlike the stickers bearing former commissioner Adam Putnams name, they have a colorful blue and green design with, most notably, an image of Frieds face. The sticker includes a phone number to report fraud and the web address for a consumer portal. It replaces the traditional seal from administrations past none of which had the face of the commissioner. While the decals drew the ire of Republicans who argued that they are out-of-line campaign advertising, the stickers are soon to be out of compliance with Florida law. A bill passed in the legislative session that becomes law on July 1 explicitly says the sticker on the gas pump may only use a combination of lettering, numbering, words, or the department logo. The stickers were ordered on April 19 two weeks before legislators added the language in the final days of session. A spokesman for Fried said the departments legal team is looking through the legislation to see what, if anything, needs to be done. At a press conference Wednesday, Fried said the attention shes gotten from the stickers has been a good thing, as customers will see that theres someone whos accountable for whats happening at the pumps. Most people in Florida didnt even know there was a sticker on the gas station pumps until this change happened, she said. | https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article230256629.html |
Can Democrats Win Back the House? | Charlie Cook points to reasons for historical caution: There is no historical precedent for the party of a president seeking reelection scoring a net gain of more than 15 seats; presidential re-election coattails do not exist. Franklin Roosevelts Democrats only picked up 11 seats in 1936, Dwight Eisenhowers Republicans lost two in 1956; Republicans under Richard Nixon picked up 12 seats in 1972 and 14 seats in 1984 under Ronald Reagan. In the last two reelection years, Democrats gained nine seats in 1996 under Bill Clinton and Republicans three in 2004 under George W. Bush. Only with the victory of an unelected incumbent, Lyndon Johnson, just over a year after the assassination of John Kennedy, has there been a significant gain, in that case 37 seats. I think that's well taken. Even presidential reelection landslide rarely create large updrafts down the ballot, and Obama is unlikely to win in a landslide. On the other hand, I see two unique factors at work. The first is the extraordinary age schism of the electorate. Democrats have grown highly dependent on young voters, who are the least likely to turn out for midterm elections, while the GOP base is increasingly dependent on the elderly, who turn out at very high rates. Obama swept in a large cohort of House members on the strength of the youth vote, which stayed home in 2010. But if those young voters return in 2012, then the tide could shift right back. Indeed, if the generational schism between the two parties persists, we could see a continuing pattern of Democrats gaining House seats in presidential election years and losing them during off-year elections. (Of course, a great Republican presidential year or a terrible Republican off-year could swamp that factor.) | https://newrepublic.com/article/89264/can-democrats-win-back-the-house |
Is Paul Ryan Running? | And, finally, Ryan says hes a policy guy who has to be a politician for the policy, as he told me last year. Hes happy being Budget Committee chairman and just look at the waves hes managed to make there burying himself with wonky spreadsheets and think tank white papers, dreaming of one day becoming chairman of the powerful tax writing Ways & Means Committee. To a deficit hawk like Ryan, that seat is the pinnacle of power, perhaps even more so than the Oval Office. After all, constitutionally, the House is the branch of government responsible for taxing and spending not the White House. Okay, unrelated point first: Stop calling Ryan a "deficit hawk." He voted for all of Bush's tax cuts. He voted for all the wars. He voted for Bush's Medicare prescription drug bill. He voted against the deficit-reducing Affordable Care Act. He voted against the Bowles-Simpson plan. He opposes any deficit reduction plan that increases revenue. Ryan is anti-government but he is clearly not a deficit hawk. Anyway, back to the main point. The degree to which Ryan has gotten reporters to swallow his crafted public image is just shocking. And I agree that Ryan would love to head the Ways & Means Committee -- so he could hand out tax cuts for the rich, because he's not a deficit hawk -- but the notion that he believes that job has more power over the budget than president of the United States is just daft. What's more, this notion that Ryan just cares too much about the federal budget to run for president has a bit of trouble explaining what he was doing delivering a foreign policy address. Budget Committee chairmen don't do that very often. Newton-Small provides one more reason: | https://newrepublic.com/article/89526/paul-ryan-running |
Will Congestion Pricing Ever Catch On Here? | Those of us who drive to work in metropolitan areas across the U.S. know from experience that congestion hardly ever improves. Now a couple of researchers from the University of Toronto have reaffirmed what my colleague Anthony Downs has been saying for fifty years: traffic congestion rises to meet maximum capacity. In a forthcoming article in the American Economic Review (Google documents version via The Infrastructurist) Gilles Duranton and Mathew Turner examine new data on city level traffic from 1983 to 2003 and find that building more roads leads to more traffic. Duranton and Turner found three sources of traffic growth: people drive more as more roads are provided, commercial use (trucking, buses, etc.) increases in a similar fashion, and people move to cities with better road supplies. Increase supply and demand will rise to meet it. They also found that increased transit provision does not reduce traffic, though they caution that transit is still of vital importance. Given this rather hopeless picture of ever increasing congestion, the authors have one policy recommendation for policymakers: congestion pricing. If more roads and more transit arent the solution to congestion, pricing is one of the few tools left. | https://newrepublic.com/article/89560/will-congestion-pricing-ever-catch-here |
