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Our songs are the stories of our lives: Two men remember the beginnings of gay liberation on campus – Daily Northwestern

Posted on August 3, 2020 by Danzig

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In 1970, Maher Ahmad and Bill Dry founded the Gay Liberation Front Northwesterns first gay rights advocacy group. The group hosted the first gay dance on campus, held demonstrations in the city and boycotted bars that had racist policies. Just a few years later, Vince McCoy would become the first black president of the Gay Liberation Front. Fifty years later, the two men recount their time with the Gay Liberation Front in this two-part series. Part 1.

MAHER AHMAD: April 1, 1970. Dear faculty member, male and female homosexuals at Northwestern have recently organized a gay liberation movement on campus.

We wish to make the members of faculty and student body aware of the fact that there does exist a large homosexual community both at Northwestern and in society in general that is no longer willing to hide as essential part of its identity in order to enjoy the rights that a supposedly free society should grant all of its citizens. Gay Liberation intends to actively oppose the oppression of homosexuals. We hope that you will support us and do all that you can to help us. If you would like some more information about this, you can call Gay Liberation at 338-9241.

Sincerely yours, William Dry; Maher Ahmad.

ALEX CHUN: Thats Maher Ahmad (Communication 71, 74), reading a letter that he and William Dry (Weinberg 69) wrote in the spring of 1970. Maher was a junior at Northwestern and the two men had just begun the Gay Liberation Front. They were asking University staff to support the formation of their group.

MAHER AHMAD: Well, first, let me say that I had completely forgotten that we had written this letter, okay? This was a seminal kind of thing that we did. But what strikes me now, interestingly, we werent just talking about making things better at Northwestern, okay? Were talking about making things better in society at large and engaging the University to help take us there, which is certainly the kind of ambitious goals one can have when ones a 20-year-old.

ALEX CHUN: The Gay Liberation Front was Northwesterns first gay advocacy group. Fifty years later, Mahers legacy continues through what is now Rainbow Alliance.

From the Daily Northwestern, Im Alex Chun, and this is Defining Safe: a podcast about marginalized communities at Northwestern. This episode is the first part of a two-part series about two gay mens time at Northwestern in the 60s and 70s. The two men are Mr. Maher Ahmad and Mr. Vince McCoy (Bienen 75, SPS 03).

In 1970, 50 years ago, Maher Ahmad started the Gay Liberation Front with William Dry. Recently, I spoke with Maher, and he shared a part of his story with me.

MAHER AHMAD: You know, memory is a very odd thing. And I can remember some things really specifically. Like when we started the gay rights meeting at Northwestern, we asked the student government for $67. I dont know how I remember that number. Theres a lot I dont remember. And very sadly, because there have been so many men that have passed on from AIDS, I cant tell you to go to this person or that person and see what they remember.

ALEX CHUN: And in 1970, Vince McCoy would arrive to campus, eventually joining the Gay Liberation Front and becoming the first black president of the organization. Heres Vince in November 2019 at an event hosted by Northwesterns Black Professionals Network.

VINCENT MCCOY: We all have our own songs to sing, and our songs are the stories of our lives. You may not recognize my tune or understand all of my words, yet every song must be heard. So, today, Im going to sing a little bit of my song for you.

ALEX CHUN: So, lets hear a bit of their songs.

ALEX CHUN: Maher Ahmad was born in Forty Fort, Pa. in 1960. His parents had moved to the United States after being displaced from Palestine, and he had three brothers. Maher described growing up as the only Muslim family in a predominantly white Protestant neighborhood, saying that his family members were largely regarded as outsiders.

MAHER AHMAD: My parents arent religious, but we were Muslim in a WASP community that predated the American Revolution. And that was an interesting situation because early in my life, neighbors didnt treat us well. And then as I began, even before I reached adolescence, I knew I had this longing or yearning that somehow was connected to men. And then, when I reached adolescence, okay, I realized I had a same sex attraction.

ALEX CHUN: However, this was the 1960s, and homosexuality wouldnt be decriminalized nationwide until decades later following the Lawrence v. Texas Supreme Court case in 2003. Heres a clip from a CBS Reports episode aired in 1967 titled The Homosexuals, hosted by Mike Wallace.

MIKE WALLACE: Homosexuality is an enigma. It remains a subject that people find disturbing. Embarrassing. And the reluctance to discuss it. Yet there is a growing concern about homosexuals in society. About their increasing visibility. We discovered that Americans consider homosexuality more harmful to society than adultery, abortion or prostitution.

ALEX CHUN: But Maher never felt like he was at odds with his sexuality. He credits his mother for his strong sense of self.

MAHER AHMAD: Now, for some reason, that I think has to do with genetics that I inherited from my mother who has always been an extremely kind person. And a rabble rouser. She was political from the get-go. She was a feminist. She was the first female broadcast journalist in Palestine. I didnt think there was anything wrong with me.

ALEX CHUN: Rather, when Maher first heard the word homosexual from his older brother, he experienced two feelings: self-realization and curiosity.

MAHER AHMAD: He defined it for me and I thought, Oh, Im a member of a class. And, being an industrious young person, I decided that I was going to find out about myself.

ALEX CHUN: So, Maher went to the local library. He searched through the card catalog and was able to find the call numbers of the few books that the library had about homosexuality. But the books werent on the shelves. When he asked the librarian for help finding them, she told him that they were in the locked case. But despite the climate at the time, Maher never felt like he was at odds with himself being gay.

MAHER AHMAD: And I kept a journal in my senior year. I wrote things like, I dont know, I wrote down, I am special. I wrote it twice, I am special, and I was proud of this. I never pretended to be straight. I absolutely refused to go to the senior prom because I wasnt going to go and put up this false thing and find a girl to be my beard to go to the senior prom with, so I didnt attend the senior prom. I remember there was one girl that chased me. Her name was Pixie, and we were at a party and she initiated a kiss with me and I kissed her and I felt nothing. And I thought to myself, Yeah, you know what, Im never doing this again. Im not interested. And so thats basically what it was like when I was in high school.

