Kona bound? Rudy Von Berg on the evolution of long-course racing – Tri247.com

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In part one of our interview with Rudy Von Berg, we kicked off by looking back at the 2019 IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship in Nice, an event he described as a dream race.

A venue which means a lot to him, being brought up riding on the hills and roads around the Alps-Maritimes, its probably no surprise to find out that IRONMAN France this year, scheduled for June 26, will be the venue for his full-distance debut.

In part two, we turn our attentions to those longer distances and what could lead to the IRONMAN World Championship in Hawaii. While Nice could open the door to Kona, its not a given just yet that it would be an automatically accepted invitation.

As Von Berg explains, the landscape is changing for professional athletes.

The overall idea was that I didnt want to start doing Ironman races too early. I wanted to develop at 70.3, and reach my potential, and even though I dont think Ive reached my very best at 70.3 yet, Ill be in the year of turning 29 and so that feels like its old enough that I can start doing Ironman.

I always wanted to do France, for the reasons I mentioned earlier, growing up there. I was going to do it last year, but due to COVID it was postponed to a week before or after St George (70.3 World Championship), so that was out, and I didnt want to scramble to find another Ironman and so I thought Ill just do it in 2022 and properly prepare for it.

The only thing is I hope I didnt lose too much shape kind of medium term with my Mono, because I lost quite a bit of muscle in my legs when I was sick. I lost a lot of weight I just hope that didnt set me back too much, especially for an Ironman, when its really the years of training before that count. Thats my only question mark. But, Ill put in six good months of training now, and hopefully be at my very best.

The typical assumption is that if you earn a Kona slot (for October 2022), you take it. The IRONMAN World Championship is part of the Von Berg family DNA his father, Rodolphe senior, has been a Kona Age-Group World Champion himself but the decision on whether junior will be there this October, isnt clear yet. Would he take a Kona slot, if France goes well?

Likely but the problem is that the calendar is quite difficult. Up to Nice I will probably do two half races before the IRONMAN. Then a month later theres the PTO Canadian Open, then a month later the Collins Cup than a month later the PTO US Open, and then theres the two World Champs in October.

Its not possible to be your best at all of those, not even three of those. Usually I can peak in June and peak again in September and then be close to peaking for the last race in November or something. But thats going to be tough.

Given that Von Bergs earliest triathlon memory is watching his father racing in Kona almost 25 years ago, the pull towards the Big Island is strong. Its clear this wont be an easy decision either way:

So, I havent decided yet exactly whats going to happen for that. If I qualify for Kona, Ill see what I want to focus on. I cant not do these PTO Tour races because these are the type of races that weve been waiting for as Pros for many years; some big prize money races, something like Regional Champs where all the best athletes will be at for many years to come, rather than at diluted races usually.

So, the short answer is well have to see as its kind of tough. I dont want to be average at Kona and the 70.3 St. George World Champs, I want to be really good at one of the two.

Ive been thinking about Kona for so long that if I qualify it would be kind of dumb not to do it, but also I have to think about my career in the big picture. Theres still time to focus on the 70.3 Worlds for example and then try to go for Kona the next year but then also a career goes by fast and when you have opportunities, they wont always be next year.

Results in Nice, of course, will determine whether those considerations need to be resolved. For this year, at least.

As well as new events creating decisions for athletes to make and perhaps a choose your battles wisely situation the PTO Tour could also impact the distance focus of an athlete career. IRONMAN France will represent a full-distance debut for Rudy, but not necessarily the beginnings of an all-in move towards that seven-hour-plus format:

Things are changing a little with the PTO Tour races for example. Out of the four PTO Tour races [Ed. The European Open and Asian Open will be added in 2023], there will be three 100km races and one 200km race, so pretty much three halfs and one Ironman. So, the focus for that is a little more on the shorter distance, so I dont think I will ever go to just be a full Ironman athlete. Ill definitely still want to perform really well at half distance, and so I think Ill max do two ironman races per year and then theres still room to do really well at half with that.

The PTO is kind of changing that, in a good way, because I think the 70.3 is a really good distance and makes it a good mix of the endurance and the speed.

We love to race. I like to be more of a Frodeno type where I want to prepare and do a race only if Im going to be really good at it. Ill race slightly less, but I still always have that urge to add races into the calendar. Its just my rational part that says thats a little too much. We love the process of training, but the only reason we do it is because of racing.

Its long been a part of their mission, and was reiterated in our discussions with the PTOs CEO Sam Renouf before Christmas, the best to race the best. That aim is in line with the direction that Rudy sees the sport moving, talking us through his potential 2022 schedule as an example:

I think more and more now its going to be championship-type races, because even some of those Regional Championship races I did, they didnt have quite the fields that the PTO Tours will have, which is literally 40 of the top 50 guys in the world. Its going to be world champ events every time.

For me its only going to be the big races. I mean Oceanside 70.3 (April) in North America is the first big race of the year, then Chattanooga 70.3, North American Champs in May, then IRONMAN France.

That might have actually a slightly weaker field maybe, IRONMAN France, even though its a race thats more and more on the map and I wouldnt be surprised if a Norwegian goes, or some top guys like that, or a Cam Wurf type.

After that its just all World Champs events two PTO Tours, Collins Cup, Kona if qualified and 70.3 Worlds in St. George. Thats why I was saying that you really want to be at your best in these events. If you are just at 90% then you are going to be 15th.

Something weve certainly referenced many times over the last two years is the impact of the pandemic. With limited racing opportunities, those events that have gone ahead have regularly featured pro fields with notable depth. While that, perhaps, indirectly gave a glimpse of the future, Von Berg is clear where the driver of change will continue to come from:

Thats true, COVID definitely created that a little, but I think the bigger reason now and moving forward is the PTO for sure.

Creating these big events and that 100km distance, which is as short of a long distance as they could for TV and putting these million dollar prize purses up. I think this is what is going to really develop the sport of triathlon professionally, and just kind of like in tennis, its a familiar notion to have these grand slam / regional champs type of events, and the PTO is going to focus on these main races plus the Collins Cup and develop that.

Hopefully that PTO Tour Series will become a really interesting series for triathlon and fans of triathlon.

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Kona bound? Rudy Von Berg on the evolution of long-course racing - Tri247.com

SOC 2025: The Coming SOC Evolution – Security Boulevard

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Its brutal running a security operations center (SOC) today. The attack surface continues to expand, in a lot of cases exponentially, as data moves to SaaS, applications move to containers, and the infrastructure moves to the cloud. The tools used by the SOC analysts are improving, but not fast enough. It seems adversaries remain one (or more) steps ahead. There arent enough people to get the job done. Those that you can hire typically need a lot of training, and retaining them continues to be problematic. As soon as they are decent, they head off to their next gig for a huge bump in pay.

At the same time, security is under the spotlight like never before. Remember the old days when no one knew about security? Those days are long gone, and they arent coming back. Thus, many organizations embrace managed services for detection and response, mostly because they have to.

Something has to change. Actually, a lot has to change. Thats what this series, entitled SOC 2025 is about. How can we evolve the SOC over the next few years to address the challenges of dealing with todays security issues, across the expanded attack surface, with far fewer skilled people, while positioning for tomorrow?

We want to thank Splunk(you may have heard of them) for agreeing to be the preliminary licensee for the research. That means when we finish up the research and assemble it as a paper, they will have an opportunity to license it. Or not. There are no commitments until the paper is done, in accordance with our Totally Transparent Research methodology.

There tend to be two use cases main use cases for the SOC. Detecting, investigating, and remediating attacks and substantiating the controls for audit/compliance purposes. We are not going to cover the compliance use case in this series. Not because it isnt important, audits are still a thing, and audit preparation should still be done in as efficient and effective a manner as possible. But in this series, were tackling the evolution of the Security OPERATIONS Center, so were going to focus on the detection, investigation, and remediation aspects of the SOCs job.

You cant say (for most organizations anyway) there hasnt been significant investment in security tooling over the past five years. Or ten years. Whatever your timeframe, security budgets have increased dramatically. Of course, there was no choice given the expansion of the attack surface and the complexity of the technology environment. But if the finance people objectively look at the spending on security, they can (and should) ask some tough questions about the value the organization receives from those significant investments.

And there is the rub. We, as security professionals, know that there is no 100% security. That no matter how much you spend, you can (and will) be breached. We can throw out platitudes about reducing the dwell time or make the case that the attack would have been much worse without the investment. And youre are probably right. But as my drivers education teacher told me over 35 years ago, you may be right, but youll still be dead.

What we havent done very well is manage to Security Outcomes and communicate the achievements. What do we need the outcome to be for our security efforts? Our mindset needs to shift from activity to outcomes. So what is the outcome we need from the SOC? We need to find and fix security issues before data loss. That means we have to sharpen our detection capabilities and dramatically improve and streamline our operational motions. There is no prize for finding all the vulnerabilities. Like there are no penalties for missing them. The SOC needs to master detecting, investigating, and turning that information into effective remediation before data is lost.

Once weve gotten our arms around the mindset shift in focusing on security outcomes, we can focus on the how. How is the SOC going to get better in detecting, investigating, and remediating attacks? Thats where better tooling comes into play. The good news is that SOC tools are much better than even five years ago. Innovations like improved analytics and security automation give SOCs far better capabilities. But only if the SOC uses them.

What SOC leader in their right mind wouldnt take advantage of these new capabilities? In concept, they all would and should. In reality, far too many havent and cant. The problem is one of culture and evolution. The security team can handle detection and even investigation. But remediation is a cross-functional effort. And what do security outcomes depend on? You guessed it remediation. So at its root, security is a team sport, and the SOC is one part of the team.

