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Is the Vanquish Zagato Shooting Brake Testing a New Engine? | But for the old-school fans with the big bucks, it's made a small series of custom Vanquish models with Zagato. There's for of them, ending with the Shooting Brake that was revealed in 2017.They were supposed to make 99 of them, but apparently, not all were delivered as of late last year. We thought the pink one spotted at the end of last year was going to be the weirdest thing we saw and maybe the last as well, but they managed to surprise us with a test prototype that's been located in Scandinavia.It's fully covered in the type of camouflage that doesn't disguise things that well, but there's one easy-to-spot difference. Instead of the quad mufflers, it's got discreet double-barrel setups. It's not a production setup, obviously, since the tips are missing. But could it signal an engine change?The Vanquish Zagato usually prances around with the 5.9-liter naturally aspirated V12 engine, which got replaced by the twin-turbo 5.2-liter developed in-house. Maybe it's just for testing on a next-gen sports car. Aston Martin announced that the shooting brake sold out in November 2018. But perhaps they didn't get to register all the Zagato chassis before the new emissions regulations kicked in and they want to keep their promise on the deliveries but need a different engine. It would be crazy-expensive, but stranger things have happened in the world of expensive toys. | https://www.autoevolution.com/news/is-the-vanquish-zagato-shooting-brake-testing-a-new-engine-131713.html |
Could the Nike Adapt BB Usher in a New Era of Technology in Sneakers? | Nike grabbed headlines this week when it unveiled the Adapt BB, its bold and innovative self-lacing basketball sneaker. Four experts weigh in. Matt Powell, senior sports industry advisor at The NPD Group Inc. I really dont think so. I think the consumer today is not oriented toward innovation. Were very much grounded in this athleisure cycle right now and technical innovation in shoes is not what the consumer is looking for. Victoria Chiang, sneaker influencer Its a neat, novel concept driving some much needed buzz to the basketball category but honestly, I dont think it will kick off a new wave of innovation. Maybe a splash. It just seems convoluted, cumbersome, gadget-y not to mention, pricey and I dont think the young consumer is checking for that. However, I think it will at least kick off a wave of outside-the-box, unconventional concepts from other sneaker brands. Ankur Amin, CEO of TGS (parent company to retailers including Extra Butter) Yes, itll most likely kick off a movement toward innovation. Nike and Adidas have already been working toward new technologies and innovation in design for the past few years. After this launch I feel that other brands will also feel the need to innovate. Henry Francois, sneaker influencer The Nike Adapt BB will definitely kick off a new wave of innovation in sneakers. Nike introduced the self-lacing system in 2016 with the release of the Mag and they dropped the HyperAdapt two years later, so theyve been at it for a while. It will probably be a few years until we see another brand release a self-lacing sneaker. Jayson Tatum Is the First Basketball Player to Wear Nikes Self-Lacing Shoes in an NBA Game Nike Unveils Its Self-Lacing Adapt BB Basketball Sneakers This Latest Air Max 97 Is Inspired By Cardboard Shipping Boxes From Nike | https://footwearnews.com/2019/focus/athletic-outdoor/nike-adapt-bb-sneakers-technology-brands-1202731645/ |
What Can Outdoor Brands Learn From Smaller Sneaker Labels? | While the outdoor marketplace is dominated by large brands, a wave of smaller sneaker labels have entered the industry and found ways to impress consumers. Heres what they had to say. Move quicker Learn to use the smallness of your brand. You have a shorter lead time; a lot of the big guys, theyre planned 18 or 24 months in advance. With us, we can pivot quickly and change something right before we buy from the factory and be able to capitalize on a trend or keep buying a hot style. When youre smaller, you have more freedom to move quicker than when youre one of the big guys. Dave Goldberg, owner and president of Ewing Athletics Understand your customer For starters, obsess over your customer, for they are the ones who will help you grow. New brands have one shot at converting a customer and keeping them, so if you are not making sure customers love your brand, the site experience, the product and so on, it will be very hard to build a solid business. Greats has made a series of mistakes along the way, but we have learned from each of them and improved. Ryan Babenzien, founder and CEO of Greats Hire a strong team We identified our strengths and weaknesses early on and brought on strong partners who could fill in the gaps youre only as good as your weakest link, so hire a strong team. [And] we try to keep things consistent. We knew we had strong product to begin with, and from there, weve held everything else weve done to the same high standards. Josh Shorrock, co-founder of Lane Eight Stay true to your brand Spend time defining who you are as a brand and also who you are not and stay true to that. We at Nobull use that as a filter for everything we do, from product design to content design. Were not for everybody, and were OK with that, and weve been very honest with ourselves about who we are as a brand. For any startup in any industry, I would recommend the same thing. Marcus Wilson, co-founder of Nobull Be consistent Its important to stay razor-focused on the quality and consistency of your product. At Koio, we chose a manufacturer that upheld our dedication to world-class craftsmanship. Weve [also] experienced growth in creating a community around our mission. Smaller brands can find great success in taking the time to learn about their consumers figure out what theyre passionate about, where they live, what they do in their free time. How Two Brothers Created a Performance Sneaker to Wear Anywhere Late Texas Rap Legend Pimp C Is Honored With Ewing Athletics Sneakers Indie Sneaker Brand Greats Opens Store in NYCs Swanky Soho | https://footwearnews.com/2019/focus/athletic-outdoor/outdoor-brands-sneaker-labels-lessons-advice-1202731340/ |
Does Razer Kraken Tournament Edition work with PlayStation 4 (PS4)? | Best answer: Console players don't get access to all the features but the Kraken Tournament Edition (TE) works just fine with the PlayStation 4 over a 3.5mm connection. Hook up to your controller The Razer Kraken TE headset has a USB audio controller but the headphones part connects to it with a standard 3.5mm cable. So, in order to use it with your PS4, Xbox, Nintendo Switch or even your mobile device, you simply remove the USB audio controller and hook up the headset directly to the device. For PS4 owners, simply connecting to the 3.5mm jack on your controller will be enough. USB works with limited features Unlike on the Xbox One, standard USB PC gaming headsets work only fine with the PS4. Slightly crazy, but still true. In the case of the Kraken TE though, there's no benefit to using the USB audio controller at all. The main reason to use it on PC is for the game and chat audio mixing, and most importantly, the THX spatial audio. You also have the Razer Synapse application for Windows to customize the experience. None of these features are compatible with the PS4, but you do have an inline remote to adjust the volume and mute the microphone. The only functions you'd be using on the USB audio controller. PC gamers get the most from this headset Even though it does work just fine with consoles and mobile devices, the Kraken TE is geared towards PC gamers, and it's those buyers who will really get the most from this headset. The THX spatial audio is the biggest deal, but in conjunction with the Razer Synapse application, you get access to an equalizer, microphone settings, and more. The Kraken TE is a great headset to buy if you're a PC gamer, but if you also play on console and don't want to spend on an extra headset, it'll get the job done. | https://www.androidcentral.com/does-razer-kraken-tournament-edition-work-ps4?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+androidcentral+%28Android+Central%29 |
Who were the Shoreham airshow crash victims? | A total of 11 people were killed when a vintage Hawker Hunter fighter jet crashed onto the A27 at the Shoreham airshow in 2015. Its pilot Andrew Hill, 55, is currently on trial and denies 11 counts of gross negligence manslaughter. He was flying the 1950s aircraft too low when he lost control while performing a loop stunt over the major road, jurors were told at the Old Bailey this week. Some of the victims had been watching the display from a grass verge, near the Shoreham Airport entrance on the A27, while others were travelling in cars or walking. The majority were not actually there to watch the airshow, and 10 of them died instantly as the cars and their occupants were completely destroyed by the crash, prosecutor Tom Kark QC said. Click on the images below to learn more about the victims. | https://news.sky.com/story/who-were-the-shoreham-airshow-crash-victims-11610007 |
How has Dwayne Myers left Death In Paradise and why did Danny John-Jules quit? | Danny John-Jules absence from Death In Paradise certainly hasnt gone unnoticed (Picture: BBC) Death In Paradise fans have been coming to terms with the fact that Dwayne Myers played by Danny John-Jules is no longer a part of the series. Season eight kicked off on BBC One last Thursday night, with some saying the show just didnt feel the same. Well, the officer was given a pretty decent exit strategy from the show, rather than being killed off hes simply gone travelling with his dad Nelson. Look out for Officer Ruby Patterson in Episode 2 of #DeathInParadise on @BBCOne Thursday 17. pic.twitter.com/ZB8xsF0rTT Death in Paradise (@deathinparadise) January 14, 2019 The character, played by Ram John Holder, was previously featured on the show when Dwayne went to London to solve a case and tracked his dad down. Advertisement Advertisement News of his travels was revealed on last Thursdays show by his former sidekick JP (Tobi Bakare) as he and Jack Mooney (Ardal OHanlon) discussed his whereabouts. When asked if he had heard from Dwayne during his epic voyage with his dad, JP said: I spoke to him yesterday sir. He was just off the coast of Cuba, and hed picked up a crew whose engine had died. When it turned out the boat was playing host to a hen party Mooney promptly quipped: Typical, the luck of that man. The actor said he wanted to leave the show on a high (Picture: BBC) Well, the actor who recently appeared on Strictly Come Dancing announced last April he was quitting, saying that he had taken the decision to step away from Death In Paradise on a high. Executive producer Tim Key confirmed the news in a statement, saying: Were very sad to have said goodbye to Danny, whose brilliant performance as Dwayne has helped make the show such a success. We wish Danny all the very best and look forward to working with him again. Danny has since revealed that he was keen to return to the stage after spending seven seasons in the show. I needed a bit more razzmatazz in my life, and then along came Strictly! he told Whats on TV. Ive also been working on my one man show about Sammy Davis Jnr, thats why Im always wearing a bowler hat! My mate does a Nat King Cole act, and theres a lot of those kinds of shows around. Advertisement Advertisement Ardal OHanlon who plays DI Jack Mooney in the show has also addressed Dannys departure. Speaking to Digital Spy, he said: When I heard that Danny was leaving, I thought, Hmm. How will the audience take that? Because hes a very popular character in the show, and hes been there since the start as well, so theres that. Shyko Amos character Officer Ruby Patterson is replacing Dwayne (Picture: BBC) But weve seen time and time again that the show survives these cast changes. Dannys character, Dwayne Myers, will be best remembered for his motorbike and for the fact he knows the island of Saint Marie better than anyone, being the longest serving officer at the Honore Police Station. He was also known for his questionable detection methods when it came to solving cases, and his thorny relationship with his father who walked back into his life in season seven of the show as he was celebrating his birthday. Death In Paradise series eight kicks off on BBC One on Thursday night at 9pm. If you've got a story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk Entertainment team by emailing us [email protected], calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page - we'd love to hear from you. | https://metro.co.uk/2019/01/17/how-has-dwayne-myers-left-death-in-paradise-and-why-did-danny-john-jules-quit-8356402/ |
Which underdog has a better chance of pulling off a championship round upset? | Its going to be tough to call any upset an actual upset. For those that dont know, the spread of each game has hovered around three-points for both away teams. That means if this game was played on a neutral field, the spread would be a pick. Essentially the bookmakers in Las Vegas think its a game thats decided by home field. Plus, its not like the Patriots or Rams are slouches. They are both second seeds that had a shot at the top seed going into the final weeks of the season. Lets take a look. New England Patriots The Patriots are playing in their eighth straight AFC Championship game and are three-point underdogs in this game. Dont believe the new media hype where no one criticized the Patriots and the team made it up. It started early in 2018 the article was published on January 4 with Seth Wickershams piece about the crumbling Patriots dynasty. It continued throughout the season. Tom Brady was done after the Tennessee Titans games. Rob Gronkowski was no longer the threat he once was. Whats wrong with the Patriots has been a consistent theme for blogs and television content. Yes, no one said they suck like Brady said in his post game interview, but no one really thought the Patriots would make it this far. In fact, most of the money bet last week was on the Chargers according to Action Network and the Chiefs currently have a higher percentage of money and tickets on their side. The Patriots are underdogs. Theres no other way to describe it. As for the game, the Patriots defeated the Chiefs earlier in the season. The game came down to a last minute field goal. The Patriots are going to struggle to contain Travis Kelce and Tyreek Hill. Everyone struggles containing those two. Patrick Mahomes is an MVP and the moment didnt look too big for him in his first playoff game last week. I dont buy that the Chiefs defense is fixed. They can be kept on their heels. The Patriots rushing attack could actually hurt the Chiefs and take time away from the Chiefs explosive offense. The Patriots will use a lot of 21 personnel two running backs, one tight end, two receivers and will try and pound the ball with Sony Michel. Theyll use James White out of the backfield. This game will be about sustained drives. The problem is the Patriots arent at home. Theyve been horrible on the road this year. Brady isnt the same player away from Gillette Stadium. The Chiefs have an advantage with their offense. Expect them to score. The Patriots need to figure out a way to keep pace. Los Angeles Rams The Rams played the Saints earlier this year. The game was at the Superdome. The Saints got out to an early lead and never really relinquished it. The Rams tried to come all the way back in the third quarter, but the deficit was too much. All the Rams need to do here is not fall behind. The Rams offense is clicking again. Jared Goff is playing indoors, which is good because if this game was outdoors in the cold, Goff would be a major issue. C.J. Anderson was a bit of a revelation last week, but the Rams need to get Todd Gurley more involved especially in the screen and passing game if they want to take this game home. The thing that no one seems to notice is that the Saints offense is running in quicksand. It hasnt been good over the final weeks of the season. New Orleans needed trick plays and Taysom Hill which I guess is the same thing to avoid falling into a bad place against the Eagles last week. The Saints defense has been carrying the team. The Rams are slightly more explosive than the Eagles. The Rams defense is finally healthy. They had an easier game last week because Dallas was so unimaginative on offense it was funny. The Saints offense hasnt been great, but it still has the talent to put up points. Verdict: The Rams have a better chance and I dont think its particularly close. The Patriots have the veteran savvy and experience, but the Chiefs would win in a track meet. The Rams and Saints in a track meet is a toss-up. So now, lets hope the Patriots dont read this and remind me how wrong I am if they upset the Chiefs. | https://touchdownwire.usatoday.com/2019/01/17/afc-nfc-championship-upset-patriots-rams/ |
Which high schools received penalties for OHSAA infractions this month? | CLOSE The Enquirer preps writers Shelby Dermer and Jon Richardson discuss the AP boys basketball second statewide poll and how they voted. Melanie Laughman, [email protected] Following the Jan. 17 board meeting, the Ohio High School Athletic Association issued penalties for 27 schools recently committing infractions. The OHSAA imposed the following penalties against Greater Cincinnati schools that violated OHSAA bylaws or sports regulations: Purcell Marian High School had a student-athlete in varsity football violate Bylaw 4-4-1, Scholarship. However, the student met Exception 3 to the Bylaw (Incomplete restored to passing grade) but the school permitted the student to participate prior to receiving an eligibility ruling from the Executive Directors Office. The OHSAA has restored eligibility for the student retroactively but, in accordance with Bylaw 4-1-1, Administrative Error, the school has been fined $100. Princeton High School violated Bylaw 4-9-2, Recruiting, when a boys assistant track and field coach engaged in impermissible activity designed to influence a student to transfer to Princeton High School. In accordance with Bylaw 4-9-7 and Bylaw 11, Penalties, the Executive Directors Office issued the following sanctions: 1) Princeton shall submit an action plan that outlines the education that will be provided to all coaches regarding Bylaw 4-9, Recruiting. 2) Princeton athletic administrator(s) shall attend the OHSAA New Administrators Seminar which is held in early August 2019. 3) Princeton is publicly reprimanded for lack of administrative responsibility in this matter. 4) Should Princeton HS decide to ultimately renew the coach for the 2019 season, Princeton is required to notify the OHSAA office of this decision and, while he is permitted to coach during the regular season, the coach be denied the opportunity to coach Princeton in the 2019 OHSAA tournament. Buy Photo Fans sit at the top of the high school stadium as the sun sets before their team's game last September. (Photo: Tony Tribble for the Enquirer) Aiken High School had a student-athlete in freshman boys basketball violate Bylaw 4-3-1 Enrollment and Attendance, during the 2017-18 season. In accordance with Bylaw 10-2-1, Forfeitures, the school must forfeit the seven victorious contests in which the ineligible student participated. River View East and Woodward High School each had a student-athlete who was reassigned by the district as a result of a specific change of academic program and was eligible to qualify for full eligibility under Bylaw 4-7-6, Intradistrict Transfer. However, the district failed to submit the requests for eligibility to the Executive Directors Office within the first 15 school days of the school year, as stipulated in the Bylaw. The OHSAA has restored eligibility for the students retroactively and prospectively but, in accordance with Bylaw 4-1-1, Administrative Error, the district has been fined $100. River View East High School had a student-athlete who was reassigned by the district as a result of a specific change of academic program and was eligible to qualify for full eligibility under Bylaw 4-7-6, Intradistrict Transfer. However, the district failed to submit the request for eligibility to the Executive Directors Office within the first 15 school days of the school year, as stipulated in the Bylaw. The OHSAA has restored eligibility for the student retroactively and prospectively but, in accordance with Bylaw 4-1-1, Administrative Error, the district has been fined $100. The OHSAA reported that 103 schools violated numerous sport regulations during the 2019 fall sports season. These violations resulted in $8,520 in fines. According to the OHSAA, 34 schools violated General Sports Regulation 3, Mandatory Requirement for Rating/Voting for Tournament Officials; three (3) schools violated General Sports Regulation 5, Penalties for Failure to Conduct Pre-Season Meetings; 110 schools violated General Sports Regulation 6, OHSAA-Sponsored Tournaments Entry/Withdraw Procedures and Draw/Seed Meeting Dates; and 16 schools violated General Sports Regulation 16, Tournaments (Failure to Appear). | https://www.cincinnati.com/story/sports/high-school/high-school-sports/2019/01/17/which-high-schools-received-penalties-ohsaa-infractions-month/2607070002/ |
Will DeMarcus Cousins fuel an NBA trend of rehabbing in the G League? | SANTA CRUZ, Calif. DeMarcus Cousins will debut on Friday at the center of the basketball universe, playing in front of a celebrity-sprinkled crowd in Los Angeles and a global television audience that still cant believe he signed last summer with the back-to-back champion Golden State Warriors. To prepare for this moment after missing nearly a year with a torn left Achilles tendon, the four-time all-star center traveled to a funky outpost on the central California coast whose downtown is dotted by surf shops, bong emporiums and wellness studios. There, he found the Kaiser Permanente Arena, a no-frills, 2,500-seat gym surrounded by the San Lorenzo River, an auto shop and a Walgreens. The arena was built in 2012 and, according to local lore, went up in just 78 days. Unlike the half-billion-dollar palaces of professional teams, it cost roughly $10 million and once housed a womens roller derby squad. For the past two and a half years, the Santa Cruz Warriors, Golden States G League affiliate, have played to a packed house. Its a mini-Oracle Arena, said guard Damion Lee, who has logged time for both Golden State and Santa Cruz this year. Lees name is included on a banner near the buildings main entrance: Santa Cruz Warriors: NBA Call-Ups. The nondescript sign is a badge of honor for the minor-league franchise and a naked reminder to its players: The G League is intended to be a launchpad, not a destination. For the undrafted prospects and journeymen who live in a nearby hotel for the six-month season, the road to the NBA runs through here. In recent years, though, G League teams have increasingly hosted high-profile NBA players returning from injury such as Cousins, whose $18.1 million contract in 2017-18 was more than 500 times greater than the standard G League salary of $35,000. These rehab assignments are a marriage of convenience, pairing NBA players coming off injuries with pro-level competition that can mimic the speed and physicality of the big league without taxing actual NBA players during the middle of their season. This rise in rehab assignments is a helpful barometer for the G Leagues growth. Since its founding in 2001, the G League has expanded from eight teams to 27 teams, and formalized the relationships between NBA teams and their minor-league affiliates. Rather than sharing far-flung affiliates with other teams as they did in the past, most NBA teams now operate their own G League teams in one-to-one relationships. This trend has allowed NBA teams greater control over style of play on the court, sales and marketing off the court, and even the location of the franchises. Meanwhile, the NBA has expanded roster sizes and added new player designations, such as two-way contract players who can shuttle back and forth between the NBA and G League, to encourage greater investment in the minor-league product. The G League will expand to 28 teams in 2019-20 and expects to have 30 affiliates to match the 30 NBA franchises within the next 18 months. As the G League has added and relocated franchises, the convenience factor has sharply increased. The Santa Cruz Warriors, who relocated from North Dakota in 2012, are a prime example. Good luck. No problem. Proximity has mattered for other franchises, too. The Los Angeles Lakers assigned guard Rajon Rondo to their South Bay affiliate, which plays its home games at the teams El Segundo practice facility. The Chicago Bulls have placed Zach LaVine and Jabari Parker with their Windy City affiliate, which plays just 25 minutes from downtown. When the Los Angeles Clippers sent Blake Griffin to practice with their Agua Caliente affiliate last season, they hand-delivered the competition to their star by bringing in the G League players from Ontario, California, to practice at their Playa Vista training facility. According to data provided by the G League, the average distance between an NBA team and its G League affiliate this season is 142 miles down sharply from 452 miles in 2013-14. That geographical shift has led to a corresponding spike in rehab assignments, which have long been common practice for Major League Baseball teams and their farm clubs. From 2013-14 to 2016-17, an average of five NBA players per year were sent to their G League affiliates to aid in their recoveries. Over the past 18 months, 19 players have undertaken rehab assignments, including six all-stars. Rehab assignments are another value-add for the G League, said Shareef Abdur-Rahim, who began his tenure as G League president on Monday. You can use the G League to develop your young players and coaches, but you can also give players like Cousins the opportunity to get practice and game time. Weve seen Tony Parker and Brandon Knight do it, too. Location is one-half of the equation; commitment is the other. The Warriors have purposefully merged their NBA and G League operations whenever possible, utilizing similar strategies, play calls and terminology. Santa Cruz coach Aaron Miles joined the Warriors staff during the playoffs and training camp, Santa Cruzs strength coaches are in regular contact with their NBA counterparts, and the Warriors employ a coach who is dedicated to handling the franchises two-way contract players. The G League affiliate also mimics Golden States marketing approaches, utilizing the same blue and yellow color scheme and handing out the same bobbleheads and replica championship rings to Santa Cruz fans that the Warriors dispense at Oracle Arena. This comprehensive organizational synergy, as Santa Cruz President Chris Murphy termed it, has enabled Santa Cruz to operate at a profit and cultivate 1,200 season ticket holders. It also perfectly set the table for Cousins rehab stint, which occurred over three sessions in December during a quieter stretch of Santa Cruzs schedule. Up at Golden State, DeMarcus was doing a lot of two-on-two stuff, Miles said. [Warriors coach] Steve Kerr told me he wanted DeMarcus to get up and down. Golden State practices, but they dont do a lot of scrimmaging, its more fine details. We wanted to give Cousins what he needed. It was big for him to just play because its been a year or so since he was in an NBA game. Cousins, who tore his Achilles tendon in January 2018 as a member of the New Orleans Pelicans, went through full-court, five-on-five scrimmages that featured elongated halves to test his conditioning. The Warriors sent down Rick Celebrini, their director of sports medicine, to monitor his performance and members of their digital team to capture highlights for their website. Because Golden State tapes and analyzes all of Santa Cruzs practices and games using the PlaySight and Second Spectrum video services, Kerrs management had complete and immediate access to Cousins workouts. While its tempting to picture Cousins barnstorming through Santa Cruz, laying waste to the overmatched competition in front of gawking crowds, thats not what happened. Instead, he teased his younger brother, Jaleel, a 6-10 center for Santa Cruz, and impressed his temporary teammates with his passing skills and outside shooting. The practices occurred in a near-empty gym and received little media attention. It was business as usual, Murphy said. We could have sold hundreds of tickets to the practice, but it was pretty cool to have a player of his caliber have a very comfortable experience. Many of the players knew Cousins from Warriors training camp, which lightened the mood and made his appearance feel routine. It wasnt like our team is a bunch of high school kids in awe, Jaleel Cousins said. Santa Cruz is a professional setting, and this was a professional thing. DeMarcus was trash-talking, trying to motivate guys. Like with your friends playing backyard ball, you talk (expletive). He said, D-up. You cant guard me. Miles and his players saw Cousins moving easily as he began to work his way back into game shape. He tested his leg in various situations: setting screens, rolling to the hoop, popping to the three-point line and pivoting through traffic. Miles eyes lit up as he described how Kerr can use Cousins: by running split cuts off the big man to utilize his passing skills, and by dumping it to him in the post to set up an inside-out game for the Warriors shooters. When Santa Cruz huddled after practice, Cousins addressed the team, praising their collective talent and offering encouragement. He said to keep grinding and he thanked everybody for playing five-on-five and doing extra for him, Jaleel Cousins said. His message was, You guys could have said that you have a game coming up and you wanted to focus on yourselves, but I appreciate you allowing me to join you and helping me to get back to where I was. Although the Warriors elected not to assign Cousins to play in a G League game, his Santa Cruz teammates still dreamed about the possibility. Guard Kendrick Nunn laughed at the idea of Cousins intimidating G League opponents, while forward Kevin Young imagined Miles force-feeding Cousins for crazy numbers. To Abdur-Rahim, the concept is no joke. After all, New York Knicks guard Courtney Lee logged 32 minutes in a December game with their Westchester affiliate while on a rehab assignment, another sign that minor-league stigma is fading. I can absolutely see NBA players playing in G League games becoming a trend, said Abdur-Rahim. It takes just one star who wants to play and get his rhythm. Then it would turn commonplace. The structure and the resources support it right now. Without question, Cousins return represents one of the key mileposts of the 2018-19 season. Kerr plans to start him at center, giving Golden State a starting five composed entirely of all-stars from a season ago (the last team with such a luxury was the 1975-76 Boston Celtics). If Cousins fits in and looks healthy, the Warriors are overwhelming favorites to claim their third straight title. If there are bumps or setbacks, the mercurial Cousins known for his arguments with officials and occasional emotional outbursts will become a lightning rod. Santa Cruzs players noted that Cousins wont need to carry as heavy of a burden with the Warriors as he shouldered with the Sacramento Kings and Pelicans earlier in his career. Lee said that Cousins repeated trips to Santa Cruz showed how humble of a person he is, and Miles spoke positively of Cousins demeanor and leadership during his visits. Jaleel Cousins said his brother is in a good place mentally because the Warriors have given him a lot of downtime during his rehabilitation and because his comeback represents a chance to rewrite his reputation. Hes mingled with the team and meshed with them perfectly, Jaleel said. Hes not the monster everybody tries to make him out to be. The Santa Cruz Warriors, like the rest of the basketball world, will be tuning into Cousins first game, but only after they try to beat the Salt Lake City Stars in front of their 68th straight home sellout. Ive played in Puerto Rico, Canada, Mexico, Argentina and Iceland, Young mused. In Argentina, we had seven fans in the stands at one game. Some places, basketball isnt everything. Here, its like a family and we try to mimic the Warriors organization in every way. We all want each other to succeed. | https://www.denverpost.com/2019/01/17/demarcus-cousins-g-league-rehab/ |
Is Tesco's Google Glass app a fridge too far? | If you've plonked down 1,000/$1,500 on a Google Glass headset and need to speed up your shopping, you're in luck: Tesco has just launched a Glass app for browsing items at home and adding them to a virtual basket. It syncs with the Tesco Grocery service, so you can scan items in your fridge that you're running low on and automatically add them to your list for the week. Nutritional information about each product is also available. As is the norm for Glass apps, it can be controlled by voice too, giving you the option of shouting out your shopping list as you make your way through the kitchen or home from work. 'Early stages' Tesco says the app is designed to complement its existing services rather than replace them - you'll need to head to a computer or smartphone to finish off your order and get it delivered, for example. "We want to ensure we have the means in place to allow customers to shop whenever, however they want which is why we're testing the possibilities of customers topping up their online basket with Glass," says Pablo Coberly, innovation engineer at Tesco Labs. "We've intentionally kept functionality very basic given the early stages of customer use of Glass." If you want to give the app a whirl you can pick it up now for free via Google's official portal. It requires access to the camera to scan barcodes and identify products as you shop. | https://www.techradar.com/au/news/wearables/is-tesco-s-google-glass-app-a-fridge-too-far-1280416 |
Why no mention of Ike Leggett speaking at Hogan inauguration? | Unbelievable that you did not mention that a leading Democrat in Maryland Ike Leggett was also a guest speaker at the inauguration of Gov. Larry Hogan (Hogan's second inaugural and the politics of self-sacrifice, Jan. 16). Unbelievable. But very realistic that the "left" wants to shut down the right. Can't bear to listen to any opposition thoughts. Maybe you should get a "safe place" like a local college and only listen to those of your ilk. P.S. I am not a big fan of Jeb Bush, but he has a right to his opinions, and I have a right to listen to them. Lyle Rescott, Marriottsville | https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/readersrespond/bs-ed-rr-ike-leggett-hogan-inauguration-letter-20190117-story.html |
Can Gonzalo Higuain make his debut against Spurs next week? What are Carabao Cup rules? | CHELSEA are set to announce Argentine star Gonzalo Higuain as their big-name striker signing this month. (Pic: GETTY) The current AC Milan loanee is expected to ditch the San Siro for Stamford Bridge today. The 31-year-old will join initially on loan until the end of the season, with an option to stay on another year. The Blues are unlikely to register him in time for tomorrows clash with Arsenal. In all rounds of the Competition a player shall be a registered player of his Club, EFL Carabao Cup rules Maurizio Sarris men currently trail 1-0 thanks to Harry Kanes first leg strike. But with the Englishman now out until March, the Blues are expected to stage a fight back on home soil. As has often been the case, Eden Hazard lead the line on that occasion, with Alvaro Morata and Olivier Giroud heavily out-of-favour. However, their attack could be boosted this time round by the addition of Higuain. Harry Kane's penalty is all that currently separates the two teams (Pic: GETTY) The EFL states that players registered and eligible to compete in league matches may compete in the Carabao Cup as long as they are registered by midday the day before the game. As such, Higuain could make his debut for Chelsea in Thursdays crunch semi-final second leg. However, if Sarri opts to leave Higuain out of his squad for Thursdays match, the Argentina international could make his first appearance against Sheffield Wednesday next Sunday in the FA Cup fourth round. Higuain will have to wait until until January 30 to make his Premier League debut when the Blues travel to Bournemouth. Higuain has cut his AC Milan loan spell short to join Chelsea (Pic: GETTY) | https://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/football/754187/Chelsea-news-Gonzalo-Higuain-Tottenham-Premier-League-Carabao-Cup |
Will the Syracuse Mets hold a Hot Stove event? | Syracuse, N.Y. -- The off-season baseball social calendar in Syracuse has been far cooler than usual this winter. January has typically been the month that the Syracuse Chiefs (now the Syracuse Mets) held a Hot Stove dinner for its fans. The annual tradition has become extremely popular in recent years, with hundreds of fans packing the Oncenter to meet guest stars such as Pete Rose, Ron Guidry and Tommy John. The dinner is usually announced several weeks ahead of time to get ticket sales rolling. The New York Mets purchased the Chiefs before the 2018 season, and this year that franchise will put its Triple-A players on the NBT Bank Stadium field. Besides an October announcement revealing Syracuses rebranding in the fall, buzz about the change has been as soft as snowflakes dropping onto the outfield grass. While there is still plenty of time to hold some kind of fan event before the start of spring training next month, it remains unclear where or when such a party might be held. "Weve not made any announcement yet,'' said Syracuse general manager Jason Smorol. "Were getting ready to announce a lot of stuff.'' One of those announcements will concern the new manager of Syracuse. While many other Triple-A franchises have released the names of their 2019 staffs, New York has not. When Mets officials visited Syracuse in October, they indicated that Tony DeFrancesco, who managed the organizations Triple-A team in Las Vegas, would make the move to NBT. But that has yet to be officially confirmed by either the New York or Syracuse Mets. Mets trade for minor-league batting champ | https://www.syracuse.com/sports/2019/01/will-the-syracuse-mets-hold-a-hot-stove-event.html |
Is the death of the car exaggerated? | The glass-half-full people would like you to know that no matter how many Americans decide to buy sport utility vehicles, millions of other consumers will still buy their sedans. Those people are the ones from Volkswagen, Nissan, Hyundai and Honda who, at this week's Detroit Auto Show, politely asked that the world not get too carried away in declaring the death of the passenger car. They're confident in their ability to sell sedans profitably even as Fiat Chrysler, Ford and General Motors drop low-demand car lines to focus instead on SUVs and pickups. These light trucks account for about 70 per cent of the U.S. market, a figure that may reach as high as 75 per cent before the sedan shunning is complete. "Many people are talking about the demise of the passenger car, but if you just do the basic mathematics, there were over 5 million passenger cars that were sold last year and will be sold this year that's a huge market," Henio Arcangeli Jr., senior vice president of automotive operations for Honda Motor Co.'s U.S. unit, said in an interview. "As other automakers decide to leave, we see this as a great opportunity to grow our market share." There's a distinctly geographic divide to the debate. Companies based in the U.S., which led the shift to trucks and SUVs, are the least reliant on cars. Asian and European manufacturers, who sell in more places where sedans are popular and profitable, are more likely to retain a stable of car models. Other than when recessions put up road blocks, light trucks have grown steadily since accounting for just under half the U.S. auto market in 2000, according to IHS Markit. When gasoline prices surged in 2008, some analysts predicted the popularity of pickups and large SUVs might never regain their former lustre. Instead, only about 20 per cent of sales volume at Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Co. came from cars in 2018, according to Autodata. For Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV, it was slightly less than 10 per cent. Even last year's biggest seller of sedans in the U.S. Toyota Motor Corp. got 63 per cent of its volume from light trucks, according to Autodata. Cars made up 45 per cent of Honda's volume and about half of sales at VW. U.S. automakers' stampede away from sedans has been a boon of sorts for Hyundai Motor Co., said Brian Smith, chief operating officer for Hyundai Motor America. As other companies exited some passenger-car lines, that created a vacuum in segments such as sedan sales to corporate and government fleets. Hyundai has been glad to fill those gaps with its models, Smith said. These are not to be confused with less-profitable sales to rental-car fleets, which all automakers say they eschew when possible, Smith said. "But we are staying in the sedan business we have to." Even so, Smith says Hyundai is at a tipping point, and this year will have enough SUV models in its lineup to edge just ahead of its car sales. Already in December, about 53 per cent of the vehicles Hyundai sold were light trucks. For 2019, he said that number should average about 55 per cent. Volkswagen AG's top-selling U.S. model is the Tiguan SUV, but its second-best seller is the Jetta car, Scott Keogh, chief executive officer of Volkswagen of America, told reporters. And the core car market where VW focuses its lineup is still more than 4 million sedans, he added. "This is still a market we believe in we have to believe in it in a smart way," Keogh said. | https://www.thespec.com/news-story/9130882-is-the-death-of-the-car-exaggerated-/ |
What is the difference between ice cream and gelato? | Please enable Javascript to watch this video LaDonnia Jones, owner of crEATe Donuts says people in Utah love ice cream. In fact, we are in the top ten of ice cream consuming states. But, gelato hasn't typically been as well known in Utah as in other ice cream loving areas. She says every day people ask her, "What is the difference between ice cream and gelato?" Gelato is the Italian version of ice cream, but it has much less air whipped in than ice cream. American ice cream is up to 50 percent air. Gelato is served at a slightly warmer temperature than ice cream, and is made with much less butterfat (or none in the case of sorbet). Gelato also averages 25 to 30 percent fewer calories, 50 to 60 percent less fat and 25 to 30 percent less sugar.... so it's much friendlier to those New Year's diet resolutions. If you are a fan of flavor, a small serving of gelato may satisfy your sweet tooth without wrecking your diet. Gelato won't coat your palate in butterfat so you can more clearly taste the vibrant flavors. Sorbetto, or sorbet, is a dairy-free gelato that is typically fruit-based. crEATe Donuts' gelato is also vegan and gluten-free. Find out more at crEATe Donuts online at createdonut.com or by calling 801-790-CRE8 (2738). | https://fox13now.com/2019/01/17/what-is-the-difference-between-ice-cream-and-gelato/ |