ALEX CHUN: Maher wanted to leave Forty Fort, Pa. and ultimately went to Northwestern to study theatre and theatre design. But Maher sensed that something was different. Revolution was in the air.

MAHER AHMAD: You know, its really wonderful to be on the cusp of anything. I started as an undergraduate in 1967. Kennedy was shot in 1963, which was a major historical marker. 1964 was the beginning of the Free Speech Movement on college campuses, where students were saying you have to stop treating us in loco parentis was the phrase, as if youre our parents, you have to stop restricting our rights. We are adults, and there are certain things that you cant make us do or cant prevent us from doing. So revolution was in the atmosphere. And, you know, 1969 was Stonewall.

ALEX CHUN: And protests were even taking place on Northwesterns campus as students protested the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. Maher was still an undergrad at the time.

MAHER AHMAD: So this whole kind of opening up this whole progressivism, this whole desire to throw off the strictures of the system that was in place that was repressive in so many different ways was in the air, and gay rights were a part of that.

ALEX CHUN: During Mahers junior year, he saw an ad in The Daily Northwestern that ultimately led to a reshaping of queer culture on campus.

MAHER AHMAD: It was just a tiny little ad of maybe 10 or 15 words. And it said, in the title and bigger letters, it was tiny, it was like an inch by two inches or something. It said gay liberation. And then it said, anyone, any men and women interested in starting your gay liberation group at Northwestern call Bill, and it had his phone number on it. And I saw this, and I thought, Well, Im interested in doing that. And I called the number and it ended up that I knew this guy, Bill Dry. We didnt know each other were gay. So we said, Yeah, lets do this. And then we got some other people to join us and that began the birth of the group on campus.

ALEX CHUN: The group was around 20 people, but a core group of six men were the most active. They held meetings at apartments off-campus. Among their first goals was to be recognized as an official campus organization. So they drafted a letter to faculty outlining three goals of the Gay Liberation Front.

ALEX CHUN: At the time, gay culture was largely underground and discrete. Small parties were held off-campus, but there were no public gay events. Gay students would go to bars in the city to party, but they had to be wary of police. Gay men who were arrested had their names published in the local newspaper.

MAHER AHMAD: I was able to go to gay bars when I was 19 and 20. But that was it. There was nothing social going on and in that letter that I wrote with Bill to the faculty, one of the things we said is we feel we need to have some kind of social mechanism on campus to associate with ourselves.

ALEX CHUN: The Gay Liberation Front then requested money from the student government to help them print leaflets. They needed $67 but had anticipated that they may not get the full amount requested. So they asked for $670 instead. To their surprise, their request was approved, and they were given the full $670. Later, Maher learned that the head of the committee at the time was a closeted gay student. With the extra money, the members of the Gay Liberation Front wanted to plan something special: a dance.

MAHER AHMAD: It was wonderful. Its very hard, I think, for young people today, who are both gay and straight, to conceive that back in 1970, no bars allowed any dancing. In Chicago, you had to get a dance license a bar had to get a dance licence to allow dancing, and the city would issue one to gay bars to allow same sex dancing, but the bars back then were sordid kind of affairs, as I say, theyre by and large owned by the mob. They paid off the police. And they had a captive clientele. So one of the things that we wanted to be able to do is to have sociability and some notion of normality. And instead of having our entire social lives circumscribed by surreptitious meetings in private apartments, or gay bars, we wanted to have a dance.

ALEX CHUN: The Gay Liberation Front rented the Patten Gymnasium on campus to hold their dance. A member of the group, Duncan, happened to know Corky Siegel, a member of the Siegel-Schwall blues band. So, Duncan asked them to play at the dance, and they agreed to do so.

MAHER AHMAD: Instead of it being just, you know, 20 or 30 gay people that were brave enough to be public and go to a public dance because we only charged $1 a ticket, which is well below the market rate for a Siegel-Schwall concert, we packed the gym! And it turned into a concert rather than a dance, which was, you know, unfortunate. And it was more geared to like this performance rather than than the gay people, but it was great, great fun. So suddenly, were this group, we got our $67 turned into $670. And rather than losing money on this dance from our bank, we got tons more money which then we could use to do other other kinds of things. And it was just a lot of fun.

ALEX CHUN: Corky Siegel, one of the bands co-founders, was 27 at the time. He remembers playing at the Patten Gym. The band played hits such as Hey, Billie Jean, I Dont Want You to Be My Girl and Angel Food Cake.

CORKY SIEGEL: Everyone was having a good time. It was a lot of fun, and we felt really good about doing it.

ALEX CHUN: Corky says the Siegel-Schwall Band was very political and often played at benefits. Corky believes that music can be political, and the Siegel-Schwalls support for the Gay Liberation Front was exactly that.

CORKY SIEGEL: It does really bring people together. Music is a form of compassion. What it does for people, individuals and for the world, and how it uplifts people its just a form of compassion. So, in that sense, anyone who plays music is putting that into the atmosphere. More practically, just a popular band thats showing support adds a little more power to the people.

ALEX CHUN: The Gay Liberation Front also worked to make safe spaces for everyone in the city. The Normandy Bar was the largest gay bar at the time, but would occasionally turn away non-white patrons. To protest, the Gay Liberation Front compiled a list of demands. They wanted the bar to stop pushing drinks on patrons, obtain a dancing license and to let all patrons enter regardless of their race.

MAHER AHMAD: Our biggest ask, our most radical ask was that they allow black people in, because they would not allow black people or any people of color as I recall. And the way they would keep them out was one of these traditional kinda things that white racists do. They would ask them for like three forms of photo government-issued identification. Now they wouldnt ask anybody else for that. They would let 18-year-olds in against the law. But black people had to show multiple forms of identification or they couldnt get in.