This means addressing security issues needs to fit into the operational motions of the rest of the organization. The SOC can and should automate where possible, especially the things within their control. But most automation requires buy-in from the other operational teams. Ultimately if the information doesnt consistently and effectively turn into action, the SOC fails in its mission.

In this series, we will deal with both internal and external evolution. Well start by turning inward and spending time understanding the evolution of how the SOC collects security telemetry from both internal and external sources. Given the sheer number of new data sources that much be considered (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS, containers, DevOps, etc.), making sure the right data is aggregated is the first step in the battle.

Next, well tackle detection and analytics since that is the lifeblood of the SOC. Again, you get no points for detecting things, but youve got no chance of achieving desired security outcomes if you miss attacks. The analytics area is where the most innovation has happened over the past few years, so well dig into some use cases and help you understand how frameworks like ATT&CK and buzzy marketing terms like eXtended Detection and Response (XDR) should influence your SOC plans.

Finally, well wrap up the series by taking the what (accurate detections) and turning them into the how (effective remediation), resulting in positive security outcomes. Operationalizing is a key concept in that context. So buckle up and come along on the SOC evolution ride as we define SOC 2025.

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*** This is a Security Bloggers Network syndicated blog from Securosis Blog authored by [emailprotected] (Securosis). Read the original post at: http://securosis.com/blog/soc-2025-the-coming-soc-evolution

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SOC 2025: The Coming SOC Evolution - Security Boulevard

A Stellar Merger’s Astrophysical Evolution in the Blink of an Eye – SciTechDaily

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SOFIA FORCAST measurements (orange) of the V838 Mon spectrum, and the best-fit composite model of SOFIA data with a silicate-to-alumina ratio of 50:50 (yellow), overlaid atop an image of V838 Mon obtained by the Hubble Space Telescope, which shows the light echo illuminating circumstellar material. Credit: V838 Mon: ESA/Hubble & NASA; Spectra: Woodward et al.

Everything we see in the universe is a snapshot of the past: As light takes its time to reach our telescopes, the system were observing continues to evolve, and what we end up seeing is a moment in its history. By revisiting an object over the course of decades, we can look not only into its past, but can watch its history unfold.

Eleven years after it was last observed and 17 years after a stellar merger occurred, SOFIA looked at V838 Monocerotis, or V838 Mon, a binary star system about 19 thousand light-years away from Earth, capturing a snapshot in time of its makeup. This confirmed that the dust chemistry of the system has changed significantly over the course of nearly two decades following the merger, particularly over the past decade. This provided a history we otherwise cannot look at and offered an archaeological view of its evolution.

Because V838 Mon is quite bright and can saturate other telescopes, SOFIA is the only observatory capable of observing it at infrared wavelengths required to monitor this dust process. The researchers used SOFIAs FORCAST camera, which allows for low-resolution spectroscopy and deep imaging of bright objects.

Its very rare to see this progression of dust transformation in objects that is predicted to happen, said Charles Woodward, astrophysicist at the University of Minnesota and lead author on the paper describing the observation. To catch one is pretty cool.

An Armstrong F/A-18 flying safety and photo chase for NASAs SOFIA 747. Credit: NASA / Jim Ross

Material expelled as a result of a merger may provide hints about how our own early solar system evolved. Understanding how dust condensation occurs from material originally in a hot gas phase is related to how rocky planets, like Earth, form out of the gas and debris that surround young stars.

Its these small, micron-sized pieces of material that eventually build into planets like the one we sit on, Woodward said.

In environments like this that are conducive to forming dust, the way that the different materials are incorporated and condense affects the geology of the final product. This is especially true when aluminum which is very chemically active and can quickly deplete its surrounding oxygen is involved. In V838 Mon, the chemical composition of the dust has changed from primarily comprising of alumina components in 2008 to being dominated by silicates, as the alumina bond with their oxygen neighbors. Notably, this progression can be seen in real time.

If we look at theoretical condensation sequences for how this is supposed to work, this is an example of us being able to test those hypotheses, Woodward said.

While most astronomical events occur on a timescale of millions of years, this is one example of human-timescale astronomy, reminding us that immense changes can occur in a very short period of time.

Often when people think about astronomy, things are in stasis and they take millions and billions of years to occur. This was in the blink of an eye that the source went through evolution, Woodward said. Certain astrophysical phenomena are really dynamic.

Reference: The Infrared Evolution of Dust in V838 Monocerotis by C. E. Woodward, A. Evans, D. P. K. Banerjee, T. Liimets, A. A. Djupvik, S. Starrfield, G. C. Clayton, S. P. S. Eyres, R. D. Gehrz and R. M. Wagner, 7 October 2021, The Astronomical Journal.DOI: 10.3847/1538-3881/ac1f1e

SOFIA is a joint project of NASA and the German Space Agency at DLR. DLR provides the telescope, scheduled aircraft maintenance, and other support for the mission. NASAs Ames Research Center in Californias Silicon Valley manages the SOFIA program, science, and mission operations in cooperation with the Universities Space Research Association, headquartered in Columbia, Maryland, and the German SOFIA Institute at the University of Stuttgart. The aircraft is maintained and operated by NASAs Armstrong Flight Research Center Building 703, in Palmdale, California.

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A Stellar Merger's Astrophysical Evolution in the Blink of an Eye - SciTechDaily

Usman: Ngannou Showed The Evolution of Heavyweights At UFC 270 – MMA News

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UFC Welterweight Champion Kamaru Usman has praised heavyweight king Francis Ngannou for his adaptability at UFC 270, branding him the evolution of the heavyweights.

At the opening pay-per-view of 2022 this past weekend, Ngannou returned to defend his title for the first time since winning it at UFC 260 last March. Ahead of his unification showdown with former teammate Gane, a lot was being made about his future, preparation, and mindset.

Would his ongoing contractual dispute with the UFC affect his performance? Would his desire for a crossover to boxing distract him from the threat of Bon Gamin? Would Ganes technical style and fast movement nullify his power? Was a knockout his only path to victory?

When the iconic voice of Bruce Buffer called out and still after 25 minutes of action, Ngannou had successfully answered all of those questions.

After struggling on the feet for the opening two rounds, it appeared The Predator was on his way to a first defeat since 2018 and a potential departure from the promotion. But in the third frame, a momentous takedown changed the game.

After seeing the control he could employ on the ground, the UFCs hardest-hitting knockout artist put his grappling improvements on full display, earning the nickname Francis Ngannoumedov from some fans with the performance.

One man who had a front-row seat for Ngannous impressive strategy towards the end of the UFC 270 main event, and who knows a bit or two about wrestling, was reigning welterweight king Usman.

Speaking to BT Sport in the aftermath of his fellow African champs victory, The Nigerian Nightmare described Ngannou as the evolution of the heavyweights and suggested even he doesnt perform the sweep The Predator employed while on his back in the fifth and final frame.

Francis, thats the thing about him, hes one of those special athletes that he takes everything as it comes, said Usman. He was gonna be able to deal with whatever was coming at him. He didnt initially engage in the clinch or the wrestling the first round. That came from Gane, which I thought was an excellent game plan.

But were just seeing the evolution of heavyweights. I mean, did you see that sweep in the fifth? I mean, damn. Even I dont do that one. So youre seeing the evolution of the game, and Francis is a scary man.

While an Ngannou prediction was hardly left field prior to UFC 270, the manner in which he defeated the previously unbeaten Gane was one in which not many, if anybody, had seen coming.

With a clearly developed ground game to go along with the immense KO power that has left the likes of Jairzinho Rozenstruik and Stipe Miocuc unconscious, the champion is a scary prospect for the rest of the divisionif he remains in the promotion beyond 2022, that is.

What did you make of Francis Ngannous performance at UFC 270?

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Usman: Ngannou Showed The Evolution of Heavyweights At UFC 270 - MMA News

The Evolution of Skate Videos, From VHS to TikTok – VICE

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This article originally appeared on VICE Belgium.

When it comes to skateboarding, the only thing more important than actually going skating is making sure that you have footage of you doing it. You can tell people youve pulled off this, or jumped that, but without actual evidence of those particular alleged achievements, people will take you as seriously as Boris Johnsons apologies.

Skating owes much of its enduring popularity precisely to these videos. This has been the case for the past half a century, with the first ever skateboarding video dating back to 1965. Titled Skaterdater, a dialogue-free, coming of age short film shot in sunny California focused on a group of downhill skaters known as the Imperial Skate Board Club as they hoped to impress local girls with their prowess.

The film won the Palme dOr for Best Short Film at 1966s Cannes Film Festival and has proved to have a long shelf-life, having been the subject of both academic study and extreme sports fandom. Skaterdater is still of cultural interest, even if it presents us with a vision of skate videos that looks nothing like the ones that aficionados like myself and my friends sit down and enjoy together today.

As skateboarding became increasingly popular amongst young people the world over, Hollywood cottoned on to the fact, featured skating in cult movies like Back to the Future and Gleaming the Cube. This was, as skate historians might remind you, a moment when the sport was still largely confined to pools, bowls, and ramps. The Californian surf-inspired skating scene of the 1970s was immortalised for younger skaters in the 2001 documentary Dogtown and Z-Boys, directed by skate supremo Stacy Peralta.

Thats not to say that skating was the sole preserve of pool-plunging ex-surfers. By the mid-80s, the likes of Rodney Mullen and Mark Gonzales were laying the foundations of what we now know as street skating. They just werent dragging cameramen along with them for the ride.