Is Mitch McConnell Ready To Deal? | Jay Newton-Small interviews Mitch McConnell, who invokes the grand bargain on the deficit but maintains his no-new-taxes stance: TIME: Deficit reduction in the past has always required both sides to make sacrifices and then jump together. McConnell: It is true that divided government is the only government that can do transformational, difficult things One thing I do tell my members is: whatever we do with this President is not going to be an issue in the next election. Because when you do it with divided government, no one can take advantage of whatever the difficult part of it was. You saw that on display with [Ronald] Reagan and Tip ONeill on tax reform in 83, Bill Clinton and the Republicans on welfare reform in 96. And, you know, balancing the budget in the late 90s was not easy; that was done by Bill Clinton and a Republican Congress. So, I view this discussion surrounding the debt ceiling as actually an opportunity, an opportunity to do something important for the American people and to actually get a result. And those discussions are under way and Im hoping that they can lead to something that I can recommend to my members and that at least most of them will conclude that it is an important accomplishment for the country Most of my members believe that the debt crisis is actually here and this is the opportunity to deal with it. So I hope itll be a big moment for the country, but I cant tell you for sure yet, that thats the way its going to turn out. Were in this dilemma not because we taxed too little but because we spent too much. I read the other day that 51% of Americans dont even pay income tax. I mean we need to do some kind of comprehensive tax reform which were not going to do in connection with the deficit, thats a much more complicated process that will have to go on a while. But we dont have this debt problem because of inadequate revenue. Revenue has been relatively constant. Well, Im not prepared to negotiate the deal with you. Im happy to be sitting here talking to you, but these are the kinds of things that are going on in the Biden-Kyl-Cantor meetings that will lead, I hope, to a comprehensive proposal. Ill be delighted to explain to you why I decided to support it or oppose it depending on where we end up. McConnell's justifications are, of course, pure blather. He repeats the wildly misleading talking point about 51% of Americans paying no income tax -- which, even if accurate, would hardly bolster his anti-tax position. (So raise their taxes, right?) He insists "revenue has been relatively constant." Even if true, that wouldn't mean we can't increase it more. (If my income had stayed the same while my expenses rose, getting a higher-paying job would still be an option to solve my financial problems, right?) And, anyway, it's obviously not true: That light blue line that has collapsed since 2000 is revenue. It's projected to rise because CBO assumes the Bush tax cuts will expire after 2012, a policy both parties oppose. | https://newrepublic.com/article/89293/mitch-mcconnell-ready-deal |
What About Daraa? | Washington Diarist. The reformer has responded to the democratic stirrings in his country with a war against its children. The murder and mutilation of Hamza Ali al-Khateeb is only the most shocking instance of Bashar al Assads mercilessness. The Syrian uprising originated in March as an expression of anger at the arrest and torture of fifteen boys, who were accused of scrawling anti-government graffiti in the town of Daraa, which has now earned a place of honor in the geography of modern dissent. The crowd that demonstrated for the release of the boys was fired upon, lethally, by Syrian security forces. In April, witnesses reported that the hooligans of the mukhabarat were beating children. One man who was caught in the crackdown in Daraa recounted that he shared a cell with three hundred seventy people and seventy of them were children. I take these terrible particulars from Weve Never Seen Such Horror: Crimes Against Humanity by Syrian Security Forces, a remarkable report issued by Human Rights Watch last week. The document gives evidence also of the Assad regimes other obscene acts against its people. A crowd chanting, Peaceful, peaceful, was met by an ambush. Security forces were everywhere, a witness said, in the fields nearby, on a water tank behind the checkpoint, on the roof of a nearby factory, and in the trees, and the fire came from all sides. Another person on the scene recalled that they were deliberately targeting people. Most injuries were in the head and chest. There was also organized government violence against medical workers: I saw a man who tried to pull the wounded guy away, but security forces continued to shoot. ... They again shot the wounded guy, this time in the head, and hit the rescuer as well. The clumsiness of this administration in the saga of Arab democratization sometimes seems irremediable. Only a few weeks ago the president delivered a grand address at the State Department in which he reoriented American policy, which had been chilly and slow, firmly in the direction of the promotion of democracy. Some even called it Obamas neoconservative moment. The president rejected a strategy based solely upon the narrow pursuit of [American] interests (which he weirdly imputed to the Bush administration) in favor of a set of core principlesuniversal rights, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of religion, gender equality, and the right to choose your own leadersand proclaimed that our support for these principles is not a secondary interesttoday I am making it clear that it is a top priority that must be translated into concrete actions. Obamas speech was stirring, but it was strange. Nothing in his response to the Arab revoltsor almost nothing: he was indeed moved by the fate of Benghazi, though the fate of Tripoli seems to exercise him lessprepared one for the intensity of its idealism. Having been unaccountably cool, Obama became unaccountably hot. About Syria, he remarked that the Syrian people have shown their courage in demanding a transition to democracy. President Assad now has a choice: he can lead that transition, or get out of the way. Of course Assad had already demonstrated by his actions that he rejects such a choice. Obamas get out of the way about Assad reminded me of his must go about Qaddafi. The president is still dogmatically spooked by American support for regime change, even when it is not the work of Americans, but of Syrians or Libyans (or Iranians). As Assads atrocities multiply, I see no concrete actions, no consequential American response to them. This is, strictly speaking, doubly unfortunate, because the undoing of Bashar al Assad would vindicate both our values and our interests. Foreign policy crises come in three varieties. There are those that broach American values but not American interests, and those that broach American interests but not American values, and those that broach American values and American interests. Sometimes the values-interests calculus is not clear, but the question of American action still turns on some interpretation of it. I know of nobody who believes that we should not act when our interests (or our vital ones, however they are defined) are at stake but our values are not. Most of the debates about humanitarian intervention, by contrast, the quarrels between realists and idealists, concern those cases, and they are sickeningly plentiful, in which our values are at stake but our interests are not, or at least not significantly. But Syria is one of the easy cases in which we have moral and strategic incentives for action. The moral case against Assad is obvious; but his defeat would represent also a defeat for Iran, and Hezbollah, and Hamas, his allies, and therefore a strategic achievement for us and our allies. He thwarts our regional designs at every turn. He impedes an Israeli-Palestinian peace. He aids and abets terrorism. He turns to North Korea for a nuclear facility. We should do whatever we can to assist his people in deposing him. I recognize the view that stability in Syria may be preferable to the political and religious and tribal chaos that may ensue from Assads fall, but the days of stability in Syria seem to have passed. The unbelievably brave people in the streets of Syrias cities and towns do not deserve to be so lonely in the world. If a new Middle East is being born, its attitude toward America and Americanism will be substantially determined by what it remembers about our part in its birth. Leon Wieseltier is the literary editor of The New Republic. This article originally ran in the June 30, 2011, issue of the magazine. | https://newrepublic.com/article/89635/assad-syria-daraa-protests |