ALEX CHUN: The Gay Liberation Front organized a meeting with the owners of the Normandy Bar and read off the demands.

MAHER AHMAD: And we said, Okay, if you dont do that, were going to boycott your bar. And he laughed at us. And he said, Go ahead and boycott, thinking that what was this little scruffy group of college students going to do to his Normandy Bar that paid off the police, that got, I dont know how many people it held at night, it had to be at least 600 or 800, maybe as many as 1,000. And he laughed at us and told us to get the F out of his bar.

ALEX CHUN: So the Gay Liberation Front planned to hold a boycott that Friday night. There was just one issue. They only had about six men who were willing to publicly boycott the bar. But to their surprise, the International Socialist Group on campus agreed to join them in the boycott, making the group of boycotters about 20 people.

MAHER AHMAD: So we went out there early on a Friday night, and we started, you know, like marching around in a circle with our signs hoping that we could keep people from going in. People would turn around the corner two blocks down from the subway station, see this ruckus in front of the bar of people chanting slogans and carrying signs and walking around in a circle. And they would, discretion being the better part of valor, turn heel and go right back to the subway and go someplace else. Well, we killed their business that night. I think they had no business.

ALEX CHUN: The group boycotted the next week on Friday and Saturday as well, effectively killing the Normandy Bars business. Eventually, the owner of the bar gave in and agreed to meet with the Gay Liberation Front once more.

MAHER AHMAD: We signed up for a classroom in Kresge Centennial Hall in the basement, and we said meet us here and it was at night and this is an image that will ever be seared into my brain. The visual was so great. It was like six scruffy gay boys, the bright blaring fluorescent lights and us sitting around in the chairs and then these two mafioso types in ties and suits stuffed between the return arm and the back of the chair negotiating with us. And they agreed to all our demands, and they got a dancing license. It made the bar more popular than ever. And what happened because of the competition, other bars one after the other started getting dancing licenses.

ALEX CHUN: The Gay Liberation Front participated in other protests and demonstrations across the city, advocating for equality wherever they could. Some of the chants they used may sound familiar to activists today

MAHER AHMAD: And I remember one of the things this phrase was around when I was an undergraduate, so its at least that old, we would sing things like, Were here because were queer.

ALEX CHUN: Although the Gay Liberation Front had originated as an advocacy group for gay rights, Maher said he has always seen the fight against oppression as universal.

MAHER AHMAD: We can help all these other oppressed groups from all over the world because oppression is indivisible, okay? And when one tries to separate ones own oppression as being more legitimate or deserving of more attention, it diminishes the oppression of other people and diminishes the oppression of the group that considers themselves somehow raised above other oppressed groups or more worthy of attention.

ALEX CHUN: Today, Mahers support in the fight for equality hasnt diminished, and he remembers the importance of protests when he was fighting for liberation.

MAHER AHMAD: They are absolutely essential. 100 percent essential. Our Constitution, our founders these guys were your age. Our founders that wrote our Constitution, they didnt get some things right, but wow, what a system they came up with. And one of the things they realized was absolutely essential to a free society was the right to peaceably assemble because that is what will take the attention of people in power. I would hate to get stuck on a freeway in Los Angeles, because a whole bunch of gay rights activists or BLM activists sat down on the freeway and closed it up, but if these people are willing to sit in the freeway, be arrested, go to jail, fight the arrest, pay the fine, get released and do it again, more power to them. Because sometimes you gotta shout to be heard.

ALEX CHUN: From The Daily Northwestern, Im Alex Chun. Thanks for listening to another episode of Defining Safe. This episode was reported and produced by me, Alex Chun. The summer managing editors of The Daily are Sneha Dey and James Pollard. The summer editor-in-chief is Emma Edmund.

Email: [emailprotected]

Twitter: @apchun01

It’s Time to Ditch the County Logo, Arlington NAACP Says – ARLnow

Posted on August 3, 2020 by Danzig

(Updated at 4 p.m.) Arlington County should change its logo and seal, the local branch of the NAACP says.

The civil rights group says the logos use of Arlington House the former home of and a memorial to Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee is divisive and racist.

Enslaved people were forced to build the Greek revivalstylemansion, which overlooks the Potomac and was the centerpiece of a plantation that utilized slave labor. Until it was seized during the Civil War, Arlington House had primarily been the home of descendents of George Washington. The house is now a National Memorial and part of Arlington National Cemetery.

Arlington House, the NAACP said in a letter to the editor this afternoon, isa symbol of a slave labor camp. The racist plantation symbol should be removed, as it divides, rather than unites us, the branch said.

The call to change the logo which adorns the county flag, website, parks and other county-owned property comes amid a national reckoning about race, sparked by the police killing of George Floyd and subsequent national protests.

Prior to the protests, the Confederate-inspired names of Jefferson Davis Highway and Washington-Lee High School were changed in Arlington. The county is also in the early stages of renaming Lee Highway.

In 2018, the County Board responded to a residentsrequest for the logo to be redesignedby saying that the Board will certainly give the matter more thought as budget and staff resources become available in future years.

Reached for comment today, Arlington County Board Chair Libby Garvey said that the county has received numerous requests recently to change everything from the logo to the names of buildings, bridges and streets.

As for changing the logo, the county is happy to consider it, Garvey said, but only after a community engagement process a good solid conversation with everyone in Arlington.

When you take something away, you have to put something in its place, Garvey said.

The letter to the editor was written by NAACP Arlington Branch President Julius Spain, Sr., as well as branch member Carolynn Kane and former Arlington School Board memberDr. Emma Violand-Snchez. The full letter is below.

