Opinion: Mercy Health committed to addressing health care inequality – The Cincinnati Enquirer

Posted on by

Dave Fikse, Opinion contributor Published 11:11 a.m. ET Aug. 6, 2020

Mercy Health's headquarters in Bond Hill.(Photo: Provided/Mercy Health)

Cincinnati is not unlike many communities across the country, struggling to make sense out of what has happened to those impacted by racial inequality and injustice and how we will pull together to move forward, to heal and to learn.

Mercy Health has long valued human dignity, diversity and inclusion as ministry priorities. Our mission calls us to improve the health and well-being of our communities and bring good help to those in need. The events of the past weeks must deepen our shared commitment to protect, heal and support the most vulnerable among us, which includes those affected by racial inequality and its associated health disparities, poorer health outcomes and higher rates of mortality and morbidity. Where some seek to divide, we must join together to support our patients, families, associates and providers serving all.

After seeing firsthand the appreciation for human dignity and life of which Cincinnati is capable, it is abundantly clear that changing the narrative about racial injustice means that we all as a health care ministry, a city, a region, a nationand the world, stand together to set a new standard for how we should live. We ask organizations to re-examine their values to ensure they help contribute to the healing of racism in our time. Our founding Sisters have always valued human dignity for all, and while much has been accomplished, there is still much to do.

Heres what Mercy Health-Cincinnati and its parent organization Bon Secours Mercy Health are doing to address racial inequality:

Our Mercy Health Foundation continues to pursue philanthropic partnerships to advance our nonprofit ministrys community health and health equity initiatives. We commit to continuing to address racial inequality in health care and call upon our Divine Physician to heal the wounds of racism in our hearts and throughout our land.

Dave Fikse is the market president for Mercy HealthCincinnati, part of Bon Secours Mercy Health, the fifth-largest Catholic health system in the country.

Dave Fikse is market president for Mercy HealthCincinnati.(Photo: Provided)

Read or Share this story: https://www.cincinnati.com/story/opinion/2020/08/06/opinion-mercy-health-committed-addressing-health-care-inequality/5571776002/

Read the original:

Opinion: Mercy Health committed to addressing health care inequality - The Cincinnati Enquirer

Aurora Health Care has shortage of coronavirus testing kits – WISN Milwaukee

Posted on by

Aurora Health Care has stopped testing patients for COVID-19 prior to certain medical procedures. The medical group said it's facing a shortage of tests. One patient reached out to WISN 12 News Investigates, saying he's concerned for his safety. Continuing Coverage: Coronavirus in Wisconsin"I have COPD. Ive got asthma. I've got heart disease," Alan Hensley said. That's why Hensley considered it important to get checked for COVID-19 prior to a procedure to test for colon cancer.But, as he told WISN 12 News Derrick Rose, he was surprised when his doctor at Aurora Saint Luke's told him they couldnt test him for coronavirus because "we dont have enough testing kits."That's when Hensley contacted WISN 12 News Investigates.Aurora confirmed the shortage, saying it's because their suppliers have redirected tests to other hot spots nationally.As a result, Aurora facilities around Milwaukee have stopped doing COVID-19 tests prior to certain procedures."That makes me even more scared of having the procedure done," Hensley said. "Is it safe for a patient to come in now, knowing they're not going to be getting that COVID-19 test?" WISN 12 News reporter Kent Wainscott asked the chief Aurora Medical Group officer."I'd say in the situations we've created, yes," Dr. Jeff Bahr said. Aurora said it will eliminate testing only for procedures believed to pose a lower risk of COVID-19 transmission and will increase other safety protocols.The testing shortage has also meant a change in location for the hospitals' community test sites, consolidating all of them into one location at Aurora Sinai in downtown Milwaukee. But it's the reduction of preprocedure testing that's raising concerns."Doesn't scaling back on testing increase the risk for patients and staff?" Wainscott asked. "It could if it were done inappropriately, but I don't believe that's the case here," Bahr said. But Hensley is not convinced."They can't test us because they don't have enough testing? That's not right. That's not fair," Hensley said. WISN 12 News also contacted both Froedtert Hospital and the Ascension Medical Group. Both said they have a sufficient supply of COVID-19 tests and are continuing to do testing prior to medical procedures at all of their facilities across the area.Sign up for coronavirus email alerts from WISNGet breaking news alerts with the WISN 12 app.Follow us: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube

Aurora Health Care has stopped testing patients for COVID-19 prior to certain medical procedures. The medical group said it's facing a shortage of tests.

One patient reached out to WISN 12 News Investigates, saying he's concerned for his safety.

Continuing Coverage: Coronavirus in Wisconsin

"I have COPD. Ive got asthma. I've got heart disease," Alan Hensley said.

That's why Hensley considered it important to get checked for COVID-19 prior to a procedure to test for colon cancer.

But, as he told WISN 12 News Derrick Rose, he was surprised when his doctor at Aurora Saint Luke's told him they couldnt test him for coronavirus because "we dont have enough testing kits."

That's when Hensley contacted WISN 12 News Investigates.

Aurora confirmed the shortage, saying it's because their suppliers have redirected tests to other hot spots nationally.

As a result, Aurora facilities around Milwaukee have stopped doing COVID-19 tests prior to certain procedures.

"That makes me even more scared of having the procedure done," Hensley said.

"Is it safe for a patient to come in now, knowing they're not going to be getting that COVID-19 test?" WISN 12 News reporter Kent Wainscott asked the chief Aurora Medical Group officer.

"I'd say in the situations we've created, yes," Dr. Jeff Bahr said.

Aurora said it will eliminate testing only for procedures believed to pose a lower risk of COVID-19 transmission and will increase other safety protocols.

The testing shortage has also meant a change in location for the hospitals' community test sites, consolidating all of them into one location at Aurora Sinai in downtown Milwaukee.

But it's the reduction of preprocedure testing that's raising concerns.

"Doesn't scaling back on testing increase the risk for patients and staff?" Wainscott asked.

"It could if it were done inappropriately, but I don't believe that's the case here," Bahr said.

But Hensley is not convinced.

"They can't test us because they don't have enough testing? That's not right. That's not fair," Hensley said.

WISN 12 News also contacted both Froedtert Hospital and the Ascension Medical Group.

Both said they have a sufficient supply of COVID-19 tests and are continuing to do testing prior to medical procedures at all of their facilities across the area.

Sign up for coronavirus email alerts from WISN

Get breaking news alerts with the WISN 12 app.Follow us: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube

More:

Aurora Health Care has shortage of coronavirus testing kits - WISN Milwaukee

Scientists and artists collide to help health care workers cope with COVID-19 – WISHTV.com

Posted on by

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) Performance art can help medical professionals grapple with the coronavirus, researchers say.

In a report published by The Lancet, authors liken COVID-19 to tales of ancient Greek tragedies. These stories are fraught with betrayal, anger and fear feelings not unlike what front-line workers are feeling today.

The program is called Theater of War for Frontline Medical Providers and it is a product of Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics and Johns Hopkins Program in Arts, Humanities and Health. It is designed to open a dialogue among health care workers to discuss the difficulties they have and will continue to experience during the outbreak.

We have found that presenting scenes from ancient tragedies about complex, ethical situations for frontline medical providers generates an open, non-threatening space in which health personnel can begin to process, interrogate, share and bear witness to experiences of loss, betrayal, grief and other forms of moral suffering during the COVID-19 pandemic, authors wrote in a news release.