Why should S'pore keep calm if provocations continue? | Singaporeans who insist on keeping calm and carrying on negotiations with Malaysia in respect of its vessels anchored off Tuas must be reminded that this is no ordinary dispute (Keep calm and carry on negotiating, by Dr Yik Keng Yeong; Jan 16). It is an occupation of our territory by a foreign country. It is arguably the most blatant violation of our sovereignty since the commander of the 4th Malaysian Infantry Brigade, still in Singapore shortly after our independence, insisted on escorting founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew to the opening of the first independent Singapore Parliament in December 1965. We did not, as some countries would, repel the Malaysian vessels from our waters. We remained calm and sought negotiation with Malaysia, all the while tolerating the presence of the vessels in our backyard. Even after this prolonged period of occupation, I am not advocating repulsion of the Malaysian vessels. I suggested anchoring our vessels in their waters as a signal to them as well as our other neighbours that negotiations cannot happen in good faith when they continue to occupy our territory. Whether this is a "primal reflexive response" or "mediaeval mindset", I leave to fellow Singaporeans to judge. Some Singaporeans attribute the Malaysian provocations to an attempt to divert attention away from difficult domestic issues. That may or may not be true. Singaporeans must also bear in mind that the manner in which we respond to this dispute is watched not just by the Malaysians. By not differentiating civility from weakness, we risk giving our other neighbours the wrong idea. That would be dangerous indeed. Cheng Shoong Tat | https://www.straitstimes.com/forum/letters-in-print/why-should-spore-keep-calm-if-provocations-continue |
Are Diet Cokes Fruity New Flavors the New Seltzer? | Diet Coke got in on the game last year when they launched four new fruit flavors, but for 2019 theyre trying to lure us away from our beloved seltzer even more cunningly than before. Thats because theyve just released Strawberry Guava and Blueberry Acai Diet Coke, two flavors we havent seen on any seltzer cans. Like seltzer, these flavors dont have any sugar or calories (though they are sweetened artificially), so you can sip away without actually filling up. Unlike seltzer, theyve also got caffeine, something worth considering when youre reaching for an afternoon pick-me-up at the office. Kerri Kopp, group director for Diet Coke, told Today Food that, [W]e learned that younger Americans have an affinity for bold, yet refreshing and great-tasting, flavors in their favorite foods and beverages from hoppy craft beers to spicy sauces, and thats what inspired the array of new Diet Coke flavors. Apparently the brand has also been working on Diet Coke with Fiber and Diet Coke with Coffee, but those arent slated to be released any time soon (and Ill be the first to admit that I dont really see the appeal of a soda thats got bits of fiber floating around in it). Diet Coke Blueberry Acai and Diet Coke Strawberry Guava join last years flavors, which include Twisted Mango, Ginger Lime, Feisty Cherry, and Zesty Blood Orange. It depends on how you feel about drinking sweetened beverages. These new flavors are definitely for those with a sweet tooth, so if thats not you, you might want to skip these two new innovative flavors, but if youre looking for something with a little more personality than sparkling water, they may be right up your alley. | https://www.sheknows.com/food-and-recipes/articles/1989386/diet-coke-acai-strawbery-guava/ |
Which Types of Businesses are Vulnerable to Fraud? | The act of stealing is nothing new. Companies have the perpetual issue of dealing with financial losses as a result of being cheated. Unsavory characters have pushed the boundaries of creativity to either gain unlawfully or wriggle their ways out of having to part with their funds. The online age has only served to exacerbate the problem, but some industries rise above the rest when falling victim to scammers. Lets take a look at who the unending targets are, and why they seem to attract the vultures. Banking The day of thieves stealing cheques out of mailboxes is a thing of the past. Online banking has opened the door for more technical criminals who have capitalized on the digital age. A report showed that in the first half of 2018 bank account holders in the UK were defrauded of over 500 million. Among the scams were people being tricked into making advanced payments for products or services that were bogus. Account holders are also prone to be redirected to false banking pages when attempting to log in to accounts, where they are asked to re-submit details only to be supplying criminals with their private passwords. There are occasions when we rely on the bank to keep us safe, but account holders need to remain suspicious of any request for banking details. As long as people continue to part with these details to unknown fronts, fraud will continue to be an issue in the online banking sector. The Gambling Industry The gambling industrys woes have been well documented in popular culture. Weve all seen movies where casino patrons perfect the art of cheating, although the story often ends badly for the sorry tricksters. Fixing sports matches is also abundant in various countries for sports bettors looking for an easy payday. However, the online gambling industry has now also become a target. Money laundering has become one of the biggest issues facing online casinos today, says David Winter, Head of SEO at PartyCasino. Our site is required to hold money laundering awareness sessions for all employees, no matter which area of the business they perform their duties in. It is our responsibility to detect all suspected cases of money laundering he continued. PartyCasino houses a risk and fraud team dedicated to examining suspected cases and ensure that our operation isnt party to any money laundering. Online casino accounts are perfect ways for criminals to launder money. Money is deposited into the account, the criminal plays a minuscule amount of money through the system, and withdrawals the funds. By doing this, the perpetrator looks like he/she won a considerable sum of money from the unknowing establishment. Retail Retailers will forever have a major problem on their hands, and with consumer protection laws becoming more prevalent, it only opens the industry up to further fraud action. Retail fraud experienced a massive leap in fraud statistics in 2018 according to the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW). In 2018 there were 932 000 cases of retail fraud recorded in the UK compared to 727 000 the previous year. This was a startling 27% rise in one year. Many consumers will buy a product which they damage soon after purchase and return it to the store under the pretense that it was a defected product. Retailers will also offer discounts to various demographics, which means there are those who claim discounts they are ineligible for. Staff also find ways to cash in on their workplaces through dubious methods, such as cash register fraud. Retailers are a massive target, while those with large product offerings will always struggle to identify the source of the fraud. Insurance The figures surrounding the insurance industry and fraud raise eyebrows. The Insurance Fraud Bureau released a report that claims over 300 million per year is being claimed in a crash for cash for cash scams. The Association of British Insurers puts total insurance fraud in the UK at over 1 billion per year, while there is over 2 billion in fraud that is never detected. Many of us are acquainted with someone who has defrauded an insurance company. It is highly common to hear of people adding stolen items to a car break-in that were never in the car. Or items that were removed from a burgled house that never existed. The irony in this situation is that people are inclined to complain about their insurance premiums, but by defrauding the insurance companies they are contributing to price hikes due to the losses these companies bleed through fraud. | https://www.praguepost.com/business/which-types-of-businesses-are-vulnerable-to-fraud |
Could the Shutdown Finally Make Trumps Base Abandon Him? | Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images Its day 27 of the government shutdown, and a new NPR/PBS Newshour/Marist poll suggests that Trumps base is losing faith. Over the last month, Trumps approval rating has dropped to 39 percent overall, a trend driven by losses in demographics where he is typically strong. Forty-two percent of white suburban men say they approve of the presidents performance, down from 51 percent in December. White men without college degrees have always been more likely to support Trump, but the presidents approval rating declined by six points among this group. Even white Evangelicals, typically Trumps most fervent supporters, are beginning to break away from him. Seventy-three percent approved of Trump in December, but 66 percent said the same in January and only 58 percent said they would definitely vote for him again in 2020. In 2016, recall, Trump won 81 percent of the white Evangelical vote. These attitudes may change as primary season moves forward. Trump remains vitriolically anti-immigration, and xenophobia is attractive to his base. Even so, Trump has a lot of ground to recover before he can feel secure about the fate of his reelection campaign. That his numbers dropped so precipitously over the course of one month suggests the shutdown is a contributing factor (though, of course, correlation is not causation). Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion, told NPR that he didnt know if the numbers are temporary tied to the government shutdown or a broader problem the president is having. We do know, however, that little else about the first two years of Trumps presidency has dismayed his base. The separation of migrant children from their parents, his border-wall obsession, revelations from the Mueller investigation it was all fine, even better than fine, to his most dogged supporters. But the president ran on his business prowess. His anti-immigrant prejudice gilded promises of jobs and prosperity (at least, for a deserving few). White Evangelicals, for example, didnt all support Trump because they prioritized ideological control of the U.S. Supreme Court. One 2016 poll from Lifeway Research, a Christian firm, established a demarcation between the views of white Evangelical clergy from those of their parishioners. While both groups backed Trump, clergy were much more likely to say that their votes were motivated by the prospect of conservative Supreme Court nominees. Non-clergy prioritized both the economy and national security over either the Supreme Court and abortion. Unemployment is currently low, but in other respects, the Trump presidency has been economically disastrous for workers. The government shutdown has now cost the average federal worker $5,000 in pay since it began, according to one analysis by the New York Times. Some federal workers and subcontractors are rationing insulin and crowdfunding their mortgages. The U.S. Coast Guard is serving without pay, too. And shutdowns dont affect the federal workforce in isolation. The owners of one Wichita, Kansas, cafe told the HuffPost that many of their customers are federal workers, and the furlough has drastically reduced their clientele. The average Trump voter may disdain big government as an abstract enemy, but its absence bears consequences they may not have anticipated. As serious as the shutdown is, it probably isnt the only factor shrinking Trumps base. Instead, it may be more accurate to view his eroding support as evidence of a snowball effect evidence that not even his most rabid followers can ignore the combined pain of a federal shutdown and a trade war. I voted for him, and hes the one whos doing this, one Trump supporter complained to the Times on January 7. I thought he was going to do good things. Hes not hurting the people he needs to be hurting. Coal jobs have not materialized. Chinas retaliatory tariffs on U.S. agricultural goods have harmed farmers, and the administrations promised farm aid hasnt reached everyone in need. The Des Moines Register reported in November 2018 that dozens of Iowa farmers mostly corn growers received under $25 in tariff assistance. Many soybean farmers have been forced to let crops rot in the fields because of sharp drops in global demand. As Reuters reported last November, the administrations farm aid program compensates farmers for acres harvested rather than acres planted, which prevented some from receiving any assistance. Maybe the shutdown helped convince Trumps most committed followers of a fact many working poor already understood. Trump isnt working for them and he never intended to. | http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/01/trump-approval-rating-with-base-drops-amid-shutdown.html?utm_source=flipboard.com&utm_medium=social_acct&utm_campaign=feed-part |
Is It Time to Stock Up on Hudson Shares? | Following a February 2018 initial public offering, shares of North American airport retailer Hudson (NYSE: HUD) experienced mild appreciation, then succumbed to the general stock market malaise in the back half of the year. The stock finished down roughly 10% in 2018. However, while the overall market environment for equities has stabilized slightly in early 2019, the selling in Hudson shares has accelerated: HUD Chart More HUD data by YCharts. The catalyst behind Hudson's continued price decline is a press release issued on Jan. 14, which contained preliminary fourth-quarter 2018 sales results. Penciled-in numbers revealed 4.5% year-over-year revenue growth to nearly $460 million. Organic revenue (i.e., reported revenue adjusted for currency effects and the effects of acquisitions and dispositions) advanced 4.6% against the prior-year quarter. The fourth-quarter numbers place Hudson's full-year top-line expansion at 6.9% against 2017, to $1.89 billion. Organic revenue growth improved by 7.1% against the prior year. These numbers proved problematic for investors, as growth had already exhibited signs of curtailment in the third quarter. While a quarterly organic top-line improvement of nearly 5% is credible performance for a retailer in the current economic climate, it's below Hudson's long-term growth trajectory. As I discussed in September, Hudson averaged annual organic growth of 9.4% in the eight years before it went public. The company's financial framework going forward also assumes vigorous top-line improvement, as seen in this slide from an investor presentation released earlier this week: Graphic depicting target revenue and earnings growth rates for Hudson Ltd. More Image source: Hudson investor presentation dated Jan. 15, 2019. In order to achieve long-term net income growth in the high teens, Hudson is relying on "high single-digit" annual organic sales expansion. Most investors likely interpret this number to be in the ballpark of 9%, which Hudson has hit yearly for the better part of the last decade, hence the unsavory reaction to a report hinting at more tepid near-term growth. The selling in Hudson stock has probably also intensified because of the ongoing U.S. government shutdown. The impasse in Congress has created the longest shutdown in U.S. history, and increasingly long security-screening lines in U.S. airports due to reduced Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) personnel are a visible manifestation of the potentially chilling effect on commerce. | https://news.yahoo.com/time-stock-hudson-shares-204500761.html |
Is there a way forward from Brexit? | Brexit is hard to take your eyes off, and not just in a slo-mo train wreck way. The issues are difficult, and the more you try to position yourself, I find, the spikier they get like sliding puzzles that taunt you after every clever move you make. Or its like a game between two teams neither of which is yours; so you can recline and enjoy the spectacle with no direct stake. Ive liked watching the U.K. House of Commons debate. Everyone tries to be eloquent and witty, and some succeed. A combination of video grabs from footage broadcast by the U.K. Parliament's Parliamentary Recording Unit (PRU) shows Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow speaking in the House of Commons regarding the selection for a vote of an ammendment to the Brexit withdrawl bill in London last week. ( AFP/GETTY IMAGES ) Their speaker, John Bercow, is clearly having the best time of his life. At the grimmest, tensest moments, theyre still expected to banter. They sit on upholstered benches (ah, so thats where backbenchers comes from), cheek to cheek as it were, without desks or space to hold their papers and laptops. It echoes a distant, largely oral era when Parliament began. Its a form of Elizabethan theatre. But I digress, for a reason: Im still unsure where I stand on Brexit. That was so in 2016 during the leave/remain referendum. The EU had become a torture device for imposing neo-liberalism and austerity, especially on little guys like Greece, so it has been agreeable seeing smug peckers like Macron discomfited. Article Continued Below But the EU wasnt always that way; it began with a noble desire to avoid further carnage between European nations. And Ive never known why leftists like Jeremy Corbyn think theyd be the only ones to capitalize on getting out, when the movement to leave was actually led by reactionary buffoons like Boris Johnson and Jacob Rees-Mogg. I feel comparably conflicted over whether they should now hold a second referendum or peoples vote, as if the first one involved aliens. PM Theresa May says it would betray democracy. I sympathize. Its also the only area where she and Corbyn may converge. So one side or the other is going to feel stiffed democratically. Plus, theres been little movement in the polls, though passions have intensified all around. How nice it would be to find some ground to move forward on distinct from whos right and wrong. I think this was the stunning achievement of Financial Times columnist Simon Kuper this week. He started from somewhere else. He probably belongs to the right-thinking folk who want to remain in the EU so he posited a useful distinction re the Leave side: between equality leavers like Corbyn who are fixed on finding space to break free of neo-liberalism, and Little England leavers, who are nostalgic for empire and the days when everyone was white. This parallels Trump voters in the U.S. rust belt, whod seen their worlds shattered by free trade, versus racist Trump voters who want to restore Confederate dollars. Then Kuper turned to Nelson Mandela for inspiration. Mandela hated apartheid, spent decades in prison for it, and his mission was to destroy it. But he scrupulously treated his enemies with respect because they were human. He let them know he knew they had minds. They werent just stupid racists, with the emphasis on stupid. In other words, faced with irresoluble political conflict, find some way that allows winners and losers to coexist, no matter who wins. Let me gloss Kuper by saying that Mandela, as Trevor Noah likes to note (and mimic) prefaced his strongest statements with, Ah buh-leev, which is also a form of respect since it acknowledges that however fiercely you hold your view, you know its yours, could be wrong, and others have theirs. Article Continued Below Kupers column amounts to a tipsheet on how to do politics in a populist era. I should add that in his real life Kuper is basically a sports journalist, so he doesnt have to be obnoxiously authoritative as he opinionates on Brexit. It gives him room to meander around and manoeuvre onto previously unoccupied terrains. Good luck to him, hes my new favourite Brit journo. Rick Salutin is a freelance columnist and commentator for the Star about all things current affairs and politics. He is based in Toronto. Reach him on email: [email protected] | https://www.thestar.com/opinion/star-columnists/2019/01/17/is-there-a-way-forward-from-brexit.html |
Does What We Believe Save Us? | There is something attractive about a list of dos and donts. Lists have durability because they simplify, provide certainty and reassurance, and give us something to measure ourselves and others with. The Judeo-Christians sacred books contain some memorable lists, including the 613 laws in the Torah, the Ten Commandments, and Jesus summation of the goal of all laws love of God and neighbor. Not to be excluded, our own faith tradition has the 28 Fundamental Beliefs. We sense a yearning for a list in the earnest plea by Pauls jailer in Thyatira. His question was simple and direct: What shall I do to be saved? (Acts 16:4). The question was in response to Paul restraining the suicidal mans hand. Awakened by an earthquake and presuming a breakout, their jailer was ready to take his own life. Paul and his band of prisoners assured him that they had no intentions of escaping. Recognizing that Paul and Silas were Gods emissaries, the warden fell at their feet and raised the important question about salvation. Paul and Silas harmonized answer was equally simple: Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. Unfortunately, their imprecise response did not explain what it meant to believe. This has been the unfortunate undercurrent for much splintering within Christianity, as different denominations, trying to pin down the essentials of salvation, have generated countless lists. Much to our loss, the jailer failed to ask Paul these clarifying follow-up questions. But we should ask such questions to test our understanding of what and why we believe. Basically, a belief in anything presupposes our acceptance that a proposition is true. Sometimes the idea is empirically provable, like the belief that the dead do not act purposefully. In that case, any living, breathing person cannot pass for dead. But we cant always prove the truthfulness of a belief in this way. Rene Descartes pointed to his conscious mind as proof of his existence. His clever dictum, Cogito, ergo sum (I think, therefore I am) is reassuring when faced with doubts of reality, not only of our individual being, but of existence as we know it. If we recognize our thoughts, Descartes contends, we know we exist. But Descartes formulation raises its own questions. I recognize that questions equating the mind to being itself risks a precarious turn, but we should persist since salvation itself is tied to thinking. In religious discourse, where important concepts existence, reality, God, death, salvation etc. are stable, the mind is by necessity the vehicle through which these belief systems are built and conveyed. When we proselytize, the built-in assumption is that our hearers would weigh our presentations and make conscious decisions for or against Jesus after thinking through the ideas presented. Ideas are important and so are our capacities to grasp them. This, in part, is why we should periodically reconsider our understandings. Once we designate concepts as fundamental, we seem to lock them in and rarely reappraise them. We may add beliefs but seldom retract or remove any from the list. This leads to a hardening process ending in inerrancy, with beliefs that must be defended at all cost. Then dissenting members must simply walk away. By insisting on infallible truths, weve sometimes been led to hold on to ideas that were founded in and for a different era. Because we hold them to be eternal, we dont change conceptions, even if outdated. Consequently, the denominational hemorrhage of those who question continues unabated. I contend that our values dont arise from ideas only, they arise from life, from experience. And these experiences, often influenced by formal or informal education, or by our proximity to other communities of believers, provide the perspective to sort through conflicting ideas. And as our needs change, so too do our ideas and values. We go from believing, in one generation, that other humans could be bought and sold and used and abused by their owners, to accepting, in another generation, the improbable proposition that all humans are equal. The truths of religion are not unlike the truths of science in that both serve human needs. Therefore we should hold truths in these spheres with cautious embrace until we find something that works better, in the sphere of science, or attain better insight, in the religious domain. In both science and religion the new better often uses previous knowledge as a stepping stone. So Jesus would say of the law that he came not to abolishbut to fulfil it. Sometimes the new truth completely overturns an established one: You have heard it saidbut I say unto you. At other times, it is an insight whose time for implementation has come: I have much to tell you, but. It follows then that even when we make a commitment or assent to a given set of truths, we should do so knowing that such affirmations are tentative. Regardless of how fundamental we consider our truths today, the experiences we encounter tomorrow could render them obsolete or even scandalous. Change comes because we learn new things about settled positions which then necessitate correction. For centuries, Newton and Newtonian physics held sway, that is until Einstein. And the church taught that the earth was the center of the universe until Copernicus showed it otherwise. We read accounts in the Bible that seem to affirm behavior currently universally eschewed. We have believed in the past that some humans are not good enough to participate in civil society and we acted on that belief by disenfranchising them. Historically, women and minorities everywhere have been discriminated against in this way. There are still a few Christian churches in this twenty-first century who teach that womanhood is not compatible with unconstrained service in gospel ministry. Only in the context of a postulated God who alone holds true positions. All human truths and understandings are imperfect because, as Paul reminds us: we see through a glass, dimly. I share Kierkegaards view that ultimately the truth that matters is subjective. Everyone should embrace their current truths in passionate inwardness as long as future truths and insights are not walled off. Therefore, attempts to conserve in perpetuity, is an exercise in futility. We can only manage what experience throws at us. The limits of our management successes have usually depended on our willingness to let go of what no longer applies. It is in this sense that E.G. White is right: The truth of God is progressive. Generally, humans, over time and in all environments, have adopted and adapted models of what works and points us forward. And our ideas have generally tracked a progressive course and expanded the ideal of liberty. We have not always succeeded in eradicating many avoidable social ills e.g., misogyny, xenophobia, discrimination because often opposition justifies itself on grounds of conservation. Here is where nature, in a micro-evolutionary sense, is instructive and shows us that change is necessary to survival. We recently learned of adaptive changes observed in elephants in Mozambique and South Africa. Under pressure from poachers who indiscriminately kill these majestic behemoths just for their comparatively insignificant tusks, females in Southern African elephant communities are now evolving tusklessness. A truly heartwarming development. In a charming and uplifting way it recalls a time when our leaders changed positions on a cardinal doctrine because we gained new insight. Consequently there will always be a before-and-after 1888 tipping point in Adventism. This was the year we unambiguously became Christians. In 1888 our understanding of the meaning of law in Galatians 3:24 KJV, Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith, underwent a sea change. Those were the innocent days when church publications were not constrained by an official line and published different, and sometimes opposing, views on the same subject, even in the same magazine. Two years earlier A.O. Johnson published his article The Two Laws, in the Review and Herald, arguing that the law identified as schoolmaster in Galatians is the ceremonial and not the moral law. This publication prompted E.J. Waggoner, editor of the Signs of the Times, to write a nine-article series arguing that the schoolmaster reference was equally applicable to the Ten Commandments. At some point the debate began to expose a serious rift within the church community and Mrs. White, who was living in Europe at the time, became concerned enough to write a gentle rebuke to the combatants that essentially called for a cease-fire. The excitement of the debate notwithstanding, our pre-1888 position aligned with Johnsons in that we believed it was the ceremonial law, not the moral, that was the schoolmaster, and had been nailed to the cross. After A.T. Jones and E.J. Waggoners Righteousness by Faith presentations at the Minneapolis General Conference session, the church would shift and include the moral law in the schoolmaster role. Ellen White, who was conflicted and indecisive on the subject during the presentations, would be more categorical eight years later: In this scripture [Gal 3:24] the Holy Spirit through the apostle is speaking especially of the moral law. The law reveals sin to us and causes us to feel our need of Christ and to flee to him for pardon and peace. (Selected Messages, vol 1, p. 234) For the first twenty-five years as an organized church, we believed that we could be saved if we obeyed the moral laws perfectly. In 1888 we came to a different and liberating understanding. But the ensuing 130 years have not completely cured us of our legalistic tendencies. Last Generation Theology demonstrates our continuing flirtation with individual perfectibility. We also have in our midst Headship theologians who insist on taking the church back to Old Testament patriarchalism. They take isolated passages in scripture and E.G. White to argue that women have proscribed roles that revolve mainly around motherhood. Our youth shake their heads and walk out the church doors as soon as possible because these beliefs are inconsistent with their life experiences. The importance of the 1888 law debate is what it teaches us: that no belief is so settled it cannot be seen in another light. Time and tradition are no substitutes for new experiences and insights which require re-evaluation of our beliefs. This should be a survival issue for the church. We cannot continue to exchange the mass exodus of our youth from the church in favor of rigid right beliefs. Matthew Quartey is a transplanted Ghanaian who now lives in and calls the Adventist ghetto of Berrien Springs, Michigan, home. Previous Spectrum columns by Matthew Quartey can be found at: http://spectrummagazine.org/author/matthew-quartey. Image Credit: Unsplash.com We invite you to join our community through conversation by commenting below. We ask that you engage in courteous and respectful discourse. You can view our full commenting policy by clicking here. | https://spectrummagazine.org/views/2019/does-what-we-believe-save-us |
Is my privacy protected with Evansville's new data exchange partnership? | Time EVANSVILLE, Ind. The City of Evansville announced Monday a free data exchange partnership with popular social navigation app company, Waze. Evansville, along with several other cities, is joining Waze's Connected Citizen Program. Here's how the program works: The city will provide Waze real-time road and street closure data. Waze publishes the city's data under the alias EvansvilleIN alongside user-generated reports and incidents on their app. Waze, in turn, will provide the government with data generated from their app users, according to the Waze website. The company said they will not share user account aliases, individual driving histories and other non-public user information with the city. Although if you're interested, you should read their privacy policy to see what type of data they collect from their users. Waze said the goals of the program are to provide Evansville government officials with data to improve road conditions and Waze app users with the best real-time, location-based information on what's happening on the streets of Evansville. More from C&P: Read or Share this story: https://www.courierpress.com/story/news/2019/01/17/my-privacy-protected-evansvilles-new-data-exchange-partnership/2580101002/ | https://www.courierpress.com/story/news/2019/01/17/my-privacy-protected-evansvilles-new-data-exchange-partnership/2580101002/ |
How Much Trade Value Does Derrick Brassard Have Left? | After losing Nick Bonino to free agency during the 2017 offseason, the Pittsburgh Penguins knew that the lack of a quality third-line center would be a glaring fault for the 2017-18 campaign. Trade rumors swirled for most of the season before the team acquired Derrick Brassard from the Ottawa Senators just days before the trade deadline. At the time, it was thought to be a great trade for Pittsburgh, a team that had hopes for a third consecutive Stanley Cup. Brassard was supposed to provide a boost in secondary scoring, but instead dealt with injuries down the stretch and failed to provide the team with much support. Since joining the Penguins, Brassard has scored a total of 11 goals and 22 points in 51 regular season games. That .43 points-per-game pace is the worst hes recorded with any of the four NHL clubs hes played for during his career. Part of that could be due to his severe drop in ice time. Hes averaged just over 15 minutes of ice time in Pittsburgh opposed to his 17:47 during a season and a half with Senators. At that time, Brassard was a strong top-nine forward with another season left on his contract. Now the 31-year-old is on an expiring deal with an offensive game thats fallen off in recent seasons. In 37 games this season, hes scored just 12 even strength points. During last seasons playoff run, he scored a goal and four points in 12 games and averaged a meager 13:29 of ice time. For what its worth, he was coming off a lower-body injury at that point and likely was not back to 100 percent. However, its not all bad, as some of Brassards advanced statistics show that he still has the potential to be an impact player. Hes starting in the offensive zone just 41.1 percent of the time this season. Thats his lowest offensive-zone start rate and first time under 50 percent since the 2012-13 campaign. His relative Corsi is minus-seven, and while thats not a great number, it doesnt help that hes now confined to a bottom-six role on a team with a very strong top-six. For reference, Bryan Rust, a common linemate of Sidney Crosby, has a 2.1 relative Corsi. Rust is far from an elite player, but earning a spot on Crosbys wing has its benefits. As Freidman mentioned, several teams, including the Winnipeg Jets and San Jose Sharks, could be interested in Brassards services. A few things make this trade difficult. First, he is on a $5 million expiring contract that includes a partial no-trade clause with which he can submit a list of eight teams he can block a trade to. On top of that, the Penguins wont be interested in picks and prospects in exchange for their third-line center. GM Jim Rutherford knows that his teams contention window wont last forever and hell be looking for immediate NHL help. Pittsburgh wasnt satisfied with Riley Sheahan as the teams third-line center last season and hes done nothing to earn that job this season either. Because of that, the Penguins main target on the market would be a direct replacement for Brassard to center the third line. This would make it hard for a team like the Edmonton Oilers to strike a deal here. While theyre a team that is dying for some help at forward, they dont have much to send in return that would intrigue Pittsburgh. Meanwhile, Winnipeg has Bryan Little and San Jose has Tomas Hertl, two options that Pittsburgh would certainly be interested in. However, both of those forwards have several years left under contract on teams that expect to continue competing in the near future. Needless to say, a fair trade involving Brassard isnt going to happen overnight. Finding the perfect trading partner will be tough, but thats where the creativity of Rutherford comes into play. Approaching this seasons deadline, Rutherford has plenty of pieces to shop around with, including Brassard, Tristan Jarry, a defenseman such as Jamie Oleksiak and draft picks. After the team signed Casey DeSmith to a three-year extension, there doesnt seem to be room for Jarry, and he might be the key to a blockbuster deal in a package with Brassard. Jarry still has another season left on his current deal, but that contract changes from a two-way to a one-way next season. Pittsburghs goaltender situation appears to be locked in with DeSmith and Matt Murray, making Jarry an expendable, yet valuable, trade chip. Rutherford had to involve a third team, the Vegas Golden Knights, to acquire Brassard last season and it wouldnt be a surprise to see something similar to land a high-quality forward before this seasons deadline. It seems to be a near-guarantee that Brassard will be wearing a different sweater by the end of February, and fortunately for him, hell likely find a new home on another NHL contender. | https://thehockeywriters.com/how-much-trade-value-does-derrick-brassard-have-left/ |
How Strong Is The Islamic State In Syria? | Enlarge this image toggle caption Delil Souleiman /AFP/Getty Images Delil Souleiman /AFP/Getty Images The Islamic State has jumped back into the headlines by claiming responsibility for a suicide bombing that killed four Americans and more than a dozen civilians at a restaurant in northern Syria. The attack in the city of Manbij on Wednesday came less than a month after President Trump declared ISIS had been defeated and that it was time to bring U.S. troops home from Syria. Many military analysts, and even fellow Republicans, have pushed back against the president's claim that ISIS is a spent force. "I strongly urge the president to forcefully respond [to Wednesday's bombing] and ensure we do not withdraw our troops until ISIS is completely destroyed," said Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. The attack raised a host of questions about the future of ISIS, the U.S. withdrawal and the wider war in Syria. ISIS has lost the caliphate, or Islamic State, and almost all the territory it controlled in Syria (and Iraq) at its peak in 2014. However, many fighters are still believed to be in Syria; they've just gone underground. Many are citizens of Syria and have nowhere else to go. In addition, relatively few foreign ISIS fighters have tried to return to their home countries elsewhere in the Middle East or in the West. The Pentagon and others have estimated ISIS may still have 20,000 to 30,000 members in Syria and Iraq combined. For these reasons, many analysts believe ISIS retains the potential to mount a comeback, particularly as a guerrilla force waging small-scale attacks. The president has often boasted that he would hit hard at ISIS, and the U.S. military did step up the bombing campaign he inherited from President Barack Obama. But Trump has also stressed repeatedly that he doesn't want the U.S. to be the world's policeman and that he intends to bring home U.S. troops. The U.S. force in Syria (around 2,000) is smaller than the ones in Iraq (about 5,000) and Afghanistan (about 14,000). The president has not clearly articulated why he wants to pull out of Syria at a time when most of his own advisers appear to favor a more gradual approach. Trump's Dec. 19 announcement on Syria caught nearly everyone by surprise, and caused allies and rivals alike to scramble to figure out how quickly a withdrawal will happen and what it means for those still fighting in Syria. Wednesday's attack showed ISIS could still strike in a place the U.S. and its Kurdish partners felt was under control. The U.S. and the Kurds drove ISIS out of the city in 2016, and its been seen as a relative success since then. Manbij is small, with about 100,000 residents, but has had outsize importance because of its location. Turkey keeps a close eye on the city, which is just 20 miles south of its border. The Syrian government army and its allies are also nearby, and are always looking to reclaim territory the government held before the war erupted. Many analysts point to three things. First, a military defeat that would drive ISIS from its last remaining pockets of territory in Syria's far east. U.S. commanders say they've been making progress but will likely need a couple more months. Second, Syria needs a political settlement that ends the wider war and resolves questions about who will govern the country. The Kurds now hold the former ISIS stronghold in the northeast, but Syrian President Bashar Assad wants it back. At present, there's no prospect for an end to the war. The third big challenge is to effectively end the appeal of ISIS's extremist ideology so that it can no longer keep attracting recruits and resources. The circumstances aren't identical, but there are similarities. Obama removed U.S. forces from neighboring Iraq at the end of 2011, a time when the Iraqi government seemed to have a relatively firm control on the country. But ISIS emerged a couple years later, rapidly seizing swathes of northeastern Syria and northern Iraq. With reluctance, Obama launched the U.S. bombing campaign against ISIS in 2014. The concern is that the U.S. is again pulling out before a radical group has been fully defeated, and that ISIS could regroup. "I saw this in Iraq. And I'm now seeing it in Syria," said Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. | https://www.npr.org/2019/01/17/686207495/how-strong-is-the-islamic-state-in-syria?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=storiesfromnpr |