Arlington Countys most prominent symbol is its logo and seal. A symbol that is everywhere on government correspondence, uniforms, buildings, vehicles, websites. A symbol of a slave labor camp. A symbol of the southern plantation economy designed to ensure White privilege and Black subjugation. A place that the National Park Service named, Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial. This is the symbol placed in the center of our flag. A divisive and racist branding of our diverse, usually progressive community. It is a symbol that divides, rather than unites us. Yet, despite community members bringing this problem to their attention, it appears that the County Board is uninterested in changing its logo. Instead the County proudly states in its manual that this symbol reflects its values identity traditions; and tells residents that there are good sides to this racist plantation symbol.

We ask, how can the County have courageous conversations on race, tackle the inequities in Arlington, heal the deep historical wounds here or enact its platform to address racial inequities when it will not confront and change its own symbol? If it refuses to acknowledge its own blindness to the logos meaning, it cannot. The County Board must end its embrace of this symbol of Black bondage, oppression and pain. The Countys Robert E. Lee Memorial logo, flag and seal needs to be retired and a new era of inclusiveness and equity ushered in immediately. We call on the County Board and County Manager to stop delaying, put this item on the Boards Agenda, and vote. Now.

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It's Time to Ditch the County Logo, Arlington NAACP Says - ARLnow

Portland police are no better than the feds, activists say – Street Roots News

Posted on August 3, 2020 by Danzig

Some observers are concerned that the national conversation about federal overreach in Portland has overshadowed the Portland Police Bureaus brutality against protesters

As the federal deployment of secretive law enforcement proved violent in the Trump administrations crackdown on protests, activists stressed that these officers behavior was largely familiar.

On July 22, as Mayor Ted Wheeler engaged in tense conversation with protesters walked from City Hall to the Mark O. Hatfield federal courthouse, a protester stepped in front of him and, without words, poured a bag of spent tear and crowd control munitions at his feet.

Minutes later, the crowd pressed in around Wheeler, and chants of Ted shot us too drowned him out as he tried to speak during his listening session. Less than an hour after that, the crowd chanted Youve been doing this for months, Ted and Youre just like them as he discussed being tear-gassed with national media.

Whenthe national spotlight was on the presence of federal officers in Portland and as many local elected officials also condemnedthese officers behavior some activists saidbrutality by local law enforcement wasgetting pushed out of the conversation.

Danialle James, a longtime Portland community activist and part of Dont Shoot Portland, said Wheeler, who is Portlands police commissioner, has unleashed a lot of violence on Portland, and that his response to protests set the groundwork for what (federal law enforcement) can do to us.

This was unleashed on us long before the federal government got here, she said. Its important to remind folks that while local law enforcement is sitting back and just watching except for (a couple of recent) of nights they painted the picture for how terrible to treat folks here.

James said there is a danger in focusing too heavily on the actions of federal law enforcement agencies and not on the Portland Police Bureau because, she said, it stands to overshadow what we were going through before the feds even got to town.

She is not alone in this sentiment. A number of local journalists and activists have reported this from the ground.

Elliot Young, a professor at Lewis and Clark College, described a similar pattern in an opinion article for the Houston Chronicle.

As the national media focuses on the unconstitutional abductions of protesters from the streets of Portland and the nightly litany of assaults on protesters, the much longer and more persistent history of local police engaging in some of the very same attacks is lost, he wrote.

While the Portland Police Bureau and other local law enforcement agencies have not been reported to use snatch-and-grab style detainments, many say their conduct echoes the tone and tactics of the federal law enforcement agencies response to Portlnad protests.

Since the George Floyd protests erupted in Portland, the local police have been using tear gas, pepper spray and flash bang grenades to disperse crowds of peaceful protesters, Young wrote.

PORTLAND PROTESTS: Pain, arrests and trauma: 4 injured protesters share their stories

These tactics, also deployed by federal law enforcement agencies, have gotten both federal and local law enforcement sued a number of times by a variety of parties, including Dont Shoot Portland, the Wall of Moms and Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum.

The suits primarily focus on both federal and local law enforcements extreme use of tear gas, similar chemical agents and potentially deadly crowd control munitions, and their targeting of press, medics and legal observers.

When asked about parallels between the actions of local and federal law enforcement, Rosenblum told Street Roots, Im not here to say that local law enforcements response has been perfect. There have been serious allegations about their use of force and the targeting of journalists and legal observers.

She said that while there may have been some missteps by PPB, the federal law enforcement agencies who are not accountable to Portlanders or to Oregonians in general have deployed violence and tactics which simply have no place in Portland streets and I believe do go beyond what we have seen (from Portland police).

To Rosenblum, the issue is uninvited, unwelcome federal officers, pursuing illegitimate goals, through means that seem to be illegal. She said the tactics that theyre using to quell the protests are designed to scare people and have often been targeted at journalists, legal observers and even medics.

Stressing that Portland police are more accountable to Portlanders and Oregonians than federal agents, Rosenblum pointed to a 14-day restraining order preventing Portland Police Bureau from using tear gas.

In a June special session, the state Legislature banned the use of tear gas, but the bureau has dodged the new restriction by frequently designating protests a riot rather than an unlawful assembly. The states ban on tear gas excludes situations where police declare a riot.

Maybe we need to address the definition of a riot, Rosenblum said when asked about this. Maybe the definition of a riot is too broad.

A blanket ban on tear gas is among bills Oregon lawmakers will consider either during another special session in August or during the regular session next year.

Both federal law enforcement and Portland police have ventured into the streets, seriously injuring protesters while deploying immense amounts of crowd control munitions and riot control agents, beating protesters and making extensive arrests.

OPINION: Struck by a rubber bullet: My experience as a Black woman at a Portland protest

Since the start of George Floyd protests in Portland, the local police bureau has arrested arrested more than 460 people, according to The Oregonian. Analysis of the U.S. Department of Homeland Securitys press releases and reporting by The Oregonian revealed that throughout the protests, federal law enforcement officers have arrested a least 77 people.

Local reporting has also documented widespread brutality by both federal and local law enforcement.