Medical workers across the U.S. are struggling with mental health issues and are 30% more likely to experience clinical depression than non-medical workers, according to a recent study.Authors say coping interventions are critical.

What we learned suggests anyone who identifies as a healthcare professional whether its a physician or a support worker in a hospital is at risk for mental health problems that could be devastating if left untreated, said study author of the paper, Mental health challenges of U.S. healthcare professionals during COVID-19, Shevaun Neuper, Ph.D., in a statement.

The findings are alarming, Neupar said, and additional work is needed to understand the depth and complexity of the mental health issues these people are facing. Strategies must be implemented to help them cope, she urged.

The medium of theater invites participants to step back and interrogate the roles they are playing, founders of Theater of War for Frontline Medical Workers say. [They can] process and channel their emotions and experience solidarity of collective purpose and constructive action.

News 8s medical reporter, Dr. Mary Elizabeth Gillis, D.Ed., is a classically trained medical physiologist and biobehavioral research scientist. She has been a health, medical and science reporter for over five years. Her work has been featured in national media outlets.

Read more here:

Scientists and artists collide to help health care workers cope with COVID-19 - WISHTV.com

Political Corruption and Healthcare in Honduras – BORGEN – Borgen Project

Posted on by

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras The state of healthcare in Honduras points to a larger story of political corruption within the country. The countrys public healthcare system suffers from poor management and a lack of resources, preventing those who rely on it from receiving proper care.

Healthcare in Honduras operates through both a private and public system. Honduras reserves the private system for the wealthy and those who have private insurers, an economic elite that represents roughly 10% of the population. The public system comprises of two institutions: the Ministry of Health and the Honduran Social Security Institute. The Ministry of Health is open to all, though only about half of the population uses it regularly. Meanwhile, the Honduran Social Security Institute only covers 40% of individuals who have employment, totaling around 18% of the population. Between these two healthcare systems, about 17% of the population does not have routine access to healthcare.

Honduras healthcare system has received poor management. The countrys health expenditure as of 2017 has a budget of about 7.86% of its GDP. This lack of funding has led to dwindling resources. According to a CDC report, Honduras has only 0.37 doctors per 1,000 people. Basic medical supplies and hospital beds are also sparse and patients are often on their own to find the medication they need.

The handling of healthcare in Honduras speaks to a larger story of political corruption that has long plagued the countrys government. The current president, Juan Orlando Hernndez, began his second term in 2017 following allegations of conducting a fraudulent election. People have since connected him to a drug trafficking scheme that his brother, Tony Hernndez, orchestrated. In 2014, President Hernndezs campaign funds from his 2013 election had ties to a massive corruption scandal that robbed more than $300 million from the Honduran Social Security Institute, a huge loss for the healthcare system that estimates determine led to 2,800 deaths.

Another corruption scandal came to head in 2015 when The National Anti-Corruption Council revealed: that 49 percent of the public health budget had been diverted to other purposes.

Political corruption and a lack of resources within the healthcare system leaves the people of Honduras to fend for themselves in order to get the care they need. For example, a Honduran immigrant told The Borgen Project that a lack of medical supplies meant that she had to pay for almost everything when her mother got sick, down to the cotton balls and alcohol swabs to administer vaccines. If she had extra supplies leftover, she gave it to the next person in need.

The government doesnt care about the people, she told The Borgen Project, adding that The president has a helicopter; he goes to Italy to see fashion shows It doesnt make sense. And how about the poor people? They dont have medication; they dont have food; they dont have houses.

When asked about the international aid that goes to Honduras government, she expressed her concern, telling The Borgen Project that the lack of financial oversight causes the money to easily go astray in the chain of corruption infiltrating the government. She said that the money never goes to the place it is supposed to go.

The current COVID-19 pandemic has further weakened the already fragile state of healthcare in Honduras. Hospitals have an overabundance of patients and are lacking ventilators. For people who live far from the cities hospitals, access to health care is almost impossible. A shortage of personal protective equipment, including masks, gloves and gowns, leave the doctors who are at the forefront of this pandemic particularly vulnerable.

Given the widespread corruption and lack of transparency, direct aid to the Honduran government can be difficult to monitor. Instead, the best way to help the people of Honduras is to give directly to grassroots organizations.

In 2018, Mdecins Sans Frontires (also known as Doctors Without Borders) conducted 11,000 outpatient consultations and 4,390 individual mental health consultations in Honduras. It also treated 300 people following incidents of sexual violence. In the fight against COVID-19, Mdecins Sans Frontires assembled a team to work with severe cases in an annex of Tegucigalpas National Autonomous University of Honduras.

Central American Medical Outreach is also taking steps to help Honduras. The organization provides on-the-ground care through programs focused on womens health, disabilities, surgery and general medical needs. It also annually ships six to eight 40 foot containers of donated clean and unexpired medical supplies to hospitals and clinics in Honduras. From March to April 2020, the organization served 13,156 patients and collected 1,347 boxes of donated medical supplies and personal protective equipment.

Such work is necessary in order to provide immediate aid to the people of Honduras, especially during the current COVID-19 emergency. However, the countrys broken healthcare system remains a looming threat. The Association for a More Just Society seeks to better Hondurass healthcare system by advocating for transparency, investigating institutions and reporting corruption. Tackling these issues is crucial: the future of healthcare in Honduras relies on an ability to rid the system of corruption, once and for all.

Jessica BlattPhoto: Flickr

See the original post:

Political Corruption and Healthcare in Honduras - BORGEN - Borgen Project

Why the coronavirus is killing so many of Mexico’s healthcare workers – Reuters

Posted on by

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - When the coronavirus epidemic began to intensify in Mexico at the end of March, Doctor Jose Garcia said his bosses at a public trauma hospital in Mexico City denied his request for masks, gloves and disinfectant.

Jose Armando Garcia and his wife Ana Cristina Sanchez, Mexican doctors who have been infected with COVID-19, speak during an interview with Reuters at their apartment, as the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues in Naucalpan de Juarez, Mexico state, Mexico, May 15, 2020. REUTERS/Henry Romero

They argued such protective equipment was only necessary for those working directly with coronavirus patients, Garcia said. Unconvinced, he bought it himself.

The hospitals director disputes this, saying all staff received protective equipment. Either way, Garcia had already contracted the virus and infected his wife and one-year-old daughter.

Garcia is one of over 70,000 medical workers to catch the coronavirus in Mexico, where the pandemic death toll is now the third-highest worldwide, behind the United States and Brazil.

Government data indicates that healthcare workers risk of dying is four times higher than in the United States, and eight times higher than in Brazil.

The coronavirus has hit healthworkers all over the world, but its been especially bad in Mexico, said Alejandro Macias, an epidemiologist who spearheaded Mexicos response to the 2009 swine flu pandemic.

Staff have had to buy their own equipment, often in informal marketplaces and of substandard quality, Macias said.

The government has said there were shortcomings in equipment provision early on but says it has worked hard to protect workers and flown in vital equipment from China and the United States. It also accuses past administrations of letting the health service deteriorate.

Mexicos deputy health minister and coronavirus czar, Hugo Lopez-Gatell, said in July that many of the nurses and doctors who died of the virus had pre-existing medical conditions, and that some did not use protective gear in optimal fashion.