Can Turkeys democracy survive its domineering prime minister? | Erdoan quickly climbed the Welfare Partys ranks. More than the dapper Erbakan, he could appeal to the working class: Erdoan was seen as down-to-earth, a guy you might see in the pide salon. In 1994, at the age of 40, he was elected mayor of Istanbul, on a platform of clean hands, improved quality of life, and a devotion to municipal services. And, like a Turkish Rudy Giuliani, he delivered. Even secularists gratefully recall that it was Erdoan who got rid of the trash on the street corners, improved the water and the transportation systems, and, yes, planted the flowers. But he also proclaimed himself the imam of Istanbul and banned alcohol in municipal buildings. He was incredibly popular, which made him incredibly dangerous to the ruling regime. In 1997, Erdoan appeared at a political rally in Siirt, a poor city in southeastern Turkey, and read a poem by Ziya Gkalp, one of Turkeys founding nationalist intellectuals: The mosques are our barracks, the domes our helmets, the minarets our bayonets and the believers our soldiers. Gkalp is regarded in Turkey as a hero, but Turkeys secularist generals accused Erdoan of using the poem as an Islamist rallying cry. He was charged and found guilty of inciting religious hatred. This is not a farewell, he vowed on his way to a four-month jail stint; a crowd of thousands gathered in a display of solidarity. Erdogans brief time in prison wrought a marked change in his political philosophy. In 2001, he broke from his mentor Erbakan and founded the AKP. The partys membership was a hodge-podge of observant Muslims whose views ranged from pragmatic to Islamist, but Erdoan promised that the party would collectively abandon hard-line views. In a deft form of positioning, he also began to speak more approvingly of the Westboth as a model for the Turkish economy and also as a beacon of religious liberty. His timing was excellent. In 2001, Turkeys economy collapsed, discrediting the three political parties in power. Offering a fresh start, the AKP was elected with 34 percent of the vote. Erdoan announced that his party would be reliable, democratic, honest and that it would protect basic rights and freedoms. In his first term, Erdoan tackled Turkeys socioeconomic problems with the same gusto with which he had cleaned up Istanbul. Struggling families received packages of food and coal; poor students received scholarships and free books. In 2003, the AKP initiated reforms that eventually led to a universal health care system. Erdoan continued policies of market liberalization and the economy flourished: Per capita GDP more than doubled between 2002 and 2007. Erdoans political reforms were even more dramatic. A major focus in his first term was entrance to the European Union (EU), then a popular policy in Turkey. In accordance with the EUs demands, the AKP passed more than 40 laws to protect freedom of expression, improve the rights of women and children, eliminate torture, and strengthen civilian control of the military. Erdoan also abolished the death penalty and pledged to solve the conflict with the Kurds, which had torn the country apart for 30 years. Both religious Turks and many pro-EU liberals were astonished at their Tayyips ability to bring about real change without sacrificing his personal ideals. For so long, the secularists imitated the West, and they were ashamed of where they came from, the Istanbul-based artist Ali Kazma once told me. Erdoan doesnt have any of that shame, and you can tell. The rest of the world was paying attention, too. In 2004, Time noted approvingly: Western leaders have been scouring the Muslim world for moderate politicians who see their future in democracy and pluralism. Erdoan may be the best find yet. Erdoans government won reelection in 2007, but his second term was rockier than the first. He pushed for the issue dearest to his constituents hearts: the right to wear the headscarf in state institutions. He also continued to dismantle the militarys power. In doing so, he provoked the ire of his old secularist foes, who still dominated the elite ranks of the judiciary. In 2008, Turkeys top prosecutor charged the AKP with anti-secular activities and called for Erdoan and the AKPs top-ranking members to be banned from politics. The secularists had overplayed their hand. Facing worldwide condemnation, the court backed off, and Erdoan emerged from the incident stronger than before. Erdoan typically exudes macho charisma, and so it was rather jarring when he stood at the podium before an AKP meeting last summer and started to cry. Filmed by every major TV station in the country, Erdoan swallowed hard and fought to control his voice; his eyes shone with tears. Even more surprising was what Erdoan was crying about: the executions of leftist and rightist activists during Turkeys 1980 coup, one of Turkeys most enduring psychological wounds. Previous governments had avoided making amends for the militarys crimes, but here was Erdoan, reciting leftist poems and reading letters written by young men before they were executed. Erdoans tears had a purpose. At the time, he was seeking to rewrite Turkeys deeply flawed constitution. By appealing to the old left, Erdoan hoped to build a broad coalition for his chosen reforms. Last September, he held a referendum on a package of 26 amendments. One vote, 26 very different amendments. Many were laws aimed to bring Turkey into compliance with the European Union: special protections for disabled people, the creation of an ombudsman, data protection, plus a proposed amendment to allow the 1980-coup generals to be brought to justice. Most Turks would have gladly voted yes to all of the above. But one amendment was more controversial. It granted the government increased influence over the judiciary by enlarging the Constitutional Court from eleven members to 17, with judges to be appointed by the president (AKP member Abdullah Gl) and Parliament (where the AKP has a substantial majority). Turkeys courts are troubled institutions, but the AKPs initiatives smacked of a power grab. Worse, by bunching all of the reforms together, Erdoan was depriving people of the very democracy he was promising. Voters, explained the legal scholar Can Yeinsu, were not given the opportunity to reflect upon, to debate, or to vote onin any meaningful way, at leastthe principal issue that prompted this referendum: the prime ministers court-packing plan. Before the vote, Erdoan charged that anyone who voted no was a coupsupporter. One evening during that time, a friend of mine called in agony. He was watching Erdoan on television and saw displays of grainy videos of tortured leftists and grieving mothers. I cant take it! he said. OK, fine, Ill vote yes for the referendum! I dont want to, but what else can we do? You were either with the AKP or with the