Nebraska AG Peterson Joins Bipartisan Coalition Urging Federal Government Action – STL.News

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(STL.News) Nebraska Attorney General Peterson today joined a bipartisan multistate coalition led by California Attorney General Becerra and Louisiana Attorney General Landry in sending a letter request to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), urging them to use their legal authority under the Bayh-Dole Act to increase the availability of remdesivir. Remdesivir, a drug manufactured by Gilead Sciences, Inc. (Gilead), has shown promising results in reducing mortality and hospitalization from COVID-19.

Remdesivir is an FDA fast-tracked antiviral drug that was produced with the benefit of millions of dollars of federal funding and the time and expertise of CDC and military scientists. Despite the substantial federal funding provided to its manufacturer, Gilead has been unable to assure a supply of remdesivir sufficient to alleviate the health and safety needs of the country amid the pandemic.

As of August 3, 2020, more than 4.64 million Americans have contracted COVID-19 and 154,000 have died. Yet, by the end of this year, Gilead is expected to produce only two million treatments, or enough remdesivir to cover about half of the current confirmed COVID-19 patients in the U.S. Before this crisis is over and a vaccine made available, many more Americans may become sick, and their recovery may hinge on the availability and affordability of remdesivir.

In the letter, the bipartisan coalition urges the federal government to exercise its rights under the Bayh-Dole Act, which allows the NIH and FDA to ensure Americans can afford and have reasonable access to a sufficient supply of remdesivir during this pandemic. Despite a manufacturing cost of between $1 and $5, Gilead has set the price of the drug at an outrageous and unconscionable $3,200 per treatment course. Under the Bayh-Dole Act, the NIH and FDA has the authority to license remdesivir to third party manufacturers to scale up production and distribution and ensure the drug is made available to all those in need at a reasonable price. If these agencies are unwilling to exercise this authority, the states request that the agencies assign this authority for the states to use. The bipartisan coalition stands ready to ensure that drug manufacturers are licensed to meet market demand during this public health crisis.

Attorney General Peterson joined the attorneys general of California, Louisiana and Alaska, American Samoa, Connecticut, Delaware, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and the District of Columbia in sending the letter.

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Nebraska AG Peterson Joins Bipartisan Coalition Urging Federal Government Action - STL.News

Lady Panthers volleyball camp integrates young players into the program – Liberty Hill Independent

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By Scott Akanewich

When the Lady Panthers lineup is announced before a volleyball match, what one sees is the finished product.

A Purple-and-Gold production, which began many years earlier, manifests itself in the form of a varsity squad whose roots lie deep beneath the surface of what spectators see from the stands roots that have been carefully cultivated before finally coming to fruition in full bloom for head coach Gretchen Petersons club.

However, only after passing through a rigid system as a young player climbs up the ranks beginning as early as fourth grade can an aspiring hitter or blocker play for the Lady Panthers at the highest level of prep competition.

One of the biggest and most important building blocks in this foundation is the annual Lady Panther Volleyball Camp, which is not only a way to introduce young players to the program, but also give them a glimpse of what the future holds, said Peterson.

First and foremost, we want to get kids excited and interested in playing volleyball and we want them to want to be a part of Liberty Hill athletics, she said. We really try to have fun, but we also want all campers to leave having learned a ton.

With this in mind, Peterson and her coaching staff, which includes varsity assistants Kristen Brewer and Wayne Munger, who also direct the freshman and junior varsity teams, respectively, provide players with a plethora of what they can expect more and more of as the years go by.

We use the same terminology we use in the high school and the fact we start it with as young as our fourth-graders is a big plus in buildinga program, said Peterson. Not to mention, we have our junior highcoaches there to start building relationships with our incoming seventh and eighth-graders and getting them going with the same drills and skills we will work on with them in their season. Weve been really blessed to have a community that supports our program by getting their daughters involved in camp and our program at young ages.

Peterson added a goal of the camp is to simulate as closely as possible what the players can expect at the various age groups so nothing takes them by surprise later on as far as whats expected of them.

We actually try to not water anything down, we teach the same skills the same way, we want them to get more and more comfortable with the standards and expectations we hold all of our players to, she said. Its challenging and a little rough at the beginning, but they always seem to embrace the challenges and rise to meet them. Its really cool to see the same campers who were just starting out as fourth-graders come back as eighth or ninth-graders and in a way seem like seasoned camp veterans its a great experience to watch them evolve.

Of course, the players learn how to properly execute all of the tangible, physical skills needed to play winning volleyball, but what goes on in the young minds of players is just as, if not more important, said Peterson.

We focus on hustling from spot to spot, being coachable, saying yes and no maam and being an encouraging teammate and team player, she said. We want them to be the leaders when they go back to their schools and their seasons.

With the right instruction, some of them will even be inspired to step up in showing their teammates how its done, said Peterson.

We would like them to understand by putting in the extra work they can be leaders to their peers and thats something to be proud of and confident in, she said. Also, it should be fun and something they enjoy and although it goes without saying, we want them to know what it means to be a Panther theres a pride and tradition theyre now a part of and were so happy theyre here.

Finally, Peterson hopes each and every player begins to understand what their respective roles are in the big picture of the program, but perhaps above all else to enjoy the experience.

Were so happy theyre part of the Panther family, but its about more than being the star player its about representing themselves and something bigger than themselves and feeling good about what theyre doing, she said. We want them to know its okay to makemistakes, that learning is a process, but they can and will get there we believe in them and we want them leaving camp feeling good about the effort they put forth and confident theyre on the right path to being the player they want to be and its supposed to be fun.

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‘Siesta Key’: Fans Think Kelsey Owens Wanted to Dump Garrett Miller and Get Back With Jake Peterson All Along – Showbiz Cheat Sheet

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MTVs Siesta Key is heating up with the drama, and fans are curious to know whats happening with Kelsey Owens and Garrett Miller. Owens and Miller have quite a history, and theyre together on the show now. But after Owens spotted some suspicious behavior on Instagram, she was about ready to give Miller the boot.

Now, fans think Owens actually wanted to dump Miller to get back with her boss, Jake Peterson. Heres what everyones talking about.

RELATED: Siesta Key: Fans Think Juliette Porter Might Be Relying on Boyfriend Sam Logans Money

Owens and Miller have quite a history on Siesta Key. The two started dating prior to season 3 of the show, but it seems Owens wasnt always faithful to Miller. They broke up and went their separate ways, delving into new relationships. But season 3 brought them back together.

While Millers ex-girlfriend, Cara Geswelli, left the state to head to New York, Owens boss-turned-boyfriend, Peterson, had to deal with family matters and couldnt keep up with the relationship. Once Miller and Owens were both single once again, they rekindled their flame.

Miller spoke to Entertainment Tonight about his relationship with Owens. Theres a lot of ups, a lot of downs, a lot of new temptations that come into play that were not there before, especially for me personally, so, its a very interesting thing to see with me and her this year, Miller said.

RELATED: Siesta Key: Amanda Miller Just Called Ex JJ Mizell a Cheating Narcissist on Twitter

Miller had his doubts about Owens faithfulness, especially since Peterson kept showing up to parties Owens attended. But it seems Owens is actually the one who shouldve been suspicious of Miller. During season 3, Owens saw a photo of Miller with another woman that was posted to Instagram. The woman in question used to hook up with Miller, and Miller continues to train her at the gym.

Owens approached Miller at a party as soon as she saw the post. Miller claimed he trained her a long time ago, and the post wasnt recent but Owens begged to differ. Miller then admitted that he still trains the woman in question.

Owens ends up telling Miller she cant be with him anymore and everything escalates from there. She tells Juliette Porter about whats happening, and Porter hits Miller at the party. Ultimately, Miller is shunned from the gathering and appears to leave.

At the end of episode 20, a sneak peek shows Owens catching up with Peterson again. And fans are starting to wonder if Owens epic freakout and dumping of Miller at the party was partly due to a desire to get back with Peterson.

According to MEAWW, fans are commenting on social media about Owens behavior.

The hilarity of Kelsey getting mad at Garrett but she continuously is around Jake & flirts with him, one fan posted. When you cheat on someone then get back together, youre not getting back with the same person. They need new people on here for love interests. This is old and toxic.