In Mexico, 19% of confirmed infections are of medical staff, almost three times the global average, according to figures from the International Council of Nurses and the Mexican National Association of Doctors and Nurses.

The plight of healthworkers is complicating efforts to contain the outbreak, which has killed close to 50,000 people in Mexico, battered the economy and cost millions of jobs.

Garcia, 48, said in an interview that he believes he was one of about a dozen medical staff indirectly infected by a patient who arrived at the Lomas Verdes hospital with coronavirus symptoms and later died.

Theyve been very irresponsible with us, he said, referring to his employer and its alleged failure to provide protective equipment.

The hospitals director, Gilberto Meza, said that 213 Lomas Verdes staff had contracted the virus. Citing an epidemiological study he said the hospital had conducted, he said that all were infected outside the facility.

He said all staff had received goggles, face shields and masks. He declined to say when they were provided.

Garcia and his family survived and he is now back at work. But the two weeks they had coronavirus symptoms were, he said, hell: headaches, fever, diarrhea and shortness of breath.

As of July 24, 72,980 Mexican medical staff had caught the coronavirus, and 978 died, government figures show.

In the United States, which has a population 2.5 times that of Mexico, 123,738 medical personnel have tested positive for coronavirus and 598 have died, according to the most recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) figures.

The health ministry of Brazil, which is about two-thirds more populous than Mexico, had reported 189 deaths of medical practitioners by end-July. Some private data in Brazil give higher figures, but still well below Mexico.

Over a dozen nurses and doctors interviewed by Reuters said they got the virus in part because they did not receive timely information or protective equipment.

Many have protested about having to reuse disposable gear and launched petitions for better kit.

In one public hospital in northern Mexico, medical workers told Reuters in April their managers told them not to wear protective masks to avoid unsettling patients.

Zoe Robledo, head of Mexicos main public health service, IMSS, said in April that it had suffered equipment shortages, as well as delays, oversights, and errors that needed correcting.

Mexicos spending on health as a share of gross domestic product (GDP) is one of the lowest in the 37-member Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

A recent study by the OECD put Mexicos health spending at 5.5% of GDP, compared to 9.1% in Chile and 7.3% in Colombia in 2019. In Brazil it was 9.4%, though the latest data available were from 2017.

Nurses often work in multiple hospitals to supplement wages of about 8,500 pesos ($377) per month, according to Mexico Citys government. Movement between hospitals heightens the contagion risk, said Oliva Lopez, the citys health minister.

Our health personnel combine multiple jobs and are exposed in multiple spaces, Lopez told Reuters, saying her ministry had gone to great lengths to get staff protective equipment, and blaming previous governments for pauperizing the profession.

More than 600 nurses had died by the end of June in some 30 countries surveyed by the Geneva-based International Council of Nurses. Mexico accounted for 160 of the deaths, or over a quarter.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, one nurse at a Mexico City public hospital said she felt abandoned by authorities.

But we cant say: Now I cant work, or dont want to, she said. This is what we trained for.

Reporting by Diego Ore; Additional reporting by Alberto Fajardo; Writing by Drazen Jorgic; Editing by Dave Graham, Christian Plumb and Rosalba O'Brien

See the original post here:

Why the coronavirus is killing so many of Mexico's healthcare workers - Reuters

MyMedicalShopper Adds Healthcare and Communications Industry Leader to Executive Team – The Laconia Daily Sun

Posted on by

PORTSMOUTH, N.H., Aug. 6, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Dr. Amnon Gavish, an entrepreneur, digital health executive, and thought leader with decades of experience in technology and strategy development, has joined MyMedicalShopper as Executive Vice President of Corporate Development and Strategy.

"Dr. Gavish brings years of expertise and knowledge to our team," said Mark Galvin, co-founder and CEO of MyMedicalShopper. "We're excited to have someone who can help us leverage our Big Data analytics and price transparency platform in a rapidly-evolving healthcare landscape."

Prior to joining MyMedicalShopper, Dr. Gavish held leadership roles with telehealth pioneers Vidyo, AmWell, and Tytocare, which are currently spearheading digital health efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Gavish also served on the board of the American Telemedicine Association and chaired their Industry Council.

"We bring a truly disruptive solution that can solve one of the fundamental problems with our economy: a broken healthcare system," Dr. Gavish said. "Digital health has always been about empowering the healthcare consumer, and leveraging price transparency in that space will be a game-changer. It's time to return medical care to the consumer, and I look forward working with the team and our partners to make that happen."

About MMS Analytics, Inc. (www.MyMedicalShopper.com)MMS Analytics, Inc. dba MyMedicalShopper delivers innovative technology, products, and services to eliminate wasteful spending from group health plans and provide meaningful savings to their participants. The company's mission, to fix the broken employer-sponsored healthcare marketplace, was founded on the following principles; alignment of financial incentives between employer and employee; radical medical price and medical quality transparency; empowered, engaged healthcare consumers; and the reduction of administrative overhead with employer group knowledge transfer and collaborative change management. With unprecedented access to the secretive prices negotiated between insurance networks and medical facilities, the company enables employers and their employees with the ability to navigate to care based on three universal consumer forces - price, quality, and convenience. Leveraging big data, machine learning, deep analytics, and intuitive user experiences, MyMedicalShopper equips group health plans with the tools and education necessary to develop knowledgeable healthcare consumers. These informed participants can now recapture a meaningful portion of the 41% average over-spend experienced by employer groups as a result of wasted healthcare dollars on ineffective providers of medical tests and procedures.

See more here:

MyMedicalShopper Adds Healthcare and Communications Industry Leader to Executive Team - The Laconia Daily Sun

Tim Birchard never stops the music – The Durango Herald

Posted on by

Write, record and release. Thats the pattern for local musician Tim Birchard, a pattern hes followed for the past decade or so with regards to his music career career being a loose term as Birchard doesnt make music to pay the bills. Nor does he set foot on local stages, route potential tours or seek out a record label. But he pursues music as a full-time endeavor outside his full-time job as director of the TRIO STEM3 Program at Fort Lewis College, working at a feverish pace releasing music filed under rock n roll, with hints of metal, surf, ska and reggae, ambient dub, trance or experimental pop music.

Hes put out two records already in 2020. March saw the release of Love Stories, and Covid Romance dropped in May, both found along with numerous other Birchard original records and singles via his Bandcamp page. Its a nonstop production schedule that includes round-the-clock writing.

Theres always something new cooking, he said. Usually, after a couple albums there might be a little break, like right now Im in that in-between time. But theres already new stuff cooking.

Birchards love affair with music, like many a youngster, started with the discovery of KISS. It was the mid-1970s, and the makeup-wearing, heavy-merchandising rock n roll quartet was making its rounds in and on multiple media platforms, providing both ear and eye candy.

I didnt know what it was, but I sure loved it, he said. I remember shortly after that I got the single of Shock Me and Strutter. I didnt know what they were talking about, I just knew it was heavy guitars and that just really made me happy. So if you finished your homework early, you could go in the backroom and sit on the big carpet and listen to your own records with headphones. So I was back there listening to KISS. And I loved it.

Soon after, Birchard had a guitar made from a kit, something that resembled a lute, and he proceeded to break strings, learn chords and write songs. He now knows his chords, writes plenty and probably still breaks a string or two.