In 1988, the movie Shackle Me Not came out. This hour-long video was released by H-Street a skate team based in San Diego, California, founded by pro skateboarders Tony Mag and Mike Ternasky in 1986 and arguably marked the birth of the modern skate video. Its combination of gritty footage and a punk soundtrack set the tone for the avalanche of skate videos that were to follow in its wake.

These releases included the legendary Video Days, the 1991 classic released by the skateboarding brand Blind. Directed by future-Hollywood darling, Spike Jonze, and featuring the skating talents of Jason Lee amongst others, Video Days was dynamic, action-oriented, and in your face. Other big hitters in the heady days of the 1990s include Plan Bs Questionable (1992), Girl Skateboards Mouse (1996) and Toy Machines Welcome to Hell (also 1996).

The thing that made this explosion of skate videos possible was Sonys era-defining VX1000 camcorder, the first device to use MiniDV tapes, which were much smaller than previous tapes. The camcorders relative affordability, portability and ease of use made it an essential on the skate scene and led to a standardisation of a skate video aesthetic. One of the defining visual characteristics of that aesthetic is the fish-eye lens, which shows up everywhere in skate videos of the 1990s and 2000s and still features in tapes released today.

Another technological advance, the internet, has allowed skaters to delve into the history of their hobby. File-sharing services like Limewire gave people the opportunity to fill their hard drives with all manner of skate footage. The ability to easily and freely consume those videos allowed people like me and my friends to develop a serious interest in skate culture.

Then, YouTube came in the latter half the the early 2000s, and killed off the skate DVD, which had already replaced skate VHS. Magazines like Thrasher and Transworld which attempted to bolster sales by bundling DVDs with their latest issues had to find new ways to stay relevant in a context where audiences didnt need to spend money for content.

Thrasher managed to drag themselves into the digital age of skateboarding pretty quickly, joining YouTube back in 2006 and amassing nearly three million subscribers along the way. Theyre also about to celebrate the publication of their 500th issue, a testament to their work and to their fans eagerness to preserve their culture, even for a price.

If YouTube shortened skateboarders attention spans, then Instagram decimated them, ushering the era of the minute-long video. Suddenly, videos that were 10 or 20 minutes were considered excessive, and while this led to a proliferation of free content, something was lost, too. Inviting friends over, grabbing a pizza and settling down on the sofa to watch a 15-minute video always felt a little lacking in the old magic.

Things got even shorter when TikTok launched in 2016. The super-short videos hosted on the platform opened up the skate scene to more people than ever, with skater girls, queer and non-binary skaters finally finding their online home.

For skaters themselves, the rise of social media opened up new avenues for self-promotion. It was now easier than ever to try and catch the eye of professional skate teams. Rather than having to mail out physical evidence of ones abilities, you could just upload them for the whole world in a matter of minutes. This gave skaters a sense of independence, putting (some of) the power in their hands. In addition to their finely-honed array of tricks, skaters increasingly learned how best to get eyes on their videos, understanding that big brands are impressed by viewers, followers, and subscribers.

Not everyone abandoned the traditional video formats, and by the mid-2010s things were getting longer once again. Brands like Palace and Bronze 56K extended the length of their releases, giving the worlds skaters something to really sink their teeth into on the sofa in the evening.

If the modern skate film has a superstar director, it might well be William Strobeck, the American cinematographer best known for his work with Supreme.The 2014 film Cherry marked a return to the old school full-length video format, and he did it again in 2018 with the instant classic Blessed. Both films have made a mark on a new generation of skaters who never knew they were looking for a long-form video to change their lives.

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The evolution of Remco Evenepoel: ‘He has learned he cannot take five steps forward in a row forever’ – Cycling Weekly

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If Remco Evenepoel completes a stage race, he wins it.

At least that is how it works if his staggering form of the last two seasons is a correct indication of how a race will unfold.

In the last six stage races that the Belgian superstar has started and finished, he has topped the general classification in them all, picking up eight stage wins en-route.

Yet for a man blessed with such extraordinary talent and self-belief, there is already an asterisk hovering over his results: he has yet to do it in a Grand Tour or a truly big stage race, such as the Critrium du Dauphin.

He made his three-week race debut at last springs Giro dItalia, sitting second on GC for a period of time until stage 11, before eventually withdrawing before stage 18. This season he will target the Vuelta a Espaa as he seeks to prove that he can transform one-week dominance into three-week superiority.

The season that just passed proved one of maturation for Evenepoel, who turns 22 on January 25. His QuickStep-AlphaVinyl sports director Tom Steels told Cycling Weekly: I think last year for Remco, and for everybody else too I think, was a good year in the sense of learning that not everything comes easy.

He is the biggest of talents, but they all have to be prepared that they cannot take five steps forward in a row forever.

Despite his tender years and only having completed three professional seasons, Evenepoel has grown into a natural leader, a fierce winner who demands nothing less than the best from himself and others around him.

He has also caused controversy with other riders, notably his compatriot Wout van Aert who publicly voiced his disappointment after Evenepoel questioned Belgiums tactics at the World Championships in September.

Steels acknowledged his young riders temperament but views it as a positive. That winning mentality I see as an advantage, he continued.

We all know the guys who really cannot stand losing after a race are quite outspoken, but I must say I always see it as a quality.

Of course, you have to manage it after a race as frustration itself comes from losing, but it also means you gave everything to win the race. Thats the balance you have to find, although its not easy.

With Remco, if he gets frustrated with another rider it can be headline news. You have to manage that so its not a real problem.

After a race on the bus, sometimes youre wondering how the windows are still in because the tension can get so high.

>>> From 83m of altitude during the day to 4,500m at night: Pros check into simulated altitude training hotel room

Evenepoel will begin his season at the Volta a Valenciana, having enjoyed a full block of uninterrupted winter training, something he was deprived of last year thanks to a slower than expected recovery from a crash he sustained at Il Lombardia that resulted in a fractured pelvis.

At the end of the year, we saw once again the Remco we wanted to see, Steels added. The way he rode the Europeans and the Worlds, but we also saw that at the end of the season his basic condition was not at the best. It was a difficult year for him.

He has trained this winter without problems and is by far in a better place than last year, even two years ago.

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The evolution of Remco Evenepoel: 'He has learned he cannot take five steps forward in a row forever' - Cycling Weekly

This year needs to be one of procurement evolution – New Civil Engineer

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This is a year of opportunity for contractors working in the built environment. Regenerative infrastructure projects including innovations in highways, rail and flood defences will play a vital role in creating stronger local economies in a post-pandemic world. But as well as being a year of opportunity for contractors, it should be seen as an opportunity to evolve procurement.

Mark Robinson is group chief executive at leading procurement authority Scape

As part of the UKs recovery efforts, government departments and local authorities have been tasked with delivering such high-quality projects at speed in order to drive better outcomes for communities across the UK.

Yet we still live in turbulent times. The industry has had every challenge thrown at it over the last two years and while the end of Covid pandemic might be in sight, the ongoing squeeze to the supply of labour and concerns around inflation and supply chain disruption are likely to affect the speed at which future projects get off the ground.

While many contractors remain upbeat about the outlook ahead, changes within the governance of public sector procurement have paved the way for a transformation in the way in which these future projects will be delivered, and, more importantly, what is now expected from civil delivery partners.

Three recent developments will reshape public procurement in the UK. All civils projects in 2022 must follow the principles of the Construction Playbook, the governments blueprint for best practice and take into account the findings of the independent Cabinet Office construction frameworks review, led by former Kings College London director of construction law David Mosey. Both developments are spearheaded by the Procurement Bill which will appear before parliament this year to underline the reforms to public procurement regulations.

When taxpayers money is concerned, procurement must be best-in-class. These legislative and policy developments have not only set a new gold standard for public sector clients, framework providers and contractors but will go a long way in helping to deliver projects with strong social value and green credentials.

As one of the organisations consulted on how we should define this gold standard, I welcome the findings of the Mosey review and the long-term direction that government is taking to drive value whether social, environmental or economic.

These plans will be further shaped by the 24 recommendations set out by the review, which include extensive support and accountability in relation to helping the public estate achieve net zero status, generating social value, stimulating innovation through modern methods of construction, minimising or eradicating waste, connecting supply chains and ensuring that they are treated fairly. Critically, Mosey calls for contractually binding action plans around these objectives something that, again, many have long been implementing.

Ultimately, we need to see greater consistency in the outcomes created by publicly funded civil engineering frameworks. As the Mosey Review highlights, bid costs are no small undertaking for contractors, so it is vital that framework providers offer robust support to those securing places on them, as well as the supply chain.

The best outcomes can be achieved where there is active management of frameworks to produce tangible outcomes. We have in-built standards that ensure a constant focus on value in all its varied forms, and every 1M spent on our frameworks generates 300,000 of social value for the local community. This can only be done with a programme of early engagement, which we enable with our direct award approach and local supply chain delivery.

Where we as procurement specialists, and those using our services, should take heart is in the component parts that the Mosey Review expects the gold standard to be made of. Indeed, I would go as far as to argue that many frameworks are already meeting or exceeding these standards. The reviews recommendations to set standards will raise the bar across the sector, while driving further innovation among those already operating at or beyond them.

The key now is to take these pockets of innovation and turn them into business as usual.If more projects and contractors can adopt best-practice behaviours and processesthen theres no reason we cant deliver on the UKs infrastructure needs in the coming years.