What are the rules for older drivers? | The crash occurred near to the Sandringham Estate on Thursday. Credit: Eastern Daily Press The Duke of Edinburgh's car crash at the age of 97 has prompted debate around the safe age of drivers. When motorists reach the age of 70 in Britain they are required to renew their licence, and must do so every three years thereafter. A licence can be renewed so long as you meet the minimum eyesight requirement and are not prevented from driving for any reason. The Duke drove the Obamas to Windsor Castle in 2016. Credit: PA The Duke, 97, is no stranger to the driving seat, and has previously been seen with very famous passengers in a Range Rover. Philip showed the former US President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle the personal touch when he drove them and the Queen to Windsor Castle after the Marine One presidential helicopter had landed close to the monarch's Berkshire home during their visit to the UK in April 2016. The gesture was akin to picking up guests from the airport, although the journey only lasted a few minutes. Mr Obama looked delighted when he discovered Philip would be driving them. As the Queen and Mrs Obama sat on the rear seats, the Duke looked composed at the wheel of the Range Rover as it made its way around the castle's quadrangle and stopped outside the sovereign's entrance. The AA said car crashes involving older drivers can sometimes lead to calls for tighter rules or even bans. But Edmund King, AA president, said GP and family advice is more significant than a person's age when it comes to how long someone should keep driving. Mr King said: "If driving restrictions based on age and safety were introduced we would be more likely to restrict young drivers rather than older drivers. The Duke of Edinburgh driving from Sandringham Parish Church in 2002. Credit: PA "Young, predominantly male, drivers are much more likely to crash within six months of passing their test than older drivers within six months of hanging up their keys. "Older drivers often self restrict their driving by not driving at night and only driving on familiar roads. "The decision to hang up your keys is a tough one but should be based on personal advice from your GP and family rather than being based on some arbitrary age. "We all age differently and the car is an essential lifeline for many elderly people." As is force policy, officers from Norfolk Police carried out roadside breath tests on the drivers of both vehicles, which proved negative. They are now investigating the circumstances. AgeUK said such a decision can be difficult but that stopping driving does not have to mean the end of independence or mobility. The charity said on its website: "If you've decided to stop driving, or been advised to by the DVLA, there are many ways you can get around and there may be help with transport costs. "You may feel worried about the costs of giving up driving and having to pay for public transport, but if you add up the amount you spend on car tax, insurance, fuel and maintenance you may find that using alternatives work out to be less expensive than running a car. "Most people find adjusting to life without a car is difficult at first. If you're finding life without a car tough and causing you to feel down, talk to a family member, friend or your GP." | https://www.itv.com/news/2019-01-17/what-are-the-rules-for-older-drivers/ |
Will Seehofer Ausreisepflichtige im Gefngnis unterbringen? | Bundesinnenminister Horst Seehofer (CSU) will ausreisepflichtige Auslnder und Strafgefangene offensichtlich gemeinsam in denselben Haftanstalten einsperren. Nach Berichten in den Zeitungen des Redaktionsnetzwerks Deutschland begrndet Seehofer das mit einem Mangel von sogenannten Abschiebungshaftpltzen. Damit wrde das Gesetz auer Kraft gesetzt, dass Abschiebungs- und Strafgefangene getrennt untergebracht werden mssen. "Bessere Durchsetzung der Ausreisepflicht" Das Vorhaben Seehofers ist dem Bericht zufolge ein Teil der Vorbereitungen fr ein "Gesetz zur besseren Durchsetzung der Ausreisepflicht". Das Innenressort wolle "materielle und formale Voraussetzungen fr Sicherheitshaft" absenken, hie es dazu weiter. Darber hinaus wolle das Ministerium prfen lassen, ob auf den Richtervorbehalt bei Ausreisegewahrsam verzichtet werden kann. Kritik von SPD, FDP und Grne Derzeit werden die Plne innerhalb der Regierung aber noch diskutiert. Kritik kommt bereits vom Koalitionspartner SPD. Innenexperte Lischka sprach sich gegenber dem Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland dafr aus, mehr Haftpltze fr Ausreisepflichtige zu schaffen. Er habe zwar "Verstndnis fr die Bemhungen des Bundesinnenministers", sagte Lischka, glaube aber, "dass wir erfolgreicher sind, wenn wir die bestehenden Vollzugsprobleme analysieren und beheben, anstatt schon wieder neue Regelungen zu schaffen. Die Grnen warfen Seehofer eine ,,Demontage des Rechtsstaats" vor. Das neue Vorhaben des Ministers widerspreche eindeutig der Rechtsprechung des Europischen Gerichtshofes, sagte die Grnen-Migrationsexpertin Filiz Polat. "Abschiebungshftlinge drfen nicht mit Strafgefangenen zusammen inhaftiert werden". hnlich uerte sich die FDP. | https://www.br.de/nachrichten/deutschland-welt/will-seehofer-ausreisepflichtige-im-gefaengnis-unterbringen,RFRlE0g |
Is AI better than punters at bluffing in gambling? | By By Tim Sandle 1 hour ago in Sports Gambling has partly made a digital shift, away from dimly-lit casinos to the brighter online world, opening up opportunities for more people to lose their money (and a few to win). What is certain is that on an even-base artificial intelligence is most likely to beat a human at many cerebral pursuits. For example, in 2017 Digital Journal reported how Google's DeepMind AlphaGo artificial intelligence platform Machines too are vulnerable. Another invention from Google - AlphaZero - defeated what was said to be the world's best chess program, Stockfish 8, after studying the complexities of chess for just four hours. Commenting on the ingenuity of machine intelligence, From the alternative standpoint artificial intelligence helping gamblers Auckland University of Technology and the Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology researchers showed how machine learning It follows that as gaming and gambling become digital activities so the use by gamblers of modern computing techniques, like artificial intelligence and machine learning, follows. While gaming companies will wish to use such technologies to minimize their losses and to maximize their profitability, gamblers will also be keen to assess how such technologies can help them to increase their chances of beating the house and coming away winning.What is certain is that on an even-base artificial intelligence is most likely to beat a human at many cerebral pursuits. For example, in 2017 Digital Journal reported how Google's DeepMind AlphaGo artificial intelligence platform twice defeated the world's number one Go player Ke Jie.Machines too are vulnerable. Another invention from Google - AlphaZero - defeated what was said to be the world's best chess program, Stockfish 8, after studying the complexities of chess for just four hours. According to Engadget advanced forms of artificial intelligence, such as Libratus system from Carnegie Mellon University, are able to match and beat human gamblers.Commenting on the ingenuity of machine intelligence, Libratus co-developer Noam Brown said : "People think that bluffing is very human -- it turns out that's not true. A computer can learn from experience that if it has a weak hand and it bluffs, it can make more money. "From the alternative standpoint artificial intelligence helping gamblers Auckland University of Technology and the Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology researchers showed how machine learning applied to sport result prediction is capable of estimating the outcome of sports with a high degree of success. More about Gambling, bluffing, punter, Odds, Artificial intelligence More news from Gambling bluffing punter Odds Artificial intellige... | http://www.digitaljournal.com/sports/is-ai-better-than-punters-at-bluffing-in-gambling/article/541162 |
Who wanted Mary Ann Castro dead? | This is the question that the police in Cebu City are now scrambling to find answer to in the wake of her brutal death in the hands of a lone assailant on Thursday night. Chief Inspecor Eduard Sanchez, the chief of Station 2 (Fuente Police) of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO), said they were looking at personal grudge and her work as prosecutor as possible motives behind Castros killing, Then there was also the matter of her involvement with a person linked to the illegal drugs trade, as well as the family conflict she was embroiled in, Sanchez added. Atong tan-awon iyang trabaho as a piskal, unya sa iyang background ug unsa ba, Sanchez said. Based on witnesses account, Castro just came from the Ayala Center area and was heading uptown driving a yellow Nissan Juke along Escario Street of Barangay Camputhaw when a person on board a motorcycle come from behind and pumped bullets on the drivers side of her vehicle. The incident happened at around 9:55 p.m., January 17, 2019, when the road was still busy with numerous other vehicles. Castro reportedly managed to drive for about a hundred meters before her vehicle swerved to the right, went up the sidewalk and bumped into the galvanized roofing materials that were used to fence a property in the area before it came to a stop, with its headlights on. Henry Chappa, a security guard in an establishment across the crime scene, said the incident happened just as motorists and pedestrians were distracted by an fireworks display going on nearby. He said he was watching the fireworks display when he heard rapid bursts of gunfire. Mga lima gyud guro to ka buto (There were five gunshots), Chappa revealed. After the gunshots, he said he saw the vehicle driven by Castro passed in front of him. Chappa said he then saw a motorist driving another motorcycle yelling to other motorists to clear the road because the driver of the Nissan Juke had been shot. Nakabangga pa gani na siya og revo nga sakyanan. Pero pagkahibawo sa driver nga gipusil ang driver, nilahos ra pod sila ug padagan nalang, the security guard added. (She even bumped against a Revo car. But when the driver [of the Revo] realized that the driver [of the Nissan Juke] had been shot, he/she drove on instead.) Sometime around 11 p .m., while personnel from CCPOs Scene of the Crime Operatives (Soco) were processing the crime scene, Castros relatives started arriving in the area. But her relatives, who reportedly included her adult son, all declined to speak to reporters gathered there. By around midnight, Castros body, covered in a white sheet of cloth, was transferred to a funeral companys vehicle and was brought to the Cebu Rolling Hills Memorial Chapels in Mandaue City. Castro, a winsome and fiesty prosecutor, was reportedly assigned in Masbate province at the time of her death. Before that, she had been embroiled in a number of controversies while a prosecutor of Cebu City and later of Talisay City, also in Cebu. She had been preventively suspended three times, the last of which was in January 2018, a 90-day suspension meted by the Department of Justice, after she was involved in a legal battle with her then estranged husband Greco Sanchez (no relations to the police officer) and the latters sister, former Cebu Provincial Board Member Grecilda Gigi Sanchez-Zaballero, the scions of the late Cebu Vice Governor Gregorio Sanchez. During this time, Castro was legally battling with the Sanchez siblings over whether or not her Muslim marriage to Greco was valid. Read more Mary Ann Castro suspended anew Read more No show for Castro in adverse claims case Read more Prosecutor recommends dismissal of Castros concubinage rap vs Greco Earlier in 2016, she was suspended for six months by the Supreme Court forfiled forum shopping when she filed two separate petitions for the annulment of first marriage to Rocky Rommel Roa in two different courts. Read more SC metes 6-month suspension from practice of law on Castro She also got entangled with the Cebu police who sued her and whom she countersued after she was accused of storming a police headquarters where the live-in partner of Greco has surrendered following the issuance of an arrest warrant against her in connection with a case filed against her by Castro. Read more Castro, six others plead not guilty Read more Ombudsman orders 7 cops to answer Castros complaint Castro was likewise linked to illegal drugs and rumored to had been in relationship before with the late SPO1 Adonis Dumpit who died in an encounter with the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in Tagbilaran City in Bohol. /elb | https://cebudailynews.inquirer.net/212810/who-wanted-mary-ann-castro-dead |
Could quick-spreading weed cause flooding in Croston? | The spread of a rapidly-growing plant in a Lancashire village could increase the risk of flooding and cause damage to historic buildings, councillors have warned. Japanese knotweed has taken root in various parts of Croston - including alongside the retaining walls of the River Yarrow, which burst its banks just over three years ago. A meeting of Chorley Councils liaison committee heard that if the rapacious plant weakened the rivers retaining walls, it would make the Boxing Day floods of 2015 look like a tea party. We owe to it our residents to do something and we should take a lead on it, Cllr Alan Whittaker told a meeting of Chorley Councils liaison committee. He was speaking after Croston Parish Council presented a detailed plan which it had drawn up to tackle the problem. The strategy involves recruiting volunteers, first to map the areas where knotweed can be found and then to treat it - but that process requires specialist training. Chemical injections directly into the stem of the plant are thought to be the most effective way to kill it, although that can still take up to four years. However, the cutting or digging up of knotweed can increase its spread by distributing parts of the plant which can grow elsewhere. Croston parish councillor Peter Fenemore appealed for help from the overarching councils at borough and county level to assist in clearing it from public areas in the village. He added that co-operation from landowners would also be required. There is real potential for damaging the infrastructure, Cllr Fenemore said. Knotweed cannot grow through modern concrete, but it can penetrate tarmac and masonry. The foundations of many buildings in Croston are stones stuck together with clay - and knotweed is present quite close to them. One councillor also said that local authority staff needed better training to be able to identify the plant. It took me three months to get an area of growth acknowledged as being knotweed, Astley parish councillor, Laura Lennox, told the meeting. In the end, I told them that if it was found not to be knotweed, Id eat it. Chorley Councils deputy chief executive, Chris Sinnott, pledged to contact other borough councils to discuss the possibility of developing a strategy to weed out the plant across Central Lancashire. Japanese knotweed is a perennial plant whose roots penetrate deeply into the ground. It has heart or shovel-shaped leaves, crimson pink buds in spring and a creamy white flower in late summer - but it can easily be confused with other plants. The weed can grow up to seven feet tall during the summer and dies back in winter. However, it is notoriously difficult to remove and spreads easily, which is why it is classed as controlled waste and has to be disposed off at licensed landfill sites - never in green waste or general household rubbish. Chemical controls can kill the plant and there are companies which specialise in knotweed removal. Cutting or strimming should be avoided, because the smallest fragments of the plant can take root elsewhere, worsening the problem. Whilst it is not illegal to have knotweed in your own garden, householders have a responsibility to control it so that it does not have a "detrimental impact" on a wider area. Anybody selling their home has to declare to a purchaser whether Japanese knotweed is present. Source: Royal Horticultural Society | https://www.chorley-guardian.co.uk/news/could-quick-spreading-weed-cause-flooding-in-croston-1-9543891 |
Could 99.7% of Android devices be leaking personal data? | Android phones could be offering up usernames and passwords to hackers, allowing sensitive data to be siphoned off. Researchers from the Institute of Media Informatics at Ulm University have discovered that Android devices could offer up user's Google Calendar, Contacts and Picasa information. The research found that devices using Android 2.3.3 and older using ClientLogin (which is used to authenticate apps from a remote destination) could potentially be hacked if using a non-secure connection, such as open Wi-Fi hotspot. This means up to 99.7% of devices could be open to the exploit, which works by sending a request for an authentication token (authToken) from the Google service with a user name and password over a secure connection, and the received item is then valid for 14 days. Exploit This means anyone with the correct equipment could sniff it out and use it on the same application to find your details, and even head in and modify all items from your Contacts, Calendar or Picasa. Google has patched the problem in Android 2.3.4 for Contacts and Calendar, but not Picasa yet, according to the research. Android 3.0+ devices appear to be unaffected. Bastian Knings, Jens Nickels, andFlorian Schaub from the University of Ulm, write in the research: "The implications of this vulnerability reach from disclosure to loss of personal information for the Calendar data. "For Contact information, private information of others is also affected, potentially including phone numbers, home addresses, and email addresses. Beyond the mere stealing of such information, an adversary could perform subtle changes without the user noticing. Adverse action "For example, an adversary could change the stored email address of the victim's boss or business partners hoping to receive sensitive or confidential material pertaining to their business." The research suggests that if you can't upgrade to Android 2.3.4 the best thing to do is avoid open Wi-Fi networks altogether, although this is pretty sage advice for the most part anyway for anyone using wireless data. TechRadar has contacted Google to see if it's aware of the issue and whether legacy devices will be receiving a patch in the future, although the research team has already spoken to the Android Security Team and it has confirmed it is looking into the problem Via The Register | https://www.techradar.com/uk/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/could-99-7-of-android-devices-be-leaking-personal-data-956572 |
What to Expect from Bournemouth in the Second Half of the Season? | The first half of the English Premier League is already behind us. Obvious favorites and outsiders are obvious. One of the pleasant surprises is Bournemouths performance that is taking a line in the middle of the league table. The teams budget is one of the modest in the English Premier League but this isnt an obstacle to achieving the goals set. The attacking line of the team looks very good in comparison with other mediocre teams and outsiders of the EPL. In Bournemouth, the players are driven out, which lets the team feel comfortable. At the beginning of 2019, the club became stronger and signed two players from Liverpool, Clyne and Solanke. The latter became one of the most expensive transfers in the teams history. In the second half of the season, Bournemouth FC must feel more confident. The team has already gone away from the failure zone. Tap here to see the results, its enough to ensure that Bournemouth has everything to make progress. If the competition in the EPL wouldnt be so harsh, it would be much easier for the club to fight for entering the Europa League. In the second half of the season, Bournemouth can probably take a line in the first half of the league table. The team needs to score a few points and, what is more important, it has everything necessary to make progress. The factors that may help Bournemouth improve their status in the league table are the following: Excellent players in all the lines. This is especially visible right now, as the team has strengthened its defense and attacking line. Eddie Howes tactical ideas. The coach has been leading the team for several years, so he knows each players possibilities well. He chooses the scheme depending on the competitor, which lets Bournemouth achieve positive results. Unstable main competitors. In the current season, many teams alternate victories with true failures. In the midst of it, Bournemouth doesnt seem to be one of the most holistic teams at the championship. Of course, its quite difficult to predict the outcome at such a long distance but if the team maintains its momentum, itll finish in the top 10. To miss nothing important from the EPL and other leagues, just get to the sports statistics website. Like this: Like Loading... | https://www.thezimbabwedaily.com/sport/305598-what-to-expect-from-bournemouth-in-the-second-half-of-the-season.html |
How will we be travelling around Lancashire by the 2040s? | Forecasting how people will choose to travel in future is one of the many challenges of creating a transport strategy spanning the next 25 years, a Lancashire transportation adviser has warned. The government has tasked the county with creating a single long-term plan for the region to replace the five-year visions historically drawn up by Lancashire County Council and the standalone authorities in Blackpool and Blackburn. Who knows what the effect of disruptive technology could be by then? Dave Colbert, transport specialist at Lancashire County Council, asked members of the countys Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP). The presumption was that the more we do online, the less we travel. But the result of internet shopping is that there are more vans and lorries on the road, he added. The LEPs transport committee also heard details of specific issues which will need addressing over the coming decades - including the potential effect of the high speed rail route HS2 on Preston station. Although the line will not extend to Lancashire, members were warned that it could still have an impact on the countys biggest station - as could other plans for rail travel across travel across the North. Preston station could potentially have to cope with additional trips, but also displaced trips, if HS2 trains serve fewer destinations than the current West Coast Mainline [between London and Scotland], Mr. Colbert said. For example, from Windermere, it may be in future that you change at Preston in order to connect to HS2, whereas [connection to the West Coast Mainline] is currently via Oxenholme. There could be a lot more use of Preston station in future and its barely able to cope now, he warned. The meeting was also told of the need to focus on better connectivity along the East-West corridor in the county, as well as the difficulty of creating integrated smart travel on the countys bus network because of the number of different operators. The importance of reducing the environmental impact of travel and the links between transport and the health of a population would also be considerations for the strategy. A draft of the Lancashire-wide plan is expected to be published in the summer, with a consultation to follow later in the year. The final version will be adopted in April 2020. While the strategy has to set out a vision for 25 years, it will still be reviewed at five year intervals. The meeting heard that the trend for acquiring government funding for major transport projects was via devolution deals and related pots of money. Lancashire County Council leader Geoff Driver said that it showed the governments thinking on the importance of devolution. So perhaps we [in Lancashire] had better get our act together, he added. | https://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/news/politics/how-will-we-be-travelling-around-lancashire-by-the-2040s-1-9543897 |
Is it legal to own a pet pig in Conway? | VILONIA, Ark. You ask, THV11 listens. We talked to a Vilonia family is looking to relocate to another city. But before they do, they wanted to know if their family pet can come along too. You see, this is no ordinary house pet. So 11 listened and got answers about the rules and regulations that often vary from city to city. "We love her she's a part of our family," Vanessa Barnett said. Meet Ginger, a 16-month-old Juliana mini pig. KTHV "She likes to go outside and run around and play," Barnett said. To the Barnett family, she's just like any other house pet. "It's just really like having a small dog," she said. Barnett said she wanted a pet that her two children could play and interact with. "Both of them are allergic to dogs, so a small pig just seemed like a logical choice after we researched," Barnett said. Barnetts 10-year-old son Ian has formed the closest bond of them all. "Ian is autistic, and so he has some challenges socially making friends, some emotional challenges," Barnett said. "They are friends -- they're close." It's why she's determined to keep Ginger once they relocate. The family wants to make Conway their new home, but there's an ordinance that states pigs aren't allowed. Barnett wants to know if there's an exception to the rule. "Unfortunately, swine and hogs of any kind whether they're pets or livestock are prohibited in the city limits of Conway, Ark," Bobby Kelly with the City of Conway said. Kelly said pigs are only allowed for a period of eight days whenever they're being sold or on display at the Faulkner County Fair. He said they don't have the infrastructure to house or feed pigs if an owner is no longer able to care for them, among other concerns. "Whenever they get out, whether they're a large pig or a mini pig, they can get out and they can be very destructive when it comes to private property, Kelly said. If anyone is caught with a pet pig in Conway they'll be found guilty of a misdemeanor and fined anywhere from $50 to $1000. As for the Barnett family, they said they're looking into other cities that will allow pet pigs. | https://www.thv11.com/article/news/local/outreach/11-listens/is-it-legal-to-own-a-pet-pig-in-conway/91-8d18fdf0-95be-42d3-9b5a-96e10f419089 |
Who should join MLK in the Alabama Mens Hall of Fame? | The Alabama Mens Hall of Fame is now accepting nominations for the induction class of 2019. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who will be honored with a federal holiday on Monday, is in it. Anyone can make a nomination. King was the pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery from 1954-60, where he rose to national prominence as a spokesman for the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955-56. He led civil rights marches in BIrmingham in 1963 that reverberated throughout the nation. King was awarded the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize for his non-violent campaign against segregation. More than 80 men have been inducted into the Alabama Mens Hall of Fame. Among those honored are George Washington Carver, Braxton Bragg Comer, William Crawford Gorgas, The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Thomas Wesley Martin, Admiral Raphael Semmes, Wernher Von Braun, Jeremiah Denton, Jr., and Wynton Malcom Red Blount. The Hall was established by the State of Alabama in 1987 to recognize men native to or identified most closely with the state of Alabama who have made significant contributions on a state, national or international scale. The Alabama Mens Hall of Fame is housed in Davis Library at Samford University in Birmingham. Those chosen are part of a distinguished roll of important figures in Alabama history, but many others also warrant recognition, said Board Chair Richard Bailey of Montgomery. The nomination form and a list of the Alabama Men's Hall of Fame inductees may be found on the Alabama Mens Hall of Fames website: https://www.samford.edu/alabama-mens-hall-of-fame/. Nominations are reviewed by a selection committee designated by the Alabama Mens Hall of Fame Board. The selection review committees recommendations, along with a list of all nominees, will be submitted to the full Board in April for a final vote. The formal induction ceremony luncheon is set for Sept. 17 in Birmingham. All nominees must have been deceased for at least two years. Nominations must be postmarked no later than March 15 and should be mailed to Alabama Mens Hall of Fame, P.O. Box 292307, Samford University, Birmingham, AL 35229. For more information, contact board member Michael Morgan by telephone at (205) 726-2048 or email at [email protected]. If youre wondering whether there is an Alabama Womens Hall of Fame, yes, there is. Its located at Judson College in Marion. Remembering Martin Luther King Jr. on the 90th anniversary of his birth | https://www.al.com/life/2019/01/who-should-join-mlk-in-the-alabama-mens-hall-of-fame.html |
Can the Lohans Beach Club staff name all the Lindsay Lohan movies? | The cast of Lindsay Lohans Beach Club are well-versed in Lindsays iconic movies and claim to be huge fans. Page Six tested their knowledge of Lohans famous lines from her hottest films. 1:58 Joey Fatone gets schooled on basic math Joey Fatone has put his NSYNC pleather coats behind him and has stepped into his game show host shoes. Page Six put him to the test with math, spelling and vocabulary. The series will air Monday through Friday at 5:30 p.m. ET on Game Show Network. 1:45 'Made in Staten Island' mom gets schooled in slang Former Mob Wives star Karen Gravano and daughter Karina Seabrook sat down with Page Six to dish on their new MTV show Made in Staten Island. Nineteen-year-old Karina isnt sure how cool Mom is, so she tested her text slang knowledge. The show airs on MTV Mondays at 10/9c. 1:08 Lance Bass dream reunion tour is NSYNC and the Spice Girls Lance Bass sat down with Page Six to talk about his reunion tour dream team: NSYNC and the Spice Girls! Bass also shared some revealing 'NSYNC group texts. 1:10 Diane Lane gets nostalgic about her taxicab-driving dad House of Cards actress Diane Lane was born in NYC, where her father drove a taxi. She shares her fond memories and special New York moments she spent riding along in her dads cab as a child. She still looks for his cab number today and even FaceTimed with the driver when her daughter serendipitously got in it recently. 2:06 Counterpart star Betty Gabriels most stylish red carpet looks Betty Gabriel is an actress to watch on the red carpet. She sat down with Page Six to dish about her unique fashion sense, the designers she loves and that scandalous Oscars dress. She stars in "Counterpart" Season 2 on Starz. 1:39 Aidan Gillen conjured a deceased actor during his darkest hour Aidan Gillen made a career playing villainous characters. But the "Game of Thrones" actor is now transitioning away from the bad guy in his new drama, "Project Blue Book." Gillen sat down with Page Six to talk about the History series, as well as the time he called upon a deceased actor to get through tough times. "Project Blue Book" airs Jan. 8, 2019, on History. Thats what one actor got as a kid and hes mad as hell. Page Six asked celebrities to share their childhood gift disappointments. The Real Housewives of New Jersey star Melissa Gorga wanted a Barbie Dream House and never got it. Valentina from RuPauls Drag Race: All Stars wanted a mermaid Barbie. Theres still time to fulfill these wishes, Santa! They all really want to kiss Bradley Cooper under the mistletoe. Find out whom the stars are crushing on this holiday season and who loves a certain Game of Thrones hunk. | https://pagesix.com/video/can-the-lohans-beach-club-staff-name-all-the-lindsay-lohan-movies/ |
Why Does a Lunar Eclipse Get Called a Blood Moon? | Our in-house Know-It-Alls answer questions about your interactions with technology and science. Today, we weigh in on the January 20, 2019, total lunar eclipse and the wild nomenclature surrounding it. A: Like presidential elections and celebrity drama, the beauty and intrigue of lunar events lies in their regularity. Supermoon! Blood moon! Harvest moon! Wolf harvest sturgeon blue blood pink worm supermoon! Alright, maybe that last one isnt a thing (a pink moon being the full moon in April, a sturgeon being the one in August). There are literally dozens of nicknames for the moons at various times of the yearJanuarys full moon is known as wolf but also the ice moon or old moon, and, hell, you may as well make up your own at this point. But heres the thing: Its the damn moon. It turns reddish in a blood moon because were dealing with a total lunar eclipse: The sun sends light through our atmosphere, scattering short wavelengths like blue while longer wavelengths like red continue to the moon. Our trusty satellite waxes and wanes, moves slightly closer and farther from Earth due to its elliptical orbit, and gives us lunar and solar eclipses with predictable regularity. The moon is kinda clingy, and we love it for that. Say you have a super blood wolf moon, which is super because its closer to Earth in its elliptical orbit and a wolf because its a January full moon. Now, Im not going to sit here and put on a clinic about the origin of every moon nickname, but they drive astronomers crazy. When I see all these headlines about the wolf blood super moon, I go nuts, says Fred Espenak, scientist emeritus at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center. Because it's a total eclipse of the moonthat's what's not in the headline. It's all these other terms to try to engage the public and get them to click stuff, but it kind of hides what the message is: It's a total eclipse of the moon, which is a great term right there. That, though, just isnt good enough for some folks. Ask WIRED Hey Know-It-Alls! Another honorific that particularly irks astronomers: the supermoon. Its a moon that appears bigger to us, because again, the moon follows an elliptical orbit. But really, its only 14 percent bigger, which is imperceptible to the human eye. I think the use of that term baits the public into thinking something great is going to go on outside, says Espenak, and they run out to see it and they're disappointed because it just looks like a full moon. You can't see the several percent that it's larger or smaller. Oh, also. It wasnt an astronomer who thought up the term supermoon, but an astrologer, who claimed the event is linked to seismic events and the weather. And astrology is about as far from science as a wolf on Earth is from a wolf moon. Supermoon is a brand new term, Espenak says. It wasn't anything that astronomers paid any attention to. Yeah, it was a closer moon, but it was sort of like, Yeah, so what? So OK, meh on supermoon. But thats not to say that the human obsession with the moonand naming full moons in particularis altogether unreasonable, historically speaking. If anyone has taken a walk under a full moon, it's very bright, says research scientist Noah Petro, also of NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center. You can understand why hunters might want to hunt by a full moon. It makes sense that it would mean something. Indeed, other nicknames for the moon are grounded in genuine utility. The full moon closest to the autumn equinox is known as the harvest moon, because before electricity, the glow afforded farmers the opportunity to work at night. Having a good grasp of the moons behavior would also help seagoing peoples divine changes in tides. A solid understanding of the moons phases has been pivotal for warmongering too, if thats what youre into: Itd be less than wise to launch a surprise night attack with a full moon over your head. The utility of moon nicknames, though, has largely disappeared in this modern world. Except, that is, for using the moon as a grand educational platform. It's marketing, says Petro. Because everyone can go out and with their own naked eyes look at them and see the light and dark areas and make the most basic of observations. It's unifying in that regard. The caveat being: If you build up a supermoon as something thats actually super, youll sow disappointment. But the moon does offer a uniquely accessible platform for getting nerdy about scienceyou dont need a lab full of equipment or even a telescope to enjoy it. One of the biggest practical values of total lunar eclipses in this day and age is simply to spark the interest of kids and students to go out and look at something, says Espenak. Especially when 90 or 95 percent of people live in metropolitan areas and you can't see the Milky Way. A total lunar eclipse is something you can see from downtown in any big city. So yes, do go look at the moon, the fickle moon, the inconstant moon, that monthly changes in her circle orb. Its a poetical, astronomical object; no need to gussy it up with fish and blood. Matt Simon is a science writer at WIRED who, to be clear, loves the moon. But he also gets picky with semantics, as you might have noticed. Post your question in the comments or email the Know-It-Alls. More Great WIRED Stories | https://www.wired.com/story/the-know-it-alls-weird-names-for-moon/ |
Why Women Should Become Investors in 2019? | It is necessary for women to undertake financial planning for the long-term to be able to step-up from the traditional view of being the 'budget queen' to being the 'investment expert' by taking on the right course of action to grow their money January 17, 2019 4 min read Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. You're reading Entrepreneur India, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media. We frequently get deeply immersed in our mundane activities to make a living. So much so that we forget the mere joy we feel as we get our paycheck to meet our expenditures and allocate the remaining sum as our savings. In this process, we neglect the idea of engaging in investing, which is the next essential step to grow our financial health to enable us to fulfil our life goals. Investments are the most pragmatic way to build wealth and can lead to compounding benefits. Gone Are The Days: Traditionally, men have known to lead the financial investment decisions for the family. However, with a gradual increase in the number of working women, both men and women are now driving these choices jointly. Furthermore, as women are increasingly becoming independent and playing a key role in the decision-making process for themselves and their families, the pressure on women to gather relevant knowledge of personal financing tools and to manage their individual investments has risen profusely. As Warren Buffet says, do not save what is left after spending, spend what is left after saving, is the outlook women must have to proceed in the investment domain. Whether a woman decides to pursue her career into the corporate world, work as an entrepreneur, take a leap from her career to pursue a talent, take a break and raise her family or do more than one of these things simultaneously, it is essential that she enjoys financial independence to secure herself as well as the dependent family members. The right investment made at the right time will provide her with a safety cover such that it cushions the various financial retrievals in both planned and unseen situations. These may include medical emergencies and situations like that of single motherhood, legal battles, being laid off from the workplace, loan requirements, retirement and so forth. Aspirations and Will To Excell: With more and more women entering the workforce, there has been a surge in individual aspirations to take on the entrepreneurial road and establish their own start-ups. A large part of the start-up sector, however, still remains male dominated due to two major reasons: firstly, due to the low risk-taking appetite of women and secondly, women not necessarily always having access to adequate funds to kick- off businesses independently. A start-up venture requires a well laid out business plan infused with a good amount of financial investments to minimize debt. To support such entrepreneurial goals investment plays a vital role and therefore women aspiring to become business owners need to calculate and take on appropriate investment options early on in their careers. Undoubtedly, every woman must know that financial investments enable us to realize both our long-term and short-term goals. As women take-on the reins of life in their hands, they very quickly ought to realize that money is a key deciding factor that impacts the simplest of decisions that one is required to make almost every day i.e. towards meeting basic livelihood needs, planning for the family (including childrens education) or those decisions that may have a long-term implication like asset acquisition (buying a house or office space or land parcel etc.). With respect to long-term goals, we need to invest now and ensure we have sufficient funds to actually be able to aspire and plan for them, such as travelling, be it with family or friends. It is important to choose and employ the right investment today to ensure our investments perform positively with the growth of markets and industries to deal with uncontrollable factors like ever-growing inflation and depreciating value of money. Inference: All said and done, women must be able to establish a broader outlook that encourages wealth creation to have a more secure future. They must be able to take full control of wealth creation with support from the right experts, advisors and specialized mobile apps. It is necessary for women to undertake financial planning for the long-term to be able to step-up from the traditional view of being the budget queen to being the investment expert by taking on the right course of action to grow their money. Having wealth creation, as the ultimate target can eventually enable women to become more confident of their financial decisions, help them in expanding their financial knowledge and further generate better opportunities to manage their income and expenses for life with complete financial freedom. | https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/326490 |