His two latest releases were an effort to explore songwriting and musical diversity. Birchard handled all the instruments for Love Stories, a laid-back rock record that hints around psychedelic pop, an effort where Birchard was trying to craft the perfect three-and-a-half-minute pop tune. Covid Romance found Birchard exploring genres, taking the kind of liberties you can when the skys the limit on your art. With moments of reggae, Judas Priest-inspired rock and even a Norteno song, its an exploration in styles.

Covid Romance also came along as the world started to fall apart. Unlike Love Stories, where Birchard was the only musician, this record found him reaching out to musician friends nationwide to be part of his record in an effort of musical communication and collaboration.

I didnt even care what we wrote, I just wanted to write as many songs with as many of my friends as I could, from all over the country, to see what their experience was of this, back then, brand-new thing of feeling so isolated, he said. A lot of my friends were expressing that a swift lack of connection was really rocking their boats, so this seemed like a good way to help bring people together.

The package is very DIY. Birchard makes music to be heard thus, its easy availability via Bandcamp. Sure, hell take a donation when you download a record, but even then that price remains a suggestion.

Ive had some people, which is pretty cool, knowing they can get it for free, sometimes theyll throw down a few dollars. And thats always a lovely surprise, he said. But its more about creating something and connection. If people are interested in hearing it, Im all for it.

Bryant Liggett is a freelance writer and KDUR station manager. Reach him at liggett_b@fortlewis.edu.

See the original post here:

Tim Birchard never stops the music - The Durango Herald

Swedish EDM Artists Currently Making Waves in the Scene – One EDM

Posted on by

This article aims to give you a summary of the different Swedish EDM artists who are currently making waves on the scene. With all the different artists that are currently playing the EDM genre, it can get confusing which one is the real thing and which one will be your next party.

One of the first things you need to know about Swedish EDM artists is that they have a huge range of music to play on the various dance floors in your club. There are techno, progressive, and trance artists available, just to name a few. As you can imagine, there are also a lot of other genres in the electronic music world.

The biggest problem with some of these Swedish EDM artists is that many of them are still relatively unknown, although this is starting to change as more people become familiar with them. Its really quite simple though if you look good, its hard not to keep people coming back to see you again. So its really important that they know who you are. Luckily, it seems like everyone is trying to get in on this huge craze.

The first thing that you should look at when looking for the name of any particular Swedish DJs name is the label he is signed to. You want to be careful though, because some labels like to pretend that the Swedish artists that are on their label are actually Swedish artists in their own right.

Some of the more popular names on the label are: Black Tiger, Armani, and Bassjackers. These artists are all well known, but they are not necessarily the best. So it is worth paying a little bit more attention to these names than others.

The next thing that you need to look out for when you are looking for Swedish EDM artists is the kind of music that they are playing. As mentioned before, there are many genres in electronic music. However, one must know that some of these genres are quite difficult to play on the dance floors of clubs because they require the musicians to have a very high degree of skill. There needs to be an awareness that these styles are becoming increasingly popular amongst the general population.

If you want to find a Swedish DJs name that you can trust, then it is certainly worth doing a bit of research. Check online for his or her background, check out his or her records, and try to get in touch with the person that produces the music. For example, if you want to be able to listen to the producer who has produced some of his or her tracks you can try looking up his or her name on the internet, as this way youll be able to hear what he or she does.

Swedish EDM has been very successful in the last couple of years because it has taken the traditional styles and turned them into something that is very exciting and hip hop and funky. If you do not have a clue about the music style that your club is playing, then why not give it a go? Swedish DJs are definitely the ones you should be listening to.

When you find an English DJ you fancy, then you need to remember that its going to take time for them to reach your local clubs. So do not expect them to be there just now. Instead, wait a couple of months or even a year for them to get to where they want to be.

You may think that it is impossible to know about a Swedish EDM artist, but it does not have to be that way. However, you should always remember that the online world is the place where you can find all kinds of information, about the latest styles, the newest and most popular records, and producers. Importantly, you can also find the people that make the magic happen as well. You should never rule out online forums.

Its actually not easy to find information about a Swedish DJ on the Internet. When you do find one, you might just find that the person you were looking for is far away from his or her home country. This is because the person might be putting out a lot of records at a time. What this means is that there are no records released in that country. If this happens, you could be stuck with a Swedish DJ from a different country instead of one from your own.

Read more:

Swedish EDM Artists Currently Making Waves in the Scene - One EDM

An Open Letter To The WSOP: Why Mixed Games Are Good For Poker Player Development – Poker News – CardPlayer.com

Posted on by

Dear Powers That Be,

When the World Series of Poker Online schedule was released this year, I couldnt help but notice that there was only one, single, mixed-game event. One solitary, lonely, Omaha eight-or-better event that was originally, incorrectly listed as its degenerate cousin with a gambling addiction, pot-limit Omaha.

The schedule didnt even have a stud eight-or-better event, and I know you have the software capacity to run it. I live in New Jersey and have seen your Stud tab. There have even been rumors of the occasional stud cash game running on the site. To say I was disappointed about the lack of mixed games is an understatement.

I implore you to reconsider your sentiments towards mix games. Now, I understand that mix games may not have the allure and big prizes as no-limit holdem. I even understand that the clientele may not be desirable. I know the mix game community has its fair share of complainers, but I promise you they mean well. Since you already muted the chat, you wont have to hear them complain anyway.

The whole point of this open letter is to lay out why I think it is a mistake not to give poker players the opportunity to compete in other disciplines outside of big bet games.

But seriously, are you f#%ing kidding me? Only one mix game? Surely you can do better than this, and heres why you should.

Learning More Games Opens Up More Opportunities

At the beginning of my career, my goal was to be able to play whatever the best game in the room was. That meant any game, whether it be $50-$100 no-limit holdem or $400-$800 stud. At the time, I only knew how to play limit holdem. Thats only 20 percent of H.O.R.S.E., let alone any game in the room. I knew I had a long way to go. but I was determined.

Fast forward five years. I learned eight more games and was on my way to being able to accomplish this goal. I was always playing in the best game on the right side of Borgatas poker room, but that side of the room was dedicated to the limit games. I still was unable to play any game.

I started coming in on my days off to play $2-$5 no-limit holdem. I needed experience to learn the game that would one day allow me to play with one of the biggest celebrities on the planet. Fast forward another few years and now its 2018. I was playing on the right side of the room when I heard that Kevin Hart was on his way to play no-limit holdem. I quit my game of $80-$160 OE to secure a seat at $10-$25.

I had to wait. And wait some more. But sure enough, in walked Kevin Hart, along with four security guards. This was it, the moment I had been waiting for. I could without a doubt say that I was playing in the best game in the room.

The game escalated quickly. It started out with blinds of $10-$25, but it wasnt long before half the table had blinds out and we were playing $10-$25-$50-$100.

I wish I could tell you I crushed this session or even that I booked a win, sadly I cannot. While being able to play the best game in the room is making the most positive expected value decisions for your bankroll, it doesnt guarantee youll come out a winner

Mix Games Are Good For Development

I could very easily make the argument that mix games prepare players for the future of poker. Every year a new game comes out that threatens the stronghold no-limit holdem has on poker.

If there is even the slightest chance that players will like the new game, you learn it. I know its tough to remember because the internet wasnt really around back then, but there was a time when limit holdem was the most popular game in poker rooms. Before that, it was stud. You cannot stop poker evolution, you can only grow with it.