We are already seeing some significant innovation from our own civil delivery partners from the Scape Civil Engineering framework, using technology, creativity and a real commitment to improve the design, delivery and whole life cost performance of our national infrastructure. In most parts, the Whitehall recommendations seek to rubber-stamp a way forward where many in the industry were already leading by example.

In terms of the opportunities ahead, Scape is preparing to open bidding in February for spots on its next generation civil engineering framework. The re-procurement is a suite of 4bn, including a 3.25bn framework for England, Wales and Northern Ireland and a separate 750M framework for Scotland, managed and operated by Scape Scotland.

Scapes existing frameworks, both secured by Balfour Beatty, have delivered more than 250 projects to date for public sector clients and are due to expire in January 2023.

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This year needs to be one of procurement evolution - New Civil Engineer

Cliff’s Edge — The Evolution of the Pomegranate – Adventist Review

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At every meal, especially breakfast, the absurdity, the outrageous absurdity of evolution becomes frighteningly obvious. Take the humble pomegranate. It evolved? How? Did a single pomegranate seed evolve first? If so, starting as some early life form, how could a seedcontaining the concept of a pomegranate tree, along with the contents to grow onehave been formed, step by step, with no direction imposed on it?

Or instead of the seed, did the pomegranate itselfa single pomegranateevolve first? But how could a pomegranate with skin, seeds, and fruit on the seeds, come into existence through a long, slow process of evolution? How many endless proto pomegranates sitting on the ground (where else?) over millions of years came and went until one, finally, became a functioning and edible pomegranate (seeds, skin, and fruit together)?

Or maybe the pomegranate tree began it all? But what evolved first: the roots, the trunk, the branches, the leaf, or the pomegranate itself with seeds within it? Or did they all start evolving at once: a partial root, a partial trunk, a partial branch, a partial leaf, and a partial pomegranate with partial seeds until, finallyafter millions of inchoate and evolving proto-pomegranate trunks and roots and leaves and seeds arising, dying, rottingone, the fittest, survived into the first full-fledged pomegranate tree, the progenitor of all other pomegranates? (How, though, does the nutritive value of the pomegranate, along with its appealing taste, smell, and texture, fit in with this survival of the fittest story, anyway? Would not an uglier, unhealthier, and more tasteless pomegranate add to its survivability?)

Also, where did the idea of a pomegranate, or a pomegranate seed, or pomegranate tree come from to begin with? In evolutionary theory, there was never an idea of anything pomegranatey at all. Just wait long enough and, sooner or later, thanks to random mutation and natural selection, a pomegranate treeseeds, trunk, leaves, root and fruitwill just happen. Thats, at least, the narrative.

Evolutionists who want a Christian spin on creation would answer, of course, that Jesus, the Creator (see John 1:13), did it.

OK. But how?

Did Jesus first put the idea of a pomegranate seed in some very early life form, and then let that life form over millions of years (with a divine tweak every now and then) evolve into a pomegranate seed, which spawned the first pomegranate tree?

Or did He put into this early life the idea of a pomegranate and then said, And let it evolve into a pomegranate, from whose seeds the tree, bearing its own seed, will come. And (millions of years later) it was so?

Or did Jesus put the idea of a pomegranate tree into that early life form first? And, then simply let nature take its course until, eons later, the first pomegranate tree emerged?

However Jesus supposedly did it, evolution still demands millions of years of pre-pomegranate seeds, pre-pomegranates trees, and pre-pomegranates themselves fading in and out, step by step, until (again, maybe with fine-tuning) the first pomegranate treeseeds, leaves, trunk, branches and pomegranatesfinally arrived as a functioning and reproducing whole.

What other options are there? Evolutionary biologists tell us that Genesis 1:11 Then God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth; and it was so (Genesis 1:11) cannot be true. But the pomegranate is still here, and because it had to come from somewhere, I humbly ask, From where?

If any of the above scenarios are off, could someonetoo enlightened to believe in Genesis 1:11explain how the pomegranate evolved? And if they dont know how the pomegranate did, how about the blueberry, the avocado, the apple, the melon, the radish, the peach, the almond, the cherry, the tomatoor even the potato? How did any of these, or their first progenitor, step by step, slowly evolve into existence?

In stunning contrast, there is the six-day creation (Genesis 1-2), in which the love and power of God, tasted in every plant-based bite, reveals the wisdom of the world (1 Corinthians 3:19) as obviously, even outrageously, wrong.

Clifford Goldstein is the editor of Adult Bible Study Guides at the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, and a longtime columnist for Adventist Review.

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Episode 138: National Food Recovery Evolution: MealConnect and Feeding America – waste360

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In our latest episode of NothingWasted!, we bring you a dynamic session from WasteExpo Together Online 2021, National Food Recovery Evolution: MealConnect and Feeding America. This session features speakers Justin Block, Managing Director of Digital Platform Technology, and Nathan Crone, Senior Account Manager of Agri Sourcing Partnerships, both at Feeding Americathe largest domestic hunger-relief organization in the U.S. Dr. Stuart Buckner of Buckner Environmental Associates, LLC, served as moderator.

Heres a sneak peek into the presentation:

Block set the stage by talking about Feeding Americas engagement in the issues of hunger and food waste. He noted that these are urgent threats, particularly with over $218 billion worth of food being thrown away each year. He also pointed out that 275 U.S. counties have food insecurity rates over 20%. The Feeding America approach and process relies on a wide array of food donors, its network of more than 200 certified member food banks, and the agencies that utilize the food in helping to feed the 37 million hungry Americans.

Block went on to talk about MealConnect, the first nationally available food-donation app. Its free to use and allows organizations to post donations; trucks can also reroute rejected loads to food banks. Since its launch in 2014, the app has facilitated the rescuing of 2.9 billion pounds of food, which has helped 10,200 hunger relief organizations. Feeding America is continuing to expand MealConnect as well as access better food-waste data through it. Its 2.0 release is coming soon, which will enable users to better find the produce they need, better match supply and demand, and will feature a mobile, more user-friendly design.

Crone went on to elaborate on the emphasis on produce. On top of the fact that billions of pounds of produce go to waste each year, there is of course great nutritional value in suchand providing food-insecure people with produce encourages more balanced diets and helps to stretch food budgets. Some of the key challenges his team is working on include:

To wrap things up, Block showed off some of the marketing materials related to MealConnects new campaign.

After the presentation, Bruckner posed questions including, How can consumers help reduce food waste? Block encouraged becoming champions and advocates and encouraging businesses to be more mindful and intentional about unsalable product. Taking that one step further, consumers can visit FeedingAmerica.orgs Food Bank Finder and help local food businesses further up the supply chainpackers, distributors, wholesalersthey may not even realize they can donate their extra food. So if you can help making the initial connectionjust letting them know that food bank is in the community, it is a big help.

Listen to the full session above.

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Episode 138: National Food Recovery Evolution: MealConnect and Feeding America - waste360

Lionel Messi’s evolution at PSG: After 20 years, is he finally learning not to do it all himself? – ESPN

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Do you remember Lionel Messi? Little guy, used to have a bowl cut? Started off by dribbling past everyone, but getting fouled all the time? Then he turned into the best passer in the world and also the best goal scorer? Finally cut his hair, but bleached it blonde? Rinsed the peroxide out and grew a beard? Seemed like he'd washed out that crisis, only to then tattoo his entire leg in black ink? Won the Ballon d'Or seven times? Ever heard of him?

He used to be everywhere, always. To watch soccer for the past 15 years was to try to pay attention to someone else on a given Saturday or Sunday, only for Messi to remind you that you were wasting your time not watching him.

Enjoying that Bayern Munich match? Hey, I just dribbled through Getafe's entire team. Oh man, this Zlatan guy is pretty interesting, huh? You know what's interesting? I just scored 50 goals and tossed in 16 assists in 38 La Liga games. Whoa, is Manchester City ever going to lose a match? Uh, my team just took 20 shots in a game and I attempted or assisted every single one. All right, seems like it's time to enjoy some of this Erling Haaland business? I'm 32 years old and I'm going to put up a 20-20 goals and assists season just for fun.

Every month during the season, European Sports Media -- a group of 14 European magazines -- votes on a Team of the Month. There's an archive of their selections going all the way back to the 1995-96 season. Since then, Messi has been voted in 84 times. No other player has made more than 51 appearances (Cristiano Ronaldo). Put another way, over his 16 seasons with Barcelona, Messi was voted into the Team of the Month an absurd 60% of the time. For more than a decade-and-a-half, Messi's average month was better than everyone else's best. He's the only player who was more likely to be in the team than not.

Then, all of a sudden, he disappeared.

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There's just ... nothing. No breathtaking runs, no physics-defying free kicks, and barely any goals. Twenty-one matches into his first Ligue 1 season for Paris Saint-Germain, the greatest soccer player of all time has scored one time. In the 2012-13 season, he'd already scored 33 goals at this point in the domestic campaign. In his last three years at Barcelona, he'd averaged 16 goals through the first 21 matches of the La Liga season. Let me repeat: Lionel Messi has scored ONE GOAL in Ligue 1 this season. Unsurprisingly, given that -- and shockingly, given everything else -- he's yet to be selected to the ESM Team of the Month this season. He's been so absent from the everyday rhythms of European soccer that some people actually got mad when he won the Ballon d'Or.

It sure feels like the beginning of the end -- or maybe it's the start of something new.