How will history judge President Trump? | Hostile historians may come to regard Donald Trump's two-year presidency as an aggregation of the lesser traits of his predecessors. The bullying of Lyndon Baines Johnson, who demeaned White House aides and even humiliated his Vice-President Hubert Humphrey - forcing his deputy once to recite a speech on Vietnam while he listened, legs akimbo, trousers round his ankles, on the toilet. The intellectual incuriosity of Ronald Reagan, who once apologised to his then White House Chief of Staff James Baker for not reading his briefing books with the immortal excuse: "Well, Jim, The Sound of Music was on last night." The shameless lies of Bill Clinton about his affair with Monica Lewinsky. The paranoia of Richard Nixon, who in his final days railed, King Lear-like, at portraits hanging on the White House walls. The incompetence of George W Bush, whose failure to master basic governance partly explained his administration's botched response to the aftermath of the war in Iraq and also to Hurricane Katrina. The historical amnesia of Gerard Ford, whose assertion during a 1976 presidential debate that Eastern Europe was not dominated by Moscow was a forerunner of Trump's recent endorsement of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The strategic impatience of Barack Obama, whose instinct always was to withdraw US forces from troublesome battlefields, such as Iraq, even if the mission had not yet been completed. Even the distractedness of John F Kennedy, who wiled away afternoons in the White House swimming pool with a bevvy of young women to sate his libido, a sexualised version perhaps of Donald Trump sitting for his hours in front of his flat-screen TV watching friendly right-wing anchors massage his ego. Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford at a 1976 debate At the midpoint of Donald Trump's first term, historians have struggled to detect the kind of virtues that offset his predecessors' vices: the infectious optimism of Reagan; the inspirational rhetoric of JFK; the legislative smarts of LBJ; or the governing pragmatism of Nixon. So rather than being viewed as the reincarnation of Ronald Reagan or Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Trump gets cast as a modern-day James Buchanan, Franklin Pierce or William Harrison. Last year, a poll of nearly 200 political science scholars, which has routinely placed Republicans higher than Democrats, ranked him 44th out of the 44 men who have occupied the post (for those wondering why Trump is the 45th president, Grover Cleveland served twice). Though the president has likened himself to Abraham Lincoln, who posterity has deemed to be greatest of all presidents, this survey judged him to be the worst of the worst. Even the conservative scholars, who identified themselves as Republicans, placed him 40th. Were it not for his braggadocio, Donald Trump might receive a more positive historical press. A recurring problem, after all, is that he gets judged against his boasts. He can point to a significant record of right-wing accomplishment. Tax reform. Two Supreme Court nominees safely installed on the bench. The travel ban. The bonfire of federal regulations. Criminal justice reform. Legislative action aimed at ameliorating the opioid crisis. Nato members ponying up more cash. Annual wage growth is at a nine-year high. 2018 was the best year for job creation since 2015. Many of his campaign pledges, such as the renegotiation of Nafta and the relocation of the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, have been kept. Promise made, promise kept is one of his boasts that regularly rings true. Image copyright Alamy Image caption The bruising but successful addition of Brett Kavanaugh (left) to the bench was a huge Trump victory Often, though, he blunts the impact of authentic good news with inflated claims. US Steel is not opening up six new plants. He is not the author of the biggest tax cut in American history. Besides, the trade war has penalised US manufacturers and farmers, and in 2018 the stock market suffered its worst year since the 2008 financial meltdown. This market volatility highlights other Trump tendencies contributing to his poor reviews: pointing to a buoyant stock market as a metric of personal success, the downside of which is the downswing; and blaming others when things go south, in this case the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell. Trump sits in the Oval Office behind what's called the Resolute desk, hewn from the timber of an abandoned British warship and first used by John F Kennedy, a former navy man himself. But on it you will not find the desk sign favoured by Harry S Truman: "The Buck Stops Here." This America First president is himself an American first. Indeed, a further reason for the disdain of historians is because, historically speaking, his administration has been like no other. The chaos of staff turnover - two secretaries of state, two secretaries of defence, two attorneys general, three White House chiefs of staff, and a revolving door of senior West Wing aides. The foreign policy by tweet. The chumminess with adversarial authoritarian leaders, such as Kim Jong-un and Vladimir Putin. The blurring of ethical lines supposedly separating the Trump White House from the Trump business empire. The Russia collusion investigation, which has raised questions, so far unsettled, about his true allegiance. Read more from Nick Nor have we ever witnessed a US leader who has so flagrantly flouted the normal rules of presidential behaviour. The playground nicknames. The Twitter tirades. The ugly slurs - "horseface" for Stormy Daniels, a former porn star with whom he was once apparently intimate. In response to indictments in the Mueller probe, he has sometimes sounded more like the boss of a crime family. "A rat" is how he described his former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen, deploying the lingua franca of the Mafioso. Though he claims to offer exemplary moral leadership, even conservatives have criticised his presidency for being a profile of amorality, whether in response to the murder of the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi or the neo-Nazi torchlight protest in Charlottesville. One of my abiding memories from the past two years came in the lobby of Trump Tower during that extraordinary press availability held a few days afterwards, when he suggested a "very fine people" equivalence between far-right protesters and their opponents. Standing next to me was an African-American cameraman, who abandoned his tripod so that he could join reporters in hurling questions, something that rarely, if ever, happens at press conferences. "What should I tell my children?" he shouted. "What should I tell my children?" Image copyright Alamy Image caption A memorial to Heather Heyer, killed while protesting against white supremacists in Charlottesville With each bizarre press encounter and each ALL CAPS tweet, it can sometimes feel as if America is living through some historical counterfactual. It is as if the right-wing populist Pat Buchanan managed to beat George Herbert Walker Bush to the Republican presidential nomination in 1992 and, on the strength of his fiery culture war speech to the GOP convention, went on to beat Bill Clinton. Buchanan launched his insurgent campaign with a plea to put "America First" and used the mantra "Make America Great Again." Or maybe the Trump presidency is what a Perot administration might have looked like. Ross Perot, who also sought the presidency in 1992, was another populist billionaire and deep state conspiracy theorist. Yet even Buchanan and Perot, one suspects, would have been more orthodox. This alternative history feel to the Trump presidency partly explains why some of the dystopian "Could it happen here?" novels, such as Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale and George Orwell's 1984 have received a "Trump bump" in sales. Phillip Roth's The Plot Against America has also become a touchstone work. It imagines as president the aviator Charles Lindbergh, the telegenic spokesman for the isolationist "America First Committee," who turns the USA into a more authoritarian state. These dystopian analogies, however, are often not analogous. Donald Trump's America is not Margaret Atwood's Gilead, or George Orwell's Oceania. And just as the billionaire unwisely compares himself to the heroes of history, a trait which inevitably invites ridicule, his more strident critics over-reach when they liken him to history's worst villains. He is not a modern-day Adolf Hitler, nor an American Mussolini. When Donald Trump took the oath of office, nobody should have been surprised that an anti-politician would morph into an anti-president. In 2016 Americans rejected politics as usual. And diehard supporters still throng his rallies, wearing Make America Great Again caps and chanting for him to build the wall and lock up Hillary Clinton. His approval ratings among Republicans remain strong - 88% according to Gallup. His overall approval rating - 37% according to Gallup - is on a par with Ronald Reagan's at the two-year mark. Yet the rally chants of "four more years" remain a wish rather than a prophecy, and the setbacks suffered by the Republicans in November's congressional elections point to an underlying weakness: the disaffection of moderate Republicans, who were never enthusiastic about Donald Trump but who refused to countenance Hillary Clinton as president. Trump remains the only president in the history of the Gallup poll not to crack the 50% threshold. Because Donald Trump is unwilling to accept he is anything other than an A+ president, the grade he has bestowed upon himself, he is not prepared to adopt the kind of correctives that have saved troubled presidencies. JFK learnt from the disaster of the Bay of Pigs and the bullying he received from Nikita Khrushchev at the Vienna summit in 1961, which was followed in short order by the Soviet construction of the Berlin Wall. Confronted a year later with the Cuban Missile Crisis, he was less trusting of his generals, who urged airstrikes, and less willing to be pushed around by Khrushchev. More on the Trump presidency Bill Clinton, who was accused of liberal over-reach during his first months in office and was punished as a result in the 1994 mid-term elections, tacked back to the political centre in time to win re-election in 1996. This is not a learning presidency. Incumbents can also benefit from self-doubt, a trait Donald Trump seems to regard as a character flaw. Presidents also usually grow in office. But while there are physical signs the 72-year-old is ageing - unable to holiday in Florida over Christmas, he has looked especially tired these past few days - there is little sign he is maturing. It does not help that so many senior figures within his administration and his party treat him like a child monarch. The cabinet meeting where holders of the highest offices of state went around the table lavishing praise upon the president felt like Pyongyang on the Potomac. Vice-President Mike Pence has perfected the devoted gaze of the prototypical political wife. Senior Republicans, who privately roll their eyes, have been admiring, even sycophantic, in his presence. Image copyright Getty Images For the most part, international leaders have also opted for obsequiousness. Not only did Theresa May rush to Washington to invite Trump for a state visit - a state visit that has still not been diarised - she telephoned him on Air Force One to congratulate him after the mid-term election even though the Democrats regained the House of Representatives. All this after Trump has frequently undermined her leadership over Brexit and trampled over the special relationship. One of the reasons Mr Trump is said to look so contemptuously upon Angela Merkel is because she makes so little effort to conceal her contempt for him. At the two-year mark, it is usually clear how incumbents will leave their mark on the presidency. After the torpidity of the Eisenhower years, Kennedy made the office more youthful and glamorous. Johnson, that shrewd "Master of the Senate," brought the executive and legislative branches into closer alignment. Nixon consolidated more power in the White House, accelerating the trend the liberal historian Arthur M Schlesinger Jr dubbed "the imperial presidency." Ford reversed much of that process, even going as far to drop the playing of "Hail to the Chief" when he made an entrance. The cardigan-wearing Jimmy Carter, who used to go from room to room turning off lights to save energy, suburbanised the White House. Reagan, who restored many of the ceremonial trappings, erased the lines between politics and entertainment. Clinton, in the age of Oprah, made the office more empathetic, narrowing the emotional distance between the presidency and the people. Obama set a new standard for ethical behaviour - motivated in part by the African-American mantra of working twice as hard to get half as far - and also made the presidency more hip. Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Jimmy Carter in the Oval Office By abrogating behavioural customs, Donald Trump has made the presidency more uncouth and less trustworthy. By departing from executive and managerial norms, he has made domestic and foreign policy making more impulsive and disorderly. By fraying traditional alliances, he has made the US presidency more isolated. By threatening to declare a national emergency in the funding row over his wall along the Mexican border, he has also indicated a willingness to discard constitutional norms that could mean exceeding constitutional limits. The cumulative effect of this has been to make the Oval Office a focal point of perpetual turmoil and uncertainty, with the White House hostage to the changing whims and temper of its occupant. Governing sometimes feels secondary to winning political and cultural battles, and slaying opponents. His presidency has become a roiling permanent campaign. That will depend, to a large extent, on whether or not he wins a second term. Defeat in 2020 would represent a repudiation of his leadership style. Victory would be validating. Yet even as a one-term president, Trump would have changed the character of the presidency and US politics more broadly. While it is hard to imagine America's 46th or 47th presidents unleashing the same barrage of insults, there are already signs of a "Trump effect" on political discourse. Many mid-term races featured unusually ugly rhetoric. Hours after being sworn in as a new Democratic congresswoman, Rashida Tlaib used a profane epithet as she called for the president's impeachment. What is known as the Overton window, the broadly agreed parameters of acceptable public discourse, has shifted to the right. I well remember the moment during the 2016 campaign when an email from the Trump campaign dropped into our inboxes announcing he would ban all Muslims from entering the United States. Initially we thought it might have been a hoax, for it seemed so far outside the mainstream of American political thought. Now, though, calls for a Muslim ban would raise eyebrows and provoke protests but hardly drop jaws. The phrase "Trump has normalised the abnormal" has itself become a clich. Still, though, I am constantly struck by how many Trump stories and scandals that ordinarily would have launched months, even years, of critical coverage for previous presidents sometimes barely last a single news cycle. Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Mattis or Tillerson may have more to say about their time in government More long-lasting could be the debasement of facts as the basis for debate and policy formulation. By its own admission, this administration has sometimes deployed what the White House aide Kellyanne Conway memorably labelled "alternative facts", starting on day one with false claims about the size of the inauguration crowd. Since then, the Washington Post has listed more than 7,000 presidential falsehoods. But an unsettling lesson of the Trump presidency is that post-truth politics can be highly effective, especially when it comes to shoring up a political base. As for chaotic governance, future administrations will surely be more stable in terms of staff turnover, and more orderly when it comes to forming and executing policy. But it is easy to imagine Trump's successors pushing the bounds of executive authority in ways that breach constitutional norms, especially now that gridlock on Capitol Hill has become such a permanent feature of Washington politics. Obama, to a howl of protests from congressional Republicans, relied heavily on executive orders, the flourish of his presidential pen. Trump has gone a big step further by threatening to invoke emergency powers to bypass a hostile Congress. Stress tests for the US constitution, even full-blown constitutional crises, could easily become more commonplace. The Trump presidency's first drafts of history - most notably Bob Woodward's bestseller Fear - have painted a portrait of unprecedented dysfunction. If former senior administration officials pen honest participant histories - say former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, ex-Secretary of Defence James Mattis or former chief of staff John Kelly - they are likely, if their parting comments offer any guide, to add more detail and texture to that same picture. If some of the renowned presidential biographers turn their attention to Trump - maybe Jon Meacham, David McCullough or Michael Beschloss, who in the past have rescued the reputations of under-rated presidents such as George Herbert Walker Bush and Harry S Truman - they are unlikely to deliver laudatory manuscripts. The histories already written, along with those taking shape, will someday be housed in the Donald J Trump Presidential Library, an addition to the 13 existing presidential libraries that form part of the National Archive. Even with two years left to run of this history-defying presidency, most Americans, one suspects, have already made up their minds. Follow Nick Bryant on Twitter . | https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-46895634 |
Is It Possible to Wear 2019s Patchwork Trend During the Winter? | Scroll To See More Images When 2019 came, so did a barrage of predictions about which fashion trends would take the zeitgeist by storm in the new year. Among them: patchwork clothinga fashion-forward take on classic quilting, rendered in, you know, clothes we might actually wear on a day-to-day basis. But every time I tried to imagine patchwork outfits, I caught myself envisioning strictly spring and summer piecesflowy patchwork dresses, patchwork maxi skirts and other similarly dreamy, similarly bohemian things you might wear to the park, or a picnic, or some other kind of outdoor activity. As I always do when faced with a fashion quandary, I turned to the experts: in this case, street style stars. These low-key icons are among the most creative in the fashion set; on the whole, theyve made careers out of tackling trends before they reach the masses. If I had any hope of discovering a winter-appropriate patchwork outfit (or two), street style stars were going to be the ones to deliver it to me. And true to form, they did. Though the street style sphere hasnt been as thoroughly pervaded by patchwork clothing as you might imagine, a few of its stars have managed to throw together patchwork ensembles that feel simultaneously exciting, fashion-forward andof courseweather-friendly. Because theres no sense in hopping on a trend in a season where you cant take full advantage of it. Thankfully, there are a handful of ways to do so this winterand there are a bunch of winter-friendly patchwork pieces worth stocking up on, too. (For outfit inspiration, scroll down. For shopping inspiration, look up, and click through our handy shopping slideshow. Yeah, we got your back on both counts.) This patchwork coat is the absolute definition of winter-friendly patchwork clothingand its a statement piece in its own right. Remember, you can always layer a strictly summer dress over a cozy shirt (and under an even cozier jacket) to make it winter-appropriate. Stock up on a patchwork sweater or two. (Theyre in high supply right now at some of your favorite retailers.) Boots will take any mini from summer to fallthrow on tights to take it into winter, too. Layering a patchwork dress over your favorite pair of jeans is a creativeand generally simpleway to craft an eye-catching, on-trend winter look. Winter maxi dresses are absolutely happening right now. And rendered in patchwork, theyre all the trendier. Winter jumpsuits exist, and theyre here to make your wardrobe way more exciting. This ones clearly fit for warmer weather, in a few steps (ditch the crop and sandals for winter-friendly options) and youll have a low temperature-appropriate look in minutes. Long-sleeve top + chunky boots + patchwork pants = no-fail outfit combo. Because patchwork denim is the easiest way to elevate your increasingly monotonous jean routine. Our mission at STYLECASTER is to bring style to the people, and we only feature products we think youll love as much as we do. Please note that if you purchase something by clicking on a link within this story, we may receive a small commission of the sale. | https://stylecaster.com/patchwork-outfits/ |
Why dont many independent films play in Hamilton? | If you want to catch "If Beale Street Could Talk," one of this year's Golden Globe nominees for best drama, you won't be able to find it playing in any Hamilton movie theatres. "Green Book," another Golden Globe winner, was playing in Hamilton but only one screening per day (the late show at SilverCity Ancaster). "The Favourite," another film garnering major Oscar buzz, was playing on only one screen (also in Ancaster). Both are now out of theatres. Meanwhile, if you want to see "Aquaman," released on Dec. 21, you can choose from almost 20 different screening times per day at four different movie theatres. "Bumblebee" is playing eight times a day. When it comes to films, Hamilton tends to have an abundance of blockbusters but if you're the type of moviegoer interested in art films, award contenders, international productions and films slightly outside the mainstream, you're generally out of luck (Hamilton's two film festivals notwithstanding). While these films are shown sparingly in Hamilton, they're often screened weeks after their release dates and don't play here for long. Ryan Ferguson, film curator at the Art Gallery of Hamilton, says that our proximity to Toronto may affect the availability of films in Hamilton cinemas. "From a business standpoint, I think traditionally, our proximity to Toronto has trained the industry to think that film-lovers in Hamilton will make the trip to Toronto," he said. "The industry is misinterpreting the size and interest in our community." The biggest issue, Ferguson said, is the lack of small, independent theatres in the city. But, as he points out, that's about to change the Westdale Theatre is reopening this year after an extensive renovation, and the Playhouse Theatre on Sherman Ave. N. is also slated to open its doors. When it comes to Hamilton's multiplexes, there are several factors that influence which movies are screened, said Tiana McPhee, spokesperson for Cineplex Canada. "Every Monday, our bookers review all the new films being released the following Friday as well as review the box office results for the past week. Films are added based on our bookers' expectation of guest demand as well as the distributor's priority markets," she said. | https://www.thespec.com/whatson-story/9130990-why-don-t-many-independent-films-play-in-hamilton-/ |
Was kommt auf Ausrster und Zulieferer zu? | Anzeige Herausforderungen wie auch Chancen durch neue Fahrzeugantriebe will ein Fachforum aufzeigen. Die Leipziger Messe und das Automotive Cluster Ostdeutschland veranstalten New Mobility gemeinsam am 7. Februar im Rahmen der Industriemessen Intec und Z. Der Mobilittswandel ist in vollem Gange. Forciert wird vor allem die Elektrifizierung des Antriebsstrangs von Fahrzeugen. Dieser Transformationsprozess fordert nicht nur die Hersteller. Er hat ebenso groe Auswirkungen auf die Zulieferer und Ausrster und wird von manchen Ungewissheiten und Fragezeichen begleitet. Speziell diese Partner der Mobilitts-Wertschpfungskette mchten wir bei der Suche nach Orientierung untersttzen, was vor allem auch fr Zulieferer aus der Region hochaktuell ist, erklrt Dr. Deliane Trber, Geschftsbereichsleiterin der Leipziger Messe. Dafr haben wir ein neues Format entwickelt, das die Herausforderungen, aber auch Chancen der neuen Mobilitt aufzeigt und das mit einem hohen Praxisbezug. Auf dem Fachforum ,New Mobility: Neue Fahrzeugantriebe Herausforderungen und Chance fr die Fertigungsindustrie und Zulieferindustrie im Rahmen der Intec und Z werden Unternehmer aus der Automobil- und Schienenfahrzeugindustrie sowie aus dem Maschinen- und Anlagenbau darber sprechen, wie sie sich auf die Vernderungen einstellen, formuliert die Messemanagerin das Anliegen der neuen Plattform fr Diskussion und Erfahrungsaustausch. VDMA-Studie sensibilisiert fr Technologieoffenheit Mit von der Partie ist auch der VDMA. Der Maschinenbauverband hat in einer Studie Szenarien fr zuknftige Antriebskonzepte bei Pkw, Nutzfahrzeugen und mobilen Maschinen fr die Mrkte Europa, USA und China bis 2030 untersucht und daraus Anforderungen an die Entwicklung der Wertschpfung in der Fertigung abgeleitet. Ein Ergebnis ist, dass der Verbrennungsmotor nicht von heute auf morgen verschwindet und sein Absatz bis 2030 weltweit sogar noch wachsen und seinen Hhepunkt erreichen wird. Parallel dazu steigt das Marktvolumen fr elektrische Antriebskomponenten, die in Hybrid- und Elektrofahrzeugen zum Einsatz kommen, zeigt Alexander Ramann vom VDMA-Fachverband Antriebstechnik zeitgleich stattfindende Entwicklungen auf. Fr Maschinen- und Anlagenbauer sowie Komponentenhersteller bedeutet das, sich jetzt auf diese Prozesse einzustellen. Ein Anliegen von Studie und Forum sei es deshalb, fr diese Vernderungen zu sensibilisieren, die eigenen Geschftsmodelle vor diesem Hintergrund zu analysieren und Mglichkeiten zu identifizieren, an den Wachstumstrends teilzuhaben. Technologieoffenheit ist hierfr ein wichtiges Kriterium, sagt Ramann. Unternehmen sollten ihre Kernkompetenzen gezielt um neue Fhigkeiten erweitern. Beispielsweise wrden deutsche Maschinenbauer ber enormes Know-how fr Fertigungstechnik zur Batteriezellproduktion verfgen, aber ebenso fr weitere alternative Antriebsszenarien wie die Brennstoffzelle, so der VDMA-Antriebsexperte. Von wesentlicher Bedeutung hlt er den Faktor Zeit. Die Entwicklung und der Aufbau von Produktionsanlagen fr den elektrischen Antriebsstrang findet mit erheblichem Vorlauf vor der Komponenten- oder Fahrzeugfertigung statt. Diese Prozesse mssen bereits angestoen sein beziehungsweise jetzt starten, hebt Alexander Ramann auf die Dringlichkeit ab. Auf Umbrche einstellen Wie sich die Hartmetall-Werkzeugfabrik Paul Horn aus Tbingen auf den Wandel in der Antriebstechnik einstellt, darber wird Geschftsfhrer Lothar Horn, zugleich Vorsitzender des Fachverbandes Przisionswerkzeuge beim VDMA, auf dem Fachforum New Mobility sprechen. Die hochprzisen Einstech-, Lngsdreh- und Nutfrswerkzeuge des weltweit 1500 Mitarbeiter zhlenden familiengefhrten Unternehmens kommen heute zu etwa 50 % fr die Herstellung klassischer Antriebskomponenten in der Automobilindustrie zum Einsatz. Ein konventioneller Antriebsstrang besteht aus rund 1600 Teilen, die hauptschlich mit spanenden Verfahren produziert werden. Mit dem Wandel zur Elektromobilitt wird sich dieser Anteil auf etwa ein Drittel reduzieren. Allerdings sorgen die zunehmende Hybridisierung und auch das weitere Wachstum bei Verbrennungsmotoren weltweit fr zustzliches Volumen. Das geht einher mit einer immer greren Komplexitt von Komponenten und ist mit dem Anspruch nach deutlich kleineren Toleranzen bei Werkzeugen verbunden, benennt Lothar Horn eine Herausforderung und betont: Als Unternehmen muss man sich auf Umbrche einstellen. Fr uns heit das unter anderem mehr Diversifikation in Themenbereichen, in denen wir schon aktiv sind wie Hartstoffherstellung und Beschichtung, sowie die Erweiterung unseres Portfolios um neue Leistungen. Ein Beispiel ist die additive Fertigung. Die Tbinger nutzen das Selektive Laserschmelzen fr die Optimierung der eigenen Werkzeugherstellung wie auch als Dienstleistung fr ihre Kunden und Partner. Applikationen unabhngig vom Antriebsstrang finden Mit einer Nischentechnologie ist Profiroll Technologies aus Bad Dben weltweit erfolgreich unterwegs. Das rund 430 Mitarbeiter zhlende Unternehmen entwickelt und realisiert Komplettlsungen aus Maschinen, Werkzeugen und Verfahren zur Profilierung rotationssymmetrischer Werkstcke mittels modernster Kaltmassivumformtechnologie. Diese Leistungen sind derzeit vor allem fr die Herstellung von Komponenten im Antriebsstrang mit Verbrennungsmotoren gefragt. Wir befinden uns jedoch im Spannungsfeld einer sich verndernden Mobilitt. Als Mittelstndler hier den richtigen Weg zu whlen, ist nicht leicht, rumt Geschftsfhrer Dr. Stephan Kohlsmann ein. Welche Strategien Profiroll favorisiert, wird er in den Mittelpunkt seines Vortrags auf dem New Mobility-Forum stellen. Wir schauen nach automobilen Applikationen unabhngig vom Antriebsstrang, beispielsweise in den Segmenten Lenkung, Bremse oder Interieur, in denen unsere Technologie gebraucht wird. Darber hinaus haben wir vor zwei Jahren unser Portfolio mit dem Zukauf eines Pressenherstellers erweitert und bieten unter anderem Technik fr die Herstellung zukunftsfhiger Produkte wie Batteriegehuse an, erlutert der Profiroll-Geschftsfhrer. Neben Unternehmen der Zuliefer- und Fertigungsindustrie sowie Experten aus der Forschung werden Fachleute von Volkswagen sowie der Deutschen Bahn whrend des Fachforums im Rahmen der Intec und Z 2019 aufzeigen, wie ihre Wege ins elektrische Mobilittszeitalter verlaufen. Die Autorin: Ina Reichel, Freie Journalistin in Leipzig 15. Januar 2019 | https://beschaffung-aktuell.industrie.de/event/kommt-auf-ausruester-und-zulieferer-zu/ |
Why do so few Aussies speak an Australian language? | Linguistically speaking, Australia is special. With around 250 languages spoken when Australia was first colonised, Australia was one of the most linguistically diverse places in the world. But few people speak our Indigenous languages. As of 2016, only 10% of Australias Indigenous population spoke an Indigenous language at home. Most Indigenous languages are now asleep, waiting to be woken up by language revivalists. Australian languages did not simply fade away; they were actively silenced by governments, schools and missions. Read more: Some Australian Indigenous languages you should know At most missions through the mid-20th century, Aboriginal languages were to be replaced with English. The Commonwealth Office of Education explained its intention in 1953: The policy of assimilation demands a lingua franca as soon as possible not only for communication between aboriginal and European but between aboriginal and aboriginal. That lingua franca must be English There is a need everywhere for a planned, vigorous and maintained drive for English. Substitution of a new language for the old is not likely to disrupt the traditional social structure of the people any more than the substitution of Christian religion for their old religion and superstitions. In fact the former might assist the latter process. As linguist Arthur Capell wrote in 1964: Government policy looks forward to the loss of Aboriginal languages so that the Aborigines may be assimilated. In pursuit of this policy, the Commonwealth Government banned Aboriginal languages in schools. It required teachers in mission schools to report on whether and for what reason they used any Aboriginal words. Aboriginal languages were to be forbidden even in the playground. The use of mission dormitories, separating children from families, compounded the attack on language. Groote Eylandt Linguistics This attack was partly based on the idea that Aboriginal languages were deficient and impaired critical thinking. Missionary linguist Beulah Lowe was told in the 1950s that Aboriginal people have no real language. Linguist Robert Dixon remembered being told in 1963 that Aboriginal languages were just a few grunts and groans. As recently as 1969, the Commonwealth government presumed the need for remedial work in Aboriginal schools due to the supposed inhibitory influences of bilingualism in education. Nowadays educators are aware of the cognitive benefits of being multilingual. Translating the Bible The few Europeans who did learn Australian languages were mostly missionaries. But their approaches were contradictory. On the one hand they directly contributed to the loss of Aboriginal languages by putting children in dormitories, English-only schools and separating families. On the other, missionaries showed a greater concern for languages than other colonisers, due to their drive to translate the Bible. These efforts to translate the Bible were slow compared to those overseas. The first Aboriginal Bible was completed in 2007 (in Kriol, spoken in northern Australia). The Maori Bible was complete in 1868 and by 1946 the Bible was in 30 Pacific languages. Read more: Meet the remote Indigenous community where a few thousand people use 15 different languages Translation efforts began in 1824 when Lancelot Threlkeld began learning Awabakal of the Lake Macquarie region and, with his Aboriginal co-translator Biraban, completed an Awabakal Gospel. But disease and violence devastated the community. By 1840 only 16 people were left at the mission. Other small-scale translation projects followed. German missionaries, perhaps due to their Lutheran tradition of Bible translation or their unfamiliarity with English, made significant efforts. Teichelmann and Schurmann, for example, wrote a grammar of the Kaurna language of the Adelaide region in 1840. Groote Eylandt Linguistics Missionary linguists always depended on Aboriginal co-translators to teach and translate their language. Carl Strehlow at Hermannsburg worked in with Moses Tjalkabota. Strehlow was one of the few who acknowledged his Aboriginal partner; we dont know the names of others. In many places, Aboriginal people used missionaries to have their language and knowledge recorded for future generations. Their foresight is being rewarded. Now, over a century later, their work is being used in language revival projects. Learning English Meanwhile, many Aboriginal people quickly learned English, finding it brought them opportunities to defend their interests. They were often gifted linguists. Usually already multilingual when the colonisers came, adding English was relatively easy. Dispossession of land often meant distinct Aboriginal language communities were thrust together, so Aboriginal people used English, or an English pidgin, as a lingua franca. Some thought it best to keep their language secret from colonisers, perhaps to hide their Aboriginality and the associated discrimination, perhaps to uphold their authority over their cultural knowledge. So they spoke English. Changing attitudes By the 1940s, white Australia was realising Aboriginal people were not doomed to extinction. Instead, they assumed Aboriginal cultures and languages would die out once Aboriginal people assimilated. Read more: Friday essay: dreaming of a 'white Christmas' on the Aboriginal missions Aboriginal linguists and missionaries at Hermannsburg, Ernabella and Milingimbi in central and northern Australia advanced translation in Arrente, Pitjantjatjara and Yolngu Matha and used language in the classroom. Yet as late as 1964, Capell wrote of recording languages so that they may be handed down to generations who will see them only as darker members of a European culture. Linguistic research was still considered a matter of archiving languages on their deathbeds. Attitudes began changing in the 1960s. In 1963, Yolngu people presented their Bark Petition to the Commonwealth government. The petition was written first in Gupapyngu with an English translation. Aboriginal languages could no longer be dismissed as grunts and groans of little cultural value. In 1973, the Commonwealth government introduced mother tongue education at select Aboriginal schools. Aboriginal educators increasingly called for and implemented two-ways education. Today it is possible to study Indigenous Languages Education or Yolngu Studies. Or you could learn a word a day through RNs Word Up. Communities are waking up languages such as Kaurna and Awabakal. But there is a long way to go. Communities wishing to keep language strong still face barriers of policy, prejudice, funding and resourcing. | http://theconversation.com/why-do-so-few-aussies-speak-an-australian-language-109570 |
Could insects be the new staple in our diet? | Due to increasing global demand for protein, insects may become a staple in our diet, but international researchers say we don't know enough about what might happen if we make this shift. As whole-roasted crickets gain traction as a protein-rich snack and restaurants experiment with mealworms on the menu, there's still "an overwhelming lack of knowledge" concerning the ecological sustainability of the emerging, multimillion-dollar insects-as-food industry, say researchers at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. In an opinion article published January this week in the journal Trends in Ecology & Evolution, they explore unanswered questions around insect rearing, safety, and environmental impacts but overall are optimistic that suppliers will rise to the challenge. "As the global demand for protein grows, insect mass-rearing can play an important role in the future of food," says first author Asa Berggren, a conservation biologist at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. Advertisement "We know that we can't keep doing what we're doing in terms of producing food and utilising the land." While insects-as-food provides environmental sustainability potential due to their nutritional qualities and feed conversion ratios, Berggren and her colleagues, Anna Jansson and Matthew Low, note that there are many basic questions that need to be urgently researched before the industry grows to ensure sustainability. "Otherwise, we risk replacing one environmental issue with another," says Berggren. "Though the industry is in its infancy, some companies are getting bigger, and doing well, and the risks will come along with that." Of the several areas where research is needed, one of the more urgent ones deals with unwanted systems products. For example, we don't yet know the full impact of mass-rearing insects in countries where these species do not naturally occur. An escapee could wreak havoc on the ecosystem and be akin to what Berggren describes as a "climate catastrophe." Other areas include species and life history trade-offs, sustainable feed production, food safety, and ethics. But since the industry is so young, (Americans spent $55 million on edible insects in 2017), and it will take time to make insect-rich food attractive to a wider Western audience, the researchers believe there is still time to conduct proper research and shape environmental policy. "Insects have the potential to be a good, sustainable, useful food source, but it's not as simple as rearing them and then that's it," says Berggren. "There is a lot of effort that needs to be put in to research." | https://www.nzherald.co.nz/the-country/news/article.cfm?c_id=16&objectid=12190544 |
Why do we have stuff named after Ben Ficklin in San Angelo? | Buy Photo A misspelled Ben Ficklin sign appears near South Bryant Blvd. and Ben Ficklin Road Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2019. (Photo: Samuel Sutton / San Angelo Standard-Times) A map of Ben Ficklin courtesy of Fort Concho's archives. After a misspelled highway sign was discovered announcing "Ben Fricklin Rd" Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2019, some residents began wondering about the namesake. San Angelo has many things named after Ben Ficklin, such as Ben Ficklin Road, Ben Ficklin Cemetery, Ben Ficklin Resevoir, etc. This stems from Ficklin bearing a heavy impact on San Angelo from its origin in 1875. Buy Photo Tom Green County's first county seat, Ben Ficklin, erected its second courthouse in February, 1882. It was a $14,000 stone building destined to serve only a few months before the disastrous Ben Ficklin flood destroyed the county seat. The first courthouse had three-rooms and a dirt floor. (Photo: Standard-Times archives) Major Ficklin was a soldier in the Civil War, originator of the Pony Express and the namesake for what was once Ben Ficklin, a town from the early 1870s to 1882. He created the Concho Mail Station on the South Concho River near Fort Concho, where his stage line ran to San Antonio. This stage line brought many of San Angelo's earliest residents. Ficklin was described as someone who "gave the impression that no moment ... would have found him unprepared to go into action right away against any foe," according to The Concho Country by Gus Clemens. Ficklin also was suspected of being a spy during the Civil War. He would often go to England as a purchasing agent, but Unionists believed he went as a Confederate spy, according to The Concho Country. Buy Photo Original caption: "THE RESCUE" - An illustration of the Ben Ficklin flood shows a young lady trapped in the second floor of a ranch house as it swept downstream. A cowboy caught with his horse in the flood, rescued her, thanks to his swimming ability and the fact that he induced her to tie herself to him with a bedsheet." (Photo: Standard-Times Archives) He was dubbed "the mystery man of the confederacy" by soldiers on both sides of the war. His reputation did cause trouble after the war on the night of President Abraham Lincoln's assassination. Witnesses of the assassination claimed to hear a whistle right before the shot rang out. Ficklin was caught with a whistle and arrested, but he had an alibi, though the Concho Country does not list the alibi. Ficklin died in March 1871 in Washington D.C. when a fish bone cut an artery in his throat, according to Volume 1 of the Tom Green County Chronicles of our Heritage. His friend Francis Colbert Taylor wanted to honor him, so he created the town of Ben Ficklin, originally Benficklin. That town, a few miles south of Fort Concho, was the seat of Tom Green County from 1875-82. That town may have kept San Angelo, at the time Santa Angela, from growing if it wasn't for a devastating flood in August 1882. Buy Photo Aug. 24, 1882, 65 residents of Ben Ficklin, then the county seat of Tom Green County, lost their lives in a flood which destroyed the town. Eight of the flood survivors were honored at a Kiwanis Club meeting in San Angelo on Aug. 15, 1923, When this photograph was taken, The women, left to right, are Mrs. Sam Pollock, Mrs. Charles W. Hobs and Miss Lottie Pollack. The men, from left to right, are W. Clint Johnson, Judge W. F. Holt, Sam Pollock, C. B. Metcalfe and James Hinde (seated at right). (Photo: Standard-Times archives) At the time of the flood, Ben Ficklin had about 600 residents and a new $18,000 courthouse. There were at least 65 deaths, and a majority of the town's structures were swept away, effectively ending the town. The area around San Angelo County Club, 1609 Country Club Road, is where Ben Ficklin once stood. The Ben Ficklin cemetery can be visited near Loop 306 and U.S. 87 South. Remains of Tom Green County pioneers and Ben Ficklin residents were moved to Ben Ficklin Cemetery located off S. Bryant Boulevard Frontage after the flood of 1882. (Photo: Yfat Yossifor) More on Ben Ficklin: Read or Share this story: https://www.gosanangelo.com/story/news/local/2019/01/17/san-angelo-texas-ben-ficklin-sign-2019/2603222002/ | https://www.gosanangelo.com/story/news/local/2019/01/17/san-angelo-texas-ben-ficklin-sign-2019/2603222002/ |
How can Saskatoon be more fun in winter? | CTV Saskatoon Students at Aden Bowman Collegiate created the designs for the ice sculptures and local sculptor Peter Fogarty brought them to life. Its part of the citys Winter City YXE strategy, which aims to make Saskatoon more vibrant in the winter. The sculptures kick off a series of events starting next week, including the Winter Cities Shake-Up Conference. Experts from around the world will be here to talk about how to make the city more appealing during the winter months; residents are also invited to share their ideas on how to create a four-season community. How can we build in for winter when were designing elements of the city, project spokesman Chris Schulz said. How can we build a culture that embraces winter as not a season to huddle up inside but to get out and be active and partake in activities in and around the city? | https://saskatoon.ctvnews.ca/how-can-saskatoon-be-more-fun-in-winter-1.4258374 |