Although scripted, it seems like she was just waiting for a reason to get out of the relationship in a way that didnt make her look bad, another noted of Owens on Reddit.

Well have to wait and see whats really going on with Owens and Peterson but it seems like the end is looming for Owens and Miller.

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Investigation into Cottonwood Heights Police regarding ‘use of force,’ policy reform discussions underway – fox13now.com

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COTTONWOOD HEIGHTS, Utah -- An internal investigation with assistance from outside agencies is underway regarding the actions taken by Cottonwood Heights Police Officers during Sunday evening's protest which resulted in several arrests.

Whenever we use use of force, well do an internal investigation thats begun immediately. Well do that internally and well use some outside assistance to objectively look at our finding and well use that guide us going forward, said Cottonwood Heights Mayor Mike Peterson to FOX 13 on Tuesday. We hope that Sunday night was something we never see again.

Protesters gathered at Mill Hollow Park for a demonstration in memory of Zane James, a man who was shot and killed by officers in 2018. When the protesters left the park and traveled down a street into a neighborhood, thats when police were called.

Yeah, theyre blocking traffic, its on a Sunday on a low-traffic residential street, this is not impacting me, it wasnt impacting any of my neighbors to a degree that it should have been met with violence, said a local long-time resident named Jake in an interview with FOX 13.

With a number of live-streaming videos showing the demonstration moving from the park, down the street and quickly into a violent skirmish with police, its unclear exactly what led to the confrontation. Protesters are saying that police instigated the situation. Police told FOX 13 on Monday that demonstrators wanted a confrontation with law enforcement.

It feels like in that situation the Cottonwood Heights Police Department went from coming in to de-escalate straight to an enacting violence, skipping 20 other steps in what should be a rational de-escalation process, said Jake, who grew up in Cottonwood Heights. It was a group of kids mostly dancing down the street and weve seen this happen in places all over this community for the past eight weeks.

According to Mayor Peterson, there was no permit granted for protesters to be using a street that evening.

We will approve closing a street and facilitating it; That was not the case, said Mayor Peterson.

I didnt witness it personally, said Mayor Peterson who lives nearby where the clash took place. I did take the opportunity to talk to at least 20 residents who were on the route and asking for their thoughts and opinions and I got a variety of responses.

In an emergency meeting on Monday afternoon, discussions took place between city officials regarding de-escalation techniques and officers applying the law where appropriate. According to Mayor Peterson, conversations regarding police policy and reform have been in the works for weeks.

I was shocked, to see people being taken down on somebodys lawn was really quite shocking, said District 8 Senator Kathleen Riebe who calls Cottonwood Heights home. We clearly have work to do, were trying to be empathetic to both sides and understand where it transpired and how it escalated.

Riebe, along with others reacting on social media and publicly, wondered what distress call was made from police to trigger such an alarming response from area agencies.

What would solicit that many police officers showing? It was more police officers than protesters, you know? said Riebe.

Mayor Peterson says that hes received mixed reaction from members of the community. Some saying they support the actions taken place by officers on Sunday, while others think less force should have been applied. Regardless, Peterson vowed to listen to both sides and work towards enacting policy reform within the department. He applauds Salt Lake City Police Chief Mike Brown and Mayor Erin Mendenhall along with members of the community who worked towards Mondays executive order regarding immediate reform.

Its just an unfortunate situation and we will get better, said Peterson. We have outstanding officers. They want to do the right thing. Its an unfortunate situation and I think from what happened Sunday night to what happened last night was a great step forward.

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Amazon’s Utopia Wasn’t Meant to Be So Timely, Which Makes It Even Better – TV Guide

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Utopia, a darkly comic conspiracy thriller series from executive producer Gillian Flynn (Gone Girl, Sharp Objects), is coming to Amazon Prime Video this fall, and Flynn and the show's stars John Cusack, Sasha Lane, Ashleigh LaThrop, Desmin Borges, and Dan Byrd gathered for a digital panel to preview the unintentionally timely show, which deals with a devastating new virus spreading across America.

Utopia, an adaptation of a 2013 British series of the same name, centers on a group of comic book fans who bond online over their obsession with a comic calledUtopia, which they believe isn't fictional, but is filled with prophetic hidden meanings about the end of the world. Their theories are proven true, and they find themselves at the center of a dangerous conspiracy and on the run alongside the comic's main character, Jessica Hyde (Lane), a very ruthless, scary person who confirms the clich that you should never meet your heroes. They're just a bunch of nerds, but it's up to them to unravel the conspiracy and save the world. During the panel, Flynn described it as "The Goonies meetsMarathon Man." Cusack takes on his first series regular role as Dr. Kevin Christie, the CEO of a biomedical company whose artificial meat is spreading a virus that may be part of bringing about the end times.

Filming was completed by the time the COVID-19 pandemic happened, but the show's themes of paranoia and lack of faith in institutions have only become more relevant in the pandemic era, Flynn said. The cast agreed that it was very strange to see the similarities in the world and their show. "It was kind of disturbing and surreal to see it come so closely to life with the pandemic," Cusack said. And the cast isn't worried about the series hitting too close to home for viewers who are looking for an escape from life in the pandemic.

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"This is by no means, like, a docudrama reality we're living in," Byrd said. "This is very much a sort of comic book frequency that the pandemic is playing out in, so I don't really see people watching it and feeling like, 'this is like watching the news' or something that's hitting too close to home." He said he thinks the series is a perfect blend of escapism and relevance, as the themes are timely and have real-world resonance but their context is totally different, and the show is really about the adventure the characters go on.

The show is at times gruesomely violent, and Flynn was asked to justify the purpose of the violence in the storytelling. She said that she wants the audience to feel as uncomfortable and squeamish as the characters, who are sheltered people being exposed to violence for the first time. "These are people who are really cerebral [and] have lived a lot online," she said. They are juxtaposed with Jessica Hyde, who has lived her whole life in the "real world" and is very comfortable with violence. "There's the contrast between, the kind of geeks of the Comic-Con and the kind of cosplay characters who think of violence in a comic book way, versus the contrast when that story of the comic book comes to life, and then they have to meet the actual characters in the comic," Cusack added. The violence makes the show feel more authentic and realistic, they said. Viewers can decide for themselves when the show comes out whether or not that's true.

Utopia is coming to Amazon Prime Video this fall.

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Amazon's Utopia Wasn't Meant to Be So Timely, Which Makes It Even Better - TV Guide

Brave new worlds: what can we learn from film’s utopian visions? – The Guardian

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As we emerge blinking into the sunlight after lockdown, many of us will be daring to dream of a more harmonious, ecological future. Its what the subjects of Spaceship Earth were hoping to create when they locked down voluntarily for two years as part of an experiment around communal, self-sufficient living. The new documentary tells the story of Biosphere 2, an Earth system science research facility located in the Arizona desert. Back in 1991, eight people moved into the huge vivarium as a dress rehearsal in case humans had to repopulate to Mars. Matt Wolfs film is a fascinating watch that vividly recalls classic sci-fi cinema: the biospherians wear designer space suits and their mission references 1972s Silent Running, in which a botanist astronaut tries to save a biosystem orbiting in space.

It begs the question: what other lessons can we learn from sci-fi movies, post lockdown? In the past, many films have depicted a post-apocalyptic world where artificial communities have been created in an attempt to save at least some of the planet. But these are rarely truly happy places. In the family animation WALL-E (2008), lazy humans live on starliners, having trashed the Earth. A seemingly harmonious world conceals hidden horrors in Logans Run, the 1973 film with an upcoming remake.

Utopias that turn dystopian are common in cinema, as noted by the novelist and critic Kim Newman: The first act shows you everyone having a good time, but you notice the cracks. Then you learn how terrible things really are. Many fictional future worlds are divided between rich and poor, such as Metropolis (1927) and Soylent Green (1973). Others can be threatened by one bad egg. Comic-book adaptations are full of these, from Loki in the Thor series to Killmonger in Black Panther. Wonder Womans Themyscira is disrupted by the arrival of men.