military; with Erdoan, or against him. Standing before a businessmans organization, Erdoan demanded, Vote yes, or be eliminated. On September 12, 2010, Erdoans amendments passed with 58 percent of the vote. Nobody can stand in the way of Erdoan now, one columnist wrote in Hurriyet, a major opposition newspaper. The judiciary isnt the only institution that has been transformed by Erdoans rule. The Turkish media has been thoroughly cowed. Reporters Without Borders ranks Turkeys press freedoms one hundred thirty-eighth in the world. For decades in Turkey, dissident journalistsmostly Kurdshave been arrested or thrown in jail. Under the AKP, censorship has been imposed on newspapers that oppose Erdoan, too. As many 60 Turkish journalists are currently in prison, including nine reporters who were arrested in March as part of the so-called Ergenekon conspiracy, a bizarre case against dangerous ultranationalists and enemies of Erdoan that has dragged on for four years without producing any convictions. In March, the police raided a publishing house and erased an unpublished book that was critical of the statea new kind of book-burning for our technological times. The government fined Aydn Doan, publisher of the countrys leading opposition newspapers, millions of dollars. Erdoan has even sued cartoonists for insulting himonce for a cartoon in which he was depicted as a cat caught in a ball of yarn. All this bullying has led to endemic self-censorship: Its very common to hear reporters say, We know this and this and this, but we cant print it. Turkey now seems a long way from the heady changes of Erdoans first term. Contrary to his earlier vow to forge peace between Turks and Kurds, he has said, more recently, that there is no Kurdish problem, and Kurds who do not like the current state of affairs are free to go wherever they please. Last year, in its annual report on Turkeys progress toward entrance into the European Union, the European Commission warned of a significant slowdown in the reform agenda. But whats most troubling is just how much power Erdoan has managed to consolidate in his own hands: the media, judiciary, and business community are under his sway and the political opposition remains feeble. Joshua Walker of the University of Richmond and the German Marshall Fund, told me, In Turkey, systematically, the opposition and checks and balances have been taken off. Wiretapping is the norm; government critics dismantle their cell phones before speaking about politics. Recently, I was discussing mundane political issues at a friends house, when he abruptly got up and put his BlackBerry in the refrigerator. Yet Erdoan has always couched his efforts to amass power in the language of democracy and cast his critics as the enemies of progress. With the help of the liberal leftwho share the AKPs hatred of the militaryErdoan has succeeded in co-opting the rhetoric of liberalism. In Turkey, a religious Muslim man, always the secularists symbol of backwardness, has made the Western-looking secularists themselves seem anti-modern. That is a minor revolution in itself and one of Erdoans most brilliant feats. As this Months national election grew closer, the prime ministers tactics became more infantile and absurd. In rallies, he took to mentioning that the main opposition candidate, Kemal Kldarolu, is an Alevia Muslim sect that has long been oppressed by Turkeys Sunni majority. Ten members of another opposition party resigned following the online release of sex tapes, prompting many to suspect the AKP and its wiretapping minions. Erdoan also announced something he calls the crazy project: a massive canal to bypass the Bosphorus strait, from the Sea of Marmara to the Black Sea. If reelected, he plans to rewrite the constitution entirely and has called for Turkey to abandon its parliamentary system in favor of a presidential one. There have been stirrings of dissatisfaction with the direction in which Turkey is headed. In April, Turkish authorities announced plans to filter threatening words, phrases, and websites on the Internet. (YouTube was long prohibited here.) Dont Touch My Internet! became a refrain on Facebook, and, on May 15, thousands of young Turks protested in 30 cities. (One placard showed Prime Minister Erdoan in the style of the Shepard Fairey drawing of Obama, accompanied by the slogan, Yes we ban.) Nevertheless, the elections are assumed to be a foregone conclusion. Secularist businessmen despise Erdoan but hope he will win, because Erdoan equals stability. Some leftists disavow his authoritarian ways and yet admire him for outmaneuvering the old elites. Given that his campaign slogan is 2023, there seems little chance he will quietly fade out of political life anytime soon. In the end, Erdoans early detractors were right to fear him but wrong about the danger he represented. It turns out that he did not want power in order to create a conservative Muslim state. He simply wanted power. He has a personality defined by power. This has nothing to do with Islam, Akyol, the journalist, told me. Erdoan is the man of the streets, the underdog, the fighter. And perhaps that should not be a surprise. In its short modern history, Turkey has always been run by strong leaders who felt the force of history behind them. Atatrk felt empowered by his vision for a new country; the military generals in turn felt empowered by the legacy of Atatrk. If Erdoan continues on his present course, he will prove to be not a new model of Turkish politician, but a very familiar model indeed. Suzy Hansen is a writer living in Istanbul. This article originally ran in the June 30, 2011, issue of the magazine. Follow @tnr | https://newrepublic.com/article/89668/turkey-democracy-erdogan |
Can Foreign Investment Revive U.S. Manufacturing? | Amid growing concerns over Greek debt and the probability of another economic slowdown, the administration quietly launched SelectUSA last week, an initiative designed to attract foreign direct investment to the United States. While announced at a Business Roundtable event, SelectUSA went relatively unnoticed by the media, far less so than the highly-publicized National Export Initiative of 2010. However, this does not mean that foreign direct investment (FDI) in the United States is less important than growing U.S. exports. According to a recent U.S. Department of Commerce study, during the last ten years, majority-owned U.S. affiliates of foreign companies have employed between 5 million and 6 million workers. In terms of the survival (if not revival) of U.S. manufacturing--FDI supported 2 million manufacturing jobs, which have been less affected by the sector-wide losses in employment than domestic company manufacturing jobs. The recession and the growing economic power of emerging countries have increasingly eroded the U.S. publics openness to everything thats foreign, be it companies or people. But a job with a BMW plant in South Carolina is as American as a GM job in Michigan. Moreover, as the Department of Commerce study shows, a job with a subsidiary of a foreign company is not only a good job, it pays better than a domestic company: Workers at majority-owned U.S. subsidiaries of foreign companies receive 30 percent higher pay than non-FDI supported jobs. | https://newrepublic.com/article/90287/can-foreign-investment-revive-us-manufacturing |