Right now, the game of choice is clearly no-limit holdem. Its been like that for nearly two decades. Thanks Moneymaker. Maybe try winning a limit tournament next time. However, there is no reason to believe no-limit holdem will reign supreme forever. At some point, you either learn the new game or watch the game pass you by. Youll still have solitaire though if nobody wants to play no-limit with you.

Each new game expands a players perspective on poker. Even after 15 years of playing professionally, I still find spots Ive never seen. I truly believe that learning these games has allowed me to develop my overall poker strategy into a profitable creative one.

Learning on the fly and being prepared to take on new challenges is a life skill that not many poker games offer.

Mix Games Develop Reliable Poker Instincts

Mix game players are forced to evolve with the game. We are constantly challenged to not only learn new games but learn them faster than everyone else. Kids these days are spoiled by solvers and charts. In some of the newer, more complex games, equities are almost impossible to calculate. I can find a basic no-limit holdem odds calculator with a simple google search. I dare you to find one for badeucy.

As games become more complex games as specialists evolve, players must trust their natural poker instincts. With no answer in the back of the book, poker becomes a battleground for heuristic math and poker intuition.

Playing one game becomes monotonous and players become complacent. No one wants to be that person who used to be good but got passed over by the game. If you play mixed games, fear not this fate.

Mix Games Develop Self Awareness

All players that excel in poker, will do so in at least one variant. The specialists, however, learn that one game and stick with it. They become the best player in the game and they grind out a solid win rate.

Few will ever know how it feels to be out-classed. They study all the different spots in one game and they make sure that their game is solid. They will be very hard to exploit in their game of choice.

Mixed games, on the other hand, can and will humble almost any player. No mix is created equally. If you get a seat at a table that is playing a mix of games, instead of just one, you will sometimes find yourself in a mix that is not your best but is still favorable.

Three other players will have more experience and more volume in 70 percent of the games. The two fun players bring the game to an acceptable level of profitability to play, but still, you will find yourself in gross spots versus the professionals. It is a feeling of humility that is arguably necessary for a player to truly reach their potential.

Mix Games Build Character

Live mix games players are forced to overcome obstacles other players will never face. There is no ladder to move up and hone your skills while building a bankroll. If you want to play bigger, you must either take shots at bigger games or build a bridge between stakes.

To build a bridge between stakes means you must bring players together and form a new limit. Building a bridge between stakes requires networking and hard work. It requires focus and determination. Mix games teach you at an early age that a good personality and some polite manners will get you into the games you want to be in.

There are no micro-stakes for mix games. To be perfectly honest there arent even mid-stakes for mix games. It takes a certain amount of fortitude, character, and just enough gamble to get to the top with that landscape. The players that are able to get to the top had to take huge risks along the way and certainly deserve to be there.

Promoting mix games online can provide another avenue to players who are interested in learning mix games. Online poker allows players to play more hands per hour, thus allowing them to gain experience faster than in a live environment. No-limit holdem has already shown that this path of volume leads to the breeding of new legends every day.

WSOP, please. I fear for the future of poker players. Please consider shifting a minimum amount of focus to mix games. I promise it will be good for both your bottom line and the poker world.

Every renowned poker room has a big limit mixed game. If you are trying to become the premier online poker site that boasts WSOP bracelets and prestige, wouldnt you want to follow the same business model?

Lastly and certainly not least, mix game players have a vicious reputation for being degenerates. No one peels cards harder than a 2-7 triple draw player holding 2-3-4-5 and peeling a three spotter (6-7-8) on the third draw. If you run more online events, we might go off in your casino. Think about it.

Sincerely,

Melissa Burrrrrberry Burr

Melissa Burr is a seasoned high-stakes mix game professional. In her spare time she enjoys the occasional 30-minute craps roll, sports betting, and short reasonable walks on the beach. Find more adventures on her twitter @burrrrrberry.

Read the rest here:

An Open Letter To The WSOP: Why Mixed Games Are Good For Poker Player Development - Poker News - CardPlayer.com

Liberty secures two more wide receiver commitments – Lynchburg News and Advance

Posted on by

Liberty enjoyed a stellar recruiting day Wednesday with the addition of two more three-star wide receiver prospects.

Bobby Ezzard announced his commitment Wednesday afternoon to become the 16th verbal commit in the 2021 recruiting class, and DaQon Stewart followed suit early in the evening and is expected to enroll in time for the fall semester.

Ezzard, a 6-foot-1, 178-pound recruit, is rated three stars by Rivals and chose Liberty over reported offers from Kentucky and Appalachian State. He is a rising senior at North Gwinnett High School in Suwanee, Georgia, and joins fellow three-star wide receiver prospects Corey Barnes and Gamarion Carter from Georgia.

Ezzard is the sixth commitment in the recruiting class from Georgia.

Stewart boasts a three-star rating according to 247Sports composite rankings. The 6-foot, 195-pound prospect recently graduated from North Mecklenburg High School in Huntersville, North Carolina, and chose Liberty over offers from South Carolina, Penn State, Syracuse, West Virginia, Georgia Tech, Coastal Carolina and others.

See more here:

Liberty secures two more wide receiver commitments - Lynchburg News and Advance

Carleton, Brown have career nights, Lynx beat Liberty 92-66 – KARE11.com

Posted on by

BRADENTON, Fla. Bridget Carleton scored a career-high 25 points, Lexie Brown had a season-high 15 points and career-best seven steals, and the Minnesota Lynx beat the New York Liberty 93-66 on Wednesday night.

Minnesota won without Sylvia Fowles, who sat out to rest her calf. The Lynx were also missing Shenise Johnson to an injury.

Brown was making her first appearance since suffering a concussion.

Amanda Zahui B. led New York (0-5) with 13 points. The Liberty announced earlier in the day that Sabrina Ionescu had gone to New York to get her ankle injury evaluated.

The Lynx (4-1) shot 51% percent from the field and hit 10 of 21 from 3-point range. They held the Liberty without a field goal for nearly nine minutes during a 20-1 third-quarter run that turned Minnesota's two-point halftime deficit into a 24-point lead when Carleton made a basket with 1:33 left in the period.

Read more here:

Carleton, Brown have career nights, Lynx beat Liberty 92-66 - KARE11.com

Gill, Edwards returning to Liberty University as executive vice presidents of diversity – Lynchburg News and Advance

Posted on by

Liberty head coach Turner Gill on the sidelines during the first half against Duquesne on Saturday, Nov. 4, 2017, in Lynchburg.

Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. hugs Kelvin Edwards after Edwards' jersey was retired during the game against Maine on Saturday, Oct. 19, 2019, at Williams Stadium.

Turner Gill remained a familiar face around the Liberty University campus after the 2018 football season.

The former coach, who unexpectedly retired from coaching not long after the Flames inaugural season at the Football Bowl Subdivision level, was frequently spotted at football practices the following spring; traveled to San Jose, California, to watch the mens basketball team compete in the 2019 NCAA Tournament; and even surprised the football team this past November when the Flames became bowl eligible for the first time.

Gill will again be a familiar face around campus. He is returning to Liberty in a non-football role as the executive vice president of diversity, development and inclusion, the university announced Tuesday morning.

He will be joined by former Liberty and NFL wide receiver Kelvin Edwards, who was hired as executive vice president of management efficiencies and diversity.

Gill and Edwards will work closely with Greg Dowell, the universitys vice president for equity and inclusion and chief diversity officer.