The rest is here:

Lionel Messi's evolution at PSG: After 20 years, is he finally learning not to do it all himself? - ESPN

Negative observational learning might play a limited role in the cultural evolution of technology | Scientific Reports – Nature.com

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Negative observational learning might play a limited role in the cultural evolution of technology | Scientific Reports - Nature.com

Is the 49ers evolution since Week 3 enough to beat the Packers? – Niners Nation

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Sitting at 2-0, the 49ers hosted the Packers in their first home game with fans since the 2019 NFC Championship game. The 49ers paid homage to the 1994 team by donning the red throwback uniforms for the first time. It was a nationally televised game on Sunday Night Football.

The table was set for the 49ers, but they came out flat, fell behind 17-0, and their comeback fell short, as Aaron Rodgers and the Packers drove the field for a game-winning field goal in 37 seconds.

If youre a Packers fan, your natural inclination is to use that Packers win as evidence for why they will repeat that performance on Saturday. If youre a 49ers fan, youre hoping the outcome will be different during this weekends NFC Divisional battle.

But how much have the 49ers evolved since that Week 3 loss, and are those differences between the teams enough for San Francisco to advance to the NFC Championship game?

The development of the 49ers pass rush and their improved run defense

In Week 3, the 49ers generated seven pressures against Aaron Rodgers and only sacked the Packers signal-caller once. In the last two weeks, San Franciscos defense has generated 27 pressures and sacked the opposing quarterback 10 times.

Arden Key played three snaps as an edge rusher in that first matchup, whereas now Key is rushing from the inside as an extremely valuable piece on this defensive line.

Samson Ebukam has really developed into a capable rusher off the edge, which simply wasnt the case early in the season as he was still adapting to the role. Arik Armstead played 27 snaps at defensive end in Week 3. Since Week 9, hes exclusively moved inside as a 3T and been dominating. He finished with a season-high six pressures last week vs. Cowboys.

San Franciscos run defense hasnt been emphasized enough, but since Week 10, they have been the best in the NFL. Their rushing defense is No. 1 in the following categories: DVOA, EPA per play, Success Rate, and Explosive Runs allowed.

Theyll face a strong rushing attack, as the Packers are No. 1 in rushing success rate on offense. Aaron Jones and A.J. Dillon will be a load to tackle in the freezing temperatures of Wisconsin, but the 49ers improved defense should be up to the task.

Kyle Shanahans mid-season discovery of 49ers offensive identity

The 49ers were a highly-efficient offense all season long, but they really discovered their offensive identity mid-season in Chicago. Early in the year, it felt like Shanahan was struggling to find a rhythm as a play-caller, balancing Jimmy Garoppolo and Trey Lance.

Halfway through 2021, Shanahan punted the Trey Lance package into the sun, moved Deebo Samuel into his wide-back position, emphasized a run-heavy attack with Elijah Mitchell at the forefront.

Since Week 10, the 49ers offense has taken off to a whole another level. Their offense is second in passing DVOA and sixth in rushing DVOA. The 49ers offense also has the highest rate of explosive passing plays during this span as well. Shanahans bunch is also fourth in EPA per play and sixth in success rate. All of the advanced metrics show that the 49ers have assembled a Top-5 offense (based on efficiency) ahead of the Packers matchup.

Samuel has come into his own as a true running back, Jauan Jennings has developed into a legitimate third-down threat, and Brandon Aiyuk has become the 49ers best route runner. Not to mention George Kittles duality as a receiving or blocking tight end depending on the matchup.

Green Bays abysmal run defense

It doesnt make sense given their personnel, but all the advanced numbers show that the Packers run defense is one of the worst units in football.

Since Week 10, the Packers rushing defense is 27th in DVOA, 27th in EPA per play, 32nd in Success Rate, and 32nd in Explosive Run Plays allowed. They get gashed between every gap and havent been able to contain opposing running backs.

The Browns provided the blueprint for how to attack this Packers rushing defense, gashing them for 219 yards on 25 carries (8.8 yards per attempt). Thats similar to Raheem Mosterts box score from the 2019 NFC Title game.

Its clear how the 49ers are going to attack; its just a matter of winning in the trenches and dominating the blocks up front for San Francisco. If they can control the line of scrimmage, theyll have success running the ball against this Green Bay front.

San Franciscos dominance in the Red Zone

It was pretty clear early on in the season that the 49ers red-zone offense was dramatically improved this season. Its been an area of struggle the last few seasons under Kyle Shanahan for whatever reason. Between George Kittle, Deebo Samuel, and the emergence of Jauan Jennings, the 49ers have some legitimate red-zone threats that should keep defensive coordinators awake at night.

Shanahans red-zone offense ranks No. 1 in the NFL this season at 67 percent, while the Packers red-zone defense ranks No. 28. I think its a significant advantage because every time the 49ers get into the red area, theyll look to punch it in for six. Theyve had success all year long doing it, and it seems like the Packers defense has struggled to stop opponents.

Will this be a George Kittle game?

There was a three-week stretch where George Kittle reminded everyone in the National Football League who the most dominant tight end was. He had back-to-back games of at least 150 receiving yards, with three touchdowns, followed up by a 93-yard performance.

Kittles dominance in the run game as a blocker is widely known, but hes been a force as a receiving threat whenever the 49ers have needed it especially on the road.

The Packers have struggled to cover tight ends all season long. Theyre 28th in DVOA when covering opposing tight ends. Kittle caught seven passes for 93 yards in the first meeting this season and has generally had a ton of success against the Packers.

Id expect Kittle to be a major factor over the middle in this game, especially as a big, easy target for quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo.

Prediction: Green Bay 31, San Francisco 27

I think the 49ers are the toughest matchup for anyone in the NFL right now. They play a brand of football that travels anywhere and is uncommon in this day and age. San Franciscos physical rushing defense and pass rush should wreak more havoc than it did in Week 3. Their rushing attack should have success against the Packers front and be able to control this game.

The biggest questions to me heading into a game are the same as always:

Its been the same questions with this team all year long. Theyve generally been able to manage it in wins, and when they have lost, its typically been because of one of these three things.

I think they match up very well with the Packers, and I can see them winning this game and advancing to the NFC Championship game. However, at the same time, I dont trust the 49ers offense (especially their quarterback) to put together four quarters of high-level football on the road, and thats the difference in this game.

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Is the 49ers evolution since Week 3 enough to beat the Packers? - Niners Nation

January: dinosaur movement evolution | News and features – University of Bristol

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New research led by the University of Bristol has revealed how giant 50-tonne sauropod dinosaurs, like Diplodocus, evolved from much smaller ancestors, like the wolf-sized Thecodontosaurus

In a new study published today in the journal Royal Society Open Science, researchers present a reconstruction of the limb muscles of Thecodontosaurus, detailing the anatomy of the most important muscles involved in movement.

Thecodontosaurus was a small to medium sized two-legged dinosaur that roamed around what today is the United Kingdom during the Triassic period (around 205 million years ago).

This dinosaur was one of the first ever to be discovered and named by scientists, in 1836, but it still surprises scientists with new information about how the earliest dinosaurs lived and evolved.

Antonio Ballell, PhD student in Bristols School of Earth Sciences and lead author of the study, said: The University of Bristol houses a huge collection of beautifully preserved Thecodontosaurus fossils that were discovered around Bristol. The amazing thing about these fossilised bones is that many preserve the scars and rugosities that the limb musculature left on them with its attachment.

These features are extremely valuable in scientific terms to infer the shape and direction of the limb muscles. Reconstructing muscles in extinct species requires this kind of exceptional preservation of fossils, but also a good understanding of the muscle anatomy of living, closely related species.

Antonio Ballell added: In the case of dinosaurs, we have to look at modern crocodilians and birds, that form a group that we call archosaurs, meaning ruling reptiles. Dinosaurs are extinct members of this lineage, and due to evolutionary resemblance, we can compare the muscle anatomy in crocodiles and birds and study the scars that they leave on bones to identify and reconstruct the position of those muscles in dinosaurs.

Professor Emily Rayfield, co-author of the study, said: These kinds of muscular reconstructions are fundamental to understand functional aspects of the life of extinct organisms. We can use this information to simulate how these animals walked and ran with computational tools.

From the size and orientation of its limb muscles, the authors argue that Thecodontosaurus was quite agile and probably used its forelimbs to grasp objects instead of walking.

This contrasts with its later relatives, the giant sauropods, which partly achieved these huge body sizes by shifting to a quadrupedal posture. The muscular anatomy of Thecodontosaurus seems to indicate that key features of later sauropod-line dinosaurs had already evolved in this early species.

Professor Mike Benton, another co-author, said: From an evolutionary perspective, our study adds more pieces to the puzzle of how the locomotion and posture changed during the evolution of dinosaurs and in the line to the giant sauropods.

How were limb muscles modified in the evolution of multi-ton quadrupeds from tiny bipeds? Reconstructing the limb muscles of Thecodontosaurus gives us new information of the early stages of that important evolutionary transition.

This research was funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC).

Paper:

Walking with early dinosaurs: appendicular myology of the Late Triassic sauropodomorph Thecodontosaurus antiquus by A. Ballell, E. J. Rayfield and M. J. Benton in Royal Society Open Science.

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January: dinosaur movement evolution | News and features - University of Bristol

Making Sense of the Interest Rate Evolution – Planadviser.com

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News headlines in both financial services trade publications and national media outlets alike have homed in over the past several weeks on the topic of interest rateson where they have come from, where they stand now and what level rates may reach in the new year.

As often happens in such situations, PLANADVISER has received an extensive amount of written commentary from investment experts on the interrelated subjects of interest rates, inflation and economic growth. They offer viewpoints that seek to go beyond the headlines and illuminate the underlying market forces defining the day.