Are we over the open-concept floor plan? | At some point, the previous owners of the house I live in decided to take down the wall separating the living room from the dining room. In theory, it was a good idea. In reality, it didn't make any sense. The dining room felt like an awkward, disjointed extension of the living room, not quite private enough to be its own space, but not fully integrated, either. And with the living room missing a wall, figuring out how to furnish it was no easy feat. And so, about a month ago, I hired a carpenter to do something radical: restore part of the wall. The trend toward an open-concept floor plan where few, if any, walls separate the spaces where we eat from those where we lounge has become so commonplace that it's hard to imagine an alternative. Togetherness drives the design, creating a setup where a parent can simultaneously make an omelet and watch the children play because, apparently, no one wants to be alone. Or guests can move freely from the giant kitchen island to the living room sofa, unencumbered by obstacles like doorways. In the city, that ethos is accepted because space is tight. Remove the walls in a galley kitchen and suddenly a tiny cooking space can feel larger and lighter. With an island instead of a wall, you might actually have a place to sit. New developments are invariably designed with open floor plans, a trend that's reinforced by ever-shrinking apartments. Without any walls, a prospective tenant might not realize how small the space really is. Developers claim the tenants like it. "Many new renters and buyers are embracing the open concept," said Chris Schmidt, a senior vice president for Related Companies who oversees the developer's rental portfolio. "It allows, certainly, the flexibility for entertaining and cooking." Schmidt pointed to millennials in particular as a "generation who crave that social interaction," and so "are going to crave that open concept versus walling everything off." The fixation with openness extends to the suburbs, where buyers eagerly take down walls in the kitchen and living room, and widen doorways. "People are definitely looking at the floor plans," said Judith Daniels, a sales associate with Prominent Properties Sotheby's International Realty, who works frequently with first-time buyers. "They're looking for openness that's already there or the ability to do it, just by opening the wall." That fabulous dinner party where guests wander endlessly from the kitchen to the living room feels far less glamorous with everyone staring at a sink full of dirty pots, or smelling the burned souffl in the oven. Sure, the idea of watching your children play while you make dinner sounds great, but only until you're trying to listen to Terry Gross on NPR while an episode of "Peppa Pig" blasts from the other side of what used to be a wall. "It went so far about opening everything up," said Jade Joyner, chief creative officer of Metal + Petal, an interior design firm in Athens, Ga. "There's something nice about privacy and having your own space." In the past year, she's noticed the beginnings of a pushback against the doctrine of openness. Clients have been asking for media rooms, libraries and playrooms set off from the main living area. A quiet den means you can come home from work and not immediately join the family, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. "It's been indoctrinated that walls are bad, but they're not," Joyner said. A home designed for entertaining does not necessarily take into account that most of the time you're not entertaining. Mostly, you're just living there, trying to read a book while your son practices the piano. It also can be difficult to decorate an endless expanse of space. "My biggest issue with an open floor plan is lack of wall space. Where do you hang things?" said Abbe Fenimore, a Dallas-based interior designer. After the carpenter rebuilt my wall, I painted the dining room a deep teal, and the living room white. The two spaces, which once felt like they competed with each other for attention, now seem more defined. If the children's homework is spread out on the dining table, I don't have to look at it from the sofa anymore and wonder when it will get finished. | http://www.startribune.com/are-we-over-the-open-concept-floor-plan/509754692/ |
Is the Sun Belt Behind the Slow Recovery? | The venerable columnist Steven Pearlstein has a great piece in todays Washington Post concerning overall job creation and the role of creative destruction. I wont summarize it in its entirety--the whole thing is worth a read and it dovetails nicely with our recent thoughts around jobs and innovation---but theres one specific point that really pleased me. In addition to citations from noted economist John Haltiwanger, including the chainification of American businesss, Pearlstein introduces his own rationale for slower job creation during the nascent economic recovery: geography. Pearlstein suggests that the end of the decades-long Sun Belt migration is hampering entrepreneurial spirit in the South--while the migration already hurt entrepreneurism in the Northeast. Pearlstein is certainly right about the changing migration patterns. My colleague Bill Frey tracks these patterns regularly and has highlighted slowing migration patterns across the country. And some of his previous work verified the population renaissance occurring in places like Washington, DC. This changing migration unleashed Pearlsteins key point that the Sun Belt-related entrepreneurism was one based on growth in and of itself. Growth-induced growth couldnt be sustained through the Great Recession, and it certainly wont be sustained in places with falling in-migration. Also, its unsustainable everywhere in the long run. | https://newrepublic.com/article/89291/the-sun-belt-behind-the-slow-recovery |
Why Cant More Poor People Escape Poverty? | Some promising approaches have already been tried. Starting in 2002, economists Nava Ashraf, Dean Karlan, and Wesley Yin created and analyzed a unique type of savings account at a small rural bank on the island of Mindanao in the Philippines. The Green Bank of Caragas SEED accounts (Save, Earn, Enjoy Deposits) let clients place restrictions on when they could access their money. SEED clients could set either a date before which or a minimum savings amount below which they couldnt access their own funds. Twenty-eight percent of existing bank clients who were offered the accounts enrolled in them, and, after one year, the economists found, customers saved over 300 percent more with SEED accounts than they would have without them. The accounts offered an opportunity to circumvent self-control failure, in the same way Ulysses bound himself to the mast to resist the Sirens call. The developed world offers numerous such commitment products: certificates of deposit, pension plans, government savings bonds, and education savings accounts, to name a few. But, in the developing world, institutional supports for flagging willpower are far fewer. To make use of these new discoveries, similar products that explicitly attempt to reduce willpower costs could be developed in numerous fields, from health to education to agriculture to financial management. This brings up a second, similar point: Comfort goods like washing machines