When does season 4 of Lucifer come out on Netflix? | Lucifer season four has not been given a confirmed release date by Netflix yet. FOX cancelled Lucifer, but lead actor Tom Ellis lead a campaign that got Netflix to decide to release season four. Lucifer fans may have got an answer to when Lucifer will come out on Netflix last week when a cast member revealed a potential season four release date on their Twitter. Netflix has not revealed the official release date of Lucifer season four yet. However, Aimee Garcia, who plays Ella Lopez on the series, started fans speculating about the release date for Lucifer season four with a tweet last week. Season 4 of Lucifer does not have a confirmed release date on Netflix Production wrapped on Lucifer season four in December 2018, so a spring release date does seem likely. All three previous seasons of Lucifer have aired in different months (January 2016, September 2016 and October 2017), so there are no clues to be offered from the shows release history. Netflix has started to announce shows that it is releasing in March and April, as well as the release dates of a few big shows in June and July and so far Lucifer season four is not among them. This suggests a release date sometime in May or beyond, but we will not know until Netflix reveal when Lucifer is coming out. Like the season four release date, Netflix has not revealed many plot details about Lucifer season four. One thing we do know, however, is that Lucifer (played by Tom Ellis) will be facing up against a new villain. This baddie is Eve (Inbar Levi), of whom Netflix has said: After an eternity with Adam, shes grown restless in her marriage and longs for a less predictable time when things were exciting. Naughty. Dangerous. She misses her hot and heavy first love the charming rogue who tempted her so many years ago. Lucifer season 4 could come out in April or May according to one cast member | https://www.express.co.uk/showbiz/tv-radio/1073942/Lucifer-season-4-Netflix-release-date-cast-plot-trailer-tom-ellis |
Is the future of N.D.G.'s Wheel Club in jeopardy? | A Facebook post Wednesday suggested the N.D.G. club, home to Hillbilly Night country music sessions Monday nights, will soon be closing its doors. Not so fast, says Dick Hearn, who rents and operates the facility. Hearn says he is still hopeful a deal can be arranged with some interested parties to keep the club open. Deadline for a deal is the end of January. The Wheel Club on Cavendish Blvd. near Sherbrooke St., has hosted Hillbilly Night for the last 23 years. The Monday night gatherings were founded by Bob Fuller and Jeannie Arsenault more than half a century ago at the now-defunct Blue Angel on Drummond St. The jam sessions feature traditional country music and bluegrass performed by an eclectic array of musicians. On Monday, Jan. 21, Hillbilly Night will celebrate its 53rd anniversary at the club. Hearn expects to have a definitive answer next week as to the future of the club. Stay tuned. ALSO IN THE NEWS | https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/is-the-future-of-n-d-g-s-wheel-club-in-jeopardy |
Do u smoke and drive?- Do u drink and drive? | Cst. James Grandy Media Relations Penticton Oh I saw that person drink a lot and they just got into their vehicle 10 minutes ago. Well, thats suspicion. says Cst. Grandy This change has led to people questioning under what circumstances they could be forced to take to a breathalyzer test. Many are worried that police now have the authority to show up at your door or a public place and demand a breathalyzer test because someone may have reported a drunk driver. Say someone reports a drunk driver, they give us the licence plate and say, I saw them drinking a lot and then they drove home and swerving around. and they went home, said Grandy. If we (the RCMP members) arrive 20 minutes later, 10 minutes later or even five minutes later for that matter, we cant demand that the person provide a breath sample. Because they are no longer in their vehicle and time has passed because they were in their house. Furthermore, this legislation is in relation to impaired driving so police have to be able to prove the person was operating a motor vehicle while impaired, which means they must catch the driver committing the offence. Edited Source: thanks to Penticton Western for the interview with Cst. Grandy | http://oliverdailynews.com/do-u-smoke-and-drive-do-u-drink-and-drive/ |
Where in the World Is Melania Trump? | The First Lady is photographed in the Oval Office on September 18, 2018. While Donald Trump has been keeping himself busy amid the longest government shutdown in U.S. history by beaming over a dining table full of McDonalds and trash-talking people on Twitter, theres one government official whos been notably absent: Melania Trump. Though we are officially more than halfway through the first month of the year, the First Lady has made no official appearancesor any appearances, for that matter. There have been, however, some signs that shes around the White House. On January 13, she tweeted out photos of the White House covered in snow from the storm that hit Washington, adding three snowflake emojis to accompany the winter wonderland. According to Melanias spokesperson, Stephanie Grisham, shes been using the shutdown time to plan upcoming events. We are in the planning phase for 2019 in terms of Be Best and annual functions at the White House, she wrote in an e-mail to The Washington Post, adding that Melania and her staff are using this time for meetings and planning/strategy sessions. Thanks to the shutdown, her current staff has been cut in half from its usual 10 people to 5. The Post also noted that some of the First Ladys duties have been cut as well, including overseeing the usual White House tours. Melania being M.I.A. during the beginning of the year seems to be part of her brand. Last January, she didnt make her first public appearance of 2018 until the State of the Union address on January 30. She stayed out of the spotlight after The Wall Street Journal revealed that her husbands former lawyer Michael Cohen had paid Stormy Daniels $130,000 to keep quiet about her alleged affair with the president. Only time can tell. Sign up for our daily newsletter and never miss a story. Get Vanity Fairs Cocktail Hour Our essential brief on culture, the news, and more. And it's on the house. E-mail Address Subscribe | https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2019/01/where-in-the-world-is-melania-trump-2019 |
Did former Alabama QB Jalen Hurts make the right choice transferring to Oklahoma? | Jalen Hurts has found a new home, transferring to Oklahoma to play for the Sooners. The former Alabama starter has a 26-2 record and led the Crimson Tide to two national championships. Many feel he made the right choice to transfer to a school where he can show off his talent and develop more. Others think he should have stayed at Alabama where the Tide are championship contenders every year. PERSPECTIVES Hurts has been the good teammate all season. Instead of pouting about losing his starting job, he stayed at Alabama and helped the Crimson Tide earn a berth in the College Football Playoff with an incredible relief performance in the SEC Championship. If anyone deserved to transfer to build their individual resume, it's Hurts. Before Tua Tagovailoa took over during the 2018 national championship game, Hurts earned a 26-2 record as a starter and showed improved touch on his passes. He has a chance to be a legitimate NFL quarterback prospect, but he needs more playing time in order to do that. He won't get that backing up Tagovailoa. He needed to transfer. Oklahoma isn't nearly has talented as Alabama and that was proven at the national semifinal game of the College Football Playoff. He will struggle and his draft stock will drop. Staying at Alabama would have afforded Hurts the best opportunity to improve. Quarterbacks like Matt Cassell have been drafted as a backup, and Cassell never had the accomplished resume Hurts has at Alabama. Plus, he's still a hero in Tuscaloosa where he upheld a standard of loyalty rarely seen in the sport today. He should have stayed in Alabama. The Tylt is focused on debates and conversations around news, current events and pop culture. We provide our community with the opportunity to share their opinions and vote on topics that matter most to them. We actively engage the community and present meaningful data on the debates and conversations as they progress. The Tylt is a place where your opinion counts, literally. The Tylt is an Advance Local Media, LLC property. Join us on Twitter @TheTylt, on Instagram @TheTylt or on Facebook, we'd love to hear what you have to say. | https://www.oregonlive.com/tylt/2019/01/did_former_alabama_qb_jalen_hu.html |
Will Ford challenge the Ram Power Wagon with its own heavy-duty off-roader? | Ram has been gaining popularity with off-roaders thanks to its heavy-duty Power Wagon, which is, as of right now, unrivalled in its segment. But that could be changing. Ford has been watching Ram have its three-quarter-ton cake and eat it, too, and now it wants in on the feast. Its just hot gossip at this point, but AutoGuide has pointed out much of the language used by Fords president of global markets, Jim Farley, at the Global Auto Industry Conference in Detroit this week could be interpreted as suggestive of plans to offer a Ford competitor to the Power Wagon. Everyone loves the Raptor, Farley said. With the new Super Duty, we got another new version that no ones ever seen; not a Raptor, but something different. Hmmm. The Raptor has owned the half-ton off-road truck market pretty handily since it was launched in 2010 and renewed in 2017, but Ram recently announced it would roll into the segment with its own off-road-ready offering, the supercharged TRX. It follows, then, that Ford wouldnt sit idly by while its rival comes at it in the mid-size sport truck market while also dominating the heavy duty off-road segment. Farleys comments at the event teased other forthcoming Ford products, too, including the Bronco. He encouraged those present to consider it more broadly than just a Bronco, suggesting there may be more to the upcoming reveal than just the one vehicle. With Ford set to reveal its new Super Duty later this year, theres a decent chance well be seeing a sportier, dirt-bound truck along with it. We say bring on the competition. | https://driving.ca/ford/super-duty/auto-news/news/will-ford-challenge-the-dodge-power-wagon-with-its-own-heavy-duty-off-roader |
Could Twilight Zone become the hottest ticket on Broadway? | It is a blend of faithful adaptation and fanciful splicing. It is the middle ground between artistry and commercialism, between reasonable prices and premiums, and it lies in London right now but aims for the summit of Broadway. It is a play we call . . . The Twilight Zone. The Almeida Theatre in London has a hit on its hands: a stage version of Rod Serlings enduring 60s sci-fi television series. Its one of the toughest tickets in town, proving that England loves The Twilight Zone as much as Dr. Who. It runs until Jan. 27 before moving to the West End in March, and New York producers and theater owners are headed to London to check it out. As one says, The Twilight Zone on Broadway could clean up. American playwright Anne Washburn (Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play) watched all 156 Twilight Zone episodes before settling on eight to adapt for the Almeida. She picked a couple of classics, including The Shelter (episode 68, as die-hards know), about a group of friends who turn on one another while holed up in a bomb shelter during a potential nuclear attack. Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up? (episode 64) is also in the mix. Its set in a diner after a UFO landing, and the customers, increasingly paranoid, try to figure out who among them is a Martian. Theres a third arm and a third eye. Thats all Im saying. Mummies, missing children and ventriloquists flit through the play. Washburn mashes up the episodes, and some critics complain that the play is confusing at times. But if you know the stories, you wont be in the dark too long. The themes resonate today: paranoia, racial tension, income equality. And, yes, the show opens with Marius Constants famous theme song. John Marquez plays the narrator Serling with appropriately bushy eyebrows. (For New York, I nominate David Pittu, who was just in The Girl From the North Country at the Public. He has bushy eyebrows, too.) The director is Richard Jones, who staged the Tony Award-winning Titanic on Broadway in 1997 as well as the Mets Hansel and Gretel. His Into the Woods at the Delacorte in Central Park disappointed, but he did direct one of the most brilliant productions Ive ever seen: Too Clever by Half, at the Old Vic in London in 1988. It starred a young Alex Jennings, now known as the nasty Duke of Windsor in The Crown. Jones has framed The Twilight Zone in a giant television set. Psychedelic effects abound. The style is camp, but with the occasional serious moment thrown in to good effect. All in all, its a recipe for fun. Ill let you know if and when Broadway enters The Twilight Zone. see also Broadway legend Carol Channing dead at 97 Channing died early Tuesday at her home in Rancho Mirage,... A few Carol Channing stories to mark the death of a legend: Passing through San Francisco on an umpteenth tour of Hello, Dolly!, Channing learned that a local cabaret was holding a Carol Channing imitator contest. She entered without telling the club owner who she was. She came in third. While spending the weekend with Hello, Dolly! creator Jerry Herman on Fire Island, Channing danced at the Pavilion disco, which was frequented by drag queens. If she were an inch taller, someone told Herman, everyone would think she was the real thing. Herman replied, Well, this one has had a lot of practice. In Indianapolis, a tour of Dolly shared an exhibition hall with another event. The marquee read: Carol Channing in Hello, Dolly!/Antique Show, February 21-24. You can hear Michael Riedel weekdays on Len Berman and Michael Riedel in the Morning on WOR radio 710. | https://nypost.com/2019/01/17/could-twilight-zone-become-the-hottest-ticket-on-broadway/ |
Have our liberation movements let us down? | The great appetites of post-colonial elites has contributed enormously to the continuous agony of the people of Africa. While our leaders and their families go on shopping sprees, our people seek economic activity. While they seek medical assistance across the globe, our people are subjected to a lack of medical attention as well as infrastructure. In the famous words of Frans Fanon the gravest threat to Africas future is not colonialism but the great appetites of post-colonial elites, and their absence of ideology. History has shown us that over time liberation movements across the world end up being irrelevant and in the process lose the hearts and minds of those it liberated. The political shift from liberation politics to that of governing has been detrimental and has caused major harm to the people of Africa. This shift has caused, in many instances, former liberation movements to behave just like their oppressors did, especially towards their own citizens. It pains me as a young Africanist to see how Zanu-PF for example, a party with such a rich liberation history and a party which one grew up idolising because of its history, embarks on a killing spree of its own children. Its inconsolable to see how a party that once lived in the hearts and souls of not only Zimbabwean people, but of many Africanists, could contribute to the pain and suffering of my fellow brothers and sisters. These former liberation movements suffer from a false sense of entitlement that because they are liberators, people should not question or go against them. Its an entitlement which leaves them believing incorrectly that African people owe them for their freedom while forgetting that people actually liberate themselves. Its no lie that this beautiful continent which gave birth to civilisation has endured much pain and suffering. Its no lie that colonialism has greatly contributed to the underdevelopment of this beautiful land. Its also not a lie that many of our liberation movements that get elected into government by their citizens, end up perpetuating the very same struggles that they fought against colonialists I will truly never understand how people who grew up fighting the injustices of colonialism and oppression, who know the pain and suffering of their fellow people, could one day be the ones inflicting such suffering and pain. The great appetites of post-colonial elites has contributed enormously to the continuous agony of the people of Africa. While our leaders and their families go on shopping sprees, our people seek economic activity. While they seek medical assistance across the globe, our people are subjected to a medical system that lacks basic infrastructure and resources. Former liberation movements and their leaders need to start thinking critically about their choices and plans. And they should start by asking themselves one question: How will our actions/plans contribute to making Africa better? Ultimately, we as residents of this continent have to ask: Do we now need liberation from former liberation movements? DM Modibe Modiba is an Africanist, a writer, a current affairs junkie as well as a student at The University of South Africa studying towards a BA International Relations degree. Support DAILY MAVERICK & get FREE UBER vouchers every month An increasingly rare commodity, quality independent journalism costs money, though not nearly as much as its absence can cost global community. No country can live and prosper without truth - that's why it matters. Every Daily Maverick article and every Scorpio expos is proof of our dedication to this unshakeable mission. Investing in our news media is by far the most effective investment into South Africa's future. You can support Independent and Investigative journalism by joining Maverick Insider. If you contribute R150 or more per month you will receive R100 back in UBER vouchers. EVERY MONTH until October 2019. So, if you'd like to help and do something meaningful for yourself and your country, then sign up to become a Maverick Insider. Together we can Defend Truth. | https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2019-01-18-have-our-liberation-movements-let-us-down/ |
What exactly is France's plan for a no-deal Brexit? | Photo: AFP French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe announced on Thursday that France has activated its plan for a no-deal Brexit. The no-deal Brexit plan that France is set to trigger later on Thursday includes measures that aim to ensure that there is no interruption of rights and that the rights of our fellow citizens and our businesses are effectively protected, the prime minister said. The French parliament is expected to complete the adoption of a bill Thursday, allowing the government to pass five decrees covering preparations for a no-deal Brexit, which could create chaotic scenes on both sides of the Channel. Here's what the plan entails so far. Britons in France | https://www.thelocal.dk/20190117/what-exactly-is-frances-plan-for-a-no-deal-brexit |
What is going on with suspended Kansas forward Silvio De Sousa? | Welcome to FTW Explains: a guide to catching up on and better understanding stuff going on in the world. You may have seen the news about suspended Kansas forward Silvio De Sousa battling for his NCAA eligibility and wondered what was going on there. Were here to help. De Sousa is a 6-foot-9 forward from Angola who first played for the Kansas Jayhawks last season. De Sousa a highly touted four-star recruit graduated from high school early and joined Kansas for the second half of the season to boost a thin frontcourt. He broke out in Kansas Big 12 tournament championship win, scoring a career-high 16 points on 8 of 8 shooting against West Virginia. He saw major minutes in the Elite Eight and Final Four and was expected to be key contributor for the Jayhawks this season. De Sousas name was at the center of last years federal trials stemming from the FBIs investigation into the corruption in college basketball. Former AAU coach and Adidas consultant T.J. Gassnola testified that he helped arrange payments to De Sousas guardian in exchange for De Sousas commitment to Kansas Adidas flagship NCAA partner. There was no indication that De Sousa himself had any knowledge of payments. Still, Kansas elected to sit the star forward before the season and allow the NCAA to review his eligibility. De Sousa still hasnt played nor has the NCAA ruled on the case. A season-ending injury to starting center Udoka Azubuike has since added urgency to De Sousas case. Bill Self pulled the redshirt on freshman guard Ochai Agbaji and has grown increasingly frustrated on the holdups in De Sousas case. The Athletic reported on Monday that in an attempt to expedite a ruling on De Sousa, Kansas has declared the sophomore ineligible, formally acknowledged the infraction ($2,500 in impermissible payments) and, as a result, asked for immediate reinstatement. De Sousa has already missed 17 games this season, exceeding the 13-game suspension that violation would have warranted. Via The Athletic: There is no guarantee the NCAA will accede to Kansas wishes, and there is no standard for how long the NCAA must take to render a decision. However, the anticipated step raises the possibility that De Sousa could play for the Jayhawks this season. According to the NCAAs matrix regarding infractions, an improper payment of $2,500 most likely would yield a penalty that the player is suspended for 30 percent of the teams season. No. Nothing. The worst, I know. On Thursday, attorney Scott Tompsett released a statement on De Sousas behalf, calling for the NCAA to immediately reinstate De Sousa. Tompsett claimed that the NCAA is punishing De Sousa for actions allegedly taken by adults without De Sousas knowledge. Silvio De Sousa's attorney, Scott Tompsett, puts out statement. "Its time for the NCAA to be fair to Silvio and immediately reinstate his eligibility." pic.twitter.com/nFerBUd3LJ Jesse Newell (@jessenewell) January 17, 2019 Its time for the NCAA to be fair to Silvio and immediately reinstate his eligibility, he wrote. Thats difficult to say. The NCAA is notoriously inconsistent in dealing with these cases, and the FBI investigation has left the organization embarrassed. But Kansas is doing all it can to get De Sousa back on the court, going all-in by self-declaring De Sousa ineligible. Kansas had a similar situation last season with Billy Preston, and he ultimately left the team instead of waiting on the NCAA. The Athletics Seth Davis guessed that De Sousa will be back in action on Saturday against West Virginia. But he qualified it as an educated guess. I think it is likely (but far from definite) that he plays Saturday vs West Virginia. Just an educated guess. https://t.co/Al36MRJMdI Seth Davis (@SethDavisHoops) January 14, 2019 Well have to see since time is running out. | https://ftw.usatoday.com/2019/01/silvio-de-sousa-kansas-ncaa-update-suspended-ineligible-fbi-trials-money-jayhawks-college |
Why Did Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine Take His Oath of Office on a Casual Stack of Nine Bibles? | Photo illustration by Slate. Photos by artisteer/iStock/Getty Images Plus, robynmaciStock/Getty Images Plus, and gutaperiStock/Getty Images Plus. Although the Constitution does not require it, the vast majority of elected officials in the United States place their hands on a Bible as they take the oath of office. This years congressional class made headlines with its unusually diverse selection of swearing-in materials, including a law book, a Buddhist text called the Sutra of Golden Light, and Thomas Jeffersons Koran. But while lawmakers are free to choose any text that is meaningful to them, few have had the courage to break tradition by choosing not just a different book than is generally expected, but many, many more books. By this measure, Ohios new governor, Mike DeWine, is a truly groundbreaking legislator. DeWine was sworn into office at 12:01 a.m. on Monday with not just one Bible, but nine. The brief ceremony took place at his home outside Dayton, and it was a family affair. His son, an Ohio Supreme Court justice, administered the oath. His granddaughter sang a hymn. And his wife, Fran, held the towering stack of Bibles for him while he took the oath. Lift with your legs, Fran. DeWine didnt pull this stunt merely to show off. (Anyway, Jesus was a big fan of conspicuous displays of piety.) The DeWines have said they will distribute seven of the Bibles to their children, which is nice. Each of the Bibles had a special family meaning, including one that belonged to Mike DeWines great-grandmother and a New Testament the family acquired years ago in Jerusalem. And to be fair, the mere fact that the DeWines own nine Bibles is not strange. The average American household has three Bibles, and its not at all uncommon for devout believers to own many more. What is unusual is putting them all in a teetering stack, forcing your wife to lift that stack as you are sworn into office, and then issuing a press release about it. In that context, this is a tremendous number of Bibles! Credit where its due: Swearing on a literal stack of Bibles is a next-level move for a politician. DeWine makes Donald Trump, who swore on two Bibles at his 2017 inauguration, look like an utter chump who is too poor to own nine Bibles and too weak to lift them. As one Twitter user put it, its the stuffing an entire eggplant down your leather pants of conservative political showmanship. And it seems to have paid off in publicity. The holy tower has been covered by the Christian Broadcasting Network, the Christian Post, and Fox News, among others. Still, allow me to register some concerns. No one loves a slippery-slope argument as much a conservative, so I hope this warning is taken seriously: DeWines power move portends an arms race in civil-religious posturing that Im not sure were prepared for as a culture. On the other hand, taking something good and making it so huge as to become grotesque and unwieldy is kind of Americas signature move. This is the land of not just the Big Gulp, but the 1.5-liter X-Treme Gulp. We brought you the six-blade razor, monster trucks, the Mall of America, and Lenny Kravitzs scarf. We have megachurches galore, a theme park with a life-size Noahs Ark, at least two 190-foot crosses, and the self-declared worlds largest Bible. In fact, the only thing more surprising than a nine-Bible swearing-in is that it took this long for someone to do it. | https://slate.com/human-interest/2019/01/ohio-governor-mike-dewine-bible-stack-oath.html |
How much snow did the storm bring to Southern California mountains? | At local mountains, where snowfall was plentiful at the start of the week, raindrops started falling from the sky Thursday. Its not the best news for those planning on hitting the slopes, as the rain turns the snow to mush. But theres a bright side to all this wet stuff: For lakes that have suffered from low levels in recent years, it means reservoirs are filling up. Around the state, snowpacks are near normal levels and local rain totals have surpassed whats expected this time of year. And when the rainstorms move out and blue skies replace the clouds starting Friday, it could be a great weekend for a snowy holiday getaway. Big Bear Mountain Resort Snow Summit and Bear Mountain have already this year passed snow totals from last year. (Photo courtesy of Big Bear Mountain Resort) Snow from a series of storms this week blanket a car in Mammoth, about a six hour drive from Southern California. (Photo courtesy Peter Morning/MMSA) Sound The gallery will resume in seconds A group take a moment to enjoy new snowfall this week at Mountain High in Wrightwood. (Photo courtesy mthigh.com) A skier heads down the slopes at Mountain High earlier this week after fresh snow hit local resorts. (Photo courtesy mthigh.com) Big Bear Mountain Resort Snow Summit and Bear Mountain have already this year passed snow totals from last year. (Photo courtesy of Big Bear Mountain Resort) Big Bear Mountain Resort Snow Summit and Bear Mountain have already this year passed snow totals from last year. (Photo courtesy of Big Bear Mountain Resort) A sign near Mammoth Mountain warns drivers to use chains on the snowy highway. (Photo courtesy of Peter Mornin/MMSA) The good news is, whatever snow we did get is a great base, said John McColly, director of marketing for Mountain High in Wrightwood. Rain and snow By the time Thursdays storm clears, some areas of Southern California will be at 100 percent or higher of rainfall averages expected for this time, according to Miguel Miller, forecaster for the National Weather Service in San Diego. John Wayne Airport, Long Beach and areas of Los Angeles, were within 130 to 140 percent of normal by midweek, and by the storms end could be 175 percent of normal so far for this wet season, which started on Oct. 1, he said. Its definitely helpful to get this rain this year to fill some of Southern California reservoirs and the Sierra snowpack, Miller said. It all helps, thats for sure. Statewide, snowpack levels are three percent above average. Chris Orrock, public affairs officer for the California Department of Water, said the recent run of storms has brought some good snow, so far, to the Sierras. Some areas got up to 8 feet of snow. This was a good storm, but its still early in the season, Orrock said. Theres still three months to go in the wet season, through April 1, and levels are at 50 percent of average for the entire season, he said. Its a pretty good, telling number. Its good for this snapshot in time, but we never know going forward. California climate is variable, he said. The only thing constant is its never constant. What Orrock does know is that the next two weeks are heading into a dry spell so its anyones guess how the season will play out. The technology is not there, he said. As a member of the volunteer ski patrol at Big Bear Mountain Resort, Richard Dunbar said last weekend had some of the best snow conditions hes seen at local mountains in a long time. It was beautiful, he said. Hes not too worried about the shot of rain that came down Thursday. Whatever precipitation comes down, the town needs it. It all flows back to the lake, which is good, Dunbar said. Justin Kanton, spokesman for Big Bear Mountain Resort, said storms earlier this week brought 3 to 6 inches of new snow, and the base is now 30 to 47 inches for the season with 100 percent of the mountain open. Snow Summit and Bear Mountain resorts have already surpassed last years total of 30 inches of natural snow for the entire season. An average season sees about 100 inches of natural snow. Overall, compared to last year, its night and day, he said. Were really happy with how the season has gone so far it should be clear this weekend; it should be a really good time for people if they are coming for the holiday weekend. Thursday rain One perk of the rain is that it will help get snow off the roads for those driving up for the holiday, Kanton said, noting that people should always check road reports before coming up the mountain. McColly said he got more powder days at Mountain High this week than he did all last season, until the storm moved in. The Wrightwood resort got about a foot of new snow early in the week. Mountain High shut down its lifts on Thursday to wait until the rain system passed. Mammoth Mountain also temporarily suspended operations Thursday during the storm, which brought heavy snowfall, extreme winds and thunder and lighting. The storm total for the week: 4 to 6 feet of snow, bringing the season total to more than 200 inches. | https://www.whittierdailynews.com/2019/01/17/how-much-snow-did-the-storm-bring-to-southern-california-mountains/ |
Why is Chinese state media blurring these actors' ears? | Image copyright iQiyi Image caption Actor Wang Linkai's ears are blurred in an episode of the TV show Sister's Flower Shop The decision by a popular Chinese video streaming platform to censor the ears of actors wearing earrings has sparked a heated debate online. Images taken from programmes produced by the Netflix-like streaming service iQiyi, show actors with large blobs covering their earlobes and have been widely shared online. The hashtag #MaleTVStarsCantWearEarrings has been used more than 88,000 times on Weibo where many users are expressing their outrage at the censorship. The controversy is the latest example of the heavy-handed blurring of TV programmes in China. Hip-hop culture, tattoos and LGBT symbols have all been censored. Image copyright iQiyi Image caption Some on Weibo pointed out the difference between actor Jing Boran's ears in episode one (L) and episode three (R) of the TV show 'I Actor' Many took to social media to argue that the censorship was driven by a desire to protect "traditional" gender roles. The affect of male celebrities displaying more "effeminate" characteristics has become a controversial issue in China in recent years. One Weibo user jokingly wrote: "Men who wear earrings are sissies, Genghis Khan's a sissy, we should block him, and kick him out of our history books." Others were quick to suggest a double standard, given that actresses did not have their earrings hidden. We've simply gone back 100 years," one user wrote. While another called the move "unspoken sexual discrimination". Image copyright iQiyi Image caption Weibo users commented on the difference between Lin Yanjun's ears and those of his female co-star Dee Hsu While the majority of comments were critical of the blurring, some wrote that they agreed with the decision. "I support the government moving to rule on this," one user wrote, "men should look like men." Some others commented to say they thought men wearing earrings was "strange" and "effeminate". Analysis: Kerry Allen, BBC Monitoring All TV broadcasters in China are state-owned, heavily regulated and subject to censorship. Domestic programmes must often submit papers to their local Communist party bureau at least two months in advance for official approval. For foreign TV broadcasts, this process can take even longer. Regulation has also extended beyond television to digital platforms, owing to people increasingly watching TV over the internet, and even broadcasting their own content. The popularity of live streaming apps unsettles the Chinese government, who want absolute control over anything that is broadcast. However, social media users have noted their dissatisfaction over a growing list of what they can and cannot watch. One Weibo user commented to question why actors wearing earrings was such a big issue. "Some people actually say this would negatively influence children. If wearing a stud is to blame for negatively influencing a child, how vulnerable is the country's education system?" Image copyright Weibo Various Chinese news publications report that the country's top media regulator has not issued a statement on the issue, despite repeated attempts to contact them. | https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-46902973 |
Is 10GbE ready for the small office? | The 1Gbps bandwidth of Gigabit Ethernet has been the standard for business computing, in laptops and servers, for several years. But now increasing demands for bandwidth, affordable high-speed fibre connections and falling prices on 10GbE equipment are making it time to think about upgrading your wired office network. The first 10Gb Ethernet technologies used optical fibre connections, which has made them pricey to install and best suited for high bandwidth data centres and server rooms. But 10GbE over copper uses familiar Ethernet cables with RJ45 connectors, and the prices and power consumptions of 10GbE switches are falling. For example, the line of switches Netgear is launching this month will be about 85 per port rather than the 300 we've seen so far. It's part of a trend that is making it realistic for a small business to consider putting in a high speed network. Ironically, one of the drivers for getting more bandwidth on a wired network is demand for wireless connections. As more employees bring phones and tablets to work they will want to connect via Wi-Fi. The new 802.11ac Wi-Fi standard allows one access point to offer higher speed connections to devices with faster wireless and slower connections to older devices, rather than dropping the speed of all connections to the lowest common denominator. It can also combine multiple streams to offer higher bandwidth to devices that have fast wireless chipsets. When 802.11ac becomes common in devices and wireless access points, "you will see the amount of traffic going through an access point jump tenfold" predicts Perry Correll of access point supplier Xirrus. That will require a faster connection between the wireless access points and an internet connection. The roll out of BT Infinity and the latest packages from Virgin Media offer speeds of up to 80Mbps at prices within the budget of most smaller businesses (and 160Mb BT Infinity, using a fibre connection all the way into the office, is starting to become available). Although 1Gb Ethernet is faster than these high speed connections, the faster the wired network the more you will get out of your broadband because the office network won't be congested or overloaded. Employees should have a better experience using VoIP and web conferencing services like Skype and Webex with a faster wired network in the office, especially if they're using video chat or sharing their screen. Also, the popularity of cloud storage services does not actually reduce the load on the office network, because users will be syncing existing files from the cloud and uploading new ones. Virtualisation drive But the biggest driver for 10GbE in the smaller office is virtualisation and server consolidation. "When you only have one application running on a server, a couple of Ethernet ports at 1Gb is more than enough bandwidth," points out Shaun Walsh of converged network company Emulex. "But when you're running five or 10 or maybe 15 applications on a single server, you will need more." You could add extra 1Gb network cards to your server, but 10GbE is the logical next step. And if you want to do storage virtualisation, 1Gb is not fast enough. While Netgear recommends the 12-port $2,000 (1,325) ProSAFE XS712T for storage virtualisation, for a smaller office you could use the Storage Spaces features in Windows Server 2012 with the $1,000 (660) 8-port ProSAFE Plus XS708E switch. You need to have 10GbE in the rack as well as on the server, and the price may hold back adoption (the 24-port Netgear ProSAFE XSM7224, which has features like iSCSI targeting and is designed to sit on the top of a rack, costs $6,000 or 4,000). Another factor is that servers come with 1Gb Ethernet ports on the motherboard at no extra cost, and increasingly that's four Ethernet ports rather than just one. | https://www.techradar.com/sg/news/networking/routers-storage/is-10gbe-ready-for-the-small-office-1144146 |
Whats next for Bills coordinators? | This is the next in a series analyzing the Buffalo Bills' most significant questions entering the offseason. Another round of NFL head-coaching changes is all but officially over. For the Buffalo Bills, not only does that mean Sean McDermott becomes their first head coach since 2013 to remain with them beyond two seasons, it also means theyll be going at least one more year with Brian Daboll as their offensive coordinator and Leslie Frazier as their defensive coordinator. Neither Daboll nor Frazier received so much as a nibble from any of the eight teams that replaced head coaches since the end of the 2018 season. There was speculation Daboll, after only one season with the Bills, would at least draw some interest simply because of the overwhelming trend in the league of giving the top job to those who coach offense. According to TheBigLead.com, 20 of the NFLs 32 head coaches have offensive backgrounds, while 12 emanate from the defensive side. The data presumes that multiple media reports that have the Cincinnati Bengals hiring Los Angeles Rams quarterbacks coach Zac Taylor to replace Marvin Lewis and the Miami Dolphins hiring New England Patriots linebackers coach Brian Flores to replace Adam Gase are correct. Its fair to say Dabolls credentials stacked up with those of the six first-time head coaches hired. Besides his 11 seasons on Bill Belichicks Patriots staff, Daboll also spent 2017 as Nick Sabans OC for Alabamas run to a national championship. Nevertheless, that didnt stop the Green Bay Packers from going with Matt LaFleur after only two NFL seasons as an OC with the Tennessee Titans and Rams or the Arizona Cardinals going with Kliff Kingsbury after he went from a head coach with a 35-40 record at Texas Tech to OC at USC, from where he resigned almost as quickly as he arrived to join the Cards. It didnt stop the Cleveland Browns from promoting Freddie Kitchens to head coach after he spent only the final eight games of last season as a first-time offensive coordinator or the Bengals from possibly hiring Taylor after he spent the past two years as the Rams quarterbacks coach and assistant wide receivers coach. Besides the Bills and the Crimson Tide, Daboll has been an offensive coordinator for the Browns, Dolphins and Kansas City Chiefs. On the plus side, he has extensive exposure to the Patriots-Tom Brady dynasty and ranks as one of the better former Belichick assistants when it comes to communicating with players. The biggest negative, some league insiders say, is the fact the Bills were 6-10 in 18 and their offense ranked 30th in total yards and 31st in passing yards. Rookie quarterback Josh Allen showed solid progress as a passer, but there are those within the NFL who believe he needs to make far bigger strides with his throwing while becoming less dependent on his running and the Bills must win more games to make Daboll a more attractive candidate next year. That could be asking too much on a team thats expected to undergo a major overhaul of its offensive line (which will be guided by a new coach after Juan Castillos dismissal) and its pass-catching corps. But Daboll could do his resume huge favors if hes able to successfully guide Allen and the rest of the offense through the likely turbulence ahead. Meanwhile, Fraziers four seasons as head coach of the Minnesota Vikings (2010-13) would figure to work to his advantage, along with helping the Bills despite their many shortcomings elsewhere having the No. 2 overall defense in the NFL in yards allowed and the leagues top pass defense. His biggest negative is timing. Except for Miami and Denver (which hired former Chicago Bears DC Vic Fangio), teams seeking new coaches clearly wanted someone who make their offenses (and especially their quarterbacks) better. Depending on how things go during the 2019 season, that trend could very well continue. The Bills greatest benefit in retaining Frazier is the ability to maintain coaching continuity with the player they project will be a longtime star on defense, rookie middle linebacker Tremaine Edmunds, and a secondary that includes the highly talented trio of safeties Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer and cornerback TreDavious White. | https://buffalonews.com/2019/01/13/buffalo-bills-brian-daboll-leslie-frazier-sean-mcdermott-nfl-football/ |