We are honored to have Turner Gill back at Liberty as well as Kelvin Edwards, an alumnus and successful businessman, Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. said in a written release. As executive vice presidents, they will help us demonstrate our commitment to reuniting people both Republicans and Democrats who have been divided by the establishment politicians.

View post:

Gill, Edwards returning to Liberty University as executive vice presidents of diversity - Lynchburg News and Advance

Liberty Bank Amphitheater cancelling events for rest of year – Alton Telegraph

Posted on by

Liberty Bank Amphitheater cancelling events for rest of year

ALTON The Alton Amphitheater Commission voted unanimously Aug. 3 to cancel all remaining events for the remainder of the Liberty Bank Amphitheater 2020 season.

Commission members are Karen Baker Brncic, Michelle Brooks, Dan Herkert, Jay Hollinger and Robert Stephan.

With respect to the Alton Expo the State of Illinois is not inspecting rides which must be done before every carnival. Additionally, the Madison County Health Department is not issuing temporary food permits except in limited situations, which would also make the annual Alton Food Truck Festival and Jazz and Wine Festival impractical.

In many ways these decisions have been made for us by regulatory authorities, whether its the Department of Labor inspecting amusement rides or the Health Department not currently issuing food permits, which are what most food vendors at these events need before we will allow them to operate, said amphitheater Chairman Robert Stephan.

Regardless of these restrictions, with cases in the region where they are it is simply not a good idea to host events that could draw thousands, or even hundreds, of people. We have consulted with the Madison County Health Department and are in agreement with them that any event with the potential for a large crowd is not safe until numbers go down.

The Alton Amphitheater Commission strongly encourages all individuals and businesses to strictly abide by the CDC guidelines for COVID-19 prevention, including mask wearing, proper sanitization procedures, and social distancing so that we can defeat this virus and return to our normal activities. As a commission, we will take into consideration the actions of individuals and businesses as they pertain to CDC guidelines when making decisions about vendors for the 2021 season said Commissioner Dan Herkert.

As a community we are proud of the events at the Liberty Bank Alton Amphitheater and know so many people look forward to them each year. As we all do our part to get case numbers down, we look forward to welcoming people back to the Amphitheater in 2021 Liberty Bank President Matt Waters said.

Original post:

Liberty Bank Amphitheater cancelling events for rest of year - Alton Telegraph

Liberty Latin America Reports Q2 and H1 2020 Results – Business Wire

Posted on by

DENVER, Colorado--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Liberty Latin America Ltd. (Liberty Latin America or LLA) (NASDAQ: LILA and LILAK, OTC Link: LILAB) today announced its financial and operating results for the three months (Q2) and six months (YTD or H1 2020) ended June 30, 2020.

CEO Balan Nair commented, As anticipated, following a strong start to the year, the second quarter brought with it a number of COVID-19 related challenges for many of our operations, resulting in declining year-over-year top-line performance. The good news is that we planned extensively and were able to offset some of the impacts through early cost management actions. As we look to the rest of the year, our mobile and B2B businesses are expected to see further challenges, however we believe we are past the low point. We continue to be focused on generating positive free cash flow in 2020, and took a step towards that with our strong Q2 performance.

In terms of our reporting segments, Puerto Rico led with another tremendous quarter, reporting record RGU additions and we are looking forward to adding AT&T's assets in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands to further enhance our customer proposition and prospects. VTR and Cabletica also added subscribers in the period, albeit seeing more of an impact from lockdown restrictions in Chile. C&W experienced the greatest headwinds with declining RGUs driven by Panama where we experienced the most restrictive lockdowns across all of our markets. From a product perspective, consumers continue to demand high-speed connectivity and our fixed-line services have been particularly resilient.

Last week, we announced the exciting news that we agreed to acquire Telefnica's Costa Rica business. We have had great success in Costa Rica with our cable operation Cabletica and are increasing our investment in the country through a complementary, fast-growing, and postpaid-weighted mobile business. The two businesses combined would create a leading full-service communications player with approximately $400 million of revenue1. This transaction comes at an attractive valuation, consistent with our disciplined approach towards M&A.

As part of the financing for our acquisition of Telefnica Costa Rica as well as looking to other potential opportunities across our strong pipeline, we announced a $350 million rights offering today, with all the members of our Board and my leadership team having expressed their intention to subscribe. We feel this is an appropriate step to ensure we have flexibility to participate in accretive M&A opportunities, while maintaining a prudent capital structure.

Overall there continues to be uncertainty due to COVID-19, however our operating and financial performance has been improving since a trough in April, and we anticipate further progress over the remainder of 2020. Looking further ahead, cash generation remains our focus. This should be bolstered by organic performance, as we drive growth and efficiency in the business, benefiting from targeted network and product investments, in addition to disciplined acquisition activity.

Business Highlights

Financial Highlights

Liberty Latin America

Q2 2020

Q2 2019

YoY Growth/(Decline)

YoY Rebase Growth/(Decline)2

H1 2020

H1 2019

YoY Growth/(Decline)

YoY Rebase Growth/(Decline)2

(in millions, except % amounts)

Revenue

$

849

$

983

(13.6

%)

(7.7

%)

$

1,780

$

1,926

(7.6

%)

(3.0

%)

Adjusted OIBDA3

$

333

$

387

(14.1

%)

(8.1

%)

$

697

$

753

More here:

Liberty Latin America Reports Q2 and H1 2020 Results - Business Wire

Still searching for their first W in 2020, Liberty take on the Lynx – NetsDaily

Posted on by

Sigh. The New York Liberty have had a rough go of it in the wubble, and ran into some more trouble on Sunday against the Phoenix Mercury. Phoenix led from wire to wire and came away with an easy 29 point victory. It wont be easy for Walt Hopkins and friends.

The opponent today will be the Minnesota Lynx. Minnesota has dealt with some bumps in the road, but have kept on winning. They boosted their record to 3-1 on the year after beating the Connecticut Sun on Sunday.

CBS Sports Network is the place to be. Tip off after 7 PM.

Sabrina Ionescu is out with a grade 3 ankle sprain, the most severe. Expect her to be out the whole month. On Wednesday morning, the Liberty reported that Ionescu is traveling to New York to visit an ankle specialist, presumably at the Hospital for Special Surgery, which is the Libertys official hospital.

The HSS ankle specialist, of course, is Dr. Martin OMalley, who has performed surgery on a number of Nets and other NBA players. Not to suggest surgery is in Ionescus future.

Lexie Brown has been in the concussion protocol and may be back today. Shenise Johnson is bothered by a right hamstring injury and will more than likely be out.

Although she hasnt returned to basketball, Maya Moores impact will always be felt. Moore has stepped away from basketball as she worked to, and eventually did, free Jonathan Irons from prison after he was sentenced to prison under questionable circumstances. In the New York Times, Amira Rose Davis, an assistant professor at Penn State, spoke about the lack of coverage female athletes have received in justice movements:

So it is not really surprising in the moment that female athletes leading the fight for justice so often get overlooked. And that is a shame because these athletes, particularly Black women athletes, have consistently been some of the people taking the most decisive action, willing to sacrifice the most, giving up what crumbs they already have in pursuit of equality and justice.

As sports continues to advocate for racial justice and equality, as a society we need to do a better job of highlighting the women that are leading these movements.