and dishwashers free up valuable time and attention. Think of all the things the wealthy do to spend more time focusing on whats important. They can pay bills automatically, they can hire babysitters and have food delivered, they can have their homes and clothes cleaned for them. But, in the developing world, cost-effective time savers have come much more slowly to those who most need them. Five-dollar, energy-efficient stoves can cut firewood usage, improving childrens health and halving the amount of time it takes to gather enough firewood to cook. Small solar panels systems, too, as The New York Times recently reported, can play an epic, transformative role in homes off the electrical grid, saving families time and money on kerosene. Broadly distributed, such simple innovations would allow the poor to avoid difficult tradeoff decisions about how they spend their time or even their money. Third, money itself can go a long way toward altering the dynamic that leads to willpower depletion among the poor. Government transfers of money have proven successful in Mexico and Brazil, for instance. In particular, attaching conditions to these transferssuch as requiring school attendance, regular clinic visits, and savings behaviormay allow for an end-run around the kind of willpower-based poverty traps that too frequently seem to end with the poor making unwise decisions. Here, the research is complicated. While one line of research has found reason to think that drained willpower can be restored in the short termby taking a walk in nature or watching a humorous video, for instancestudies on how to strengthen the willpower muscle in the long term are far less conclusive. This second line of research seems to be more promising in children than in adults. As Kathleen Vohs of the University of Minnesota, who has done extensive research on willpower, put it, There might be something of a developmental sweet spot. In twelve U.S. states, a program called Tools of the Mind is explicitly aimed at improving willpower functions in prekindergarten and kindergarten children. While some of the strategies would be quite difficult in much of the developing world, many are not, or could be adapted. Of course, to argue that stressful decisions can exhaust precious mental resources is not to suggest that the decisions of the poor cant be attributed to human agency. Still, while free will is real, it is also subject to complications. The economist Amartya Sen, in his well-known volume Development as Freedom, notes how an individuals freedom of agency is constrained by the social, political and economic opportunities available to them. Hes right: Fewer options do reduce freedom. But now, we may need to grapple with a new possibility: that poverty doesnt simply reduce freedom by constraining an individuals choices, but that it may actually alter the nature of freedom by reducing an individuals willpower. Jamie Holmes is a policy analyst at the New America Foundation. Follow @tnr | https://newrepublic.com/article/89377/poverty-escape-psychology-self-control |
Are Homophobic Men Secretly Suppressing Gay Impulses? | Turns out the old stereotype is true: One study asked heterosexal men how comfortable and anxious they are around gay men. Based on these scores, they then divided these men into two groups: men that are homophobic, and men who are not. These men were then shown three, four-minute videos. One video depicted straight sex, one depicted lesbian sex and one depicted gay male sex. While this was happening, a device was attached to each participant's penis. This device has been found to be triggered by sexual arousal, but not other types of arousal (such as nervousness, or fear - arousal often has a very different meaning in psychology than in popular usage). When viewing lesbian sex and straight sex, both the homophobic and the non-homophobic men showed increased penis circumference. For gay male sex, however, only the homophobic men showed heightened penis arousal. | https://newrepublic.com/article/90005/are-homophobic-men-secretly-suppressing-gay-impulses |
Should We Blame Health Care Reform if Republicans Win in 2012? | President Obama faces a knife fight for reelection next year. Of course, the catastrophic economy poses his greatest political challenge. He also faces implacable Republican opposition, two difficult wars, and a host of other toxic foreign and domestic legacies of the Bush administration. The president has created some problems for himself, too. He has struggled to combine the inside and the outside political game. During his first two years, his central strategy was to negotiate what had to be done to win passage of the stimulus, health reform, and other specific legislative measures. Passing bills is important, but other things matter, too. Loudly proclaiming victory for items such as a too-small stimulus has created more serious long-term vulnerability than the White House seemed to know. With beautiful exceptions, the president has struggled to present a broad progressive message that extends beyond his personal appeal and political fortunes. Hes struggled in crafting a politically and programmatically effective response to the foreclosure crisis. He too-often negotiates with himself, allowing Republicans to pocket preemptive concessions while paying little political price for their implacability. President Obama couldnt stop Senator Richard Shelby from delaying and then thwarting the appointment of Nobel Prize economist Peter Diamond to the Federal Reserve Board. The president couldnt stop Republicans from undermining the appointment of the distinguished health care delivery expert Donald Berwick to lead the implementation of health reform. Whats frustrating is that he hasnt found a way to make Republicans pay a higher political price for their extreme partisanshipextremism that now seeks to hold hostage the full faith and credit of the United States. | https://newrepublic.com/article/90721/healthcare-barack-obama-gop-primary |
Can the Private Sector Close the Gap in Suburban Transit? | For those unfamiliar with them, jitneys are shared taxis running on fixed routes. They occupy a middle ground between buses and taxicabs, with the ability to divert somewhat from their routes to provide door-to-door service. They arose in Los Angeles in 1914 and quickly spread across the country, but generated enough opposition from private streetcar companies that most cities and states had banned them by 1920. Jitney service remains popular in pockets of the U.S., such as South Florida and the Outer Boroughs of New York, but occupies a legally murky niche--due in no small part to the opposition of both transit workers unions and incumbent taxi and limousine operators. Outside the U.S., the jitney enjoys particular popularity in developing countries, in large part because many governments simply cannot afford to provide public transit service of any kind to the ever-expanding slums on the edges of their cities. In the developed world, well-regulated jitney service is an essential part of the transportation network in places such as Hong Kong, the Baltic States, and Greece. Legalizing jitneys for service on routes poorly served by existing transit, and creating a predictable set of regulations enabling them to operate at an inter-suburban scale (as opposed