More recently, the young adult genre has been dominated by pure dystopias: children were forced to hunt and kill each other in the Hunger Games series (2012-2015). The 2015 Disney film Tomorrowland struck a more optimistic note, depicting a secret world built by all the geniuses, the artists, the scientists, the smartest, most creative people in a place free from politics and bureaucracy, distractions, greed. Brad Birds film directly addressed the subject of how we respond to dystopian images: inventor David Nix (Hugh Laurie) tried to warn humanity by broadcasting images of impending doom. They didnt fear their demise, they repackaged it! he laments. It can be enjoyed as video games, as TV shows, books, movies the entire world wholeheartedly embraced the apocalypse, and sprinted towards it with gleeful abandon. But hopeful heroine Casey (Britt Robertson) still went in search of dreamers to build a better future.

Such optimism is reminiscent of Spaceship Earth. Far from being stereotypical hippies, the members of this commune built a huge houseboat to travel the world, forging partnerships with likeminded financiers. They formed a theatre company and performed avant-garde shows. They wanted to see if self-sufficient life was possible on Mars, so they tried it or at least, as close as they could get. Not everything in the garden was rosy, but at least it grew.

The idea of a contained, peaceful community is prevalent in onscreen utopias. Newman describes these as being, collectivist, contemplative with tamed natural spaces. Biospherian Mark Nelson, however, finds few of them are believable. I and other biospherians would laugh, because in almost all science fiction movies, there are hardly any green plants or other lifeforms around yet no one asks: How are they getting their oxygen, water regeneration, clean food?

Silent Running does emphasise the difference between fresh, locally grown food and bland, artificial meals, while Soylent Green takes the idea to a more sinister extreme. Meanwhile veganism on the rise in real life features in several onscreen utopias. Simon Amstells pointed TV mockumentary, Carnage, painted a picture of a harmonious, sustainable future where the only pain was the memory of their elders murdering animals.

A plant-based diet also features in the cult French comedy La Belle Verte (The Green Beautiful, 1996). Writer-director Coline Serreau plays Mila, an alien from a utopian community who comes to 90s Paris and is comically horrified by the pollution, smoking, meat eating and overcrowding. La Belle Vertes farcical humour eases into a strong message about a self-sufficient community with no leaders, where the days consist of strengthening acrobatic play and exercises in telepathy. All inhabitants work the land and agree on population control (After the harvest, we decide how many babies to make). It turns out that their lives used to look much like ours on Earth.

I asked Jennifer Wells, a professor at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco, and member-at-large of the Society of Utopian Studies, what she thought of La Grande Verte. Serreau evokes a foreign utopian planet with ecological lifestyles, spiritual harmony, zero carbon technologies and equality, she says. This ideal society on a far-off planet may not be realisable unless we are getting close to switching out cell phones for telepathy, and football for group ballet.

She adds: What is realisable is the deeper questioning that comes up when Mila visits Earth. Through Milas hilarious escapades, we get a fresh view on how some of the things we accept as most normal are, in fact, in need of transformation.

This fresh view chimes with the lockdown experience: not only have more people started growing their own vegetables, but they have had the space to take a long look at their lives and the world much like biospherians. Nelson says: Since we experienced the metabolic connection we had to our mini-world so bodily and viscerally, when we came out, we were eager to share that insight every humans very life depends on Earths biosphere! He sees clear parallels with the current crisis. This pandemic lockdown can be a shock point for people to realise how vital a healthy biosphere is for them. Help make your city greener and less polluted; connect with your neighbours, your community, the trees, birds and natural elements around you.

Spaceship Earths director agrees. In light of Covid-19, we have all been living like biospherians, and we are now re-entering a different world, says Wolf. The question is: how will we be transformed, and how might that compel us to reimagine our world?

Perhaps film-makers can inspire us. Jude Law has been cast as an architect building a utopia in Francis Ford Coppolas long-planned Megalopolis, while screenwriter Caitlin Moran (How to Build a Girl) recently revealed she is writing a cheerful utopian sci fi movie. Thats something Id welcome: La Belle Verte is the only sci-fi movie I have watched recently that didnt give me nightmares. In fact, I woke energised and inspired. After the darkness, maybe a positive vision is what tomorrows dreamers need.

Anna Smith is a film critic and host of the Girls on Film podcast. Spaceship Earth is available on demand from Amazon Prime Video. La Belle Verte is available free on Vimeo

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Nintendo profit jumps more than 400% thanks to the Switch and Animal Crossing – KSL NewsRadio

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(CNN) Nintendo sales are still soaring.

The Japanese company posted another round of blockbuster earnings Thursday, proving that its hot streak from the pandemic is far from over.

The company said it made 145 billion yen ($1.37 billion) in operating profit for the quarter ended June, marking a 428% surge compared to the same time a year ago. That blew away expectations from analysts, who had estimated about 62 billion yen of profit, according to data provided by Refinitiv.

Nintendo also doubled sales from a year ago, taking in about 358 billion yen ($3.4 billion).

The results show that months into the pandemic, people are still turning to the Nintendo Switch game console in droves. Nintendo sold about 5.7 million of the devices from April through June, marking a 167% increase year-over-year.

The runaway success of Animal Crossing: New Horizons continued to be a boon for the company. The game, which is set on a relaxing virtual island utopia and allows users to fish, catch bugs and play with friends on the beach, runs on the Switch and has been in high demand since people worldwide started staying home because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Nintendo sold 10.6 million copies of the game in the most recent quarter.

Sales of this title continue to be strong, with no loss of momentum, the company said in a statement. It added that the game was its bestseller this quarter, contributing greatly to the overall growth in software sales.

Nintendo has sold 22.4 million copies of Animal Crossing overall, putting it just under Nintendos best-selling game of all time, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. That title has racked up 26.7 million sales.

The Switch, which was first released in 2017, sold out on various websites earlier this year as customers scrambled to find new forms of home entertainment.

This spring, the Kyoto-based company ran into supply issues with the Switch as factories were shut down in China. Those closures triggered some component shortages and slowed output at factories in Vietnam.

Now, the overall production situation has almost recovered, the company said.

Nintendo also took the opportunity to tease its pipeline of games. This fall, it plans to release a new title, Pikmin 3 Deluxe, as well as offer some new content for Pokmon players. The company released another new Switch game, Paper Mario: The Origami King, last month.

We will work to keep the platform active with new titles and by reinforcing sales of popular titles that have already been released, the company said.

Kaori Enjoji contributed to this report.

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Rohse: In search of the elusive utopian community – McMinnville News-Register

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For centuries mankind has attempted to establish a utopia, defined as an imagined community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities.

Sir Thomas More (1478-1535), a scholar who wrote during the enclosure movement of farm consolidation in England, coined the word utopia, when, in Latin, he wrote his book Utopia a fictional political satire later translated in English.

McMinnville's Elaine Rohse is fascinated by words, books and writing - and spends much time sating that fascination.

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After numerous utopias failed, perhaps an appropriate addition to that definition might have been: an impractical scheme for social improvements, in an imagined and infinitely remote place.

Utopia has numerous synonyms: Camelot, Cockaigne, Eden, Elysium, fantasy land, paradise, promised land, Shangri-La, Zion. Names of utopias include Modern Times, Harmony, Songdo, Palmanova, Arcosanti.

Many books have been written about utopias, including Brave New World, The Giver and Looking Backward. History has recorded numerous theoretical utopias.

In his book, More envisioned utopia as a place of about l00,000 residents made up of 54 cities, laid out in a crescent-shaped island. The cities were sited no more than 14 miles apart no farther than a days walk.

The uniform and contiguous houses each had a garden in the back and proud was the owner of that garden which was most lush.

The utopias capital city, Amaurot, was arranged in a square with each side two miles long.

The family was the basis for political and social structures, and there was neither private property nor money.

Every month, free goods were exchanged. Families brought produce. These goods were taken to storehouses where each familys father picked up his familys needs. If shortages occurred, that need was supplied. The ultimate pleasure apparently was cultivation of the mind. There was a general belief in god and tolerance for all creeds.

Husbands had the power to chastise their wives, and the wives duties included serving meals.

The island of Pala, one of the most famous utopias, was created by Aldous Huxley. I chance to presently be reading Huxleys novel, After Many A Season Dies the Swan, but it concerns itself little with utopias.

As envisioned by Huxley, Pala was a blend of science and religion. The religion was Mahayana Buddhism, which teaches that everything from food to sex can be a road to liberation and enlightenment.

One scientific effort of the utopia was to devise psychological means of reducing aggressive personalities. In Pala, residents provided most of their needs. The population was controlled so that there were not more people than goods.