STREET ROOTS INTERVIEW: Feds sprayed chemicals into eyes of retired ER nurse and veteran

But beyond operating similarly, reporting from The Oregonian has shown the two agencies have worked together throughout the protests. Following outcry about this cooperation, City Council on July 22 banned Portland police from working with federal law enforcement agencies.

However, the two have worked together as recently as July 26 to clear areas and make arrests, according to Department of Homeland Security press releases.

This relationship between federal and local law enforcement is not new. In June 2018, journalist Mike Bivins tweeted videos of the Department of Homeland Securitys Federal Protective Service making arrests and firing crowd control munitions at protesters opposing fascist groups.

The practice of federal law enforcement agencies snatching people up is also not new, activist Morgan Godvin and legal Scholar Leo Beletsky note note in The Appeal. They explain agencies such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement,which has also participated in the federal response to protests,do this every day in communities of color.

The Portland Police Bureau and Homeland Securitys Customs and Border Patrol stressed that they have different goals in their responses to Portland protests. Portland police told Street Roots it works to manage events with the goal of life safety while not allowing criminal acts. Border Patrol told Street Roots its officers have been deployed to Portland in direct support of the Presidential Executive Order and the newly established DHS Protecting American Communities Task Force (PACT) to support the Federal Protective Service (FPS).

However, both President Donald Trump and Daryl Turner, the head of the police union, Portland Police Association, have used similar language in describing the need for law enforcement talking about a city under siege by rioters. The two have both also criticized Portlands elected leadership.

Neither Turner nor the Portland Police Association responded to Street Roots request for comment.

Meanwhile, many of Oregons elected officials have condemned the presence of federal law enforcement while mostly ignoring the actions of local police.

Gov. Kate Brown and Oregons Democratic congressional delegation Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley and Reps. Earl Blumenauer, Suzanne Bonamici, Peter DeFazio and Kurt Schrader have published a combined 40 press releases on the conduct of federal law enforcement from May 28, when the protests started, to July 28, a couple of days before the federal officers began withdrawing from Portland.

None of them published any press releases about the actions of local law enforcement agencies during the same period of time.

Merkley and Wyden both responded to requests for comments for this article, but neither addressed Street Roots questions related to local polices behavior during the protests. Rather, both highlighted their recent work on national police reform legislation, including the Enhancing Oversight to End Discrimination in Policing Act.

Oregonians elected me to focus on the federal side, Wyden wrote. And thats exactly what Ive been doing by using all the tools available to push back against federal forces occupying our city uninvited, inciting violence and attacking peaceful protesters. Ending these abuses is my top priority.

Among state lawmakers, Oregon House Speaker Tina Kotek (D-Portland) strongly condemned Portland Police Bureaus violent and aggressive responses to protests, and in a marathon special session in June, Oregon legislators passed a number of police reform laws.

Among Portland elected officials, however, there was a split.

Wheeler, who did not respond to Street Roots request for comment, published a number of press releases condemning the actions of federal law enforcement agencies in Portland. He did not publish any criticism of the actions of local law enforcement, though he did once tweet that the Portland Police Bureaus targeting of the press was extremely concerning.

Commissioners Chloe Eudaly and Jo Ann Hardesty were the strongest voices on City Council against local law enforcements response to protests. Both have repeatedly blasted the actions of federal and local law enforcement officers for their brutality at protests.

Hardesty, a longtime community activist and police reform advocate, speaking on OPBs Think Out Loud, discussed her criticisms of Portland police in response to protests as well as a number of reforms she has been pushing. She did not respond to Street Roots request for comment.

Eudaly drew parallels between the federal forces behavior during Portlands protests and that of the local police.

The tactics being deployed by federal forces are nothing new to activists in Portland, who are accustomed to violent crowd control tactics by the Portland police, Eudaly told Street Roots in an email.

She stressed the importance of not losing sight of the fact the nation is in the midst of an outcry over police brutality against the Black community.

Many elected officials throughout our region recognize the need to transform our approach to policing and public safety, Eudaly said in her July 29 email, but that conversation has been overshadowed by this federal occupation. With yesterdays announcement of the Reimagine Oregon plan, and todays announcement of a withdrawal of federal forces from our city, the conversation is already refocusing on racial justice.

She said that while a significant amount control over the Portland Police Bureau has been bargained away by past Councils, the city still has control over its budget and position authority.

Thats not the case with the federal forces occupying our city, she said. Now that the federal government appears to be standing down, we need to get our own house in order.

Commissioner Amanda Fritz, who didnt respond to Street Roots request for comment, released a statement in which she condemned the actions of federal law enforcement officers and noted that policing is a part of a much larger system of oppression, but she stopped short of criticizing any aspect of local law enforcement agencies responses to protests.

Regardless of the actions and inactions of elected officials, all parties agree protests, which have lasted more than 65days will continue.

Federal law enforcement began withdrawing from Portland Thursday, July 30, and during the following two nights of mass, peaceful protest downtown, there was no obvious police presence and no conflict. It was a drastic change from nights of unrest leading up to the deployment of federal troops. It's yet to be seen how long Portland police will stand downas the protests continue to draw thousands of people to the city's center.

Meanwhile, James, who has been on the ground since the beginning of protests in Portland, said she is going to continue to hold Portland police accountable and exercise her rights. She has been supportive of Dont Shoot Portland founder Teressa Raifords mayoral write-in campaign.

STREET ROOTS PODCAST: Talking with Teressa Raiford of Dont Shoot Portland

Its important for us to speak out. Its important for us to be able to be out there and freely speak our voices, James said. So, my fight will continue in holding them accountable, and I look forward to that process.