to the tangled mess of regulations that afflicts the taxi sector in most metros), would attract new entrants to the sector. The operational details would have to be tailored to every metros specific context, but a well-developed suburban jitney sector would enable suburban-serving transit agencies to eliminate their most unproductive routes entirely, while increasing the frequency and coverage of service to users. As it has been in so many transportation-related matters, New York has been a pioneer in this area, launching a pilot program in 2010 to replace bus service on five routes with privately run commuter vans. While the program was deemed unsuccessful, its failure owed largely to the three-month gap between the termination of bus service and the start of legal jitney service; better-designed initiatives, both in New York and elsewhere, would likely achieve better results. The problem of employment accessibility is both significant and growing, and addressing it will require unconventional approaches. Liberalizing the transportation market in the nations metros is an effective way to address it. | https://newrepublic.com/article/89503/can-the-private-sector-close-the-gap-in-suburban-transit |
Does United Community Bank have branches in Charlotte? | JPMorgan prepares to open retail branches in Charlotte Bank of America and Wells Fargo need to make room for JPMorgan . The bank plans to open its branches by the end of 2019. Up Next SHARE COPY LINK Bank of America and Wells Fargo need to make room for JPMorgan . The bank plans to open its branches by the end of 2019. A Georgia-based bank is increasing its presence in Charlotte, and executives said they are considering establishing a branch presence in the area. United Community Bank announced this week the hiring of two bankers to build a commercial lending team in the city, expanding the small presence the bank already has here. The next step could be opening a United Community branch in Charlotte, executives said. Its the latest bank to announce plans to increase operations in Charlotte this year. In March, JPMorgan Chase said it planned to open its first branches in Charlotte by the end of this year. Then in April, U.S. Bank said it planned to open 10 branches in Charlotte by the end of 2020. Both banks already have other business lines in Charlotte. United Community executives said the bank has less than 10 employees in Charlotte across approximately five specialty lending areas, including residential home construction. In North Carolina, it has about 30 branches concentrated in the Raleigh and western part of the state. In its announcement this week, the bank said that Charles Curtis and Thomas McTier will establish the commercial lending team in SouthPark. An address has not been announced. The bank said Curtis has been hired as Charlotte metro area president. Most recently, he was western regional commercial executive for Cornelius-based Aquesta Bank, according to United Community. McTier previously worked as senior relationship manager in commercial banking for Regions Bank in Charlotte. Seeking a strong presence Jim Rose, North Carolina president for United Community, told the Observer that any bank seeking to be a major player in the state needs a strong presence in Charlotte. A branch in Charlotte could be next for the company, he said. United Community would prefer to acquire another bank with existing branches in Charlotte, he said. But if that plan doesnt work out, the bank would expect to open a branch within a few years, he said. Rose did not disclose potential locations. United Community is a regional bank with a presence in Georgia, Tennessee and North and South Carolina. It has about a $12.5 billion in assets. In 2017, it completed an acquisition of Four Oaks Bank, which was based in Johnston County in North Carolinas Triangle area. | https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/business/banking/article230184779.html |
Could there be life on Mars today? | The search for life on Mars shouldn't focus exclusively on the distant past, some researchers say. Four billion years ago, the Martian surface was apparently quite habitable, featuring rivers, lakes and even a deep ocean. Indeed, some astrobiologists view ancient Mars as an even better cradle for life than Earth was, and they suspect that life on our planet may have come here long ago aboard Mars rocks blasted into space by a powerful impact. Things changed when Mars lost its global magnetic field. Charged particles streaming from the sun were then free to strip away the once-thick Martian atmosphere, and strip it they did. This process had transformed Mars into the cold, dry world we know today by about 3.7 billion years ago , observations by NASA's MAVEN orbiter suggest. (Earth still has its global magnetic field, explaining how our planet remains so livable.) Related: The Search for Life on Mars (a Photo Timeline) But this turn of events doesn't necessarily mean that Mars is a dead planet today. "If Mars had life 4 billion years ago, Mars still has life. Nothing has happened on Mars that would've wiped out life," said Michael Finney, co-founder of The Genome Partnership, a nonprofit organization that runs the Advances in Genome Biology and Technology conferences. "So, if there were life on Mars, it may have moved around, it may have gone into hiding a bit, but it's probably still there," Finney said last month during a panel discussion at the Breakthrough Discuss conference at the University of California, Berkeley. One of the most promising hiding places is the Martian underground. Though the Red Planet's surface has no liquid water these days apart, possibly, from temporary flows on warm slopes now and again there's likely lots of the wet stuff in buried aquifers. For example, observations by Europe's Mars Express orbiter suggest that a big lake may lurk beneath the Red Planet's south pole. Earth's diverse residents advertise their presence in dramatic and obvious ways; an advanced alien civilization could probably figure out pretty quickly, just by scanning our atmosphere, that our planet is inhabited. We don't see any such clear-cut evidence in the Martian air, but scientists have spotted some intriguing hints recently. For example, NASA's Curiosity rover has rolled through two plumes of methane inside the 96-mile-wide (154 kilometers) Gale Crater, which the six-wheeled robot has been exploring since its 2012 touchdown. The rover mission also determined that baseline methane concentrations in Gale's air go through cycles seasonally. More than 90% of Earth's atmospheric methane is produced by microbes and other organisms, so it's possible the gas is a signature of modern Martian life. But the jury is most definitely still out on that. Abiotic processes can generate methane, too; the reaction of hot water with certain types of rock is one example. And even if the Mars methane is biogenic, the creatures that created it could be long dead. Scientists think the Red Planet methane plumes leaked out from underground, and there's no telling how long the gas lay trapped down there before making its way to the surface. Related: 5 Bold Claims of Alien Life Looking for DNA NASA's 2020 Mars rover, which is scheduled to launch next summer, will hunt for signs of long-dead Red Planet life. So will the