Competition had been eliminated by a mutual aid system. Artificial insemination was widely practiced. A maximum of three children were permitted. Islanders practiced a yoga of love similar to the male continence practiced in the Oneida Colony in America.

All members of the Pala community work and enjoy the opportunity to work. Workers are permitted to change jobs and indeed are encouraged to do so because of added experience and to avoid boredom. In addition to blood relatives, on the island of Pala, everyone has deputy fathers, mothers, aunts, uncles, and so on, and this allows children freedom from parents, and parents freedom from children.

An integral part of life in this utopia is Moksha, a mescaline-like drug that produces mystic visions allowing islanders to achieve ultimate consciousness. The drug is part of the education for island children. They take the drug in order to experience transcendental unity with other sentient beings.

But Pala as a utopia collapsed when the island was invaded by a militaristic neighbor eager to acquire Palas rich oil resources.

Another theoretical utopia is the Republic created by Plato, a meritocracy in which leadership is elected on the basis of intellect. Manual work is regarded as narrowing. The family is a community in which no parent knows which child is his; similarly, no child knows his parents.

Only the best of both sexes are brought together, and if the worst have children, those children are put out of sight. Children are raised in a state nursery.

Other theoretical utopias included Commonwealth, Harmony, Icaria, Christianopolis, Shangri-la, which was created by James Hilton, in his 1933 novel Lost Horizon. Shangri-La is a monastery of some 50 lamas who reside in a lamasery that overlooks the valley and a village of about 1,000 Tibetans.

The lamasery and village are ruled by the High Lama. Under direction of the High Lama, lamas spend their time in pursuit of knowledge and arts. The community is built around moderation, observed in everything from love to government.

The monks pursue the aesthetic and the villagers do the work. Good manners, moderation and conservatism are the keys to all.

Other utopias and attempted utopias include Harmony Society, Nashoba, Brook Farm, Fourier Phalanx Movement, Modern Times, Oneida, Ferrer Colony and Spanish Anarchist Collectives.

In the utopia of Commonwealth, law ruled all. The utopia had no money or wages. Personal goods and houses were privately owned. Returns from production were held in common. Parliament gave orders for planting and reaping of Commonwealth land.

The father trained the children and did not spare the rod. Every child was educated in a trade. Common penalties were slavery, whipping, death, and any who espoused religion or sought to privately possess land could anticipate penalty.

Harmony, a theoretical utopia, matched people with work most appropriate to their type. Customarily, every worker in Harmony Utopia had tried 40 or more occupations.

Monogamy was rare. Social instructors were responsible for ensuring no one capable of love was ever frustrated.

Etienne Cabet (1788-1856) brought followers to America and started a new nation, but his attempt failed. His utopia had been built in the shape of a circle. All streets were straight to attain symmetry. Thousands of horse-drawn streetcars provided transportation.

Glass canopies covered sidewalks. Orders for merchandise were received at a control warehouse and the dispatched goods sent by pneumatic tube. Everyone worked a certain number of hours each week. Courtships were six months long. A committee determined the number of meals, mealtimes, the number of courses, daily menus and ingredients. Another committee determined aspects of daily attire.

The utopia, by name of Utopia, provided each citizen an annual income of $4,000. Retirement was at age 33 on half income. A leisurely life after 45 included sports, hobbies, travel, or one could stay home and have sermons and music piped in.

Another utopia with the name of Utopia was envisioned by William Morris, who invented the Morris chair. This utopia had no national government. Care was taken to permit the minority to express itself. In personal matters, everyone did as they pleased. There was no private property or wages. People worked for the pleasure it gave them. There were no schools and no prisons.

A surprising thing about these utopia is the lack of unanimity in what they perceived to be a utopia.

What would you want your utopia to have?

For many here in Yamhill Valley, we may well have reasoned that we already were living in Utopia and then coronavirus came to our door.

Elaine Rohse can be reached at rohse5257@comcast.net.

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Rohse: In search of the elusive utopian community - McMinnville News-Register

Disney+ Releases Official Trailer for New Phineas and Ferb Movie – Red Tricycle

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Will Candace ever get a break? Today, Disney+ shared the trailer for its upcoming out-of-this-world original movie Phineas and Ferb The Movie: Candace Against the Universe. The new movie premieres on the streaming service on Fri., Aug. 28.

Phineas and Ferb The Movie: Candace Against the Universe is an adventure story that tracks stepbrothers Phineas and Ferb as they set out across the galaxy to rescue their older sister Candace, who after being abducted by aliens, finds utopia in a far-off planet, free of pesky little brothers.

Voice talent reprising their roles from the original series and movie include: Ashley Tisdale as Candace Flynn; Vincent Martella as Phineas Flynn; Caroline Rhea as their mom, Linda; Dee Bradley Baker as Perry the Platypus; Alyson Stoner as Isabella; Maulik Pancholy as Baljeet; Bobby Gaylor as Buford; Olivia Olson as Vanessa Doofenshmirtz; Tyler Mann as Carl; and Povenmire and Marsh as Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz and Major Monogram, respectively. David Errigo Jr. joins the cast as Ferb Fletcher.

Jennifer Swartvagher

Featured photo: Disney+

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5 beautiful and responsible places to stay in Maine, if you can make it there – The Boston Globe

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Just remember, wear your masks, and do as the electric road signs all over New England tell you to: STAY WICKED FAH APAHT.

CASTINE COTTAGES

33 Snapps Way, Castine; 207-326-8003

If youre looking for a clean, sweet, and rustic property where you can enjoy the great outdoors, and have easy access to a gorgeous, status town (if youre not quarantining), Castine Cottages is a terrific option. The friendly, family-owned property has six two-bedroom cottages overlooking Penobscot Bay, and with a private dock and beach. Whats nice about the bright and airy setup here is that the cottages are all side by side far enough to socially distance, but close enough that youre not isolated deep in the woods, if thats not your thing. This makes it a great option for vacationing with multiple friends or families, without crossing any safety boundaries. Castine is a classically beautiful New England village, and a summertime utopia, even in these strange times. MarKels Bakehouse continues to serve the best sandwiches and baked goods in the area, with an Evenings at the Watermark pizza pop-up. Starting rate is $725 per week.

ARAGOSTA

300 Goose Cove Road, Deer Isle; 207-348-6900

Speaking of the best food in Maine, Aragosta, in the strikingly beautiful Deer Isle, is a once-in-a-lifetime place for someone looking for a special restorative experience after all this anxiety and stress. Owned and run by Chef Devin Finigan a culinary icon and James Beard award nominee Aragosta, with its minimalist-chic waterfront cabins and delicious, whimsical and hyperlocal tasting menu, is the kind of place you will never forget, and likely dream about forevermore. The location has seven cottages and seven suites, breakfast and dinner available onsite, and beaching and hiking for days which means, you truly do not have to leave, and why would you? While its kid-friendly, the location is also incredibly romantic. (Remember romance?) Starting rate is $280/night, including breakfast.

OCEANFRONT CAMPING AT REACH KNOLLS

670 Reach Road, Brooklin; 207-359-5555

Just down the street from Aragosta, in Brooklin, is a gem of a primitive camping site with an ultra-welcoming owner who will help you check your problems at the check-in desk. Set on the dramatic shores of Eggemoggin Reach, this is a quiet, unpretentious, and dirt cheap hideaway to unplug and recenter. Youll need your own tent or RV (no bigger than 38 feet) , of course, and the simple, nostalgic vibe is the opposite of glamping. Theres a coffee pot in the main office, wild strawberries everywhere, and a dramatic, rocky beach with the most luminescent shells for kids to collect. Tent sites start at $29/RV $39.

TOPSL FARM

365 Bremen Road, Waldoboro; 207-832-1602

Farther South, at the cozy and cool Topsl Farm in Waldoboro, youll find 85 acres of camping, camping-light, A-frame cabins, cottages, and a loose, contact-free way of life complete with premade picnics and homemade marshmallows. Topsl is a popular, increasingly hip, place to visit because of its enchanting coast, farm, and forest trifecta effect. Weekend stays, which are partially inclusive, with some meals and activities, start at around $490 for two nights.