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Portland police are no better than the feds, activists say - Street Roots News

The Otor-Udu Declaration for Justice and Resource Control – The News

Posted on August 3, 2020 by Danzig

Olorogun Moses Taiga, President-General of the Urhobo Progress Union

By Okejoto Gochua

A century old history of rebellion against oppression and taxation without representation was re-enacted at Otor- Udu on Monday 27th July, 2020 with the marking of the 1927 anti-taxation revolt by the Urhobo and all the other ethnic nationalities that made up the Warri ( Delta ) Province; led by Chief Oshue Ogbiyerin of Orhuwhorun in Udu LGA of Delta State .

The event was organised under the auspices of the Udje Heritage Centre (UHC) and the Achoja Research Council (ARC).

The memorial event was attended by eminent personalities, dignitaries, leaders of socio-cultural organisations, women, youth, scholars, writers, activists, journalists and media experts. The occasion featured addresses, speeches, testimonies, musical performances, drama sketches on the 1927 Revolution, prayers and invocations. It was chaired by Chief (Hon.) Andrew Orugbo, the former Chairman of Udu LGA, Delta State Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General, and the current Chairman of Council of the Delta State Polytechnic, Otefe-Oghara. The President-General of the Urhobo Progress Union (UPU) Olorogun Moses Taiga (JP) was the Special Guest of Honour and the Distinguished Guest of Honour was Professor Amos Agbe Utuama (SAN) former Deputy Governor of Delta State (2007-2015).

The Royal Fathers of Honour were HRM (Barr.) Emmanuel Delekpe (JP) Ohworhu I, the Ovie of Udu Kingdom and HRM Matthew Ediri Egbi (JP) Owawha II, the Okobaro of Ughievwen Kingdom. Other Guests of Honour were Hon (Barr.) Evelyn Oboro, former Member, House of Representatives, Hon. Chief Peter Uviejitobor, Member, Delta State House of Assembly, Olorogun Vincent Oyibode (JP) Hon Commissioner, DESOPADEC (Udu, Ughelli South, Uvwie and Urhobo Kingdoms of Warri), Chief (Hon.) Jite Brown, the Chairman, Udu LGA, Chief Emmanuel Ono Okumagba (JP), Chairman, Urhobo President-Generals Forum, Chief Godwin Notoma, President-General, Udu Communities and Executive Committee Members of the Pan-Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), Delta State Chapter.

The political and intellectual significance of the ceremony was also evident in the credentials of the Speakers, namely, Prof (Mrs) Rose Oro Aziza (former Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Delta State University, Abraka, Prof Sunny Awhefeada, Dean, Faculty of Arts, Delsu, Chief (Mrs) Margaret Unukegwo, Fmr Commissioner, Bendel State, and Member, Advisory and Peace-Building Council, Delta State, and Hon. Clement R. Oshue, former Vice-Chairman, Orhuwhorun Community. Entertainment was by the popular music maestros of Olorogun Oghene Bokor, Mrs Rume Otovotoma, and Mrs Ruth Christopher (nee Juju Debala). Overall coordination was by Prof Godini G. Darah, Chairman, Delta State Chapter of PANDEF and Delta State Delegate, 2014 National Conference.

His Royal Majesty, Barr Emmanuel Delekpe , the Ovie of Udu Kingdom spoke on the need for constant remembering and retelling of our stories so that we do not forget.

He said Oshue was a great man by his very courageous actions against oppression and injustice.

The Keynote Speakers and Stakeholders examined the political and economic significance of the Anti-Taxation revolt and affirmed that it was a revolutionary initiative that redefined the historical and cultural identity of the Western Niger Delta. According to Prof Godini G.Darah it was agreed that our ancestors undertook the audacious revolt to challenge British colonial policies of exploitation and injustice against the peoples of the region. In the light of these facts, we the inheritors of that proud heritage are bound by historical duty to revive that spirit of nationalism and self-determination in our current struggles to liberate the Niger Delta from decades of economic plunder and neglect as well as political oppression perpetuated by the Nigerian government and its foreign accomplices.

Accordingly, the Stakeholders in their communique resolved as follows:

(i) Oppressive taxation and government neglect were the immediate causes of the 1927 uprising. Considering that peoples of the five nations still suffer from these unjust and oppressive policies 100 years after, therefore the meeting called on the Government of Delta State to grant a three-year tax holiday to low-income groups, and Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) to enable them cope with the challenges of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

(ii) Abolition of all forms of illegal and arbitrary taxes, levies, and bribe-taking by corrupt members of the Police, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Joint Task Force (JTF), Customs, Immigration, Vehicle Inspection Officers (VIO), State Tax Board, Traffic Wardens, and Mobile Courts, Local Government Revenue Personnel as well as touts and vendors who behave worse than the British Warrant Officers and tax police during the colonial period 100 years ago.

(iii) In place of these menacing tax and extortion touts, Delta State Government should develop efficient corruption-free methods of raising public revenue by appointing accredited agents and vendors with capacity to deploy modern, technology-compliant instruments for highways, markets, super stores, educational institutions, courts, community centres, public facilities, utilities, etc. More revenue will be earned through these electronic methods.

2. The historic memorial gathering took place at Otor-Udu, in Udu LGA and the operational headquarters of the Oshue-led Revolution of 1927. Otor-Udu is also one of the host communities of the Utorogu Gas Plant, the largest in Black Africa. Therefore, it was resolved that:

a. Urgent and necessary measures be taken to make the Government of Nigeria and the management of the Utorogu Gas Plant to implement all policies relating to local content by way of employment, contracts, surveillance services and social responsibility obligations.

b. Completion of the Gas Revolution Industrial Park (GRIP) at Ogidigben and its Deep Sea Port at Okerenkoko in Warri Southwest LGA.

c. Establishment of Utorogu Institute of Technology (UIT) and Amai Institute of Technology (AIT) to develop global cities and infrastructure like those of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Silicon Valley in California State, USA.