Can Nancy Pelosi delay Trumps State of the Union address amid government shutdown? | Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has asked President Donald Trump to postpone his State of the Union address, initially scheduled for 29 January, for as long as the partial government shutdown continues. In a letter she sent to the president on Wednesday, Ms Pelosi suggested that Mr Trump reschedules his address, deliver it from the Oval Office, or perhaps send it over in written form to Capitol Hill, citing that the government shutdown compromises security arrangements for the event. The government shutdown is reaching its 27th day, the longest federal closer in American history, impacting more than 800,000 federal employees, including some currently out of work, and others forced to work without pay. In the letter, dated on January 16, Ms Pelosi said that the partial government shutdown brings up security concerns for the State of the Union address. Traditionally, the event gathers senior officials from all three branches of government to Capitol HIll for the presidential address. Sadly, given the security concerns and unless government re-opens this week, I suggest that we work together to determine another suitable date after government has re-opened for this address or for you to consider delivering your State of the Union address in writing to the Congress on January 29th, Ms Pelosi wrote. The Constitution is pretty straightforwardIt states that the president can, from time to time give to the Congress information on the State of the Union. The founding document does not mention or require that the president to make a formal speech or a presidential address every year. Yes. In fact, a lot of presidents throughout the 19th century issued their State of the Union address in the form of a letter. Indeed President Woodrow Wilson, in 1913, resurrected the practice of delivering a formal speech to Congress, one that was started by George Washington and followed by John Adams. In order for the president to deliver a speech to Congress, they must receive an invitation, and a joint resolution must be passed by both the House and Senate. This process is typically considered a formality, but with nearly a month-long shutdown ongoing, it is being taken more seriously. Several weeks after Ms Pelosi invited Mr Trump to deliver his State of the Union address, Congress has yet to pass a resolution confirming the invitation. No. If Mr Trump, somehow, delivers his State of the Union address to Congress with all senior officials attending, he will be the first to do so. There were, however, other cases when the president delivered their formal presidential address during times of strain. For example, in 1998, former President Bill Clinton delivered his State of the Union address to the Republican-controlled Congress about one week after his affair with Monica Lewinsky was exposed. His following State of the Union address in 1999 occurred during the impeachment proceedings generated from the affair. | https://news.yahoo.com/nancy-pelosi-delay-trump-state-221912771.html |
Could Buckeye Partners Be a Millionaire-Maker Stock? | Last year was a brutal one for investors in Buckeye Partners (NYSE: BPL). The pipeline- and terminal-operating master limited partnership (MLP) nosedived 41.5% during 2018 as investors grew increasingly concerned about the company's finances. That forced Buckeye Partners to take drastic action to improve its financial profile. After plunging last year, Buckeye Partners could have significant bounce-back potential if it gets its finances back on solid ground and starts growing again. However, it will need to engineer a lot more than a turnaround to turn investors into millionaires. $100 bills on a flat surface. More Image Source: Getty Images. The math to $1 million It's mathematically possible to turn a small upfront investment into $1 million due to the wonders of compounding. For example, $1,000 invested in the S&P 500 should grow into $1 million in about 75 years, assuming the market continues to deliver an average annual return of 10% per year. Investors can speed up that path to $1 million by investing more money or choosing a higher-returning investment, as seen in the examples in the following table: Initial Investment Annualized Return Years to $1 Million $10,000 10% 48 $1,000 16.6% 45 $10,000 16.6% 30 Data source: Author's calculations. The lost decade Unfortunately, investors in Buckeye Partners haven't come close to even matching the market's return over the past 10 years, let alone outperforming. Overall, the company's units have managed to lose more than 10% of their value over the last decade -- though investors haven't performed that poorly since the company's high-yielding dividend over that time frame pushed its total return to more than 80%. However, that still has vastly underperformed the S&P 500, which has generated a total return of more than 285% over that time frame. Buckeye had been outperforming the market for much of that time, but lost its footing in 2017 as concerns started growing about its finances because the company spent heavily on acquisitions and growth projects, which stretched its balance sheet too thin. The company's worst move came in early 2017, when it paid $1.15 billion to buy a 50% interest in VTTI's global marine terminal business. The MLP paid a high price for that deal, which didn't work out as planned. As a result, the company ended up selling its stake last year for $975 million, as well as another package of assets for $450 million, to improve its financial profile. In addition to that, it slashed its high-yielding dividend. The strategic moves Buckeye made toward the end of 2018 significantly strengthened its financial metrics, which should ease the market's worries about its balance sheet. Meanwhile, the dividend reduction will enable the company to retain about $300 million in annual cash flow that it can use to finance expansion projects. These moves should put Buckeye Partners in a better position to grow its earnings at a healthy pace going forward, which, when added to its still-attractive 9.5%-yielding distribution, could help it outperform the market in the future, especially if its valuation improves after last year's crash. However, for Buckeye to turn a small investment into a $1 million payday, it would need to outperform for decades. That doesn't seem likely because the company's bread-and-butter business is moving and storing fossil fuels used mainly for transportation like gasoline, jet fuel, and diesel. While demand for transportation fuels is expected to rise 30% by 2040 according to ExxonMobil's latest long-term outlook, accelerated adoption of electric vehicles, as well as continued gains in fuel efficiency, are major headwinds. Meanwhile, growth could stall beyond 2040 as things like autonomous electric vehicles begin disrupting the transportation market and demand for fossil fuels. Because of that, it will be challenging for Buckeye to expand at a fast enough pace in the decades to come so that it can deliver millionaire-maker returns unless it pivots into a rapidly growing market such as renewables. | https://news.yahoo.com/could-buckeye-partners-millionaire-maker-003600197.html |
Will Netflixs Sex Education Be Renewed for Season 2? | A killer soundtrack, messages of sex positivity, humor, heart, and a whole lot of guy-liner. Theres a lot to praise in Netflixs fantastic new British comedy, Sex Education. Audiences are buzzing over the shows tenacity in tackling heavy teenage problems like abortion and homophobia while balancing them out with lighter bits like orgasms, young love and everything in betweenand with pulsating hormones ruling their world, all of these issues are very real to the teenage human experience. Since its debut last week, the eight-episode series has been certified 90% Fresh, with critics praising it for its woke comedic raunch, refreshing diversity, and ability to subvert teen sex-romp tropes. With Netflixs renewal of other teen shows like Elite and The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina coupled with positive reviews, chances are high that Otis and his pals will re-open their sex clinic and continue exploring their sexual ineptitude. Im actually obsessed with sex education on netflix. Its fun and ridiculous but it also shamelessly tackles so many important themes LGBT+ issues, abortion, revenge porn, drug use, insecurity etc. Definitely the kind of show we need to help break down sexual taboos Calum McSwiggan (@CalumMcSwiggan) January 12, 2019 In the show, Otis Milburn is an inexperienced, socially awkward high school kid who lives with his divorced mother, a sex therapist. Surrounded by his mothers work and her non-stop sex talk, Otis becomes somewhat of a reluctant expert on the subject. When his home life is outed at school, decides to use his knowledge to gain status and make a little money on the side. He teams up with Maeve, a whip-smart bad-girl (on the surface), and together they open an underground sex therapy clinic at school to help their classmates with their weird and wonderful sex problems. Each episode typically starts with a students sex-related dilemma which Otis eventually helps solve. While Otis is on the job, the show builds a wide web of characters to explore, setting up new storylines and new characters to develop should a second season occur. Adding to Sex Educations impressive critical reception, the show has made quite a splash on the internet this past week. Many have tweeted about the shows dedication to authenticity and its bravery to dive headfirst into sexual taboo. Hell, it only took four days for the show to achieve the Holy Grail of burgeoning culty fandoms: the Buzzfeed quiz. (I got Otis.) Star Gillian Anderson even seems to be having a blast promoting the series. If Netflixs own See Whats Next Twitter account is to be believed, a lot of people have watched the show already in just one weeks time. The account reported #SexEducation has come out with a bang the smart and emotional series is on pace to be watched by over 40 million accounts over its first month. So while nothing is guaranteed, Id say theres a solid chance that Sex Ed class will be back in session next year. I understand that Sex Education only premiered on @Netflix two days ago, but.I would like season 2 immediately, please. Right now. These are my demands. https://t.co/gH0V4TUzia alanna bennett (@AlannaBennett) January 14, 2019 While Netflix has yet to confirm a second season (and probably wont for a while), creator Laurie Nunn spoke about continuing the stories of Otis, Maeve, and the rest of the Moordale High students. Series one is very much Otis journey, Nunn told Thrillist. If were lucky enough to get a series two we will always come back to Otis. Hes a fantastic leading character but the fact that weve got this great ensemble and these amazing young actors who have also just brought so much to those characters. It just feels like they could go anywhere. Nunns show doubles down on a very particular aesthetic, mashing up retro music and style with contemporary flair. While some have found the overall feel to be confusing (particularly British viewers), the show can be seen as an homage to the 70s and 80s or as a modern memoir of todays youth culture. Personally, I think the wide net of clothing, music, and visual choices simply broadens the shows appeal. (Dont even get me started on its amazing soundtrack.) Fingers crossed that Otis and co. find a sizable audienceSex Education is the best show of the year thus far. (Yes, I realize its only the 17th of January. The sentiment stands!) Sex Education is now available to stream on Netflix. READ NEXT: WATCH: Gillian Anderson Embarrasses Her Son in New Sex Education Trailer | https://heavy.com/entertainment/2019/01/netflix-sex-education-renewed-season-2/ |
What can a freeholder do when a leaseholder hasnt paid their bills? | Q I own the freehold of the building I live in. One leaseholder has not paid his share of the bills for two years, despite court judgments against him, as well as causing water damage to another flat. A Forfeiture occurs when a landlord prematurely ends a lease under an express power. Leases almost always allow landlords to forfeit if a leaseholder breaches their obligations by, for example, failing to pay rent. This provision is known as a proviso for re-entry because it usually states that the landlord can re-enter a premises if the leaseholder is in default. Given that landlords will not generally have to pay compensation for forfeiting long residential leases, the courts and parliament have imposed stringent | https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/what-can-a-freeholder-do-when-a-leaseholder-hasnt-paid-theirbills-3g7wnzc5k |
Who makes the best fried chicken sandwich in the Bay Area? | In the past year, a flock of new chicken shops have made fowl a favorite among Bay Area foodies, raising the classic, yet trendy fried chicken sandwich to new levels of fandom. Certainly the chickens crispness and crunch factor. We want to hear your opinion, so much so that were launching a contest to discover the best fried chicken sandwich in the Bay Area. Send us the name of the eatery and a description of the sandwich please include a photo of that sandwich, too and tell us why its your favorite. Email your fried chicken sandwich nominations to [email protected] by Feb. 4, then well put it to a vote. Happy crunching. For more food and drink coverage follow us on Flipboard. | https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/01/17/who-makes-the-best-fried-chicken-sandwich-in-the-bay-area/ |
Who Is Pepas Married Boyfriend Aundre Dean? | Sandra Pepa Denton has a new boyfriend on the reality series Growing Up Hip Hop. At the end of season three, Denton, 51, revealed that she was dating her bodyguard Aundre Dean. Aundre is an aspiring rapper and is currently going through a messy divorce with his wife. Learn more about him below. Aundre, 29, was born in Houston, Texas. According to Earn the Necklace, Aundre and his biological sister were regularly between foster homes as children, and occasionally lived with their grandmother in Alief. Both children was eventually adopted by Jennifer and Mike Dean and moved to Katy, Texas. Aundre was in fifth grade at the time. He grew up with two additional sisters in the Dean family, Shannon and Tiffany; and worked part-time for his mother at Deans Professional Services, which is a staffing firm in Houston. Aundre Previously Played College Football for UCLA & TCU Aundre became a notable athlete as he got older. He was the running back for the Katy High School football team, where he made it to state championships. He also ran track and field. In 2008, he committed to playing football at UCLA and joined the Bruins as a true freshman. However, injuries caused his playing time to be limited for a season. Aundre chose to transfer Texas Christian University, but he sat out the 2009 season due to NCAA rules. He played more consistently from 2010 to 2012 at TCU, but nagging injuries derailed his chances for becoming a professional. In 2013, Aundre graduated from TCU with a BA in broadcast journalism. Since then, hes pursued several different careers in the entertainment industry. He acted as the comic relief on the 2014 E! reality series Escape Club. He acted Charles S. Dutton and Vivica A. Fox in the 2015 film Carter High. He also served as a talk show host on Black Hollywood Live, and he a regular on How to Make a Reality Star. The YBF also reports that Aundre once acted in a gay pornographic film titled Jock Physical. He Worked As an Actor & Model Before Becoming Pepas Bodyguard As a model, Aundre has done ad campaigns for notable brands like Nike and Gillette. He continues to post photos from his modeling gigs on his Instagram. He found it difficult to land acting roles once he moved out to Los Angeles, so he began working security at a nightclub. From there he got picked up as Pepas bodyguard and a supporting cast member on Growing Up Hip Hop. Pepa and Dean are still a couple in season four, and the online sneak peak showed the former gushing about their relationship to her daughter Egypt Criss. Now Im dating Aundre who used to be my bodyguard. Its good for me. It feels good. It feels right. She said that she was super happy with him. Pepa, along with music mogul Dame Dash, is also helping Aundre develop his career as a singer. Aundre has a YouTube account under the name Dre Dean, where he releases songs and music videos. His most recent upload, the single Anything You Can Do, was released in August, and his debut EP Resilient is currently available for streaming on Apple Music. Aundre has two sons with his wife Jordyn Taylor, who he is currently divorcing and who has complained that his public affair with Pepa has damaged her reputation. Learn more about Taylor and her legal complications with Aundre below. | https://heavy.com/entertainment/2019/01/aundre-dean-pepa-bodyguard-boyfriend/ |
What Time Will Carmen Sandiego Premiere on Netflix? | Netflixs Carmen Sandiego is coming soon to a small screen near you. The animated series will feature Gina Rodriguez (Jane the Virgin) as the titular heroine (villain?) and Stranger Things Finn Wolfhard as Player, Carmens friend and accomplice. Netflix typically drops its new shows around 3 a.m. ET on the shows set release date. There are aberrations to the rule for shows that are viewed as Event TV (think Orange is the New Black or Arrested Development), but Carmen should make her debut right on schedule, and what time you can watch the show will depend on what time zone youre in: Release Times in the U.S. (January 18) 12:01 a.m. Pacific 1:01 a.m. Mountain 2:01 a.m. Central 3:01 a.m. Eastern 10:01 p.m. Honolulu (January 17) 11:01 p.m. Alaska (January 17) Release Times Outside of the U.S. (January 18) 5:01 p.m. Queensland 6:01 p.m. Eastern Daylight AU 5:31 p.m. South Australia 4:31 p.m. Northern Territory 3:01 p.m. Western Australia 8:01 p.m. New Zealand 7:01 a.m. GMT 9:01 a.m. Central European Time 4:01 p.m. Japan/South Korea 2:01 p.m. Indochina Time 11:01 a.m. Gulf Standard Time 3:01 p.m. China/Philippines/Malaysia 10:01 a.m. Eastern Europe Summer Time According to the streaming giants official description, Carmen is a modern day Robin Hood traveling the globe and stealing from V.I.L.E. and giving back to its victims. Carmen is publicly perceived as a criminal by most law enforcement agencies correction, make that a master criminal due to the sheer scale and theatricality of her heists. We will follow her escapades and get to determine not only where but who in the world is Carmen Sandiego? The original Carmen SandiegoRita Morenos cameo is everything! Tune in for more in the premiere this Friday! #carmensandiego pic.twitter.com/oRVciDHBTe Carmen Sandiego (@CarmenSandiego) January 16, 2019 The series will aim to be both educational and entertaining (much like the video games before it) with capable hands at the helm. Duane Capizzi (The Batman) serves as the series showrunner and CJ Kettler (The Tick) is an executive producer. Collider wrote: Its a smart, contemporary update to the classic character, one that takes her from chic sneak-thief to a fanciful Robin Hood-like figure, buoyed by a rich performance from Gina Rodriguez that makes this new Carmen instantly likeable and relatable. The first couple episodes unravel an hour-long origin story weaved throughout Carmens latest heist. Rather than focusing on the ACME detectives and other law enforcement on her tail, the series follows the titular woman in red as we learn that the real question isnt where in the world Carmen Sandiego is, but rather, who she is. As Comicbook TV explains, As an orphan, Carmen was taken in and raised by a school for professional thieves. As she got older, Carmen learned that [her] school was actually an organization of super-villains called V.I.L.E., and that she and her classmates were being taught to become villains themselves. So she decided to escape and take things into her own hands. The site called the show a thoughtful, action-packed homerun writing: Its action-packed, educational, and downright fun the majority of the time. There are a ton of characters to love, but it never feels as though the roster is too over-crowded for kids to get lost with whats going on. | https://heavy.com/entertainment/2019/01/carmen-sandiego-premiere-netflix/ |
What is going on with suspended Kansas forward Silvio De Sousa and the NCAA? | Welcome to FTW Explains: A guide to catching up on and better understanding news going on in the world. You might have seen the news about suspended Kansas forward Silvio De Sousa battling for his NCAA eligibility. We're here to help. De Sousa is a 6-foot-9 forward from Angola who first played for the Jayhawks last season. A highly touted four-star recruit, he graduated from high school early and joined Kansas for the second half of the season to boost a thin frontcourt. He broke out in Kansas' Big 12 tournament championship win, scoring a career-high 16 points on 8-of-8 shooting against West Virginia. He saw major minutes in the Elite Eight and Final Four and was expected to be key contributor for the Jayhawks this season. De Sousa's name was at the center of last year's federal trials stemming from the FBI's investigation into corruption in college basketball. Former AAU coach and Adidas consultant T.J. Gassnola testified that he helped arrange payments to De Sousa's guardian in exchange for De Sousa's commitment to Kansas -- Adidas' flagship NCAA partner. There was no indication that De Sousa himself had any knowledge of payments. Still, Kansas elected to sit the star forward before the season and allow the NCAA to review his eligibility. De Sousa still hasn't played, nor has the NCAA ruled on the case. Jayhawks forward Silvio De Sousa is still waiting on the NCAA. A season-ending injury to starting center Udoka Azubuike has since added urgency to De Sousa's case. Coach Bill Self pulled the redshirt on freshman guard Ochai Agbaji and has grown increasingly frustrated on the hold-ups in De Sousa's case. The Athletic reported that in an attempt to expedite a ruling on De Sousa, Kansas has declared the sophomore ineligible, formally acknowledged the infraction ($2,500 in impermissible payments) and, as a result, asked for immediate reinstatement. De Sousa has already missed 17 games this season, exceeding the 13-game suspension that violation would have warranted. According to the NCAA's matrix regarding infractions, an improper payment of $2,500 most likely would yield a penalty that the player is suspended for 30 percent of the team's season. No. On Thursday, attorney Scott Tompsett released a statement on De Sousa's behalf, calling for the NCAA to immediately reinstate him. Tompsett claimed that the NCAA is punishing De Sousa for actions allegedly taken by adults without De Sousa's knowledge. "It's time for the NCAA to be fair to Silvio and immediately reinstate his eligibility," he wrote. That's difficult to say. The NCAA is notoriously inconsistent in dealing with these cases, and the FBI investigation has left the organization embarrassed. But Kansas is doing all it can to get De Sousa back on the court, going all-in by self-declaring De Sousa ineligible. Kansas had a similar situation last season with Billy Preston, and he ultimately left the team instead of waiting on the NCAA. | https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ftw/2019/01/17/suspended-kansas-forward-silvio-de-sousa-lawyer-asks-ncaa-reinstate/38915791/ |
Should Tobacco Age be 21? | Below is the closed-captioning text associated with this video. Since this uses automated speech to text spelling and grammar may not be accurate. tobacco age-stinger-2 tobacco use among teens is a growing concern across the country. that's prompting a proposal in a local community to raise the legal age to purchase tobacco from 18 to 21. that's conversation is in its beginning stages in albert lea. tobacco age-llminipkg-3 "they're still gonna get their hands on it somewhere." gilbert johnson thinks people under age 21 are still going to find a way to use tobacco products - even if they wouldn't be able to legally purchase it anymore. according to blue zones project albert lea's facebook page... a community well-being improvement initiative... they approached the city about changing the age. the community members i spoke to in downtown albert lea were mostly in consensus: they don't think it's a bad idea - but aren't sure if people's habits will actually change. tobacco age-llminipkg-4 other people i talked to who declined to be on camera told me that they're in favor of raising the age, however they're curious about how this will affect 18, 19, and 20 year olds who already smoke. in albert lea annalise johnson kimt news 3. / one city council member tells us the discussion will likely be brought to a public forum in the coming weeks - for residents to weigh in on if they'd like to see the age be raised - or not. / it's a | https://www.kimt.com/content/video/504515142.html?ref=142 |
Will Chinas Moon Landing Launch a New Space Race? | Even if Chinas rise heralds a new space race, not all consequences will be negative, writes Wendy Whitman Cobb. (B eeBright/Shutterstock.com) By Wendy Whitman Cobb, Cameron University The Conversation China became the third country to land a probe on the Moon on Jan. 2. But, more importantly, it became the first to do so on the far side of the moon, often called the dark side. The ability to land on the far side of the moon is a technical achievement in its own right, one that neither Russia nor the United States has pursued. The probe, Change 4, is symbolic of the growth of the Chinese space program and the capabilities it has amassed, significant for China and for relations among the great power across the world. The consequences extend to the United States as the Trump administration considers global competition in space as well as the future of space exploration. One of the major drivers of U.S. space policy historically has been competition with Russia particularly in the context of the Cold War. Chinas Achievements Like the U.S. and Russia, the Peoples Republic of China first engaged in space activities during the development of ballistic missiles in the 1950s. While they did benefit from some assistance from the Soviet Union, China developed its space program largely on its own. Far from smooth sailing, Mao Zedongs Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution disrupted this early programs. The Chinese launched their first satellite in 1970. Following this, an early human spaceflight program was put on hold to focus on commercial satellite applications. In 1978, Deng Xiaoping articulated Chinas space policy noting that, as a developing country, China would not take part in a space race. Instead, Chinas space efforts have focused on both launch vehicles and satellites including communications, remote sensing and meteorology. This does not mean the Chinese were not concerned about the global power space efforts can generate. In 1992, they concluded that having a space station would be a major sign and source of prestige in the 21st century. As such, a human spaceflight program was re-established leading to the development of the Shenzhou spacecraft. The first Chinese astronaut, or taikonaut, Yang Liwei, was launched in 2003. In total, six Shenzhou missions have carried 12 taikonauts into low earth orbit, including two to Chinas first space station, Tiangong-1. In addition to human spaceflight, the Chinese have also undertaken scientific missions like Change 4. Its first lunar mission, Change 1, orbited the moon in October 2007 and a rover landed on the moon in 2013. Chinas future plans include a new space station, a lunar base and possible sample return missions from Mars. The most notable feature of the Chinese space program, especially compared to the early American and Russian programs, is its slow and steady pace. Because of the secrecy that surrounds many aspects of the Chinese space program, its exact capabilities are unknown. However, the program is likely on par with its counterparts. In terms of military applications, China has also demonstrated significant skills. In 2007, it undertook an anti-satellite test, launching a ground-based missile to destroy a failed weather satellite. While successful, the test created a cloud of orbital debris that continues to threaten other satellites. The movie Gravity illustrated the dangers space debris poses to both satellites and humans. In its 2018 report on the Chinese military, the Department of Defense reported that Chinas military space program continues to mature rapidly. Despite its capabilities, the U.S., unlike other countries, has not engaged in any substantial cooperation with China because of national security concerns. In fact, a 2011 law bans official contact with Chinese space officials. As a space policy researcher, I can say the answer is yes and no. Some U.S. officials, including Scott Pace, the executive secretary for the National Space Council, are cautiously optimistic about the potential for cooperation and do not see the beginning of a new space race. NASA Administrator Jim Brindenstine recently met with the head of the Chinese space program at the International Astronautical Conference in Germany and discussed areas where China and the U.S. can work together. However, increased military presence in space might spark increased competition. The Trump administration has used the threat posed by China and Russia to support its argument for a new independent military branch, a Space Force. Regardless, Chinas abilities in space are growing to the extent that is reflected in popular culture. In Andy Weirs 2011 novel The Martian and its later film version, NASA turns to China to help rescue its stranded astronaut. While competition can lead to advances in technology, as the first space race demonstrated, a greater global capacity for space exploration can also be beneficial not only for saving stranded astronauts but increasing knowledge about the universe where we all live. Even if Chinas rise heralds a new space race, not all consequences will be negative. Wendy Whitman Cobb, associateprofessor of Political Science, Cameron University This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. | https://consortiumnews.com/2019/01/17/will-chinas-moon-landing-launch-a-new-space-race/ |
Is Beau Ryan going on I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here? | Beau Ryan looks set to appear on I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! Earlier this week, Channel 10 teased that a 'footy show' star would be the first 'intruder' in the South African jungle camp. If the network is referring to the actual Footy Show, 33-year-old Beau seems to be the most likely candidate. Channel 10 has hinted a 'footy show' star will be heading into the South African jungle He recently signed with Channel 10 to appear on Sunday Night Takeaway which, coincidentally, is hosted by I'm A Celebrity presenters Julia Morris And Dr Chris Brown. Beau previously worked on Channel Nine's The NRL Footy Show for years, alongside the likes of Erin Molan and Paul Vautin. Since rising to fame as a rugby league star, the father-of-two has enjoyed an impressive career in television and radio. Intruder alert! Beau recently signed with Channel 10 to appear on Sunday Night Takeaway which, coincidentally, is hosted by I'm A Celebrity presenters Julia Morris And Dr Chris Brown Dr Chris previously praised Beau, who is known for his on-screen pranks, when it was announced last year he was joining Sunday Night Takeaway. 'He's a first-class live performer and brings warmth, charm and humour that'll make our Takeaway the complete family experience,' he said. Julia added: 'We are so excited to have Beau joining our little family. The laughter will be flowing and I will be in the ultimate showbiz sandwich.' Dr Chris Brown (left) previously praised Beau, who is known for his on-screen pranks, when it was announced last year he was joining Sunday Night Takeaway. Pictured on set of I'm A Celebrity with co-host Julia Morris Meanwhile, Beau isn't the only TV star rumoured to be heading into the jungle as an 'intruder'. Earlier this week, Love Island winner Grant Crapp hinted he was flying to South Africa to settle a score with Gogglebox's Angie Kent and Yvie Jones. 'You both have another thing coming,' he wrote on Instagram alongside a short video of himself on a commercial flight. | https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-6604935/Is-Beau-Ryan-going-Im-Celebrity-Here.html |
What was the UKs most popular new car colour in 2018? | Grey has overtaken black as the UKs most popular new car colour. Motorists chose grey for more than 495,000 new cars in 2018, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). This market share of 21% saw the colour claim top spot for the first time since records began in 1996. (PA Graphics) Black was in second place at 20%, followed by white (18%), blue (16%) and red (10%). New car sales declined by 7% in 2018 with the industry blaming a number of issues. Orange and beige cars bucked the trend with increases of 37% and 28% to claim seventh and 10th place respectively. It is the first top 10 appearance of beige since 2014 as a number of new and upgraded models had the colour as an option. SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes said: There are more opportunities than ever to personalise your new car to your exact taste, and UK motorists have approached the challenge with gusto in 2018. With around 80 new or upgraded models coming to market in 2019 equipped with the latest low and zero-emission powertrains, advanced safety tech and exciting comfort and convenience features, its great that buyers have so much to choose from. | https://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/pa/article-6605267/What-UK-s-popular-new-car-colour-2018.html |
What was the UKs most popular new car colour in 2018? | Grey has overtaken black as the UKs most popular new car colour. Motorists chose grey for more than 495,000 new cars in 2018, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). This market share of 21% saw the colour claim top spot for the first time since records began in 1996. Credit: PA Graphics Black was in second place at 20%, followed by white (18%), blue (16%) and red (10%). New car sales declined by 7% in 2018 with the industry blaming a number of issues. Orange and beige cars bucked the trend with increases of 37% and 28% to claim seventh and 10th place respectively. Sorry, this content isn't available on your device. | https://www.itv.com/news/2019-01-18/what-was-the-uks-most-popular-new-car-colour-in-2018/ |
Will Ray Washburne Become World Bank President? | Ray Washburne is among the finalists being considered for president of the World Bank, according to finance industry media sources. The prominent Dallas businessman, who owns Highland Park Village and leads Charter Holdings real estate investment company, is also the co-founder and co-owner of M Crowd Restaurant Group, which operates three restaurant concepts: Mi Cocina, Taco Diner and The Mercury. A former finance chairman of the Republican National Committee, Washburne was a 2017 appointment by President Donald Trump to head up the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, leading foreign investment capital and policy. According to The Financial Times: Mr Washburnes candidacy comes as the Trump administration begins to vet possible nominees for the top job at the World Bank, following the surprise announcement by Jim Yong Kim, the sitting president, that he would be stepping down for a job in private equity on February 1. Meanwhile, there are few signs that other countries are converging on an alternative nominee, though there is still ample time for such a thing to happen. The World Bank has set March 14 as the deadline for nominations. On Monday, the White House said Ivanka Trump, the presidents daughter, had been asked by Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary, and Mick Mulvaney, the chief of staff, to help manage the US selection. Ray Washburne sat down with D CEO for breakfast in this column from 2011. Check back here for updates on this developing story. | https://www.dmagazine.com/business-economy/2019/01/will-ray-washburne-become-world-bank-president/ |
When is the best time to buy a new CPU or GPU? | Picking the best CPU or graphics card is by no means an easy task. For most, factoring in everything from system temperatures to clock speeds is nothing short of a migraine. But, while dancing between Intel vs AMD and Nvidia vs AMD is a daunting decision: knowing when to buy your components is equally important. Like the question of what to buy, there's no straightforward answer to the best time to buy a CPU or GPU. Instead, it largely depends on your specific needs. Patience is a virtue The reality is, according to NewEgg SVP of Sales and Marketing Merle McIntosh, that it's impossible to recommend a single way for everyone looking to upgrade their rigs. "Everyone is on a different upgrade cycle," he tells us. "Some prefer the highest graphics settings and will upgrade the moment new cards are released, while many will seek out the previous generation of cards when the price is right for them." As we've seen in the last couple of months, the former group has flocked to Nvidia's "Founders Edition" cards, which, as we've noted in many of our reviews, are vastly overpriced considering the technical setbacks that accompany early adoption. New product launches frequently require a lot of waiting around for patches and potential recalls. With the Founders Edition Pascal cards in particular, users are expected to pay a $100 (around 76, AU$131) premium for nearly the same hardware as an aftermarket card from companies like EVGA or MSI. Plus, buying a new graphics card or CPU early will often results in issues that could otherwise be avoided with a little patience. Sure, it's tempting to get your hands on the newest tech who doesn't want VR-capable gaming for $240 (215, around AU$323) but, in some cases, you're better off either holding out for firmware updates or settling for earlier technology either discounted or used. Buying new and now Like with virtually any purchase, buying a GPU or CPU early isn't without its fair share of consequences. The Surface Book and Surface Pro 4, for example, both shipped at a time when Microsoft wasn't familiar enough with Intel's Skylake chips to avoid technical issues spanning almost a year. On the other hand, many of the issues you'll run into early on with a new CPU or GPU are firmware-related, meaning they can be patched over with easy-to-install driver updates. Otherwise, it doesn't hurt to buy a replacement plan if you're standing in line for one of AMD's new Bristol Ridge chips on day one. In fact, CPU and GPU sales on NewEgg are at their highest when a new product launches, McIntosh tells us. "When a new model of a CPU or GPU comes out, people snap them up," he says. "When a new monitor or a new complementary technology, such as VR, comes out, we see a pickup in sales, too. And naturally, during the holidays when we work with vendors to run promotions, we see another spike in sales." So, not only are CPUs and GPUs most popular when new ones come out, but the buzz surrounding Ultra HD monitors and virtual reality headsets, like the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift, are sure to stir upgrading interest as well. Even a new game release, like Overwatch, can entice PC enthusiasts to make the jump to a more competent CPU or GPU. Taming the impulse Waiting a few months after a new CPU or GPU launch is, ultimately, the happy medium between a risky pre-order and an outdated purchase. By then, reviews will be readily available for you to make an informed decision on which components are right for you, and any major firmware deficiencies should have already been addressed. If you can find an older part on the cheap, dramatically lower-priced than its modern day equivalent, it may be worth the compromise. Otherwise, it's usually more affordable in the long-run just to buy new. Nvidia's Titan X of yesteryear, for instance, has been significantly out-powered by the GeForce GTX 1070, which sells at a fraction of Titan's original cost. That said with new processing units being seeded annually at this point, there is some fear associated with buying an older CPU or GPU would only accelerate the obsolescence of your PC. In this case, you're better off forking out the cash for the latest budget-friendly offerings or waiting for a sale on the latest and greatest from AMD, Intel and Nvidia rather than holding out until the last-gen parts hit the bargain bins. After all, McIntosh says, "Some of the best cards rarely go down in price until they are nearly gone." This article is part of TechRadar's Silicon Week. The world inside of our machines is changing more rapidly than ever, so we're looking to explore everything CPUs, GPUs and all other forms of the most precious metal in computing. | https://www.techradar.com/news/computing-components/when-is-the-best-time-to-buy-a-new-cpu-or-gpu-1327003 |
Does Rihanna have a new luxe fashion brand up her sleeve? | Rihanna reportedly has a new luxury label in the pipeline. The singer-turned-fashion-designer is allegedly in talks with luxury conglomerate LVMH to launch a high-end fashion brand, reports WWD. The collaboration is rumoured to be spanning ready-to-wear, accessories and leather goods, and the superstar is said to have been working on the project with select employees from the conglomerate's Louis Vuitton and Celine brands. The Barbadian star has a wealth of experience in fashion design and has indulged her passion for creating clothes ever since she was snapped up to collaborate with the fast fashion brand River Island back in 2013. | https://www.timeslive.co.za/sunday-times/lifestyle/fashion-and-beauty/2019-01-18-is-rihanna-launching-a-luxury-fashion-brand/ |
Will Rihannas Rumored Fashion Label With LVMH Take Off? | In arguably her biggest power move yet, Rihanna is reportedly in talks with LVMH Mot Hennessy Louis Vuitton, parent company to Christian Dior, Fendi and Givenchy, to launch a fashion house under her own name, according to FNs sister publication, WWD. If confirmed, it would become the first fashion brand launched from inception by industry magnate Bernard Arnault since Christian Lacroix in 1987, and Rihanna would own the title as the first female designer of color at what is widely considered the largest luxury group in the world. Citing multiple sources, WWD added that LVMH has already handpicked a number of employees from brands like Louis Vuitton and Celine to work on the project with Rihanna and some of her top associates. (Details about the launch and its timing remain unknown.) With news of a potential sartorial venture, the question of whether RiRis fashion house will achieve success has inevitably surfaced. Historically, it might appear that celebrity-backed luxury fashion labels dont necessary live up to their A-list names partly because their target markets might not be able to afford their products high price points. According to a survey conducted by consumer intelligence research platform CivicScience, the income levels of Rihannas fans aged 18 to 34 skew lower, with 40 percent reporting incomes under $50,000. However, more than a quarter of respondents aged 35 years old and up take home $100,000 or more. The currently robust designer business, especially in footwear and handbags, suggests that consumers will stretch for what they deem as luxury, explained Beth Goldstein, executive director and industry analyst for accessories and footwear at The NPD Group Inc., who passed along the study. And the meaning of luxury has changed it can be tied to athleisure, streetwear, even more moderately priced startup brands because they are cool and functional. Its more about the brands story than the price. Additionally, the popularity of Rihannas lingerie collection and cosmetics line are a positive indicator. Last September, the megastar debuted Savage x Fenty at New York Fashion Week to much acclaim, while her Fenty Beauty brand has amassed about 6.3 million Instagram followers and was recognized as one of Time magazines best inventions of 2017. Rihanna has also earned her place among the industrys finest. She was named Fashion Icon of the Year at the CFDA Awards in 2014, signed a deal with Puma later that year to become its creative director, crowned with the Shoe of the Year honor at the 2016 FN Achievement Awards and most recently made best-dressed headlines at the 2018 Met Gala. 5 Allegations Rihanna Made Against Her Father In Her Fenty Trademark Lawsuit Rihanna & Puma Hit With Lawsuit Claiming Trademark Infringement | https://footwearnews.com/2019/fashion/designers/rihanna-lvmh-luxury-fashion-brand-1202731654/ |