In the analysis of Brad McMillan, chief investment officer (CIO) for Commonwealth Financial Network, market watchers may be feeling an undue sense of panic about the current interest rate situation.

The panic of the day is the news about interest rates, he writes. The headlines state (correctly) that rates have moved up sharply in recent days. They state (correctly) that stocks have pulled back, noting this fact is due to that increase (which is possibly but not necessarily true). And they state (incorrectly, I believe) that higher rates are going to derail the economy and the markets, in that order.

McMillan says this narrative is pretty standard for this stage of the economic cycle.

The economy is growing, so the Fed, more worried about inflation than employment, starts to raise interest rates, he notes. Higher rates, mathematically, will mean slow growth and lower stock valuations. Cue the headlines. What is missing, as usual, is context.

In McMillans view, the growing concerns about the recent rise in interest rates are based on a couple of assumptions. First is the assumption that the increase reflects a problem with the financial markets.

Second, there is the thinking that current ratesfrom which we see the increaseare, by definition, correct, and the increase, therefore, represents a change from the correct rate levels, McMillan writes. Both assumptions are wrong.

For context, McMillan looks at the past 10 years of interest rates for the 10-year Treasury note. The current yield is about 1.8%, up in recent days from around 1.5%. McMillan agrees with the broader headlines that this is a sharp and sizable increase.

But this rate increase is dwarfed by the ones we saw in 2020 and 2021, he points out. Neither of those increases derailed the recovery, despite the headlines at the time. And, looking back before the pandemic, the interest rates take us back only to the lower end of the range in the latter part of the last decade. In other words, the recent spike is simply reversing part of the drop during the pandemica drop caused by extreme fiscal and monetary policy actions.

Put another way, McMillan argues, rates right now are moving back to the lower end of the normal range for the past decade. He says this should give individual and institutional investors some solace amid the frightening headlines.

Comments sent from investment management firm Ninety One, penned by strategist Russell Silberston, sound a decidedly different note. Silberston argues investors may actually be underestimating how far interest rates will rise, meaning bond yields have much further to riseand bond prices to fallthan commonly expected. He says his argument is based on some basic market history from the past 10 years.

In December 2015, six years after the global financial crisis overwhelmed the global economy and caused interest rates around the world to be slashed, the U.S. Federal Reserve raised the target for its benchmark federal funds rate by 0.25% to 0.5%, Silberston recalls. However, it then took a year for the tightening cycle to kick off in earnest, with another 25 basis point [bps] hike in December 2016, which, in turn, was followed by a series of 25-point hikes each calendar quarter that followed.

This took the Feds overnight rate to 2.5% by December 2018, Silberston explains, and, within seven months, the Fed was forced to partially reverse some of this tightening, reducing its rate to 1.75% over the second half of 2019 as financial markets wobbled badly despite the economy performing well.

With the Federal Reserve again on the verge of a tightening cycle, financial markets are replaying the post-crisis playbook and assuming the Fed is only going to be able to raise its rate to around 1.75%, Silberston says. This is well short of any assessment of the economically neutral level of interest rates, as they will be stymied by the desire to shrink their balance sheet, too. Why, then, in the face of multi-decade highs in inflation, are markets so sanguine about the interest rate outlook? The answer lies in the Feds balance sheet, and in particular the level of excess reserves placed there by commercial banks.

As Silberston observes, when a central bank undertakes quantitative easing, it creates reserves for itself and, with these, buys government bonds and other assets. These sit as an asset on the banks balance sheets.

The money they created to buy those assets ends up in the banking system, and in turn finds its way back to the central bank as excess reserves, he writes. These, like any bank deposit, are a liability for the central bank. Thus, in accounting terms, both assets and liabilities at the central bank have grown. When it comes to quantitative tightening, the process is reversed. The central bank either sells or allows a bond to mature, thus shrinking their assets. However, their liabilities also shrink as commercial bank excess reserves fall in tandem.

Looking forward and comparing the Federal Reserves policy options that are available today relative to what was possible in the wake of the Great Recession, Silberston says the situation is quite differentmore different than some market watchers appear to realize. His arguments are fairly technical and have to do with the way the Federal Reserve estimates its liabilitieshow it did so in the period before the pandemic and how it is doing so now.

Whatever the reason, [in the prior cycle] the Feds compass was on the wrong setting and it overdid quantitative tightening and withdrew far more liquidity than the banking sector needed, Silberston writes. It is this rather technical aspect of the Feds operations that we believe was behind the aborted tightening cycle in 2016 to 2018, rather than the federal funds rate being driven to a level that the economy could not withstand.

This time, in Silberstons view, is different. He warns that, to avoid the same whipsaw happening again when it embarks on quantitative tightening in this cycle, the Fed has introduced new on-demand tools to control overnight interest rates, both to the upside and downside. In theory, at least, policymakers should be able to run the balance sheet down more quickly without causing the liquidity shortages that characterized the last tightening cycle.

Again, if this view is correct, the market is underestimating how far high interest rates will rise, meaning bond yields have much further to rise, and bond prices to fallthan hitherto, Silberston concludes.

For his part, McMillan does not fully agree with that take, but he also acknowledges that investors may be overlooking some potential risks.

Lets look at a few assumptions. The first one says the current spike is a problem in financial markets, McMillan suggests. Looking at the [historical rate] chart, however, the problem seems to have come from the pandemic. Now, from an economic perspective, this problem is starting to fade. In this sense, the recent increase is a recovery from a problem, not an indicator of one.

The second assumption says recent rates are the correct and normal ones, McMillan writes.

Yet here again, due to the pandemic, this is definitely not the case, he argues. If both of these assumptions are wrongand they arethe narrative we are seeing in the headlines must be wrong as well. This logic would also extend to further rate increases. If rates for the 10-year Treasury notes go to 2.5%, they would be within the central range over the pre-pandemic years. It is only when rates begin to rise above 3% for a sustained period, not briefly, that the prospects of significant economic damage will start to get material. The years from 2013 to 2019 show that the economy and the markets can do quite well with rates between 2% and 3%.

After making that point, McMillan is quick to point out that significant risks remain.

Growth stocks are showing the strain, and this has had a disproportionate impact on the market, he observes. The housing sector might slow down as mortgage rates increase, but again this trend would be an adjustment, not a wholesale change. The economy and markets can and do adjust to changes in interest rates. This environment is a normal part of the cycle and one we see on a regular basis. The current trend is perhaps a bit faster than weve been seeing, but it is a response to real economic factorsand, therefore, normal in context. That is why there is no need to panic.

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Making Sense of the Interest Rate Evolution - Planadviser.com

Nutritional Products International’s Evolution of Distribution Platform Helps Health and Wellness Brands Enter the U.S. Market – Digital Journal

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Mitch Gould Developed a System to Centralize Essential Services that New Products Need to Thrive in America

This press release was orginally distributed by ReleaseWire

Boca Raton, FL (ReleaseWire) 01/24/2022 Product manufacturers have many obstacles when they decide to launch a new product to American consumers.

A launch campaign needs at least a sales staff, logistical and operational support, and marketing expertise.

"Everything costs money, especially if you are an international health and wellness brand," said Mitch Gould, founder and CEO of Nutritional Products International, a global brand management firm based in Boca Raton, FL. "International brands often don't understand the American retail industry or our culture."

Gould said he developed the "Evolution of Distribution" system to streamline the product launch process and keep costs down.

"I brought all the services involved in a product launch under the NPI banner," Gould said. "NPI provides a seasoned sales staff, warehousing, logistics, regulatory compliance, and specialized marketing services."

With NPI, Gould said domestic and international product manufacturers don't have to rent office or warehouse space.

"They don't have to hire a sales team with support staff. We have a Food Scientist to make sure their labels are FDA approved," he added. "We have the knowledge and experience our clients are seeking."

Gould said he also founded InHealthMedia, a marketing agency that specializes in the health and wellness sector.

"You have to understand the products and the industry to market them effectively," he said.

The marketing plan can include social media influencers, strategic professionally written press releases, TV segments that can reach more than 100 million households, and media outreach.

"We also have gotten major general and trade publications to cover our clients," Gould said.

For more information, visitnutricompany.com.

About NPI and Its Founder NPI is a privately-held company specializing in the retail distribution of nutraceuticals, dietary supplements, functional beverages, and skin-care products. NPI offers a unique, proven approach for product manufacturers worldwide seeking to launch or expand their products' distribution in the U.S. retail market.

Mitch Gould, the founder of NPI, is a third-generation retail distribution and manufacturing professional. Gould developed the "Evolution of Distribution" platform, which provides domestic and international product manufacturers with the sales, marketing, and product distribution expertise required to succeed in the world's largest market the United States. In the early 2000s, Gould was part of a "Powerhouse Trifecta" that placed more than 150 products on Amazon's new health and wellness category.

Gould, known as a global marketing guru, also has represented icons from the sports and entertainment worlds such as Steven Seagal, Hulk Hogan, Ronnie Coleman, Roberto Clemente Jr., Chuck Liddell, and Wayne Gretzky.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/nutritional-products-internationals-evolution-of-distribution-platform-helps-health-and-wellness-brands-enter-the-us-market-1352240.htm

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Nutritional Products International's Evolution of Distribution Platform Helps Health and Wellness Brands Enter the U.S. Market - Digital Journal

Black History Month 2022 – Edinboro University

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Throughout Black History Month, California, Clarion and Edinboro universities will host a series of events honoring the unique legacies, accomplishments and struggles of African Americans everywhere.