INN BY THE SEA

40 Bowery Beach Road, Cape Elizabeth; 207-799-3134

As for staying at proper hotels, everyone has their own comfort level, and checking in to a real hotel with common areas and cardio gyms, might be outside of that comfort zone. That said, many hotels are taking their own precautions, on top of the state regulations, to make all guests feel as safe as possible. At the paradisal Inn by the Sea in Cape Elizabeth, some of the Inns new protocols include touchless curbside check in, enhanced housekeeping services, and strict social distancing at the pool and restaurants. There is daily yoga on the big seaside lawn, so you can distance, breathe fresh air, and enjoy the ocean view. The spa is now open, and liquid relaxation at the bar is allowed and encouraged. We are living in a global pandemic, after all.

Alas, its not all doom and gloom. Most people are trying really, really hard to keep each other safe, said Commissioner Heather Johnson of the Maine Department of Economic & Community Development. Its certainly been difficult trying to balance public health and economic well-being; but we hope that this shared sense of responsibility toward your neighbor, toward human beings in general, reminds us of the kind of caring and considerate people we are here in Maine.

Alyssa Shelasky can be reached at Shelasky@gmail.com.

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Design Schools, Now Is the Time to Answer: Who Are We For? – Hyperallergic

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Washington University in St. Louis (image courtesy Flickr, photo by Daniel X. ONeil)

An important question to ask about any political statement is: Who is it for?

Following weeks of anti-racist statements issued by universities, art museums and foundations, the answer is pretty clear. Power doesnt like to cede, but it can adapt long enough to survive an insurrection. As the old adage goes, power has a way of looking like change long enough to make things stay exactly the same. Art and design students are not fooled, but institutions are continuing to try to hold their ground while proclaiming allyship. They face a crisis of symbolic efficiency, to use the late Mark Fishers phrase.

I am a part-time senior lecturer who teaches architectural history and theory at the Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Art, Washington University in St. Louis. In June, like many peer institutions, my school released a message, proclaiming allegiance to fighting systemic racism, and announcing the formation of a task force devoted to racial justice. In some ways this echoed statements that the university made after Michael Browns murder in nearby Ferguson, Missouri in 2014. This time around, the administrators want to listen to nonwhite students and alums about their experiences of discrimination and exclusion, which is laudable. Across the university, our chancellor wants to increase support for faculty who study race, as well as to hire 12 new tenure-track faculty members to study race in America a potentially powerful move, but mitigated by unsettling institutional language, framed as part of a plan to design a new racial future.

Further, in the name of pandemic preparedness, our design school just laid off many part-time lecturers in architecture and art (though not me), while the broader university has frozen raises, new hires, and promotions. Our fall semester has been postponed, meaning support staff and surviving adjunct faculty wont receive wages for almost three weeks longer than usual. All of this recalls the 2008 recession, which precipitated years of cuts due to lost funding for public schools, a result of neoliberal doctrine favoring private schools.

In this moment, the contradictory positions of architecture schools like Sam Fox reflect a systemic inability of universities to honor the dignity of faculty, staff, and students, even as they issue statements of solidarity. For instance, Cornell University has initiated voluntary salary reductions, while Rice University has frozen hiring and cancelled all pay raises. To the public, the universities front solidarity and increased investigation of societal ills. Internally, they double down on protecting their tax-free hoarded wealth and deny wages and salaries in ways that disproportionately affect, non-white, non-male, and low-income workers.

Architecture schools long have fallen into the fissures of university politics. Practices of the imaginary have to operate within spaces crafted and maintained by wealth and power. The horizon continues to recede. As the architectural historian Manfredo Tafuri wrote in Architecture and Utopia, designers realized that the politics of things (capital, buildings, endowments) limited the patronage of truly visionary work, and thus turned to practices that channeled political radicalism into safe works of art and architecture. Public housing is a great example, and especially in St. Louis, where the destruction of Pruitt-Igoe casts a long shadow. In that case and others, ideals and tenant needs succumbed to the demands of lucrative contracts, and when built works met controversy, many architects eagerly declared public housing and not their own practices unworkable.

The work of reproducing social structures is more comfortable than the work of agitating for new ones, yet every day we demand that our students make work that is original and impactful. Right now, the global pandemic and uprising is urging students to make the work that brings a new, just world into being. These designs require power to be reimagined and redistributed, not simply adding a new chair or two to existing tables.

At Harvard, the African American Student Union and AfricaGSD have launched a campaign to urge the university and its Graduate School of Design to translate their stated values into material actions. As Diana Budds apt Curbed headline summed it up, the students are teaching Harvard how to be anti-racist and thats the problem. Students and faculty at Columbia Universitys Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation and alums of Yale Universitys School of Architecture have also demanded real actions from the schools to dissolve their cultures of white supremacy. Likewise, the Design as Protest Collective is coordinating a campaign across art and architecture schools against violence and injustices in the practices taught. The Instagram account Architecture is Too White is presenting data showing why students are speaking up, school by school (and firm by firm).

Yet architecture schools have been far slower to make commitments than they were to offer sweeping public statements. As universities use the pandemic to threaten cuts to pedagogical funding, some faculty feel that silence offers safety. The dearth of unionized schools also makes matters more difficult for those who want to organize. In this void, students are reclaiming the political, visionary legacy of design schools in years past. Contemporary schools like the SCI-Arc and The Conway School in the US hold fast to the ideals that that academic governance should be shared by students and faculty, and that curriculums should address social needs. Defunct institutions including Black Mountain College in the US, the Village School for the Philosophy of Architecture in Yugoslavia, and the legendary Bauhaus in Germany remain inspirational.

Student demands require fundamental reinventions of institutional governance and financial structures. Institutions also have to become accountable to a society that needs material resources for building true equity, which tax-free endowments and real estate do not provide. If we are going to replace police officers with well-trained social workers, we need to tax endowments. If we are going to equalize public education, universities have to start paying property taxes for non-educational real estate into urban school districts. These are modest steps.

For now, university statements aim to make the current uprising relevant to their own sources of power, instead of making universities relevant to the uprisings. Hopefully architecture students and faculty members keep pushing. In the words of WAI Think Tanks Anti-Racist Architecture Manifesto: If they are serious about demolishing their legacies of institutional racism, academic institutions must rethink their recruiting strategies to attract, stimulate, and create safe environments for both educators and students. Simultaneously, architecture schools must embrace the deconstruction of their curriculums to question not only the future of architecture, but to expose the racist past they helped construct.

Design schools and fellow academics, now is the time to answer: Who are we for?

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Online Blackjack Now! For Real Money or Free – Wizard of Odds

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This is our first blackjack game and trainer and I'm proud to finally add our version 2 with enhanced graphics and the ability to learn how to count cards to my website. The game is mostly self-explanatory. If you make an inferior play, the game will warn you first. I recommend that before you play for real money both online in person that you practice on the game until you very rarely are warned you a making an inferior play. If doubling or splitting is mathematically the correct play, but you don't have enough chips, the game will give the best advice for what you can afford to do. Do not change rules mid-hand. If you do, the change will not take effect until the next hand. The advice is based on my own analysis and basic strategy tables for one, two, and four+ decks. The deck(s) is(are) shuffled after every hand.

If you find any bugs, please contact me. A screenshot would be appreciated if you claim the game is misplaying a hand. I get a lot of incorrect reports that the advice given is incorrect. This usually can be explained by the user not using the correct basic strategy for the rules selected. I have also had many comments about the advice on a player 16, composed of 3 or more cards, against a 10. As a rule of thumb, the player should stand in that situation. However, that is a basic strategy exception. The game only knows basic strategy. Also, please note that it is a standard blackjack rule that split aces get one card each. If one of them is a ten, it is not a blackjack, it is just 21 points. That is how blackjack is usually played.

I would like to thank JB for his outstanding work on this game, and Dingo Systems for the cards.

Q1: What are the rules in online blackjack games?

A: As in land casinos, they vary. Online help files are notoriously badly written and incomplete. The Wizard of Odds, we try hard to keep an accurate listing of rules for every brand of software and live dealers. You may find such rules, for every game, in our Software Review section.

Q2: Generally speaking, are the rules better in land or online casinos?

A: All things considered, I would say they are better online. For one thing, you almost never see a blackjack (ace and 10) pay 6 to 5 only online, while this is becoming the norm in land casinos in the United States.