Why does the L.A. teachers union want to limit the options for poor children? | HYPERBOLE, PASSION and spin have often trumped fairness, moderation and neutrality. Thats how a Los Angeles Times reporter characterized the dispute between the Los Angeles Unified School District and the teachers union in the days leading up to this weeks crippling strike. Nowhere is that description more apt than with the battle cry the union is sounding against public charter schools. The union seeks to pin the problems of the school system on charters which offer valuable education choices, are popular with parents and generally benefit minority and poor children. Teachers, librarians, counselors and others represented by United Teachers Los Angeles in the 600,000-student system, the second-largest in the country, walked off the job Monday after months of failed negotiations. How long the strike, the first in the city since a nine-day walkout in 1989, will last is unclear; we hope, for the sake of the students who are the ones most hurt by it, an agreement will be reached quickly. The two sides are close on salary but not on issues such as class size; additional counselors, nurses and other support staff; and more teacher control over school spending and testing. The sides fundamentally disagree about what the district can afford. The union, casting the impasse as a struggle over the future of public education, has taken direct aim at the charters, largely non-union, which enroll about 1 in 5 of all L.A. public school students. The union wants a cap on their growth, along with stricter regulation. Trotted out is the now-familiar and phony trope about charters draining or siphoning money from public schools. Charters are public schools. In California, they are operated by nonprofit organizations, and the money they receive is public per-pupil funding that follows students. It is not the districts money, nor the unions money; it is the students money. In Los Angeles, 88 percent of these students are Latino and black, and 82 percent are low-income. A 2015 Stanford University study found that students at charters in Southern California are learning more than their counterparts in traditional public schools. No question that charters must be held accountable, as all schools should be. Not the childrens. Teachers in Los Angeles, like those in West Virginia and other states that saw a wave of protests last year, are right to focus attention on the need for public support of public education. California, despite its liberal image, lags behind much of the country on education spending, and the union would be more than justified to address its protests to Sacramento. Depriving poor children of public-school options does not strike us as a progressive value. | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/why-does-the-la-teachers-union-want-to-limit-the-options-for-poor-children/2019/01/17/eb4a0946-19d5-11e9-8813-cb9dec761e73_story.html |
What roads will close in downtown SLO CA for Womens March? | Several streets in downtown San Luis Obispo will be closed to traffic and parking for Saturdays Womens March. City officials expect about 2,000 people to attend the annual event, organized by Womens March San Luis Obispo. Parts of several main thoroughfares in the downtown area will be off-limits during the Womens March, according to a city news release. Closed streets include parts of Pismo, Osos and Buchon streets, along with sections of other connectors to downtown such as Garden, Morro and Chorro streets. Digital Access for only $0.99 For the most comprehensive local coverage, subscribe today. The Womens March begins at 9 a.m. with a rally at Mitchell Park, followed by a march that will loop from the park to Osos, Higuera, Broad and Marsh streets. A protester holds a sign at the San Luis Obispo Womens March in January 2017. Laura Dickinson [email protected] The theme of the 2019 Womens March event is Truth to Power, referring to a record-breaking year of women running for office and speaking out against perpetrators of sexual violence. The Womens March organizers have been very good about coordinating with us and helping us ensure safety, San Luis Obispo Police Capt. Jeff Smith said. Well have additional police personnel on hand to monitor the rally and bring more resources on if the numbers are higher than expected. Stand-by help from other area public safety agencies will be available, San Luis Obispo officials said. Street closures on Osos and Pismo are scheduled to stay in effect until noon Saturday but could be opened as soon as the march ends, according to police. City staff is working closely with the Women's March organizers to ensure the event is safe & orderly for everyone involved. Event organizers expect 2000 to attend. Street closures scheduled between 6am and 1pm. #slopd pic.twitter.com/HsBrnpg1qo Deanna Cantrell (@slopdchief) January 17, 2019 The following streets will be no parking, tow away zones from 7 a.m. to as late as 3 p.m. Satyrdat: Higuera Street from Santa Rosa to Broad streets Marsh Street from Santa Rosa to Broad strees Morro, Chorro, Garden and Broad streets between Higuera and Marsh streets Osos Street from Monterey to Buchon street Pismo Street between Santa Rosa and Osos streets Higuera, Marsh and Broad streets will remain open for vehicle and pedestrian traffic only until the 15 minutes prior to the march. The city is committed to opening streets as soon as it is safe to do so, the release said. The public should plan on using Nipomo, Palm and Santa Rosa as primary detours around the event. | https://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/article224720120.html |
Why has the support for South Koreas President Moon Jae-in collapsed among young men? | Like many of his peers, 21-year-old Do Sang-won had high hopes for Moon Jae-in when he voted for him for president. After his predecessor Park Geun-hye was toppled in an extraordinary corruption scandal involving a confidante linked to a shamanistic cult, Moon seemed to embody a fairer and more just South Korea. But since the election Dos expectations have soured, and he is far from alone. Although Moon won the youth vote in May 2017, young South Korean men are now abandoning the president in droves and are less satisfied with his performance than any other demographic. In a survey carried out by South Korean polling firm Realmeter last month, just 29.4 per cent of men in their 20s said they approved of Moon, compared to 64.5 per cent of women in the same age bracket an even sharper divide than the much-discussed gender split among Democratic and Republican voters in the United States, where 23 percentage points separates male and female voters. Moons plummeting approval rating among younger men, which stood at 87 per cent soon after the election according to research company Gallup Korea, has been linked to a lacklustre jobs market, slowing economy, and his support for feminism in a country that is undergoing a polarising and sometimes vitriolic debate about gender. In the beginning, the intentions might have been pure advocating for womens rights but now it has changed quite a lot, said Do, a business administration student who believes that South Koreas feminism movement is mostly radical and paints all men as bad. In the past year, a home-grown #MeToo movement, protests calling for the legalisation of abortion and a crackdown on voyeurs who secretly film women in bathrooms and changing areas have rocked a society whose gender roles are rigidly shaped by patriarchal Confucian values. South Korea ranked 115 in the World Economic Forums Global Gender Gap Report 2018 largely because of the gulf in average pay between the sexes and a lack of women in senior business roles. In 2017, nine out of 10 women told rights group Womenlink that they did not feel they were treated as mens equals. Yet despite the rampant inequality, feminism remains a dirty word for many especially men. To the larger general public, it is usually something negative, unfortunately, said Seung-sook Moon, a female professor of sociology at Vassar College in New York who was born and raised in South Korea. My own sister, who is actually highly educated and a professional woman, doesnt like feminism. Even though she is a feminist in my view. South Koreans perceptions of feminism are starkly divided along gender lines. In a survey of 1,018 people carried out by Realmeter in December, just 14 per cent of men in their 20s said they supported feminism, compared with 64 per cent of their female peers. Still the president, who is a former human rights lawyer, has described himself as a feminist and promised to make gender equality in government and business a priority of his administration. That doesnt sit very well with the younger and also older generation of men who have been very much the social majority with a lot of privileges and power, said Moon, the sociology professor. For many South Korean men, the countrys feminist movement has become synonymous with double standards and even outright hatred of males. In November, the rapper San E sparked controversy by releasing the track Feminist, in which he criticised women who demanded more rights without volunteering for military service, which is mandatory for men but not women. Radical feminist forums such as Megalia and Womad, meanwhile, have provoked anger with their incendiary rhetoric, including jibes about the size of Korean mens genitals and calls for women to abort any fetus that is male. Generalising all men as hannam-chung is really absurd, said Do, referring to a slang term used online to liken Korean men to insects. Its so absurd that Im lost for words. It doesnt make any sense. With a battle of the sexes raging online, 56 per cent of South Koreans aged 19 to 29 named conflict between the genders as the most severe clash of opinions affecting society in another Realmeter opinion poll of 1,018 people in December. Men have been comfortable with traditional arrangements in marriage and the workplace, and now women are really raising questions and they are not really taking all the inequalities as a fact of life, said Moon, the sociology professor. So I think thats the reason why the social conflict between men and women as social groups has become very sharpened. The president, whose overall approval rating hovers below 50 per cent, has talked down the role that gender conflict plays in his flagging support among young men, and concedes that he should communicate better with the youth of South Korea to give them more hope for the future. I believe that society can advance in a mature direction as we experience these conflicts, he told a press conference earlier this month. But as far as many young men are concerned, the president shouldnt be taking sides. He should be more actively involved in the conflict between the sexes and try to find a middle ground where the sexes can come to an understanding, Do said. | https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/2182315/south-koreas-feminist-president-moon-loses-young-male-admirers |
Could Broadway Be Headed To THE TWILIGHT ZONE? | A stage adaptation of Rod Serling's television horror/sci-fi classic, The Twilight Zone, could be making its way across the pond. American playwright Anne Washburn (Mr. Burns, A Post-Electric Play) has selected and adapted eight classic stories out of the show's 156-episodes and arranged them for the stage, with some overlap between episodes. A sold-out production of the play directed by Olivier Award-winner Richard Jones is currently playing at The Almeida Theatre and will transfer to the West End in March, with potential for a future on Broadway. Read BWW's review of the Almeida Theatre production here. "The Twilight Zone" takes viewers to another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound, but of mind. Using socially conscious storytelling to explore the human condition and culture of the times. The classic sci-fi series explored humanity's hopes, despairs, prides and prejudices through thrilling writing and performances. Related Articles | https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Could-Broadway-Be-Headed-To-THE-TWILIGHT-ZONE-20190117 |
Who could benefit when biggest utility falls apart? | If theres one classic line in the controversial movie Vice, it probably comes early in the film, when then-Vice President Richard Cheney is portrayed thinking about the World Trade Center attacks of 9-11 as an opportunity, rather than a tragedy. So it might be today in California, where tragedies partly of its own making afflict the states largest utility, whose chief executive has left the firm just when it says it will declare bankruptcy. Pacific Gas & Electric Co. faces as much as $29 billion in uninsured lawsuit liabilities from homeowners and others harmed by the massive fires of the last two years, at least some of them started by sparks from PG&E electric transmission lines. Previously, the company suffered a criminal conviction and billions of dollars worth of fines and negative publicity over the 2010 natural gas pipeline explosion that killed eight persons in San Bruno. But just as the filmic Cheney is shown realizing that in other peoples misery lies potential opportunity for him, so it can also be in real life. Thats the case right now with PG&Es predicament. As the potential extent of the companys responsibility emerged in recent weeks, its stock price dropped precipitately, losing more than two-thirds of its previous value. Opportunity for others has been expanded both by statements from the state Public Utilities Commission about possibly breaking up PG&E because of both proven and possible misdeeds and by the companys own public comments. PG&E openly contemplates both bankruptcy and selling off its natural gas operations. Bankruptcy probably would help no one, as fire victims likely would not be paid fully. But two major players on the California utility scene could benefit from a PG&E breakup or selloff while keeping customers supplied with the energy they need. Those are investor Warren Buffetts Oregon-based PacifiCorp, owned by Buffetts Berkshire Hathaway investment firm, and San Diego-based Sempra Energy, parent of both the Southern California Gas Co. and San Diego Gas & Electric Co. PG&Es natural gas assets could make excellent synergy for both Buffett and Sempra, bidding rivals last year when Sempra paid more than $9 billion for 80 percent ownership of Oncor Electric Delivery Corp., the largest electric utility in Texas, serving Dallas, Fort Worth, Waco and other large cities. Though in expansion mode, Sempra last fall sold off 42 billion cubic feet of natural gas storage in the Deep South for $332 million, demonstrating both the companys readiness to wheel and deal and the fact it has cash on hand. Buffett, meanwhile, has bought up electric and gas utilities in 10 Western states. His PacifiCorp already serves 45,000 customers in several Northern California counties. Berkshire Hathaway also owns the Kern River gas pipeline, a major transporter of Colorado natural gas to California utilities. Berkshire Hathaway had no comment on reports it might be a bidder if PG&Es gas operations, which serve 4.5 million metered customers in a large swath of California including cities like San Francisco, Sacramento, San Jose and Bakersfield, come up for auction. Sempra also refused comment. Its SoCalGas and SDG&E units serve 6.5 million metered gas customers across Southern California. Each meter generally serves multiple persons. Related Articles No, the government shutdown isnt a crisis Lawmakers here today, gone to Maui The LA teachers strike is actually a win for charter schools and students Like Dr. King and Cesar Chavez, striking LAUSD teachers are fighting for justice Californias proposed water tax: Gavin Newsoms trickle down economics For both Buffett and Sempra, then, the synergies are obvious. Sempra, for one, could gain access to vast new supplies from the natural gas fields of western Canada, from which PG&E imports much of its supply. PG&E has said its gas operations might sell for more than $9 billion, but that could prove low if there is active bidding between Sempra and Buffett and especially if a surprise third party should enter the auction. A complete natural gas selloff to either large company might be more efficient and cost effective for consumers than selling off PG&Es gas operation piecemeal, as the state PUC has discussed. However this plays out, its clear PG&Es self-inflicted wounds present a major opportunity for others who could make hay with almost half that company. Which might also bring some satisfaction to disgruntled PG&E customers and homeowners harmed by the huge utilitys safety problems. Email Thomas Elias at [email protected]. | https://www.ocregister.com/2019/01/17/who-could-benefit-when-biggest-utility-falls-apart/ |
What Are The Risks Of Radiotherapy? | originally appeared on Quora: the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. Answer by Gary Larson, Board Certified Radiation Oncologist, on Quora: There are multiple potential risks of Radiation Therapy - hundreds - just as there are with virtually any medical procedure. Other than fatigue, all the side effects and potential complications are limited to the area being treated. For the treatment of many cancer types/areas, there are no side effects at all - and only a few late complications that the patient will never know are there. When someone embarks on a course of treatment, I go over all the side effects that are likely to happen and briefly mention the ones that are not. When I describe radiation myelitis (which can cause paralysis below the level of the spinal cord being treated), I also mention that over my 35 years of treating patients, Ive never had that happen to anyone. I tell them that it is possible they could be the first, but the likelihood is very, very remote. For some types of treatment, such as anal canal cancer or head and neck cancers, I emphasize and re-emphasize how miserable they will feel. I tell them that the only reason we put someone through such an experience is that dying from their cancer would be worse (and most of them will be trading a month or two of misery for the ability to live out the rest of their normal life). Many radiation side effects are amplified by the use of chemotherapy, which is useful in some, but not all cases. If you are going to have Radiation Therapy, your Radiation Oncologist will talk to you about whats involved in treatment. You should ask questions about anything that concerns you. There are many myths about radiotherapy based on old-wives tales about Aunt Mildreds treatment with a Cobalt machine in the seventies, so dont fret about phantom risks - ask your doctor instead. This question originally appeared on Quora - the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. You can follow Quora on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+. More questions: | https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2019/01/17/what-are-the-risks-of-radiotherapy/ |
Is Kmarts golden run over? | IT IS the definitive example of a retail turnaround. The ugly duckling of Australian shopping that became the golden goose; adored by customers for its natty Nordic homewares and cheap jocks, and by shareholders for its ever-fattening profit margins. Last year, the discounter booked profits of $470 million on sales growth of 5.4 per cent. However, in a trading update earlier this week, Kmart's owner Wesfarmers said that sales had slipped by 0.6 per cent. Hardly huge, but a worrying wobble nonetheless. A retail analyst has said: "Kmart's streak of like for like sales growth outperformance in discount department stores has likely come to an end." Even Kmart's own boss has admitted to in store hiccups in 2018 including a women's wear range that failed to inspire and taking the pedal off price cuts. Rob Scott, managing director of Wesfarmers that owns both Kmart and Target, said there was "more work to do" on the brand. "Kmart is in a period of transition and the team are working through improving productivity and efficiency to support its next phase of growth". Kmarts sales growth has slowed down causing concern to owner Wesfarmers. It's not the only department store under pressure as Australians throttle back on spending. On Thursday, corporate restructuring specialist James Stewart from turnaround firm Ferrier Hodgson said foot traffic at shopping centres had plummeted in the run-up to Christmas. He told The Australianthe retail market was the "worst in 20 years" with the number of shoppers down 15 per cent year-on-year in the week before Christmas. Already this year menswear chain Ed Harry has entered administration while Kathmandu has revealed it had a dire Christmas period. Retail spending in Australia rose by a paltry 0.2 per cent in November from the month before. The Westpac-Melbourne Institute consumer sentiment index rose by just 0.1 per cent in December. The authors seemed surprised that it had gone up by that much noting: "With falling house prices in Sydney and Melbourne, falling share markets, ongoing concerns around global trade wars and political uncertainty, it is reasonable to question why consumer sentiment has held up so well." There are tentative signs Big W and Target could be getting back into their stride. But don't be surprised if in 2019 some well-known department stores on the Australian main street struggle. Kathmandu performed under expectations this festive period. Wesfarmers' revelation that sales at Kmart has dropped by 0.6 per cent in the 2019 first half came as a shock. With Wesfarmers' sale of Coles last November, the success of Kmart is even more critical to the ongoing health of its parent's bottom line. The sales slowdown comes at a concerning time for Kmart. CEO Guy Russo, who was widely credited with turning around the chain by stripping out brands and cutting prices, retired in November. One theory is Woolworths' Big W has got a whole lot sharper in pricing and range with full year sales up 0.7 per cent. Citi retail analyst Craig Woolford said in a note analysing Christmas trading that Kmart could begin to stutter: "After four strong years of outperformance, Kmart sales productivity appears to be stabilising at a high level. "Kmart's streak of like-for-like sales growth outperformance in discount department stores has likely come to an end, with Big W and potentially Target outperforming it in the second quarter of 2019." Guy Russo, who turned Kmart into a money making machine, left the retailer in November. Picture: Steve Tanner Wesfarmers's Mr Scott said fewer price cuts and its ranging were behind what he described as a "slowing in momentum" at Kmart. "In the prior corresponding period Kmart lowered prices significantly and achieved very strong volume growth. In total last year we sold over one billion units across the entire Kmart range. That placed a lot of pressure on stores and the supply chain. "This year the Kmart team continued to drop prices but not to the same extent. They tried to get the balance right but didn't get the same volume growth." Mr Scott said in the crucial womenswear category, Kmart needed "to make sure that we have products that are resonating strongly with customers." But the homeware category - all those Nordic nik-naks - was doing well. "We have more work to do to improve our efficiencies and the flow of stock, to manage the sheer volume of product we are selling. When we get our offer right, we generate good sales." Mr Scott declined to comment on a controversial decision that has ruffled some customers' feathers - the moving of the check-outs from the front to a bank in the middle of the store. He'll be hoping something as seemingly simple as that doesn't send people elsewhere. Big W is proving more of a competitor for Kmart than it has in recent years. For some time, Wesfarmers' other department store chain Target has been the firm's sickly child. Its traditional market has been under siege from Kmart's low prices and H&M and Zara snaffling away style-conscious customers. Last year, Target booked a $306 million "impairment charge" as sales sank. Speculation was rife its store network would be slashed or merged into Kmart and the Target name consigned to history. But something has changed. Wesfarmers said this week comparable sales at Target increased by 0.5 per cent. It's a modest rise but it's given the brand a lifeline. Mr Scott was upbeat: "There has been an improvement in Target, off a low base, but we are pleased with the ongoing improvement we are seeing." Many an analyst has questioned the logic of Wesfarmers owning brands that are effectively in competition with one another. Mr Scott doesn't see it that way. "We see both Kmart and Target as having distinct offers to customers - Kmart will always focus on maintaining price leadership, delivering better products at even lower prices, and Target is focused on delivering amazing fashion and quality. "We believe there's a lot of market share we can access without fighting against each other. Some of our best performance Kmart stores are along strong performing Target stores in the same centre." Still, if Target can't sustain its growth, questions on its future will remain. Target has been underperforming for some time. But it posted a surprise sales rise last week. It's been six months since John King took up residence in Myer's Melbourne HQ. He has a huge task ahead of him with Myer reporting a whopping loss of $476 million just before he signed on the dotted line. Last year sales declined 3.2 per cent. "Myer is always in sales decline. It has been for the last 10 years as overseas retailers like Uniqlo, Sephora and Amazon take away from the heartland of department stores," Retail consultant Brian Walker, of the Retail Doctor group, told news.com.au. Stuck between David Jones and discounters, Myer had struggled to provide a clear reason for people to head in store, he said. "The only real path is for Myer to downsize, grow online, sell exclusive brands and keep building loyalty," he said. That's exactly what it was doing, said Myer which pointed news.com.au to comments Mr King made at the company's annual general meeting in November where he said the customer was now the chain's "absolute focus". Myer is weighed down by expensive leases. Picture: Mathew Farrell However Mr Walker said there was a bigger problem - long running and expensive leases on less than spectacular stores that were difficult to wriggle out of. Mr King said Myer was meeting with landlords and was looking at "right sizing", read downsizing, some of its stores. "It's a floor here and floor there. Typically with three floors we fill it with stock but we can get the same level of space out of two (floors)." He didn't rule out store closures but insisted 60 out of 62 stores were profitable and they had a plan for each branch: "What we do is Townsville is different to what we do in Chadstone". David Jones is hoping its shoe heaven floor at its flagship Sydney store will bring in foot traffic. David Jones was in a better position, Mr Walker said. The company had a clearer demographic and was experimenting with smaller format stores that cost less. But crucially DJ's was turning its stores into destinations in themselves. Its flagship Sydney CBD store now boasts a "shoe heaven" floor that will soon include a Champagne bar overlooking the Manolo Blahniks. "Physical retail will change in terms of less shops but much more experience and interaction around them and that what retailers are toying with," he said. But even DJs has found Christmas a struggle, revealing on Thursday that sales growth had slowed during the festive period. The answer is no and we don't rule out an acquisition of Myer." [email protected] | https://www.noosanews.com.au/news/kmart-target-myer-performance-of-big-name-departme/3625508/ |
Could Kent Dick's Drive-In be torn down for Sound Transit facility? | Sound Transit needs a new maintenance building, but can't 'just dismiss one site because we all love hamburgers,' CEO says The Kent location of Dick's Drive-In, which opened in December, is under consideration by Sound Transit as a spot for a new maintenance and operations facility planned along the future south-end light rail path. It's one of six locations proposed by Sound Transit, but Dick's ownership and the mayors of Kent, Des Moines and Federal Way ask that the agency drop the location as an option. 1 / 78 Back to Gallery When Dick's Drive-In opened its seventh location in Kent last month, the 65-year-old Seattle-area franchise didn't imagine it could soon be torn down. The ownership saw its proximity to a future light rail station as a strength with the potential to draw foot traffic. But that very location makes it vulnerable to being replaced by a South Transit maintenance and operations building. The Dick's, along with a Lowe's and a small strip mall in the 24200 block of Pacific Highway South - just south of Des Moines - are located on one of six 30-acre properties under consideration by Sound Transit as they decide where to erect a maintenance facility to serve the south portion of a planned regional light rail system. RELATED: Billions served: Bill Gates photographed standing in line for a burger at Dick's Drive-In in Seattle Jasmine Donovan, Executive Vice President of Dick's Drive-In and granddaughter of founder Dick Spady, said that if Sound Transit picks the Dick's location for its maintenance building, it could delay the franchise's plans to build two more restaurants in the next five years by several more years. "It breaks our heart that Sound Transit is considering taking this away to build a new maintenance facility," she said at a Thursday morning press conference at the Drive-In where customers ordered milkshakes and Dick's Deluxes at the window. More than 170,000 fans voted for the location of the latest south-end restaurant, between Kent, Des Moines, Federal Way and SeaTac. Kent Mayor Dana Ralph, standing alongside Donovan, said that the city will advocate for an alternative location: the former Midway Landfill, just south of Dick's within sight of its parking lot. It's a Superfund site, as designated by the federal Environmental Protection Agency, and underwent construction and capping to contain environmental damage between 1990 and 2000. Indeed the Midway Landfill comprises two of the six options for Sound Transit, with two configurations being considered on the property. But, being a Superfund site, construction on that lot would cost hundreds of millions of dollars more, Sound Transit CEO Peter Rogoff said during his own press conference that took place shortly after the Dick's event. RELATED: New Kent Dick's Drive-In restaurant gets opening date He says that it could take years to whittle down the six options for the new maintenance facility and other areas could also be thrown into the mix - what Sound Transit needs is 30 acres of flat land along the proposed light rail route. Other sites under consideration include two in Federal Way and one in unincorporated King County, though Sound Transit didn't specify where. But Ralph and Donovan want Sound Transit to take the Dick's and Lowe's site off the table. Ralph said she spoke to Sound Transit officials back in November to request they remove the location from consideration. In addition to eliminating the Dick's, the Lowe's and the nearby strip mall, a maintenance facility at that location would disrupt the city's plans for additional retail in that area. "There's so much potential," she said of the lot, as the prospect of a nearby light rail stop brings new possibilities. "This is just the beginning of that." Indeed Dick's Drive-In owns 6 acres of land behind the restaurant and hopes to sell it to commercial developers, Donovan said. To protect the area for business growth, the Kent City Council reportedly set in motion a process to change the zoning at that location that would prevent Sound Transit from building there. A zoning change would take months, as the city needs to gather public comment on the matter and the council would need to issue a final approval after a more thorough review, Ralph said. RELATED: Dick's Drive-In co-founder Dick Spady dies at 92 But Rogoff said that Sound Transit can't take the Dick's spot off the list because it needs to consider all options. "We here at Sound Transit have as many Dick's Drive-In lovers as any other employer - and I'm one of them," he said. "What we can't do is just dismiss one site because we all love hamburgers." The other options possible would require the demolition of a church or of some residential homes, he added. "We're going to need 30 flat acres if we're going to have light rail expand to Kent and Tacoma," Rogoff said. Sound Transit received letters in the last month from Donovan, King County Councilman Pete von Reichbauer and a joint letter from Ralph, Federal Way Mayor Jim Ferrell and Des Moines City Manager Michael Matthias objecting to tearing up the Dick's area and advocating for the landfill site. Ralph and Donovan invited the public to express their views on the matter at the Feb. 5 Kent City Council meeting. Rogoff was unable to give a timeline for the scoping and review process of the sites, adding that it could take a couple years. About 40 employees work at the Kent Dick's, most of them hired locally. Many use the company's scholarship benefits to attend nearby Highline College, Donovan said. SeattlePI reporter Lynsi Burton can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter at @LynsiBurton_PI. Find more from Lynsi here. | https://www.seattlepi.com/local/transportation/article/Could-Kent-Dick-s-Drive-In-be-torn-down-for-Sound-13542700.php |
What Is He Really Up To? | Obvious in that he seems to almost go out of his way to support the policies that are pro-Russia, or at least pro-Putin. You would at least make some kind of conscious effort. Yet he doesnt. The president is a nationalist, which is not at all the same thing as a patriot. A nationalist encourages us to be our worst, and then tells us that we are the best. A nationalist, although endlessly brooding on power, victory, defeat, revenge, wrote Orwell, tends to be uninterested in what happens in the real world. Nationalism is relativist, since the only truth is the resentment we feel when we contemplate others. As the novelist Danilo Ki put it, nationalism has no universal values, aesthetic or ethical. A patriot, by contrast, wants the nation to live up to its ideals, which means asking us to be our best selves. A patriot must be concerned with the real world, which is the only place where his country can be loved and sustained. A patriot has universal values, standards by which he judges his nation, always wishing it welland wishing that it would do better. Democracy Timothy Snyder, On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century How bout this, he does that because he WANTs the majority of Americans to distrust their institutions. The objective is to create a fog of distrust in these pillars, of Departments of Justice, Homeland Security, Treasury, the Attorney General, not the least of which is the media. With every chaotic judgement, action, word, lie, tweet, appointment, all of it, the chaos, the circus, the corruption that oozes from every one of his appointments and characters he surrounds himself with, all is one more measured step towards Americans losing faith in their institutions, less faith in government, and in effect weakening these foundational institutions. So, by installing an Attorney General who is distrusted by most Americans, in effect it has the advantage of taking the teeth out of the Justice Department, and the majority of Americans loose faith in Justice being served, and thus it has less power. Believe in truth. To abandon facts is to abandon freedom. If nothing is true, then no one can criticize power, because there is no basis upon which to do so. If nothing is true, then all is spectacle. The biggest wallet pays for the most blinding lights. ibid Go back to Kavanaughs appointment to SCOTUS, exactly the same thing, Americans now have less faith in the Supreme Court and its judgements become suspect to the majority of Amercians. Weakening these institutions STRENGTHens the Presidents role and allows him to lord over those departments at will, empowering him to get his way, to become even more of an authoritarian than he already is, making it the presidents way or the highway. All of those, like McConnell, refusing to reign in this wannabe despot are colluding, and with a greedy eye towards the power that they too will gain, beyond just praise but as well gain more power in government for themselves, and, maybe some bags of cash, enrichment to their already bulging piggy banks. Defend institutions. It is institutions that help us to preserve decency. They need our help as well. Do not speak of our institutions unless you make them yours by acting on their behalf. Institutions do not protect themselves. They fall one after the other unless each is defended from the beginning. So choose an institution you care abouta court, a newspaper, a law, a labor unionand take its side. Timothy Snyder On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century ____________________________ from Goodreads bio: Timothy Snyder is Housum Professor of History at Yale University and a permanent fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences. He received his doctorate from the University of Oxford in 1997, where he was a British Marshall Scholar. He has held fellowships in Paris, Vienna, and Warsaw, and an Academy Scholarship at Harvard. Advertisements | https://thetemenosjournal.com/2019/01/17/what-is-he-really-up-to/ |
Can the Toronto Raptors figure out how to defend Kyrie Irving before the postseason? | Kyrie Irving did it again. The biggest question entering Wednesday's marquee showdown was whether or not the Toronto Raptors would find a way to slow down Kyrie Irving . No. Just as he did when they met back in November, Irving was once more the difference maker down the stretch in a game between two otherwise evenly matched teams. Over the last two games, this much is true: nobody has been able to guard him. A scary thought for the Raptors as they ponder a potential postseason showdown with the boys in green is that Irving may have been better on Wednesday than he was in that November meeting in which he finished with 43 points and 11 assists while scoring or assisting on Boston's final 13 made field goals. 27 points and a career-high 18 assists adds up to accounting for a whopping 67 of Boston's 117 points. And he did it while staring down Toronto's best wing defenders. Unlike the last meeting in which he was guarded primarily by Kyle Lowry with a second helping of Fred VanVleet, Irving spent the majority of Wednesday matched up against the Raptors' stable of perimeter length who in theory would at least have the range to make Irving more uncomfortable. To a certain extent, the theory held up. All seven of Irving's turnovers came against 6'6" Danny Green, 6'7" Kawhi Leonard, 6'9" Pascal Siakam and 6'4" Norman Powell, who provided more resistance than either the 6'1" Lowry or 6'0" VanVleet. Green and Leonard, two of the very best perimeter defenders in the entire league, are the two Raptors who guarded Irving the most according to player tracking data courtesy of Second Spectrum and it simply didn't matter as he shot 5-10 against them with nine assists. Who Guarded Kyrie on Wednesday Possessions Danny Green 27 Kawhi Leonard 14 Norman Powell 12 Pascal Siakam 9 Kyle Lowry 7 Serge Ibaka 4 Fred VanVleet 4 Delon Wright 1 At the very least, the matchup data reveals a significant adjustment from head coach Nick Nurse who switched things up from the first meeting in which Kyle Lowry guarded Irving for a team-high 23 possessions with VanVleet checking him for 12 possessions, many of which came late in the game and to the chagrin of Raptors' fans, failed spectacularly. Let's talk about the 4th quarter When the whistle blew signalling the end of the third quarter, the Raptors were somehow still in it. After trailing by as many as 16 points, they battled back to a more-than-manageable 87-83 deficit entering the final frame. Kyrie Irving started the fourth quarter on the bench. Here's how Boston fared in the nearly four minutes without him to start the quarter: Missed Terry Rozier 3-pointer Missed Jayson Tatum 19-foot pull-up jump shot Made Gordon Hayward 13-foot jump shot Missed Gordon Hayward 17-foot turnaround fade away Missed Jaylen Brown floater Missed Aron Baynes tip Gordon Hayward turnover Missed Jayson Tatum layup Missed Gordon Hayward 3-pointer Missed Jaylen Brown 3-pointer Jaylen Brown turnover If you're scoring at home, that's two points on 1-9 shooting with two turnovers. Without Irving on the floor to start the fourth, the Celtics were an absolute dumpster fire. Unfortunately for the Raptors, Kyrie then started doing Kyrie things. Over the final eight minutes, the Celtics outscored the Raptors 28-20 on 11-16 shooting with Irving either scoring (4) or assisting (6) on all but one of Boston's made field goals. Combined with how he played down the stretch of the previous meeting, Irving has now accounted for 25 of his team's 28 made shots in the fourth quarter or overtime against the Raptors. All of the drama in Boston aside, it's games like Wednesday that show the road through the east could very well go through the Celtics. When they're able to put aside chemistry concerns, it's a deep roster that can play on both ends with the ultimate closer willing and capable of taking over late. As good as Kawhi Leonard has been offensively, he's not Kyrie Irving when it comes to creating offence. Though he can get his own, Leonard's just not the same type of complete playmaker. And if he's not the player that can go toe-to-toe in a one-on-one showdown on nights when Irving has it rolling, it's going to take a team effort to slow him down. Championships aren't decided in January, nor are trips to the NBA Finals. The Raptors are still a very good defensive team with the bodies and potential to be great. They have the personnel to throw looks at Irving that not many other teams can match. And yet as we once again learned on Thursday, they still have a ways to go in their mission to finding out some way to slow down captain clutch. | https://www.sportingnews.com/au/nba/news/kyrie-irving-clutch-4th-quarter-boston-celtics-toronto-raptors/1gh4yf38eunew1okgbg0nwlym1 |