The monthlong celebration will open at 5 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 31, with a virtual discussion featuring POC artists Danielle and Roland Slade and civic leader Autumn Parker. Part of Edinboros ongoing Diversity Dialogues series which tackles converging issues surrounding race, politics and economics the public talk will be livestreamed on Edinboros YouTube channel.

About the participants:

The Slades' collaborative artwork, "Texture Evolution," is on display as a part of the LINE show at Edinboro's Bruce Gallery in Doucette Hall through Feb. 4.

On Thursday, Feb. 3, Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey will address The Story of Civic Engagement via Zoom from 5-6:30 p.m. Sponsored by Cal U, the lecture is open to students and employees at all three sister campuses.

Additional highlights include:

Our StoriesIllustrated Paint & ChipMonday, Feb. 7, from 6-9 p.m.Location: Cal U TBD: Carter Hall Multipurpose Room or the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Center

The event will feature local artist Jeff Jenkins. Pre-registration is required. Pre-registration is required. For more information, contact dei@calu.edu.

The Souls of Clayhatchee: A Southern TaleMonday, Feb. 14, at 6 p.m.Location: Online Zoom link

A virtual reading of the Anthony Todd Carlisle novel and discussion featuring author Dr. Anthony Carlisle, associate professor of Culture, Media and Performance at Cal U.

Professors of Color in the Ivory TowerWednesday, Feb. 16, at noonLocation: Online Zoom link

A virtual Red Table Talk Discussion facilitated by Dr. Michelle Torregano, associate professor and PreK graduate coordinator (Cal U). Faculty participants include Dr. Adrienne Dixon, assistant professor, Counseling, School Psychology and Special Education (Edinboro); Dr. Kevon Bruce, assistant professor, Counseling, School Psychology and Special Education (Edinboro); and Dr. Darla Timbo, assistant professor, Psychology (Cal U).

Akeem OlajThursday, Feb. 17, at 7:30 p.m.Location: Edinboro University Frank G. Pogue Student Centers Scot Cinema

Olaj is spoken-word artist whose poetry focuses on family dynamics, public health, politics, domestic violence and LGBTQ issues. The event is sponsored by Edinboro University Programming Board.

Harriet TubmanSunday, Feb. 20, at 3 p.m.3 p.m. - Screening of 2019 biographical film directed by Kasi Lemmons5 p.m. - Group discussion6 p.m. - Soul Food Sunday DinnerLocation: Clarion University Suites on Main North movie theater

The film screening, discussion and dinner are sponsored by Little Leaders of Clarion and the Office of Multicultural Affairs and Diversity Education.

The History of Soul Food: Lunch & LearnWednesday, Feb. 23, from 10:30 a.m. until 2:30 p.m.Location: Cal U Goldrush

Attendees will learn about and sample soul food, a term used for ethnic cuisine traditionally prepared and eaten by African Americans in the Southern U.S. The event is sponsored by AVI Dining and Catering Services.

Have You Ever Seen the Crowd Goin Apesh*t?: Art, Pop Culture and Artistic Challenge to PowerWednesday, Feb. 23, from 6-7 p.m. Location: Online Zoom link coming soon

A Bruce Gallery screening of Beyonc and JayZs 2018 music video, Apeshit, (filmed inside the Louvre in Paris), followed by a panel discussion featuring Edinboro faculty members Dr. Rhonda Matthews (Political Science), Dr. Charlotte Wellman (Art History) and Lisa Austin (Studio Art and director of Bruce Gallery) and Dr. Ginger Jacobson, associate director of behavioral research at the Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management.

Character Narratives: Creating a Black FilmWednesday, Feb. 23, at 7 p.m.Location: Clarion University Hart Chapel

Award-winning writer/film director Hezreel Robertson of Pittsburgh has written and produced several short films. His filming style hails from German expressionist and has been described as voyeuristic. Robertsons internationally recognized short film, Forlorning, has received seven Mokkho Film Festival selections and five festival awards. He is producing several short films and two feature films. The event is sponsored by the Office of Multicultural Affairs and Diversity Education, Leadership Institute and NAACP.

Black History Month TriviaMonday, Feb. 28, at 7 p.m.Location: Edinboro University Frank G. Pogue Student Centers Multipurpose Room

The student trivia event is sponsored by Edinboro University Programming Board.

Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Dr. Joseph Laythe Awards CeremonyThursday, March 3, at 3 p.m.Location: Edinboro University Van Houten North Dining Hall

Black History Month Charity WalkFeb. 1 28

Cal U, Clarion and Edinboro students are asked to honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by walking for a charity that is important to their story. To participate:

Prizes will be awarded to the top four students on each campus. Winners will be announced on March 3.

California, Clarion and Edinboro universities are proud to join the nation in celebrating the culture and rich traditions of our diverse communities. To learn more about Black History Month programming or the institutions diversity initiatives, contact Dr. Terrence Mitchell, vice president for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, or visit calu.edu, clarion.edu and edinboro.edu.

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History Definition & Meaning – Merriam-Webster

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1 : the study of past events I studied history in college. a professor of medieval/American history

2a : a chronological record of significant events (such as those affecting a nation or institution) often including an explanation of their causes a history of Japan

c : an account of a patient's medical background reviewing her medical history

d : an established record a prisoner with a history of violence

3 : a branch of knowledge that records and explains past events medieval history

4a : events that form the subject matter of a history the history of space exploration

b : events of the past History has shown that such efforts rarely succeed.

c : one that is finished or done for the winning streak was history you're history

d : previous treatment, handling, or experience (as of a metal) a history of repeated exposure to freezing temperatures

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NFL overtime rules: A history of every failed NFL team proposal to change OT format since 2010 – Sporting News

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The NFL's overtime rules have changed quite a bit since 2010, but that hasn't stopped NFL teams from attempting to tweak them in recent offseasons.

The NFL employs an overtime format that is unique among major North American sports. There is a sudden-death element to the overtime period, as the team that first receives the ball can end the game if they score a touchdown.

However, in recent years, teams like the Chiefs, Eagles and Ravens have made proposals to change up that rule. The proposals differ, but they all have at least one thing in common. At a minimum, they want to mitigate the impact that the overtime coin toss has on the outcome of the game. Some even strive to guarantee that both sides will possess the ball in the extra period.

Since 2010, there have been a few major changes to the NFL's overtime rules, but there have been even more proposals that have fallen by the wayside. But after the Chiefs-Bills game during the divisional round of the2022 NFL playoffs, it feels like we're bound to get some more rule change requests in the coming months and years.

Below is a recap of the major NFL overtime rule changes both enacted and proposed since the league implemented its new postseason overtime rules in 2010.

RIVERA: Revisiting the 11 NFL postseason OT games since 2010

The NFL first changed its sudden-death overtime rules in 2010. At that time, the NFL adopted new overtime rules for the postseason alone. The major change was that a made field goal no longer ended overtime; only a touchdown on the first possession would end the extra period.

The new rule was passed by a vote of 28-4, and it was recommended by the NFL's competition committee at a 6-2 clip. The main reason was thatRich McKay the team that won the overtime coin toss won the game nearly 60 percent of the time and 34.4 percent of the time on the first possession.

"Plenty of people on the committee, myself included, are so-called traditionalists," then-Indianapolis Colts president Bill Polian said, per ESPN. "I am proud to be one. But once you saw the statistics, it became obvious we had to do something."

Then co-chairman of the competition committee, Rich McKay, also explained that the proposal was popular because it maintained the sudden-death aspect that is unique to NFL overtime.

The rule change came in wake of the Saints' overtime win over the Vikings in the NFC Championship Game in 2010, but it wasn't directly tied to the rule change. In fact, Vikings owner Zygi Wilf, reportedly voted against the change.

"You need consistency of the regular season and the postseason," Wilf said.

Two years later, Wilf got the consistency he thought was important in the implementation of any rule change. The NFL expanded its new postseason overtime rules to the regular season beginning in 2012.

This came after twopostseason games were played with the new overtime rules. The first was the 2011 Broncos-Steelers game,which Tim Tebow ended immediately by throwing a game-winning touchdown to Demaryius Thomas on the first offensive play of the overtime period. The second was the 49ers-Giants game in 2012, which saw the Giants win despite being stopped on their opening drive. They stopped the 49ers and drove down for the game-winning field goal.

The sample size was small, but the playoff overtime rule change was popular enough among NFL ownership that they moved it to the regular season. The possibility always existed when they first implemented the rule change that it would expand in that capacity, andafter a two-year test run, they evidently felt comfortable enough to roll with it.

In 2017, the NFL's competition committee recommended that the NFL shorten its overtime period to 10 minutes. It had previously been the same length as a normal quarter, 15 minutes. The league obliged, thus creating 10-minute overtime periods.

Why did the NFL agree to do this? According to commissioner Roger Goodell, it was all in the name of player safety.

"We think this is an important change, particularly for teams that may be into an overtime situation and a lengthy overtime situation that may have to come back and play on a Thursday night, so this is another positive change," NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said, per NFL.com.

In the five years prior to the rule change, there had been83 overtime games played in the NFL. Only 22 of them (26.5 percent) lasted at least 10 minutes into overtime. Thus, the league shortened the overtime period to prevent injuries and extra plays from occurring, at the cost of slightly more frequent ties.

BENDER: 13 games that caused NFL's overtime changes

The Chiefs made a major overtime rule change proposal in 2019 after they lost to the Patriots in the AFC Championship Game. In that contest, Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs offense never saw the ball in extra time, as Tom Brady and the Patriots drove 75 yards for a touchdown on their first possession, enacting the sudden-death touchdown rule.