European-Russian ExoMars rover, a mission that will lift off at about the same time. But some researchers are pushing to expand the hunt to extant Martian life. One of them is molecular biologist Gary Ruvkun, who's based at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Ruvkun is one of three principal investigators on the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Genomes (SETG) project, which is developing an instrument to detect past or present DNA- or RNA-based life on Mars and other alien worlds. He was on the Breakthrough Discuss panel with Finney and several other researchers, and he also gave a talk at the conference laying out the case for putting the SETG instrument on future Mars rovers and other robotic explorers. Part of that case centers on panspermia, the idea that life has spread widely throughout the solar system, and perhaps the galaxy, by either natural or artificial means. If life did indeed come to Earth from somewhere else, there's a good chance it once flourished on Mars as well, the thinking goes. The Red Planet could have been the source, or it may have been "seeded" as Earth was. Ruvkun views panspermia as very likely; during his Breakthrough Discuss talk, he described himself as "a religious fanatic" about the idea. Ruvkun cited as supporting evidence the very early emergence of ATP synthase, the enzyme that makes the energy-storage molecule adenosine triphosphate. ATP synthase goes all the way back to the base of the tree of life on Earth, meaning this intricate and complex molecule was up and running by about 4 billion years ago, Ruvkun said. "It's not just that life kind of got up to kind of working," he said. "It's like it got to being super highly evolved very fast. That's why panspermia is so attractive." If panspermia is indeed a thing, then any life-forms we find on Mars or anywhere else in our solar system will likely be related to us, Ruvkun and others have reasoned. That is, such organisms will use DNA or RNA as their genetic molecule. So, we should go hunt for this stuff. "It seems really idiotic to not look for DNA on Mars," Ruvkun said during his talk. "It's an experiment that's worth doing, we would say." Related: Ancient Mars Could Have Supported Life (Photos) Not just Mars Mars isn't the only place in our solar system where alien life might flourish today. Indeed, most astrobiologists would put the Red Planet down the list a bit, behind the Jupiter moon Europa and the Saturn satellites Enceladus and Titan. Europa and Enceladus harbor deep oceans of salty liquid water beneath their icy shells. Titan is thought to have a buried water ocean as well, and it also sports lakes and seas of liquid hydrocarbons on its surface. (NASA is developing an ocean-characterizing Europa flyby mission that will launch in the early to mid-2020s. The agency also aims to send a life-hunting lander to the moon's surface in the near future. And a Titan mission is one of two finalists for a NASA "New Frontiers" launch in 2025, along with a comet sample-return project. We should learn which one NASA picks by the end of the year.) Even hellish Venus, a climate-change cautionary tale for Earth, might still harbor some habitable redoubts, scientists say. Like Mars, Venus once had plentiful surface water, but a runaway greenhouse effect baked the stuff away and left the planet with surface temperatures high enough to melt lead. However, conditions appear to be pretty clement about 30 miles (50 km) above the Venusian surface. Penny Boston, director of the NASA Astrobiology Institute at the agency's Ames Research Center in California, said she thinks the chances of modern-day Venus life are low because of the "dewatering" of the planet. Regardless, the possible existence of cloud-dwelling life on Venus "definitely needs to be interrogated," Boston said during the same Breakthrough Discuss panel discussion. Original article on Space.com. | https://www.foxnews.com/science/could-there-be-life-on-mars-today |
How do I close a deceased persons Facebook account? | Q. I do not belong to Facebook, but my email address has evidently been substituted in a friends account. I recognize some of the names sending posts, but evidently they do not know she is deceased. Its very interesting that someone has invited people to be her friends,and they have accepted, but I cannot reply to stop this because Im not a member of Facebook. I looked for way to contact Facebook, but Im not finding a way to easily bring this to their attention. Janice Jurcan A. I havent been able to confirm this yet, but I suspect that some social media platforms automate invitations to become friends as a way to boost network activity. The simplest way to put an end to the problem would be to open a new email account. I do that periodically just to eliminate the spam that eventually finds its way to mail accounts. If youre not wanting to open a new email account you could ask a family member of your deceased friend to shut down her Facebook account. Instructions for doing so are here: https://www.facebook.com/help/1518259735093203?helpref=faq_content . Q. I experience something completely out of my understanding. I am a member of the VamoLa Brazilian band, and in my email (on Earthlink using Firefox), I have a group of addresses of members that I can send group messages to. It has only about six addresses including mine. When I send a message to this group, I always get an error message telling me that an address doesnt exist. That address is [email protected]. I checked with the owner of our other group, and I found out that no one else gets this error message. Advertising Then I managed to open the group, and found that that address does NOT exist in that group. I suppose I made that address up a long long time ago for some obscure reason, and have forgotten that. I still dont understand what is happening here. Ray Ruhlen A. I doubt that youre getting this message because of a virus. Its not the kind of things that viruses do. The most likely explanation is, as you suggest, that you entered that address in the group email entry, perhaps as a test. Since your group is small, I recommend just deleting the existing group email entry and creating a new one without that kicked-back address. Q. Im not able to access documents in Chrome. I do not get any error messages. Rather, Google Chrome simply doesnt respond. Ive attached two of the documents for you to look at. In my files these documents and photos have the Chrome icon on them and I cannot open them if my Chrome is not working. So, as I understand it, when I open such a file Im not accessing a website, but rather a saved file. Sandy Wood A. The documents attached to your email were PDF files and they opened just fine in Acrobat. Advertising If your computer shows those files with a Chrome symbol, I suspect that things have gotten messed up in your file associations with applications. You can check on that by going to the Control Panel and launching Default Programs. Next click on Associate a file type or protocol with a program. Make sure the PDF files are associated with Acrobat and not Chrome. | https://www.seattletimes.com/business/technology/how-do-i-close-a-deceased-persons-facebook-account/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_business |
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