Did Melania Trump fly to Palm Beach amid shutdown? | WEST PALM BEACH - A federal government shutdown has kept President Donald Trump away from Mar-a-Lago since November, but first lady Melania Trump may have flown in on Thursday night on a government plane. The Twitter account @CivMilAir, which monitors "rare/interesting" air traffic, reported a military plane with a call sign typically reserved for the first lady left Joint Base Andrews near Washington, D.C., about 4:30 p.m. and later tracked the plane approaching Palm Beach International Airport. A distinctive blue and white U.S. military plane -- known as Air Force One when the president is on board -- was parked on the south side of the tarmac at PBIA on Thursday evening. CNN's Abby Philip tweeted that the first lady arrived at 6:44 p.m. Spokespeople for the first lady and the White House did not immediately respond to calls and emails asking whether Melania Trump had traveled to Palm Beach. Earlier Thursday, President Trump cited the shutdown in denying House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., an aircraft for a planned trip abroad. In a letter to Pelosi on Thursday, Trump said that due to the shutdown a trip to Egypt, Brussels and Afghanistan would be delayed, declaring: In light of the 800,000 great American workers not receiving pay, Im sure you would agree that postponing this public relations event is totally appropriate. The shutdown began Dec. 22 because of a stalemate between the president and congressional Democrats over funding for a wall along the U.S. southern border with Mexico. The shutdown led Trump to scrub his plans to visit Mar-a-Lago during the Christmas and New Year's holiday. | https://www.palmbeachdailynews.com/news/20190117/did-melania-trump-fly-to-palm-beach-amid-shutdown |
Why is Theresa May still Prime Minister? | Kit Knightly Join me in a brief hypothetical. Imagine that Jeremy Corbyns Labour party had won the 2017 General Election. Such a reality was within our grasp, after all. A few hundred votes here and there and were living under a Labour government. The specifics of the alternate universe dont really matter just that Jeremy Corbyn is Prime Minister. In just the last few months Corbyns cabinet has been blighted by dozens of resignations, a UN report has condemned the UKs growing poverty and described the government as being in denial about the problem, and his cabinet is the first in the history of the nation to be found in contempt of Parliament. And then, on top of all that, two days ago, his proposed Brexit deal suffered the most lopsided, the most humiliating, Parliamentary defeat in nearly 100 years. I would suggest all of them. No. He would not. Of course Jeremy Corbyn isnt Prime Minister, Theresa May is. Still. Somehow. And, of course, each of the above things happened to her and her government in the last six months. Since the 2017 election, Theresa May has fielded thirty-two resignations roughly one every 2 weeks, over 20 of them in the last six months. Her Home Secretary resigned in disgrace over her lying to Parliamentonly to be re-appointed to the cabinet, in a different position, just 6 months later. In November 2018 Professor Philip Alston, the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, released a report on poverty in the UK. The statistics are unpleasant reading: 14 million people, a fifth of the population, live in poverty. Four million of these are more than 50% below the poverty line,and 1.5 million are destitute, unable to afford basic essentials. The widely respected Institute for Fiscal Studies predicts a 7% rise in child poverty between 2015 and 2022, and various sources predict child poverty rates of as high as 40%. but more telling are the parts that are directly critical of the government (my emphasis): The Government has remained determinedly in a state of denial. Even while devolved authorities in Scotland and Northern Ireland are frantically trying to devise ways to mitigate, or in other words counteract, at least the worst features of the Governments benefits policy, Ministers insisted to me that all is well and running according to plan. The costs of austerity have fallen disproportionately upon the poor, women, racial and ethnic minorities, children, single parents, and people with disabilities. The changes to taxes and benefits since 2010 have been highly regressive, and the policies have taken the highest toll on those least able to bear it. The government says everyones hard work has paid off, but according to the Equalities and Human Rights Commission, while the bottom 20% of earners will have lost on average 10% of their income by 2021/22 as a result of these changes, top earners have actually come out ahead. On December 4th Theresa Mays government was found to be in contempt of parliament over its refusal to publish Brexit legal advice. To hammer home the impact of this: this is the first time, ever, that a sitting government has been found in contempt of parliament. Imagine a Corbyn government had been the first EVER to be found in contempt of parliament. And so we come to the Brexit deal vote of January 15th this year. A defeat margin of over 230 votes. The heaviest defeat of a government bill since the 1920s. The government bill wasnt just not passed, it was cut into pieces, set on fire and buried in a pile of manure on unconsecrated ground. Theresa Mays best possible deal is dead. Gone. Finished. But Theresa May soldiers on. Each of these failures is enough to bring down a government. Governments of the past have crashed and burned over far less. The famous incident, oft-cited the last few days, is Neville Chamberlain resigning as PM after winning a vote, because the 80 vote margin of victory was far less than his majority. Theresa Mays government has a strong argument for being the worst in the history of our democracy. The Conservatives are hamstrung by the situation. They cant replace May, because a new unelected PM justifies Labours calls for a general election. They have nailed their colours to mast on the Mary Rose. They have chosen their hill to die on, and its a heap of Theresa Mays failed deals, broken promises and resignation letters, strewn with the bodies of rejected benefit claimants. Their position, though contemptible, is understandable. They have no choice. The media, however, are far worse. Disgusting, even. They are more than complicit in this, they are a vital component. A driving force. Their selective reporting hides the embarrassing incompetence of the cabinet. They are nowhere to be seen. The media hold their fire whilst May stands out in the open with a target on her chest. A sitting duck. A very small barrel full of very large fish. She begs to be put out of her misery, but the media let her limp along. Corbyn is right to refer the Conservative zombie government. It is dead. A construct. Propped up and posed by an establishment terrified of the only alternative. They have turned our politics into a farce. A cross between House of Cards and Weekend at Bernies. An embarrassment. The answer is simple: Because she has to be, because the only alternative is Jeremy Corbyn and the establishment has shown they will do anything and everything in their power to stop that from happening. Kit Knightly Kit Knightly is co-editor of OffGuardian. The Guardian banned him from commenting. Twice. He used to write for fun, but now he's forced to out of a near-permanent sense of outrage. This author does not have any more posts. | https://off-guardian.org/2019/01/17/why-is-theresa-may-still-prime-minister/ |
What happens to DART's electric buses if D-Link service is shut down? | Dallas Area Rapid Transit's free downtown D-Link service was called a perfect fit for its new electric buses ahead of their July debut. DART has been considering an overhaul of D-Link that involves replacing it with an on-demand shuttle service in a cost-saving move. The DART board will decide in February whether to shut down the downtown route, spokesman Mark Ball said this week. Changes would go into effect March 25. If it is shut down, the seven electric buses will be reassigned to Route 749, which already has a stop at the Convention Center Station where the buses charge, Ball said. The route connects the Dallas Convention Center with the West End Historic District, the Design District, Victory Park, Parkland Hospital and part of Stemmons Corridor. D-Link service costs DART, the city and Downtown Dallas Inc., a total of $11 per rider. It's drawn fewer riders than what DART leaders hoped, DART's vice president of planning and development, Todd Plesko, said in October. D-Link service began in late 2013, when it drew 1,000 riders daily and had a route that extended into Oak Cliff. Its ridership dropped significantly when streetcar service replaced the Oak Cliff connection. In October, DART officials said D-Link averages about 300 riders on weekdays. | https://www.dallasnews.com/news/dart/2019/01/17/happens-darts-electric-buses-d-link-service-shut |
Is there a Democrat who can oust Donald Trump? | Plus: Nobel peace prize winner Malala Yousafzai on what she would like to tell the US president about building walls The Democrats are gearing up for the 2020 US election. After being crushed by the 2016 result, this is a party still struggling to define itself with a fierce battle under way between candidates from its more traditional and radical wings. Anushka Asthana talks to the Guardians US political reporter Sabrina Siddiqui about some of the Democrats who are weighing up a presidential run. They discuss whether the US will ever be ready for a female president and the best tactics to take on Trump. Also today: Malala Yousafzai talks about Donald Trump, refugees, and the first time she returned to Pakistan after she was shot in the head on her way to school. | https://www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2019/jan/18/is-there-a-democrat-who-can-oust-donald-trump-today-in-focus-podcast |
Is Texas Roadhouse worth the cost? | City expected to reject tax exempt proposal from national steakhouse chain Buy Photo A vacant lot, the last in the Underwood Avenue area and a holdover from an urban renewal project of the 1960s, could be home to a Texas Roadhouse restaurant. (Photo: Chris Crook/Times Recorder) ZANESVILLE - While there is no question bringing Texas Roadhouse to Zanesville would provide an additional dinning opportunity for the community, to what extent is the community willing to go in order to make it happen. Meridian Realty Capital, a development firm that represents Texas Roadhouse, recently asked the city for a 30-year, 100 percent tax exemption to develop one of the last remaining properties in the Underwood project. It is not uncommon for the city to offer Tax Increment Financing for the development of a specific property or district, according to Community Development Director Jay Bennett. However, most TIF's are for shorter periods of time and less exempt percentages. Those TIFs that are 30 years long have been larger, more local projects such as the Dutro expansion in downtown Zanesville. "It's not that it hasn't been done, but we usually do it for businesses that are bigger, different, create a lot of jobs," Bennett said. Bennett told the Community Development Committee he attempted to negotiate a lower request when discussing the matter with the development firm, but they were unwilling to change their request. Though he agreed to reach out to Meridian and attempt to negotiate a better term, Bennett recommended committee members reject the proposal. When TIFs are offered to promote local growth, it is the school district who often suffers the greatest loss. According to the Ohio Department of Education, property taxes provide almost one-third of the budget for K-12 education. The real question, according to Mike Young, treasurer of Zanesville City Schools, is not what the district will lose in tax income but rather the loss of support in general. "Our locally-owned restaurants have always supported our school boosters, not just Zanesville City Schools but all of the districts," Young said. "The chain restaurants are less likely to end up on a discount card for area boosters." The city, according to Young, has many things to consider when offering such a huge tax exemption - including how many jobs will it bring to the community, how many jobs could be lost to the competition, how will it affect the businesses owned by our own community members. "If it's a manufacturer or distributor that will be more of an anchor for jobs in the community, it makes sense to give them a break," Young said. "But what message are you sending to our local icons who have always supported our school districts and the community." During the recent Community Development Committee, council members Jan Bradshaw and Mark Baker echoed concerns that accepting Meridian's proposal might rub other restaurant and business owners the wrong way. Calls to Meridian Realty Capital were not returned. [email protected] 740-450-6758 Twitter: @infoobtainer1 Read or Share this story: https://www.zanesvilletimesrecorder.com/story/news/2019/01/18/texas-roadhouse-worth-cost/2602724002/ | https://www.zanesvilletimesrecorder.com/story/news/2019/01/18/texas-roadhouse-worth-cost/2602724002/ |
What's the secret to reaching 107 years of age? | MOST people would celebrate their birthday with a beer or a wine but for one of Australia's oldest residents, her drink of choice was a glass of water. Elizabeth Jordan celebrated turning 107 this week with family and friends and wasn't tempted to mark the occasion with her first ever sip of alcohol. Still as sharp and warm as ever, Mrs Jordan lives independently in the Ebbw Vale home she moved into with late husband Joseph in 1936. It sits on 1 Jordan Street; named as they were the first allotment on the new road. The centenarian credits her longevity to always staying active and it must run in the family because her sister and brother, both in their nineties, are also going strong. Her daughter is in her eighties. "(My brother) was on the phone to me yesterday, Mrs Jordan smiled. She has lived in Ipswich her entire life and looks forward to her weekly church visits and games of bocce and indoor bowls. The former dressmaker, who has two children, two grandchildren and five great-grandchildren, said her age was something she thought about a lot. "(Because) I've shrunk down so much, she laughed. She was thankful for her friends and family who allowed her to get around and she wasn't opposed to catching the odd train, bus or cab. Mrs Jordan regularly travels to play indoor bowls in places like Gatton and Laidley. "Keep active as long as you can. You can't sit around and do nothing, she said. "I have a lot of friends that make sure that I do. I would have been playing indoor bowls if you weren't coming over (for the interview). "I've never touched alcohol. I'm not a great one for soft drinks either. They know wherever I go all I want is a glass of water. | https://www.qt.com.au/news/whats-the-secret-to-reaching-107-years-of-age/3625587/ |
Is 2012 too late for YouView and Google TV? | When YouView then known as Canvas was originally unveiled it was difficult not to be excited about the project involving key British broadcasters that promised to make catch-up TV accessible to the mainstream. With the BBC's iPlayer going great guns, it was clear that television on demand and through an internet connection was likely to be a UK hit, and the BBC's involvement would help unify major players behind a single banner. And had it arrived in 2010, as was first suggested, I think it might well have been a massive smash. But when it finally arrives in 2012 it will face a very different market and the chances of it being a success are waning fast. Plus points There are some major plus points, of course: the presence of Britain's major terrestrial broadcasters along with BT, TalkTalk and Arqiva means that the pool of content will be vast and include Britain's most-watched television shows. And a unified set of minimum standards for a box will no doubt lure some canny operators (like the always impressive Humax) into making some decent set top boxes. But the competition is now so hot that broadcasters will have to think carefully about whether they will offer their content exclusively on the platform. This is not just about Google TV which, to be honest, has yet to set the US alight since launching there this is about content providers maximising profit through advertising or selling content, or maximising exposure as the BBC behemoth has a duty to do. Connected world Major manufacturers are now all producing connected television products, with the likes of Samsung's Smart TV offering and Sony's Qriocity already flourishing. Throw in the increasingly powerful role that gaming consoles offer in television on demand and you have an IPTV-tastic market that is already flourishing. And that's before you factor in Sky, which is buying up prime television content for channels like Sky Living and Sky Atlantic (on top of its traditional sport and movie content), and Virgin Media, which is also keen on the best content for VOD. Factor those big players in and you have a market that already looks fairly crowded. Google TV and, more importantly, its cash-rich buying power and YouView will arrive into that increasingly mature market in 2012 and provide yet more options. Freeview has been a massive hit for a UK audience reticent to pay a subscription. | https://www.techradar.com/uk/news/television/is-2012-too-late-for-youview-and-google-tv-1005746 |
Did The Good Place Tease Its Season 3 Endgame in the Very First Episode? | Where to Stream: The Good Place More Options Spoilers for the latest episode of The Good Place, Chidi Sees The Time-Knife, past this point. For those of you who missed tonights episode Chidi Sees The Time-Knife and shame on you if you did, you should be tortured forever by penis-bees, an idea I just came up with we ended, as always, on an enormous cliffhanger. Michael (Ted Danson) had convinced The Judge (Maya Rudolph) to let him prove there is a problem with the points system that sifts humans into either The Good Place or The Bad Place, by setting up another Good Place simulation. This time, though, the location is in Mindy St. Claires (Maribeth Monroe) backyard, in The Medium Place. Everything seems to be ready to go: a new version of The Good Place, populated by constructs created by Janet (Darcy Carden) and Derek (Jason Mantzoukas); four candidates chosen by The Bad Place; and Michael raring to prove that humans can improve if given the chance. Then Shawn (Marc Evan Jackson) takes the wind out of Michaels sails, explaining how The Bad Place will win no matter what, and Michael has a panic attack. Eleanor (Kristen Bell) is left cradling the wheezing Michael as the first Good Place candidate waits outside his office, wondering whats going on. The logical conclusion, therefore, for next episode is that Eleanor is going to end up running this new Good Place in Michaels stead. In essence, this is what shes been working up to for the past three seasons Shes no longer Bad Eleanor, selfish and swilling margaritas. Nor will she ever be anything other than a little bit of a mess, though with her heart in the right place. But she is the one that always figures out whats going on, whether its cracking that The Good Place was really The Bad Place the whole time, or being the only one to pass The Judges morality test in Season 2. Her stepping up to torture people, while slowly inching them along the path towards enlightenment is a perfect job for Eleanor. And if that is the direction things go in, showrunner Michael Schur and company might have been teasing this development from the pilot. A reminder of that, since it aired way back on September 19, 2016. The show opens with a close-up on Eleanors eyes, straight out of LOST. She blinks. We cut to a wider shot of her, see shes sitting on a couch. Then we see from her perspective is a wall, painted with the now iconic Good Place lettering, reading: Welcome! Everything is fine. She smiles, relieved, and Michael calls her into his office. Its a scene, and location that weve returned to time and again, but weve never really questioned the wording on that wall. The title of the episode is Everything Is Fine, even and the explanation seems to be that its a calming way of welcoming people to Heaven. But check that word choice: the sign doesnt say Everything is great, or even Everything is good. You could certainly argue that theyre using the definition of fine meaning of high quality. But more likely, its using the word to mean satisfactory. Heaven isnt satisfactory. Hell certainly isnt satisfactory. Thats the definition of fine. This season hasnt just been leading up to Eleanor taking a lead position from Michael, or all of our characters going to Hell. What Michael may have stumbled on while creating a place to torture humans that looked like a mock Heaven was, instead, a way of testing humans that works better than the current, Earth-based system. By not promising eternal bliss or eternal torture, but instead an experience that is just okay, an Eleanor run Medium Place could revolutionize how people react after death. Its purgatory, baby, and its got all the shrimp cocktail you can eat. That all said, the problem with coming up with theories about what direction The Good Place is going to go in is that the show is almost theory-proof. By the time you think youve figured out how the show works, its on to the next episode and an entirely new status quo. Sure! But just as likely, we could be left waiting for Season 4 on the image of the Soul Squad being attacked by penis bees (again, my idea, I came up with it). Either way, whatever happens, this season of The Good Place has been far more than fine. Where to stream The Good Place | https://decider.com/2019/01/17/the-good-place-chidi-sees-the-time-knife-theory-spoilers/ |
Can supercomputing-as-a-service flourish? | Product designers and engineers are using an array of complex software which harness the power of parallel computing. They may be using CFD software, for example, to simulate a diesel engine combustion process and to do this they are finding they have a requirement for massive computer power to deliver the resolution needed within a sensible timeframe. This is a very significant investment, and one that requires a heavy compute workload to pay its way. Not to mention the power and cooling requirements, computer room and the specialist skills to manage such a system. Plus, making a capital investment is fraught with danger for the uninitiated high performance equipment ages quickly and maintaining investment in new equipment can be a burden. Well, a supercomputer accessible via the internet certainly enables businesses to access far larger compute power and only pay for what they actually use; they can use the service with confidence that all the equipment is fully up to date; and concerns over energy, cooling and space are transferred to the service provider. Finding the cost-effective solution But, it can be costly if used as the sole means for accessing compute power. Whilst compute cycle costs are relatively cheap, advanced commercial software licenses typically escalate in cost dramatically if the user wants to run on multiple CPU cores. Our view of the market is that most organisations will accommodate the normal day-to-day workload with powerful workstations or small clusters which can handle maybe 80% of their typical modelling and simulation workloads. The rest will be "burst" to an external supercomputer service that delivers first class performance and SLAs, at a manageable price. This hybrid model is fine for users of open source software but can only flourish, however, if commercial software vendors begin to relax their traditional license models and embrace the "cloud", with licenses that do not penalise users for greater CPU use. We're beginning to see some evidence of a shift in this area: for example Next Limit Technologies, who market an advanced CFD package called Xflow, is pioneering a token-based pricing system where there is minimal up-front cost and a genuine pay-per-use model. We expect other ISVs to follow, but perhaps not as quickly as users would like them to. | https://www.techradar.com/news/world-of-tech/future-tech/can-supercomputing-as-a-service-flourish-1259035 |
Who Decided It Was Bad to Be Fat? | In 2009, supermodel Kate Moss caused a stir when she categorically stated that "nothing tastes as good as skinny feels". As jaw-dropping as the sentiment might have seemed to many, Moss' pithy comment encapsulates a modern Western zeitgeist. From an evolutionary perspective, however, Moss' statement is ludicrous, if not preposterous. Such a statement could only be made by someone who is not concerned with figuring out where her next meal will come from, much less how to make it through the next winter or dry season without starving. Many cultures once believed that fatness was, in fact, good. But that situation is changing rapidly. Cross-cultural research among 11 Western and non-Western traditional societies suggests there has been a rapid and recent "globalization of fat stigma". Until at least the 1990s, several of these societies, including American Samoa, Puerto Rico, and Tanzania, were considered "fat positive," meaning they demonstrated a preference for plump bodies. But in the last two decades, with increasing globalization, these same countries have begun to stigmatize fat. Whereas fatness was once thought in those cultures to represent fertility, wealth, and beauty, it is now associated with ugliness, sexlessness, and undesirability. It should be emphasized that these stigmas cut across emotional, psychological, and physical categories at both the individual and societal levels. The reasons for this rapid transition are complex, but research in Fiji and elsewhere suggests it occurred with the introduction of television and global media and the resulting exposure to largely Western culture, mores, and entertainment. Now, in addition to the health and physiological problems associated with fatness, there is well-documented emotional damage due to the "pathologization of heaviness" in these societies. The Center for Disease Control quantitatively defines an obese adult as someone with a body mass index of 30 or higher.) These cultural shifts are startling, and they lead us to wonder how various body types - and fatness - were perceived in ancient cultures. But getting at this question isn't easy. It is relatively straightforward to study variations in the height of ancient people by measuring long bones (that is, arms and legs) recovered in burials and making calculations based on those measurements. It is far more difficult to study the weight of ancient people. Fat is soft tissue that decomposes rapidly after death. One might surmise that taller people are larger, and therefore heavier, than shorter people. But that doesn't tell us much, and certainly doesn't tell us anything about the proportion of overweight people in the past. Equally confounding, the relationship between height and weight doesn't always hold: There are lots of short, round people who weigh more than tall, skinny people. Archaeologically, we simply can't tell who was fat from the bones we excavate. In order to study fatness in the past, we have to turn to artifacts. One of the most famous artifacts illustrating obesity in the archaeological record is the Venus of Willendorf, one of many so-called Venus figures from Upper Paleolithic ("Old Stone Age" - around 50,000 to 10,000 years ago) sites in Europe and Central Asia. Discovered in Austria in 1908, the Venus of Willendorf is an 11-centimeter-tall figurine carved out of limestone, decorated with red pigment, and dated to between 25,000 and 27,000 years ago. The body is detailed and anatomically correct, but the face and head are covered by a woven hat so that the face is not visible. But one thing is obvious: She is more than plump; indeed, she is fat. Over the last century, the Venus of Willendorf has been variously interpreted as a fertility goddess, a toy, or a teaching device for expectant mothers. In the absence of better contextual information (like finding a similar object in a shrine of some sort), we are left to speculate about the figurine's true function and meaning. There are now more than 200 unique Venus figurines known from sites across Europe and Central Asia spanning more than 10,000 years. Although all depict females, a wide range of body types are represented and not all are so clearly obese. It is therefore difficult to say conclusively that they constitute a record of fatness. Another famous set of figurines was found in Neolithic ("New Stone Age" - roughly 11,000 to 4,000 years ago) sites on the island of Malta and elsewhere in the Mediterranean region. Dating to about 5,000 years ago, the so-called Fat Ladies of Malta depict seated or reclining female figures, many of which are missing their heads. Where heads are present, they are often incongruously small in relation to body size. There is no suggestion that the figures are pregnant, yet all are clearly overweight. Most of the Maltese figurines have been found in burials and mortuary shrines, adding credence to the idea that there was a cultic or religious aspect to them and suggesting some degree of specialness and perhaps reverence. One example is a jade carving from Guatemala known as Fat Lord and Frog, which dates to about 700 BCE. He is clearly someone special (lesser folk did not get their images carved and preserved in jade). He is also obviously obese, but we don't know why. The Venus figurines, the Fat Ladies of Malta, and the Fat Lord and Frog suggest that some fat people were held in high esteem in past cultures and that the societies from which they emerged may have believed that fatness is goodness - or at least that there is nothing wrong with being fat. I suspect some degree of fatness has been present in all human societies, except for those on the brink of survival or living in truly extreme environments. I suspect that obese people have been sometimes revered, sometimes reviled, and perhaps sometimes just accepted without shame. But recent ethnographic research in Fiji and elsewhere strongly suggests that cultural attitudes toward fatness are less diverse now than they were in the past. It will take a massive, comprehensive, cohesive research project bridging archaeology, anthropology, physiology, psychology, sociology, and public health to begin to truly understand the relationship between fatness and human societies reaching back millennia. That research will prove challenging because fatness, while demonstrably a public health challenge, leads to negative social stigma and prejudice that make understanding the issues, much less acting upon them, even more complex. But that doesn't mean it isn't worth pursuing. This work first appeared on SAPIENS under a CC BY-ND 4.0 license. Read the original here. This article is from ScienceAlert's new Voice section, where we approach science with a more personal touch. The views reflected here don't necessarily reflect the views of the publication. | https://www.sciencealert.com/who-decided-it-was-bad-to-be-fat |
Can The Rams And Chiefs Get Revenge In Their Championship Game Rematches? | After a wild-card weekend marked by upsets, the NFLs divisional round restored order to the playoffs: The home team won in all four matchups only the second time thats happened this decade. The resulting conference championship games Rams vs. Saints and Patriots vs. Chiefs could be explosive affairs. They feature the four highest-scoring offenses in the NFL this season and a very evenly-matched final four that could go down as one of the most exciting ever. You can see some of this using our Elo ratings, which measure the strength of every NFL team from history at any given moment. If you want a conference-championship round in which every game meets a certain threshold of both quality and competitiveness, few fields since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger can match this seasons quartet: Perhaps not coincidentally, the four teams that are still standing are the same ones weve been talking about most of the season. As early as Week 8 (roughly midseason), the only teams with double-digit Super Bowl odds in our Elo model were the Chiefs, Patriots, Rams and Saints. Rarely do all of the front-runners advance this far across the board, so we really will be treated to the cream of the crop this weekend. Heres what Elo (both the classic version from above and one with our experimental quarterback adjustments) predicts for each game: How Elo sees the conference championships playing out Win probabilities for Week 20 games according to two methods: standard Elo and adjusting for starting quarterbacks Standard Elo QB-Adjusted Elo Team Rating Win Prob. Base Rtg Starting QB QB Adj. Win Prob. KC 1675 61% 1642 Patrick Mahomes +39 62% NE 1662 39 1618 Tom Brady +47 38 NO 1682 64 1619 Drew Brees +49 63 LAR 1648 36 1636 Jared Goff +7 37 Home teams are in bold. Elo quarterback adjustments are relative to average, based on a rolling average of defense-adjusted QB stats (including rushing). Source: Pro-Football-Reference.com Interestingly, each conference championship is also a rematch: The Patriots beat the Chiefs 43-40 in Week 6, while the Saints topped the Rams 45-35 in Week 9. These kind of rematches are more common than we might think from the advent of the modern playoff format in 1990 through last season, 63 percent of conference championship games featured teams whod faced off at least once during the regular season. Over the same period of time, the winner of the earlier contest (or contests) also won the conference championship game 63 percent of the time (excluding cases in which teams played twice beforehand and split the first two matchups). Lets look at what went wrong the most for them in the earlier matchup. One way to do that is through expected points added (EPA) specifically, in what area of the game (looking at pass defense, rushing offense, kicking, etc.) These are where each teams could focus on to try to generate a different result: Chiefs key area for improvement: Run defense (-1.47 standard deviations from season average vs. NE) Kansas City shouldnt feel too bad about the earlier contest, in which they played the Patriots close to a standstill in Foxborough especially since, by contrast, Sundays game will be held at Arrowhead Stadium. KC only lost on a last-second field goal, was outgained by just 54 yards, and even led New England with as little as 5:25 to go in the game. Patrick Mahomes threw for 352 yards with a 110.0 passer rating, although the Chiefs offense was held below its usual EPA output despite a big game (185 scrimmage yards) from the now-departed Kareem Hunt. But if the Chiefs get to 40 points again, particularly in the frigid weather forecasted for Sunday, there probably wont be many complaints about the offense. The bigger concern for KC might be about its ability to contain New Englands stable of running backs, who generated 173 yards (and 8.9 expected points) on the ground in the first meeting. According to ESPNs Stats & Information Group, Patriots rookie running back Sony Michel ran for 72 of his 106 yards before first contact in the game reminiscent of the 70 yards before contact (and 129 overall) he racked up on the Chargers last week. The Patriots then preyed on Kansas Citys inability to stop the run by using play action, where Tom Brady had 140 yards and a season-high 10 completions. The Chiefs are not known for their defense, but even by their standards, the previous meeting was a struggle. Other areas for KC to improve: Penalties (-1.32); passing offense (-0.45); punting (-0.35) Rams key area for improvement: Pass defense (-2.17 standard deviations from season average vs. NO) Way back in November, the Saints never trailed as they handed Los Angeles its first loss of the season, humbling the Rams star-studded defense with its worst performance of the entire year. Now New Orleans will try to make it 2-for-2 against L.A. at home in the Superdome, and the Rams will have a tough time preventing that fate if they cant slow down Drew Brees, Michael Thomas and the Saints passing attack. Brees had 346 yards, 4 touchdowns and a 137.0 passer rating against L.A., with Thomas gaining an incredible 211 yards on 12 receptions. It was the Rams third-worst game of the season in terms of generating pressure on an opposing quarterback, and Brees got a season-high 2.45 seconds of time in the pocket per pass, according to ESPN Stats & Info despite facing a blitz 36.8 percent of the time. Against a Rams team that thrives on pressuring the QB and forcing mistakes, the extra time that Brees had to survey the defense and pick it apart was devastating. The same could be said for Thomass ability to gain extra yards after the catch; according to NFL Next-Gen Stats, Thomas picked up 8.7 YAC per reception, or 3.8 more than would be expected based on player-tracking data. (Its worth noting that Thomas also had a monster game last week against the Eagles, hauling in 12 catches for 171 yards, so Brees might be primed to go back to him in heavy doses this week.) Cornerback Marcus Peters was the closest defender on the majority of Thomass catches back in November, so his performance Sunday may go a long way toward determining whether the Rams fare better the second time around. Other areas for L.A. to improve: Rushing offense (-1.07); penalties (-0.50); field goals (-0.16) There are plenty of other storylines to watch, of course, including a potential passing of the quarterback torch from zombie geezers Brady and Brees to young guns Mahomes and Goff. Add everything up, and it should make for one of the most entertaining pair of games weve seen all season, with a couple of tickets to Super Bowl LIII on the line. FiveThirtyEight vs. the readers As youre following the playoff action, please be sure to check out FiveThirtyEights NFL predictions, which use our Elo ratings to simulate the rest of the postseason 100,000 times, tracking how likely each team is to advance to the Super Bowl. You can also pick playoff contests against the Elo algorithm in our prediction game and keep climbing up our giant leaderboard. According to data from the game, heres how readers did against the computer last weekend: Elos dumbest (and smartest) picks of divisional weekend Average difference between points won by readers and by Elo in Week 19 matchups in FiveThirtyEights NFL prediction game OUR PREDICTION (ELO) READERS PREDICTION PICK WIN PROB. PICK WIN PROB. Result READERS NET PTS NO 64% NO 70% NO 20, PHI 14 +0.0 LAR 66 LAR 68 LAR 30, DAL 22 -3.6 KC 66 KC 63 KC 31, IND 13 -12.3 NE 58 NE 53 NE 41, LAC 28 -17.0 Home teams are in bold. The scoring system is nonlinear, so readers average points dont necessarily match the number of points that would be given to the average reader prediction. As has been the case all season, it was another rough week for readers picking against Elo. The readers broke even on the Saints win over the Eagles but lost big elsewhere, including getting penalized for a lack of confidence in both the Chiefs and Patriots at home. (In retrospect, was it really that hard to see the Patriots coming out and dominating the travel-weary Chargers in a place where they hadnt lost a playoff game in over 2,100 days?) Anyway, congratulations to reader Ellis, who leads all users in the postseason with 276.4 points, and to Neil Mehta for another week in first place on the season, this time checking in with 1,275.9 points. Thanks to everyone who has been playing and the game isnt over yet! You should keep making picks and trying your luck against Elo throughout the playoffs. Check out our latest NFL predictions. | https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/can-the-rams-and-chiefs-get-revenge-in-their-championship-game-rematches/ |
Can AMD's Bulldozer sock it to Intel? | It's been an awfully, awfully long time coming. But AMD has announced that its all-new Bulldozer PC processor is finally shipping to customers. AMD's original idea was to launch Bulldozer several years ago. But when it comes to new CPU launches, things rarely seem to go to plan for AMD. The launch of the first quad-core AMD Phenom CPU, for instance, was an outright fiasco. Strictly speaking, of course, Bulldozer is the first properly new CPU from AMD since the Athlon of 2003. So, it's perhaps not surprising that Bulldozer's roll out hasn't been perfectly smooth. However, the spectre of the calamitous Phenom launch is certainly worrying. Phenom, too, was delayed and was woefully off the pace for performance when it finally arrived. Now, it's true that most of Bulldozer's delay has been due to a strategic overhaul which saw it realigned from 45nm to 32nm. But word on the street is that AMD has been through several steppings in an effort to get the chip running up to expectations. What's not clear is whether the problems involve the routine challenge of getting the clockspeeds up and running or if there is a more fundamental issue with the architecture. Ripping up the rule book Given Bulldozer's radical design, it's the latter that poses both the greatest danger and offers the greatest promise, because Bulldozer's architecture pretty much tears up the rule book for CPU design and challenges the very notion of what a CPU core is. Instead of conventional CPU cores, Bulldozer has modules. Each module contains a pair of integer engines and a shared floating engine. The overall goal is to create a unit that delivers the performance of two conventional cores using die space closer to a single core. That should mean more performance for less money. It also means the arrival of Bulldozer will bring with it a new marketing war. At launch, the first Bulldozer processor, currently codenamed Zambezi but due to branded AMD FX, will sport four Bulldozer modules. However, it's clear from AMD's PR material that Zambezi will be marketed as "the world's first eight-core desktop CPU." Now, we also know that Intel's next high performance processor, codenamed Sandy Bridge E, will stick with six cores. So, that's eight cores vs six cores and an easy PR win for AMD. Except Intel will no doubt counter with the argument that AMD's cores aren't proper cores and claim that Zambezi is really a glorified quad-core chip with eight-core pretensions. If Intel can also point to superior performance from its supposedly inferior six-core processor, well, it will be handbags at dawn. Still, what really matters is how the Bulldozer architecture performs, not how you count the cores. Leaked benchmarks purporting to show Zambezi performance suggest it will be competitive with Intel's best quad-core chips but slower than Intel's six-core technology. If so, that will represent a big step forward for AMD. More importantly, it will make for a much more competitive market. With AMD finally shipping Bulldozer-based chips, the good news is that we'll know the truth very soon. | https://www.techradar.com/sg/news/computing-components/processors/can-amd-s-bulldozer-sock-it-to-intel-1017514 |
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