Q3: What are the typical rules at live dealer casinos online?

A: Live dealer rules are very similar to what you would see in a land casino. The typical rules are:

Be careful double or splitting if the dealer has a ten or ace showing. At most live dealer brands, you will lose everything if the dealer gets a blackjack. Under this "no peek" rule, the only time you should put more money out on the table against a potential dealer blackjack is to split two aces against a dealer 10.

The house edge under the rules above is 0.61%.

Q4: When are the cards shuffled in online blackjack?

A: In a fully electronic game, they are probably shuffled after every hand. In a live dealer game, they are usually shuffled about half way through the shoe.

Q5: Oh really?! Even with only 50% penetration, what is to prevent me from counting cards against a live dealer?

A: I've asked this question of some people in the business. Nobody would tell me exactly how they protect their game against counters, but they assured me that they do. If I ran a live dealer casino, I would run a test of every player to see how their bet size is correlated to the true count. Then I would carefully examine the play of such players with a strong correlation.

Q6: How do "probably fair" casinos accomplish so-called in blackjack?

A: It is rather involved, but here is typically how it is done:

I go into this in greater depth for a particular brand in my page on Blackjack (Encrypted Version).

Q7: I don't want to bother jumping through all those hoops to verify fairness in an encrypted game. Do you think that just the ability to verify fairness is enough to keep the casinos honest?

A: No. Encrypted or not, a casino could cheat the player in any game, except sports betting, any time they wished. In the case of an encrypted casino, the operator could choose a Server Seed that causes the player to lose after the bet is made. If the player catches them in a hash mismatch, which I think very few players bother to check, the casino can simply ignore the accusation or deny it without comment. This is exactly what happened to me at Wixiplay.

Q8: Your story aside, how common is cheating at blackjack, or any game, online?

A: In my opinion, it is quite rare.

Q9: How can I improve my odds of not being cheated?

A: There are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Internet casinos out there. In the absence of any serious government regulation, the industry has done a pretty good job of regulating itself. Between legitimate watchdog affiliate sites and some common sense, here are some ways to choose a reputable brand to trust with your hard-earned dollar:

Q10: Any other words of advice before playing blackjack online?

A: Whether playing online or in a land casino, use the appropriate basic strategy for the rules offered. The Wizard of Odds blackjack strategy calculatorwill give the correct basic strategy for almost any set of rules.

A much greater problem than outright cheating is online casinos faulting players on a technicality in the rules and seizing whatever funds they deem appropriate. This is a particularly a problem with bonuses. The terms and conditions for bonuses can be pages long and very restrictive in terms of allowed games, bet sizes, and types of bets. If the player loses, nobody ever checks, but after a win and withdrawal request, suddenly the play may be subject to careful review for compliance. Never assume that because you were invited to play a bonus via Email that you're eligible for it. Casinos typically blast everybody in their list. An easy rule to overlook is when a bonus is eligible for "new money" only. Don't expect the casino to enforce this rule when entering a couple code, but do expect it when you actually make a withdrawal and they look for any reason to deny it.

While bonuses can make your money last much longer and increase your chances of winning, they are a minefield in terms of compliance. Read the rules carefully. If in doubt the way you play is compliant, then don't ask for the bonus in the first place.

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Online Free Blackjack | Instantly Play Blackjack for Free …

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Free Online Blackjack Overview

Looking for a free blackjack game? Look no further -- you can play blackjack for free here! The top-notch quality of our blackjack online game will give you a fantastic casino experience from the comfort of your home, or wherever you are. Learn blackjack strategy and rules to beat the dealer and win as much money as possible!

In order to win blackjack, you have to beat the dealer. If the final combined value of the cards is greater than that of dealer, you win. When you see the value of your blackjack cards and the value of one of the cards of the dealer, you can adjust your bets accordingly. You can "HIT" to add more cards and "STAND" to stop. The dealer always has to hit if the value of their card is 16 or lower, and he must stop hitting when the value reaches 17 or more.

1. The goal of blackjack is not to get as close to 21, but to lose the least amount of money to the house.

2. When the combined value of your blackjack cards is 12,13,14 or 15, you should only hit when when the dealer's face-up card is 7,8,9,10 or A.

3. You should always double your bet if the combined value of your cards is 11.

4. You should always split if you have a pair of 8s.

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Free Blackjack – TOP 7 FREE Blackjack Games at …

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Aim of the Game

The aim of the game, as explained before, is to beat the dealers hand. You win by putting together a combination of cards that doesnt go above 21 but still remains stronger than what the house has.

The best way to get enough practice and end up winning in the long-term is to try free blackjack. You can study a number of viable ways to win, but none is better than practising online with a free blackjack version at website.

Once you suspect you have a strong enough hand, you can try and push the amount you bet to claim a bigger return potentially.

Blackjack is a simple card game in which players compete against the dealer. The set-up requires the player to build a hand that is stronger than the dealers one without going over 21 as the total of each hand. You can play for real money or enjoy free blackjack instead.

To help you understand blackjack better, you will find a number of useful resources, including free blackjack online as well as an opportunity to play the game without the need to download any additional software.

We will help you understand the general aim of the game as well as introduce you to basic strategies and tips. The game is not complicated to get into at all, but at the same time, there is a lot of strategic depth that must be practised until you have mastered it successfully.

This is a very simple game in its nature. To win, you need to fulfil the main condition of the game create a hand that is higher than the dealers one, but doesnt exceed the winning condition, i.e. 21.

To understand how you can build the hand you need to win, you have to understand card values, and playing free blackjack will help you. Thankfully, they are simple to comprehend with all cards between 2 and 10 worth their pip value. In other words, a 2 is worth two points; a 3 is worth three points and so forth.

All other cards, meaning J, Q, and K, are each worth 10 points. The Ace has a double function it serves as a 1 and 11, giving you a lot of flexibility. There are specific strategies you can try in free blackjack and see how you can benefit from an Ace.

However, before you do, you must be familiar with the available actions. There are several you can pick from, including Hit and Stand. There is also Bust, which means you automatically lose because you have just gone above the limit.

Free blackjack will give you a very good idea of when you can take a risk and when you might need to choose a more conservative approach. But back to the action, Hit simply means you want another card.

If you choose to Stand, though, it means that you are happy with your current hand and believe that you have a great chance to win. Meanwhile, if the dealer goes bust you win on the condition you hadnt gone bust before the dealer.

Players may also have access to some side bets depending on the version of the game. Similarly, the probabilities will change if you are playing a single-deck or multi-deck. Once again, your best shot to understand the game is to check a free blackjack version.

Most professionals agree that the simpler a version is, the better chance of winning you have. Lets talk strategy now.

Free blackjack is one of the best gaming opportunities you have to put your understanding of this great game to an honest test. To be successful in playing this game, you need to show a deeper understanding of the gameplay than the average player.

This is where following a few tested strategies and tips prove really handy. Here are some practical tips that you can put to good use even today, without any previous understanding of the game, or test in a free blackjack version now:

These tips are just some of the good ones every player can put to its everyday gameplay. If you are still unsure about any of the aspects of the gameplay, remember free blackjack will always offer a timely and reliable solution. The best way to learn is through testing.

To win at blackjack, you must understand the game. Dont hesitate to test each game with the help of free blackjack before you commit real money. Play smartly and stick to the best practices and time-tested strategies.

Deal players one card face down and finish by dealing one card face down to yourself. Deal another card to each player this time the card is face-up and so is yours. Continue dealing cards as long as players choose to Hit. Test free blackjack game online to see how its done.

Insurance is a bet that the dealer is going to hit blackjack. You place an insurance bet if the dealer has an Ace face up and then win some amount back although you lose your original wager. This type of bet is considered a waste of money and not recommended.

There are many free blackjack and real money versions of the game available for mobile. All you need to do is find casino that supports mobile play and join it. Each game of blackjack these days is mobile, so you can rest assured you will find sufficient opportunities to play.

This depends solely on your cards. There are long and detailed reference sheets that cover each possible situation, and its highly advisable to consult them. You can also test them in free blackjack games before you commit any real currency, which is often the best thing to do when trying to understand when to Hit and when to Stand in this game.