3. As a fitting tribute to their sacrifice and patriotic spirit, the Government of Delta State and the appropriate Local Government Councils should name public places and centres after Chief Oshue Ogbiyerin and the other revolutionary leaders of the 1927 Anti-Taxation Movement to immortalise their legacy and inspire new generations of brave and selfless leaders.

4. The Stakeholders were gratified to note that the 1927 Anti-Taxation revolt was the first major anti-colonial uprising by minority ethnic groups in Southern Nigeria after the 1914 Amalgamation Policy by Captain Frederick Lugard. While saluting the bravery and sagacity of Oshue and his comrades, the meeting enjoined contemporary generations to celebrate other heroes and heroines of our people, including Ovie Oghwe, the Agbarha-Otor King arrested and exiled with Oba Ovonramwen Nogbaisi of Benin by the British in 1897, General Ogidigbo of Ughievwen Kingdom, HRM Ovedje Sadjere of Ovwor, Urhobo first-millionaire monarch; Chief Mukoro Mowoe, Messrs McNeil Gabriel Ejaife and Ezekiel Igho (the first Urhobo university graduates), Chief T.E.A. Salubi (first Urhobo Government Minister), Dr. Frederick Esiri (first medical doctor) and Chief Samuel Jereton Mariere, first Governor of Midwestern Region (1964-1966).

Other Urhobo cultural icons are Chief Yamu Numa of Ekuigbo, author of the book, Urhobo: Pride of a Nation (1948), Mrs Alice Obahor, eminent woman politician and merchant, Chief Michael Ibru, Africas pre-eminent business tycoon, Chief A.T. Rerri, pioneer investor in electronics education, Professor Frank Ukoli (first Urhobo Professor), General David Ejoor, (pioneer Military Governor of Midwestern Region), Dr. Mark Otedoh, expert-inventor of raffia palm industries, Professors Omafume Onoge, Onigu Otite and Peter Ekeh for global scholarship, Comrade Frank Ovie-Kokori, leader of Oil Workers Strike of 1994 against Gen. Sani Abachas terrorist regime, Ms Blessing Okagbare, Africas queen of Athletics and Olympic medalist.

5. The meeting lamented the problem of youth alienation and disorientation arising from the failure of parents and elders to inculcate cherished Urhobo values of hard work, industry, honesty and equity. A call was made to the leaders of Urhobo Kingdoms to rise up from their stupor and craze for material wealth to work with various government agencies to incorporate into the education curricula the traditional principles of incorruptible and accountable leadership, trado-medical knowledge, enterprise, and self-reliance.

Mothers, the prime managers of families are to re-educate themselves by being the cradle counsellors of children to insulate them from negative, foreign influences of riches-without-labour, moral laxity, sexual indiscipline, and tendency to criminal conduct. These are the best ways to engender the spirit of nationalism and revolutionary leadership epitomised by Oshue Ogbiyerin and his compatriots of Ijaw, Itsekiri, Isoko and Ukwuani.

6. On insecurity and influx of undesirable strangers into the Western Niger Delta, the Stakeholders gathering urged the apex socio-cultural organisations of the Urhobo, Ijaw, Itsekiri, Isoko, Ukwuani, Ika and Igbo nations to take immediate steps to free their lands of such elements (armed herdsmen, kidnappers, criminals, nomadic miscreants, etc) that threaten the peace, stability and socio-economic environment of the region.

7. The meeting expressed disappointment about the shameful conduct of Niger Delta executives at the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and other interventionist agencies. The recent probe on corruption and graft by the National Assembly exposed unpatriotic and greedy Niger Delta personnel who have converted the NDDC into a source of illegal wealth acquisitions, responsible for the low performance of the Commission over the years.

The meeting endorsed severe penalties for these enemies of the region; they should be investigated and prosecuted for underdeveloping the region and for giving the false impression that the people of the region are not accountable and reliable in public office. All those found guilty in the probe must be compelled to refund all stolen resources and face appropriate jail terms. The meeting also observed that these scandalous cases of graft and corruption are common primarily because the Federal Government deliberately appoints political sycophants to head the agencies. The Government should abide by the Provision of the NDDC Act, dismantle the illegal Interim Management Committee, inaugurate the Board already confirmed by the National assembly, and pay the over One Trillion Naira arrears of Federal Government subvention to the NDDC to enable it function effectively.

__________ A century old history of resistance to oppression and taxation without representation was re-enacted at Otor- Udu on Monday 27th July, 2020 with the marking of the 1927 anti-taxation revolt by the Urhobo and all the other ethnic nationalities that made up the Warri ( Delta ) Province; led by Chief Oshue Ogbiyerin of Orhuwhorun in Udu LGA of Delta State .

The event was organised under the auspices of the Udje Heritage Centre (UHC) and the Achoja Research Council (ARC).

His Royal Majesty, Barr Emmanuel Delekpe , the Ovie of Udu Kingdom spoke on the need for constant remembering and retelling of our stories so that we do not forget.

He said Oshue was a great man by his very courageous actions against oppression and injustice.

Accordingly, the Stakeholders in their communique resolved as follows:

b. Completion of the Gas Revolution Industrial Park (GRIP) at Ogidigben and its Deep Sea Port at Okerenkoko in Warri Southwest LGA.