The Lynx got into a little bit of a kerfuffle when pictures of them enjoying time on the beach hit social media. Matt Ellentuck looked into the matter and a league spokesperson told him:

The WNBA health and safety protocols developed in consultation with medical experts have always included the possibility of limited, structured team excursions once the regular season began. The offerings include golf, private beach outings and exclusive fishing charters with stringent health and safety guidelines.

Considering a whole gang of us have done things during COVID-19 that may be frowned upon, we kinda dont have room to judge the Lynx. Be safe and have fun!

Off the court, Lynx point guard Napheesa Collier hosts a podcast with Las Vegas Aces star Aja Wilson called Tea with A and Phee. Their second episode drops today, and whos their guest? Kevin Durant! KD is always a good interview so this should be a fun listen. Well cover it here at NetsDaily for you guys as well.

Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve noted the arduous schedule in the wubble, and I do wonder how that is going to play out the deeper we get into the season. For a young team like the Liberty, that may be an advantage as they have enough energy to survive the wear and tear of the season.

The shot wasnt there, but having Kia Nurse back helps the Liberty immensely. Without Ionescu, the team needs somebody else to score on the perimeter. Layshia Clarendon has had a ton of success driving to the basket, but the Liberty can stand to have a scorer like Nurse in full swing.

Say hello to the Ws all time rebounding leader. Fowles recently set the record and will be adding on to her lead tonight and in this future. Fowles is one of the best offensive rebounders in basketball and thats helped her be top five in free throws attempted this season.

The duo of Amanda Zahui B and Kiah Stokes will look to battle Fowles inside. Fowles is a battering ram on the inside so theyll have to stay out of foul trouble. What might help the Libertys chances of winning tonight is if they can control the pace. Minnesota plays at the second slowest pace in the W while the Liberty are fourth fastest team. If New York can get out and run, theyll have opportunities to get easy buckets in transition as compared to grinding it out in the half court.

Speaking of Maya, lets take a trip back in time to watch her and Candace Parker go at it

More reading: Canis Hoopus and Swish Appeal.

The rest is here:

Still searching for their first W in 2020, Liberty take on the Lynx - NetsDaily

Recent conference decisions impacting Liberty’s 2020 football schedule – Lynchburg News and Advance

Posted on by

Western Michigan, which was scheduled to host Syracuse this season, cant play that game at home because of ACC rules that say any nonconference game must be played in the ACCs team state.

Syracuse could host Western Michigan this season and then play at WMU in 2023 (the year the Orange are scheduled to host Broncos).

We might do that. Theres the possibility of that, Wildhack told reporters. I think the initial conversation will be on our scheduled home nonconference opponent who still plans to play, which is Liberty.

Liberty had a Nov. 21 road game scheduled against N.C. State, which is the only scheduled nonconference home game that hasnt been canceled for the Wolfpack. They have lost games against Mississippi State and Delaware, and Troy was slated to host N.C. State this season.

Flames athletic director Ian McCaw declined to comment, citing several moving parts in the schedule that havent been finalized and could come into picture throughout this week.

One of those moving parts is Tuesdays NCAA Board of Governors meeting that could determine the fate of the fall sports championships. While the College Football Playoff and FBS bowl games are not run by the NCAA, there are 23 other sports in Divisions I, II and III that could be affected by Tuesdays meeting.

View post:

Recent conference decisions impacting Liberty's 2020 football schedule - Lynchburg News and Advance

Sabrina Ionescu exits with ankle injury as Liberty await word on severity – ESPN

Posted on by

Jul 31, 2020

Mechelle VoepelESPN.com

Sabrina Ionescu, the star New York Liberty rookie taken with the No. 1 overall pick in the WNBA draft, rolled her left ankle when she stepped on the foot of Atlanta's Betnijah Laney while bringing the ball upcourt Friday and did not return.

She was sent to a hospital in the Bradenton, Florida, area. ESPN's Holly Rowe reported that X-rays were negative, but Ionescu was still awaiting results of an MRI.

"I just know [it's] a sprain, and she's getting it looked at right now," Liberty coach Walt Hopkins said after his team's 84-78 loss.

Hopkins added that Liberty general manager Jonathan Kolb was with Ionescu.

1 Related

WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert, who is in the league bubble, said during a conference call July 22 that a so-called "clean corridor" had been set up in advance as part of the protocol regarding an injury that might require an X-ray or an MRI. Thus, a player could go to the hospital to receive care there without having to then go back into quarantine when returning to the WNBA's campus.

Ionescu was 4-for-5 from the field for 10 points, with one assist and one rebound, before she suffered the injury with 5 minutes, 10 seconds left in the second quarter. Friday marked the third game of her rookie season, and she was coming off a 33-point, 7-rebound, 7-assist performance in Wednesday's loss to Dallas.

Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James wished her well on social media.

The Liberty already were without guard Kia Nurse, who sprained her left ankle in New York's opener Saturday. She returned to play 22 minutes on Wednesday but was out Friday.

Rookie guard Jazmine Jones, who played her first game of the season Wednesday after recovering from an ankle sprain, had 20 points to lead the Liberty, and Layshia Clarendon had 16. Jones, the No. 12 pick out of Louisville, got time at point guard Friday, a position she said she hadn't played since high school.

With Ionescu and Nurse injured, and Asia Durr out this season on a medical exemption, the Liberty's only other true guards are Jones and Clarendon.

"We're gonna have to huddle up and talk about it," Hopkins said. "There's not a lot of ready-to-go options hanging around. See if we can get Kia right, and hopefully it's not serious with Sabrina."

Ionescu missed four games her freshman season at Oregon but played every game as a sophomore, junior and senior for the Ducks. She had an NCAA-record 26 triple-doubles in her career and was the consensus national player of the year as a senior when she averaged 17.5 points, 9.1 assists and 8.6 rebounds.

The Liberty dropped to 0-3 and next play Sunday vs. Phoenix (1 p.m. ET, ESPN).

Jones, one of seven Liberty rookies along with Ionescu, said the the team missed her but kept battling.

"She does a lot of on-court coaching when she's playing," Jones said of Ionescu. "That's how resilient we are -- knowing that we could have given up when Sabrina went down, but somebody had to step up."

Excerpt from:

Sabrina Ionescu exits with ankle injury as Liberty await word on severity - ESPN

Was young Mars warm and wet or cold and frozen? – SYFY WIRE

Posted on by

Mars is cold and dry, with a thin atmosphere not even 1% as dense as ours.

Now, that is. The question is, what was it like around 3 billion years ago? Evidence abounds on the surface that plenty of water existed there back then, which also means it had a thicker atmosphere and was warmer, too.

However, a new paper has come out questioning that interpretation of the evidence. Instead of it being warm and wet, the scientists argue, instead it was cold and, well, not dry exactly, but frozen. This is hardly the semi-tropical Earth-like planet that for the past decade or two has been the growing consensus.

In this new work, they looked at the valley networks, systems of interconnected tributaries that have been carved into the surface of Mars, mostly in the southern hemisphere and equatorial regions. On first glance, they look very much like river valleys on Earth, carved by flowing water thats fed by either rain or a process called groundwater sapping, erosion from water that originally bubbles up from underground like in a spring or seeps out of rocks and sediment.

That conclusion would support a warm, wet early Mars with a thicker atmosphere. However, the scientists in the new research note that this is a conclusion drawn by looking at individual tributaries, and not the overall network they form as the run together. These valley networks can give a more global view thats worth investigating.