Double Down is an option that allows you to just double your bet in the game if you believe you hold a winning hand and want to make the best out of a great situation. You will be able to use free blackjack across websites to test many situations and even then, its always smart to treat the experience as real blackjack, doubling down when you see a good opportunity.

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Play Online Blackjack | USA Today

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Online Blackjack Overview

Blackjack, which can also be called 21 Blackjack, is the most commonly played casino game in the United States. Our free blackjack game will keep you entertained all day. You can play blackjack for free and don't have to worry to lose a penny. The blackjack rules are simple: You win if your combined value of the cards is greater than that of dealer. You have to make a choice to either hit or stand based on the value of cards in your hand. This blackjack online game is not only about your luck but also your about your strategic thinking.

1. Blackjack was established the late 16th century in Spain, and is mentioned as one of the oldest gambling games.

2. The house edge (the average amount you are expected to lose per bet) is less than 1%, making blackjack the most popular casino game.

3. Blackjack games are offered n casinos in 140 different countries.

4. You are really unlucky if you get 16 in a hand -- this is the worst hand in blackjack.

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Play Online Blackjack | USA Today

Scientists: Martian Lava Tubes Large Enough to Fit Planetary Base

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Scientists suggest that the key to settling Mars or the Moon is hiding underground in lava tubes. Now we know the caverns are actually big enough.

Holing Up

In order to establish a base on Mars, settlers will be forced to survive extremely harsh conditions and an onslaught of cosmic radiation. To do that, they may end up hiding underground in caverns called lava tubes.

Scientists have long suggested that hiding out in lava tubes might be the key to building safe lunar or Mars bases. But they knew very little about the tubes themselves. Now, thanks to research published last month in the journal Earth-Science Reviews, scientists at the European Space Agency and several research universities believe that these underground caverns are likely large enough to fit and shelter functional Mars bases.

Secret Tunnel

According to the research, the lava tubes on Mars and the Moon are considerably larger than here on Earth. Enough so that they believe future settlements or research outposts could be safely nestled away inside.

The researchers compared signs of subterranean collapse on each of the three worlds’ surfaces to the size of known lava tubes on Earth. Since the collapses on Mars were larger, they conclude that the tubes are as well.

District 13

Despite their larger size, the researchers believe that the lava tubes are surprisingly stable, meaning settlers wouldn’t have to worry about them collapsing around them.

“Lava tubes could provide stable shields from cosmic and solar radiation and micrometeorite impacts which are often happening on the surfaces of planetary bodies,” European Space Agency researcher Francesco Sauro said in a press release. “Moreover, they have great potential for providing an environment in which temperatures do not vary from day- to night-time.”

READ MORE: Lava tubes on Mars and the Moon are so wide they can host planetary bases [University of Bologna]

More on lava tubes: Scientists Say They’ve Found the Perfect Spot for a Mars Colony

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Former Astronaut Blasts Trump For Lying About NASA

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In a recent tweet on Wednesday, president Donald Trump claimed that

In a much-criticized tweet on Wednesday, US president Donald Trump claimed that “NASA was Closed & Dead [sic] until I got it going again.”

A link to a NASASpaceflight tweet detailing SpaceX’s successful launch of its Starship prototype accompanied the tweet — which is a striking accomplishment for Elon Musk’s space startup, but only obliquely related to NASA.

In fact, the tweet raised the question of whether Trump had accidentally confused SpaceX’s Starship with last month’s Crew Dragon spacecraft flight to the space station, which was much more closely coordinated with NASA.

The categorically false claim drew widespread ire from the space exploration community, with news outlets like Space.com and Business Insider stating the obvious: NASA never “closed” and it was never “dead.”

In fact, many of its recent successes are due to decades of hard work long preceding both Trump and in some cases even the Obama administration.

In a searing reply on Twitter, veteran NASA astronaut Scott Kelly also entered the fray: “Great leaders take blame and pass along credit.”

Many others in the space community piled on.

“The Starship test the president is retweeting has nothing to do with NASA; it’s a private effort by SpaceX,” tweeted Jeff Foust, a senior writer for SpaceNews.

“Curious where all the NASA employees came from if they agency has been closed for so long,” tweeted The Verge senior science reporter Loren Grush.

“This does a disservice to the nearly 17,000 dedicated women and men of NASA,” former SpaceX employee Phil Larson wrote.

SpaceX’s recent success returning astronauts safely inside its Crew Dragon passenger spacecraft dates back to the establishment of the Commercial Cargo Program in 2006, about a decade prior to Trump’s election. The program’s development grew substantially during Obama’s first term.

NASA’s recent launch of its Perseverance rover, destined for Mars, also builds on decades of work, with development of its instruments dating back to 2013, as Space.com points out.

To his credit, Trump did attempt to increase NASA’s budget over the last few years, although it’s still unclear how much the agency will end up getting from Congress next year.

READ MORE: Trump says ‘NASA was Closed & Dead’ before he took charge. That’s not true. [Space.com]

More on Trump: Microsoft Offers to Buy TikTok Following Trump Crackdown

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NASA’s Mars Helicopter Could Revolutionize Off-Planet Exploration

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In just six short months, if all goes well, NASA’s Perseverance rover will touch down on the surface of Mars — where, hidden in its belly, will be a payload that could change space exploration forever.

Like something out of a James Bond movie, a spring-loaded arm will flip a four pound helicopter, called Ingenuity, out of a compartment beneath the rover’s debris shield. As it swings down, the copter — or “rotorcraft” — will deploy two of its spring-loaded landing legs and fire a pyrotechnic charge to release two more.

From that point on, Ingenuity will be on its own, tethered to Perseverance via only a wireless communications link. And if the tiny rotorcraft succeeds in flying, its creators say, it will be a watershed moment in the history of planetary exploration.

Not only would it be the first time that humankind has flown an aircraft beyond the Earth, but it could also be the harbinger of future missions that could soar over alien landscapes instead of crawling across them like bugs.

 

From that point on, Ingenuity will be on its own, tethered to Perseverance via only a wireless communications link. And if the tiny rotorcraft succeeds in flying, its creators say, it will be a watershed moment in the history of planetary exploration.

Not only would it be the first time that humankind has flown an aircraft beyond the Earth, but it could also be the harbinger of future missions that could soar over alien landscapes instead of crawling across them like bugs.

“The helicopter really gives you a lot of mobility to go to places — up ditches, down canyons, even [potentially] up mountains where you couldn’t actually go with the rover,” said Josh Ravich, a mechanical engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) who worked on Ingenuity, in an interview with Futurism.

That hype extends through NASA’s broad network of advocates, alumni and contractors. Mike Hirschberg, the executive director of the nonprofit Vertical Flight Society, says that a cadre of aerospace enthusiasts have been agitating for off-world flight experiments for decades.

“I always thought that Mars would be explored by airplanes,” said Hirschberg, who has previously done work for both NASA and DARPA. “So it was a nice surprise to hear that [NASA] had picked the helicopter.”

At the same time, the mission presents staggering challenges. Mars’ atmosphere is only about one percent the density of Earth’s, and its gravity is markedly lower as well — differences that made a true apples-to-apples test of the conditions the rotorcraft will face on Mars effectively impossible.

In other words, Ravich and his collaborators are hopeful that Ingenuity will fly, but they’re also fully cognizant that it could fail. Perseverance is still priority number one.

“I think we’ve done a lot and we’re fairly confident, but this is a tech demonstration mission,” Ravich said. “So ultimately, we’ve accepted a bit higher risk.”

The project — Ravich calls it a “once-in-a-lifetime mission” — is the result of decades of research and setbacks.

Its lineage traces back at least as far as 1999, when a team of aerospace engineering students from the University of Maryland won an award for their Martian Autonomous Rotary-wing Vehicle (MARV) — a design that shows striking similarities with the Ingenuity rotorcraft now headed to Mars, with two-bladed coaxial rotors lifting a square fuselage.

MARV. Credit: University of Michigan

Hirschberg also pointed to inroads made in 2002, when Aurora Flight Sciences flew its MarsFlyer, a glider designed to take pictures of the Martian surface, 100,000 feet above the Oregon coast by dropping it from a high-altitude balloon. It spent 90 minutes following a pre-programmed flight path, landing without any damage at the same airport from which it was launched.

Despite their flying prowess, gliders only have a single chance to soar over the Martian landscape. Airplanes could take off and land more than once — but ultimately, Mars’ lack of infrastructure doomed that concept as well.