As such, the Chiefs set out to change that. They proposed a rule that would allow each team at least one possession in overtime, even if the team that first possessed the ball scored a touchdown. The proposal also set out to eliminate the coin flip and just to rely on the pre-game coin flip to decide which team gets to whether to receive or kick in overtime.

I think everybody wants a chance for guys to do what they do," Chiefs general manager Brett Veachtold Pro Football Talkwhen asked about the rule change proposalin March of 2019. "I dont really see the downside of having that. Especially when you have a player like Pat Mahomes. It would have been a lot of fun. I think people, if they werent already tuned in for a great game, would have turned on that overtime.

However, the NFL owners didn't agree with Veach, Andy Reid and the Chiefs. Kansas City's motion got little support during the meetings and was tabled due to a "lack of support" for the change, per Boston.com. The owners didn't even vote on the issue.

Ironically, those very unchanged rules ended up benefitting the Chiefs three years later during their playoff win over the Bills.

The Eagles crafted a proposal in 2020 that looked to"minimize the impact of the overtime coin toss." How? Well, it involved using total touchdowns to determine who got the ball in overtime, as described by SB Nation.

At the end of regulation playing time, whichever team has scored more touchdowns during regulation will have the same options as a team that wins the pregame coin toss. If the teams have scored an equal number of touchdowns, the Referee shall immediately toss a coin at the center of the field, in accordance with rules pertaining to a usual pregame toss. The visiting team captain is to again call the toss.

The Eagles cited "competitive equity" and "fan engagement" for the primary reasons for their requested rule change.

To recap, the team that was better offensively and recorded more touchdowns would get the ball first. So, instead of relying on a coin to choose which team would go first, they are relying on a stat related to the game.

Of course, as the proposal noted, that rule change wouldn't entirely eliminate the need for a coin toss. It would still be necessary ifthe teams had an equal number of touchdowns.

That's part of why the proposal never made it to the voting process as a potential NFL rule change. And it may also be part of the reason that the Eagles switched to support another potential overtime rule change in 2021.

The Ravens and Eaglestook an unorthodox approach to change the NFL's overtime rules. They designed a proposal to give the overtime coin toss less of a clear competitive edge in the extra period.

Here's how overtime would have looked under theproposal. The winner of the coin toss can choose one of two things. They can choose to start the ball on offense or defense or they can choose where to spot the ball to begin overtime.

For example, a team could choose to receive the ball, but then their opponent could choose to spot the ball at their own 1-yard line, making it necessary for the team on offense to drive the length of the field to score. Conversely, a team could choose to spot the ball on their own 15-yard line and that would force their opponent to make the difficult choice about whether they'd like to be on offense or defense.

This would create a true sudden-death format that would minimize the impact of the overtime coin toss. Why? Because the winning team wouldn't automatically benefit from winning the toss, as if they elect to receive, they could see the ball placed deep in their own territory. And if they elect to spot the ball, they would have to play on defense.

We think the main thing is the spot-and-choose aspect of it is to make it fair, Ravens coach John Harbaugh said, per Ravens.com. Any luck involved would be the bounce of the ball, not the flip of the coin. I think thats something the fans would appreciate."

MORE:Current NFL overtime rules, explained

"While its really intriguing and fun, theres a lot to it strategically. Its a very simple concept," he added. "Easy to understand, I think, once you get your arms around it. It's a lot fewer lines in the rule book, I can tell you that."

Still, the NFL owners weren't ready to embrace that rule in 2021. The proposal was rejected as it "did not receive enough support" from the competition committee. Nor did the team's proposal for a 7 1/2 minute non-sudden-death overtime.

That said, competition committee chairman Rich McKay praised the Ravens' proposal of the idea and noted that it could "take a long time" to fully understand.

"That was an out-of-the-box idea," McKay said in a conference call with reporters. "I thought Baltimore did a really nice job in explaining it. I think ideas like that take a long time to marinate and understand. It didn't have a lot of support, but I've been around rules before that didn't have a lot of support over the years and all of a sudden passed. I think it's good they brought it up."

Theleague did make one overtime change before 2021. Theyfinallyeliminated overtime for preseason games in 2021 after several years of teams proposing that go away. It's simply not needed in exhibition games where third- and fourth-string players are often playing at the end of regulation.

For context, here's how OT games have shaken out since the NFL changed the rule in 2010.

Will there be a rules change after the Bills loss to the Chiefs? Time will tell.

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NFL overtime rules: A history of every failed NFL team proposal to change OT format since 2010 - Sporting News

49ers-Rams: What NFL history tells us about beating division foe three times – NBC Sports Bay Area

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Its no secret: The 49ers have dominated the Los Angeles Rams for the past three seasons.

San Francisco has won six consecutive meetings between the two division rivals, dating back to a 20-7 win at SoFi Stadium on Oct. 13, 2019. The 49ers defeated LA twice during the 2021 regular season a 31-10 rout in Week 10 and a 27-24 victory in the regular-season finale in which San Francisco rallied back from a 17-point deficit to clinch a playoff spot.

According to Sportradar, Sundays NFC Championship Game will mark the sixth occurrence in the Super Bowl era of a team defeating a divisional foe twice in the regular season, only to match up again for a conference title.

Three of the five previous occasions resulted in the 2-0 team improving to 3-0.

It was most recently accomplished by the Tennessee Titans in 1999. Tennessee, in its first season playing with the nickname Titans, defeated the Jacksonville Jaguars twice during the regular season and advanced to Super Bowl XXXIV after a 33-14 victory over the Jags.

In 1986, coach Bill Parcells and the New York Giants beat Washington twice before ending its season with a 17-0 shutout in the NFC Championship Game.

Four years prior, in 1982, the Miami Dolphins took down the New York Jets in two regular-season clashes. When the teams met again for a conference championship, the Dolphins exited with a 14-0 win.

However, two teams have saved revenge for the conference title game. The 1983 Los Angeles Raiders topped the Seattle Seahawks 30-14 in the AFC Championship Game to pay back losses of 38-36 and 34-21 in the regular season. In 1969, the Kansas City Chiefs thumped the Oakland Raiders 17-7 for the conference title to erase a pair of previous losses.

There were another four such examples before the Super Bowl era. Three of those four teams who won the first two meetings were victorious in the third.

That means in all, teams with two prior wins over a division rival are 6-3 against that same roster in conference championship games.

What does all this history mean for the 49ers? Not much. Old sports cliches tell us its hard to beat a team twice in one season. Three times is even tougher.

But history on the gridiron tells us its certainly possible.

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49ers-Rams: What NFL history tells us about beating division foe three times - NBC Sports Bay Area

Penguins Announce Return of Black Hockey History Game – BlueJackets.com

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The Pittsburgh Penguins will kick off a month of Black History Month celebrations on Sunday, January 30, when the team hosts the Los Angeles Kings at 1 p.m. at PPG Paints Arena.

During the month of February, the Penguins will celebrate Black History Month through virtual programming focused on elevating Black leaders and change-makers, sharing inspiring stories of historic resilience, and connecting our fans to one another through their love for hockey.

Last summer the Penguins opened the Willie O'Ree Academy to offer free, high-quality training and support to local Black youth hockey players and their families. This fall the team opened a seasonal indoor hockey rink at the Hunt Armory in Shadyside to host its hockey diversity programming.

"The Penguins are devoted to supporting the youth of our city and the Black community. It's part of our mission, and we're happy to lead the National Hockey League and the city of Pittsburgh in celebrating Black History Month all through February," Penguins President David Morehouse said.

Join the Penguins this Black History Month, as we inspire, connect, and elevate in person and virtually through programming that unites our community, staff, and fans. These programs will feature NHL players and executives, community leaders, and Penguins front office staff, as we come together this Black History Month.

On Sunday, January 30 at 1 p.m., the team will hold a Black Hockey History Day at PPG Paints Arena as the Penguins play the Los Angeles Kings. Prior to the puck drop, there will be opportunities for fans to connect in person with networking events, and there will be a special exhibit on Black hockey from the Hockey Hall of Fame.

All fans in attendance will receive a rally towel presented by CNX.

At the Black Hockey History game, fans will be able to visit the first-of-its-kind exhibit from the Hockey Hall of Fame detailing the history of Black hockey with memorabilia from HHOF Honored Members Grant Fuhr, Jarome Iginla, Angela James, and Willie O'Ree, in addition to hockey artifacts dating as far back as 1905. The Willie O'Ree Community Hero Award will also be on display.

The exhibit is being funded by a grant to the Pittsburgh Penguins Foundation from the Irene W. and C.B Pennington Foundation to highlight and celebrate diversity in hockey.

Fans will also connect with diverse organizations at concourse activation tables near the exhibit, which will be located in the Hallmark Hall of Champions, behind the Captain Morgan Club.

Through the month of February, the Penguins will honor and celebrate Black History Month by providing a series of virtual programming for our partners, community, staff, and fans.

"We take seriously our responsibility to institute positive, systemic change as we look to use our sport and influence to be champions of diversity and inclusion, both on and off the ice, and our virtual Black History Month programming allows us to reach our fans in our community and beyond," said Delvina L. Morrow, the Penguins' Senior Director of Strategic and Community Initiatives, and DEI.

Programming will feature NHL players and executives, community leaders, and Penguins front office staff, as they celebrate Black History Month, sharing inspiring stories of historic resilience, connecting our fans to one another through their love of

hockey, and elevating Black leaders and change-makers.

More details on the virtual events will be announced soon. Please visit the team's Black History Month webpageto sign up for updates.

Read more from the original source:

Penguins Announce Return of Black Hockey History Game - BlueJackets.com