What they did to check this out is clever. They note that erosion like this can come from four major sources: Rivers and sapping (as noted above), and also from glaciers melting from above as well as glaciers melting from below. This last is called basal melting (basal means bottom surface), and can occur when glaciers move across rock, the friction from the shear force melting them.

Each of those forces produces different kinds of erosive channels, with different structures in them. Six of these features including the angle a tributary meets up with a main channel, the length of a channel versus its width, and how the bed undulates, that is, moves up and down (which relates to things like how fast the water was moving when it carved the channel) have measurable quantities that can be used to examine Martian tributaries.

On board NASAs Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is an instrument called MOLA, or Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter, which measures the ground elevation beneath it, making a topographical map of Mars. The scientists looked at 66 different valley networks that were made up of over 10,000 tributaries in total (out of over 50,000 MOLA measured), and used a statistical method to examine them for the six features. This was then used to assign an origin source for each network.

What they found is startling. Out of the 66, their analysis found that 22 valley networks were carved by subglacial flow, 9 by glacial erosion, 3 from sapping, and 14 from rivers. 18 networks had an indistinct set of features, and so were not categorized.

So 31 of these valley networks were carved by glacial water flow, and only 17 from surface water! And the ones caused by river flow were localized in one area (called Arabia Terra), whereas the glaciated valleys were widespread.

Thats not at all what the warm wet Mars theory would predict. Its far more consistent with Mars being very cold at that time. Mind you they did find both types of erosion, so its possible it was mostly glaciated with some spots open to the surface. But this is definitely opposed to the going idea of a clement Martian climate back then.

They also point out that some climate models of early Mars around that time (3.52.9 billion years ago) indicate the surface should have been cold, and heavily glaciated.

I find this fascinating. Until we started putting high-resolution cameras in orbit and landers on the ground, the idea was that Mars was always dead. Then about 40 years ago that all changed when the surface showed clear indications of water flow. That was a huge paradigm shift for scientists. If this new research is correct, then were facing another one.

More observations from the ground should be useful; an overview is great but it helps to have in situ measurements as well (theres a reason we have the phrase ground truth). Curious, I checked the maps they used of tributaries, and the ones in Jezero Crater on Mars werent included, which is too bad: Thats the target for Perseverance, which will land there in February 2021. There are clear inflow and outflow channels in the crater rim, a fluvial delta where sediment washed in, and evidence of clay deposits (which imply standing water) as well. Still, with the rover there a lot more will be revealed about conditions in the crater when it was a lake.

Theres also evidence of standing water on Mars, including lakes and even what might be an ocean shoreline the northern hemisphere is in general lower elevation than the south, and may have been a huge global ocean. Its not clear.

Itll be interesting to see all this opposing evidence integrated together to see whats what. Whether Mars was warm or cold, wet or frozen, its changed a lot in the past few eons. Why? What happened to it? Weve got an idea its internal magnetic field died, and it lost its protection against the solar wind which eroded away its atmosphere, leaving it dry and cold and dead but the details are still being investigated.

Was ancient Mars blue, or was it white? Hopefully soon well know.

Continue reading here:

Was young Mars warm and wet or cold and frozen? - SYFY WIRE

8 Years of Curiosity: How the NASA’s Mars Rover Helped Us Know the Red Planet Better – News18

Posted on by

File photo of NASA's Mars Curiosity Rover

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is holding its head high with pride as the agencys Curiosity rover marks eight years of its exploration on the Red Planet today on August 5.

Launched in November 2011, the Curiosity rover landed on Mars at the 96-mile-wide (154 kilometres) Gale Crater on the night of August 5 in the year 2012.

Over the years, the Curiosity Rover has helped the scientists on Earth to understand various mysteries of Mars that would have otherwise remained impossible.

As the mission marked eight years, NASA has released a list of all the major results given by the agencys rover over the years.

Here's a look at them:

1. Evidence of continuous water flow on the surface of Mars in the past: One of the most important questions about living conditions on Mars included information about the presence of water and oxygen. Curiosity discovered smooth, rounded pebbles, confirming that water like rivers and lakes existed on Mars' surface for perhaps a million years or longer.

2. Proofs about suitable living conditions: It was the Curiosity rover which confirmed that Mars has a combination of living conditions that can support living microbes on its surface. These included the presence of sulfur, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and carbon, found from a sample dug from the Yellowknife Bay.

3. Presence of organic carbon: The Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument discovered the presence of organic molecules in several samples collected from Mount Sharp and the surrounding plains on the Red planet.

4. Presence of Active Methane in Atmosphere: The Tunable Laser Spectrometer, present in the SAM instrument, successfully discovered the traces of atmospheric methane in Mars atmosphere. It also found that the content has increased ten-fold over two months.

5. Harmful effects of Mars Radiation to Human health: Each atmosphere comes with certain levels of radiation. The Curiosity rover experienced that the radiation levels in the Mars atmosphere might exceed the tolerance limit for astronauts.

6. Atmosphere and Water in Mars' Past: Over the last few years, the SAM instrument has established that Mars has an atmosphere which has the presence of heavier forms (isotopes) of hydrogen, carbon, and argon.

Array( [videos] => Array ( ) [query] => https://pubstack.nw18.com/pubsync/v1/api/videos/recommended?source=n18english&channels=5d95e6c378c2f2492e2148a2,5d95e6c278c2f2492e214884,5d96f74de3f5f312274ca307&categories=5d95e6d7340a9e4981b2e10a&query=argon%2Ccarbon%2CCuriosity+Mars+rover%2CCuriosity+results%2CCuriosity+rover&publish_min=2020-08-03T16:04:12.000Z&publish_max=2020-08-06T16:04:12.000Z&sort_by=date-relevance&order_by=0&limit=2)

See the original post:

8 Years of Curiosity: How the NASA's Mars Rover Helped Us Know the Red Planet Better - News18

MISSION: MARS THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW TO BECOME A FUTURE MARS EXPLORER – SETI Institute

Posted on by

MISSION: MARS THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW TO BECOME A FUTURE MARS EXPLORER

AUGUST 5 @ 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM PDTThe first human mission to Mars will be humanitys greatest adventure in space exploration in the 21st century. As with all expeditions, its success will depend on planning, which includes having well-trained explorers. Following his award-winning book Mission: Mars published by Scholastic, Dr Lee will take kids of all ages through six key phases of early training to become Future Mars Explorers:

1) Discover Mars, to learn more about the planet youll explore.2) Prepare for Launch, to plan for the trip and the extra training youll undergo.3) Navigate Space, to prep you for the long flight through deep space to Mars and back.4) Gear Up for Survival, to train you to survive and explore once you arrive on Mars;5) Explore the Red Planet, to show you the coolest places to check out on Mars;6) Plan a New World, to glimpse what Mars might look like in the future.

Are you ready?

HOW TO WATCHFacebook Live:RSVP on Facebookor just tune in!

"MISSION: MARS" is back in print! Here's where to get it: https://shop.scholastic.com/parent-ecommerce/books/mission-mars-9780545565325.html

For more information visithttps://chabotspace.org/calendar/mission-mars-things-you-need-to-know-to-become-a-future-mars-explorer/

Continued here:

MISSION: MARS THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW TO BECOME A FUTURE MARS EXPLORER - SETI Institute