“There aren’t a any runways on Mars,” Hirschberg said with a chuckle. “So vertical takeoff is pretty much your only option.”

In 2014, engineers at JPL began with a six-inch tall proof of concept, designed to prove that it was possible to actually get off the ground in the Martian atmosphere.

But when they actually tried to flying it inside a chamber designed to simulate Mars’ harsh conditions with a thin atmosphere and a tether to crudely simulate the planet’s low gravity, things didn’t go as planned.

An early prototype. Credit: NASA/JPL

“That model was capable of being joysticked by an operator, and the story goes that the operator, a fairly experienced drone pilot, tried to control the model one direction and it went in the other,” Ravich recalled.

Just like the end product, early prototypes sported two counter-rotating sets of blades, stacked on top of each other. The payload was tucked into a simulated, squared off fuselage below.

It’s a design that’s a far cry from the quadcopter drones we’re used to here back on Earth — but that’s mostly due to size constraints on board Perseverance, according to Ravich.

The engineers soon realized that the vibration of the super-fast blades blades required to generate lift in Mars’ thin atmosphere, which spin at nearly the speed of sound, were making conventional flight nearly impossible.

Later videos from 2014, as featured in a New York Times write-up, showed an engineering model bounce around aimlessly. The engineers had achieved lift, but were unable to gain any sense of control over the vehicle.

Credit: NASA/JPL

By adding mass and stiffening up the blades, the engineers managed to get it under control during flight tests in May 2016, but only by programming a computer to fly it autonomously — which was a necessity anyway, due to the 300 million or so miles between the operator and Ingenuity.

Next, they had to make the rotorcraft rugged enough to actually survive on Mars’ extreme temperature swings. The team put a purpose-built environmental test unit through its paces, simulating the freezing temperatures of Mars at night, which dip down to a frosty -284 degrees Fahrenheit — enough to wreak havoc on electronics.

“Actually, the majority of the energy on the helicopter goes to staying warm overnight,” Ravich said. “Because it’s so cold there and to keep mass down, we don’t have like a parka on the vehicle.”

Those temperature swings, on top of unpredictable weather patterns, make picking a good time to fly on Mars a difficult task in itself. Once Ingenuity’s ready to fly next spring, the team at JPL will have to find a balance point “between when the wind starts picking up versus how much time you’ve had to charge from the Sun,” according to Ravich.

But once the Ingenuity team gets the all clear, it’s planning to fly the little helicopter up to five times over just 30 days. The first flight attempt will take it up just a few feet for up to 30 seconds. The fifth and final flight — if preceding flights are considered a success — will bring it up to 15 feet into the air and take it 500 feet away from its starting position and back again to land.

JPL engineers working on the flight model. Credit: NASA/JPL

Ingenuity is only the start. If it succeeds, the next step could be to scale up the next rotorcraft headed for Mars with more mass, bigger batteries, and more powerful solar panels. Key upgrades could allow future aircraft to cover much longer distances, exploring even more of the Martian surface below.

For now, any such mission is speculative. But the inertia of the Ingenuity team’s vision for interplanetary rotorcraft mission is already carrying forward. As soon as 2026, NASA is planning to send a unique-looking flyer called Dragonfly to the surface of Titan — Saturn’s largest moon — to scout for signs of life.

Dragonfly features four sets of two double rotors, like two quadcopters stacked on top of each other. Like Ingenuity, it’s designed for vertical takeoff and landing — but its planned flights are far more ambitious.

The Dragonfly team is planning to fly the washing machine-sized drone a number of times, covering a distance of up to five miles (eight kilometers) at a time. It will also sample the surrounding areas and look for evidence of past liquid water.

In some ways, the challenges the two crafts will face couldn’t be more different. Ingenuity has to battle with an extremely thin atmosphere, while Dragonfly has to lug itself through a thick soup of nitrogen — Titan’s atmosphere is four times as dense as Earth’s, with twice the atmospheric pressure. Despite the dense atmosphere, surface gravity is only roughly a seventh of that on Earth, similar to that on the Moon. In other words, its flight algorithms will be forged by simulations and test chambers — just like Ingenuity.

For decades, NASA has been a pioneer in exploring the worlds of our solar system, from Apollo astronauts blasting across the Moon’s surface in Lunar Roving Vehicles to probes touring the outer planets and landers scanning the desert-like geographical features of Mars.

But flight on Mars could change all that forever. Its size may be unassuming, but Ingenuity’s first tiny hops could set the stage for something far bigger.

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NASA’s Mars Helicopter Could Revolutionize Off-Planet Exploration

A Poisonous Tsunami Is Screaming Across the Surface of Venus

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Astronomers have discovered that a gigantic wall of clouds is traveling around the surface of Venus every 4.9 days and has been doing so for decades.

Astronomers have discovered that a gigantic wall of poisonous clouds is sweeping across the surface of Venus every few days — and has been doing so for decades, ScienceAlert reports. It’s so massive, in fact, it reaches far beyond the planet’s equator to both the north and south mid latitudes at altitudes of around 50 kilometers.

“If this happened on Earth, this would be a frontal surface at the scale of the planet,” said astrophysicist Pedro Machado at the Institute of Astrophysics and Space Sciences in Portugal, co-author of a paper about the research published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters in May, in a statement. “And that’s incredible.”

The study, led by the Japanese space agency JAXA, suggests this wave has been traveling around Venus since at least 1983 at about 328 kilometers per hour.

Venus is kept at a blistering 465 degrees Celsius near the region where these cloud patterns were observed thanks to an extreme greenhouse effect. Most of Venus’s atmosphere is made up of carbon dioxide with sulfuric acid raining down from the skies.

Yet many other aspects of Venus’s atmosphere remain a mystery — and the observation of this massive wave could could help build a fuller understanding in the future.

“We would have finally found a wave transporting momentum and energy from the deep atmosphere and dissipating before arriving at the top of the clouds,” explained Javier Peralta, an astrophysicist at JAXA and lead author of the study, in the statement.

“It would therefore be depositing momentum precisely at the level where we observe the fastest winds of the so-called atmospheric super-rotation of Venus, whose mechanisms have been a long-time mystery,” he added.

The exact mechanisms of this tidal wave are still not entirely understood. It’s an entirely new meteorological phenomenon, according to the researchers, that has never been seen on any other planet.

READ MORE: An Epic, Planet-Scale Wave Has Been Hiding in The Toxic Clouds of Venus For Decades [ScienceAlert]

More on Venus: NASA Venus Rover Designed For “Exploring Hell”

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A Poisonous Tsunami Is Screaming Across the Surface of Venus

Scientists Propose Adding Psychoactive Drug to our Water Supplies

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Scientists who identified a link between naturally-present lithium in drinking water and lower suicide rates suggest lacing communities' water supply.

A team of U.K. scientists has a provocative plan to prevent suicides: lace drinking water supplies with the psychoactive drug lithium, which is often prescribed as a mood stabilizer.

At first bluff, it sounds like a profound medical overreach. But Vice reports that the idea has recently picked up some steam within scientific circles.

It’s also worth noting that some water already naturally contains low amounts of lithium. And in research published last week in The British Journal of Psychiatry, scientists from a cohort of U.K. universities identified a link that naturally-present lithium and lower suicide rates.

Therefore, they suggest, more lives could be saved by putting the drug in high-risk communities’ water supplies.

“In these unprecedented times of COVID-19 pandemic and the consequent increase in the incidence of mental health conditions, accessing ways to improve community mental health and reduce the incidence of anxiety, depression and suicide is ever more important,” Anjum Memon, lead author and epidemiology chair at Brighton and Sussex Medical School, said in a press release.

But the only way to further test this idea gets into extremely thorny territory. Vice reports that the scientists behind the study suggest conducting “randomized community trials” that would basically entail quietly putting lithium in the water supply of some communities with high rates of mental health conditions or deaths by suicide.

That’s a difficult sell: Vice reports that scientists still don’t even know the ideal blood-lithium concentration at which the suggested suicide-shielding effects take place.

And that’s without getting into the medical ethics of the proposal, which bring the collective good into tension with individual medical autonomy. 

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Scientists Propose Adding Psychoactive Drug to our Water Supplies