8. Stakeholders underscored the point that the five nations of the former Warri Province are bona fide indigenes of their lands and waterways richly endowed by God and Nature with oil, natural gas, solid minerals, forests and precious biodiversity resources. It was further affirmed that revenues from our oil and gas resources account for 90% of Nigerias export earnings and are the mainstay of the national economy and political survival. Regrettably, the benefits of these abundant resources have been denied our people due to deliberate government neglect and punitive laws and policies for many decades. Consequently, the Niger Delta has been reduced to the poorest and the most wretched oil-rich region of the world. To redeem the region from perpetual political and economic slavery, the five nations of Urhobo, Ijaw, Itsekiri, Isoko and Ukwuani are implored to pursue the struggle for equity, justice and federalist autonomy through the peaceful platform of Restructuring endorsed by the Pan-Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) and its allies in the other geo-political zones, with particular focus on the implementation of the progressive recommendations of the 2014 National Conference. In conclusion, there is the urgent need to underscore the point that Oshues Revolt was the first post amalgamation revolt in the southern region among the so-called minority groups. Prof Sunny Awhefeada noted how the revolt inspired a similar one in Owerri Province in 1929. He said the revolt also encouraged the formation of the UPU in 1931; which dovetailed into what he termed the Internal Colonialism and the Enemy Within, Awhefeada lamented that at present the Whitemen are gone but our own brothers now Oppress us and underdevelop our region. He cited the shameful and embarrassing revelations at the ongoing NDDC probe which shows how our own Niger Delta politicians steal our Commonwealth.

Overall speaker after speaker hinted on the need for economic revival of Urhobo land through indigenous production as well as our youths making themselves available to be mentored by the elderly .

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The Otor-Udu Declaration for Justice and Resource Control - The News

Supporters of Najib throw wild claims at judge who found him guilty to discredit judgment – The Straits Times

Posted on August 3, 2020 by Danzig

KUALA LUMPUR - Supporters of ex-premier Najib Razak have thrown wild accusations about Malaysian Justice Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali, who found ex-premier Najib Razak guilty on Tuesday (July 28), as they try to discredit the court's judgment.

A staunch supporter of Najib, Mr Ramesh Rao, who leads a non-governmental organisation (NGO), claimed Justice Nazlan was either the grandson or grandnephew of former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad.

Others, in an attempt to show the judge is sympathetic to the opposition parties, pointed out on social media that Mr Nazlan was one of the judges who acquitted and discharged a lawmaker from the Democratic Action Party (DAP) on charges of supporting the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam terrorist group.

Datuk Lokman Noor Adam, who was a senior officer at the finance ministry when Najib was the finance minister, accused the High Court of making a "political decision".He claimed Najib is a threat to both Tun Dr Mahathir and Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, according to Utusan Malaysia website.

"I am sure that what happened today (Tuesday) is the continuation of oppression conducted by Pakatan Harapan (PH)," he was quoted as telling reporters on Tuesday.

PH was ousted from power nearly five months ago, and replaced by the Perikatan Nasional government that included Najib's Umno party as an alliance member.

Najib was on Tuesday found guilty of corruption and sentenced to 12 years in jail and fined RM210 million (S$68 million) by the High Court, in the first of five trials he faces relating to the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) graft scandal.

Judge Nazlan found Najib, 67, guilty of every single charge, including abuse of power, and multiple counts of criminal breach of trust and money laundering for illegally receiving RM42 million from SRC International, a former subsidiary of 1MDB.

Contacted by Malaysiakini on Tuesday, Dr Mahathir's eldest child, Ms Marina Mahathir, 63, said such claims were untrue.

"We should be flattered that they think such a learned judge is related to us but he's not," she told Malaysiakini.

Dr Mahathir's eldest grandchild is 33 years old.

Justice Nazlan, who took over the case in August 2018, was reported then to be 51 years old.

He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Jurisprudence and a Master of Arts from the University of Oxford, and is a Barrister at Law of Lincoln's Inn, The Star newspaper reported then.

Dr Mahathir's youngest son, MP Mukhriz Mahathir, called the claims ofthe judge being related to his family as "baseless".

"The Attorney-General's Chambers should investigate these claims as they insult the judicial institution," he said in a post on Twitter late on Tuesday.

A group of Umnos young lawyers asked supporters to be careful so as not to be in contempt of the court and landthemselves in jail.

"Everything that has happened since the charges were laid is a process for Najib to seek justice," said Umno Youth young lawyers secretariat head Nik Saiful Adli Burhan,Malaysiakini on Wednesday (July 29) quoted him as saying. "We supporters should not (act in contempt) and land ourselves in jail".

He urged party supporters to respect the courts and the judicial system.

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Supporters of Najib throw wild claims at judge who found him guilty to discredit judgment - The Straits Times

Global Psoriasis Treatment Market Industry Analysis and forecast (2019 to 2026) By treatment, technology, End-use and Region – WOLE TV

Posted on August 3, 2020 by Danzig

Global Psoriasis Treatment Market was valued US$ XX Bn in 2018 and is expected to reach US$ XX Bn by 2026, at CAGR of 9.3 % during forecast period of 2019 to 2026.

REQUEST FOR FREE SAMPLE REPORT: https://www.maximizemarketresearch.com/request-sample/37175

Psoriasis is a long-lasting autoimmune disease characterized by patches of abnormal skin growth, skin patches are typically red, dry, itchy, and scaly.

Global Psoriasis Treatment Market Drivers and Restrain

Rising prevalence of the condition, heading with growing awareness, the screening and diagnosis of the disease are expected to fuel the global psoriasis treatment market in the coming years. Psoriasis treatment options also contribute to a number of side-effects such as liver and kidney damage, hypertension, and increased risk of cancer, etc., are the factors could hamper the growth of Global Psoriasis Treatment Market in forecast period.

Global Psoriasis Treatment Market key segmentation

By drug class, the global market has been categorized into TNF inhibitors, Interleukin inhibitors, Vitamin D analogs, Corticosteroids, and others. Tumour Necrosis Factor Inhibitors is further categorized as Adalimumab, Infliximab, Etanercept. Vitamin D Analogues is segmented into Calcitriol, Calcipotriol, Tacalcitol. The Interleukin inhibitors segment is projected to lead the global psoriasis treatment market during the forecast period.

High market share of the interleukin inhibitors segment can be attributed to the superior efficacy and safety of drugs in this class for the treatment of psoriasis. Moreover, the acceptance of this drug class is attributable to interleukin blockers, which are considered to be a viable option for patients having trouble responding to other treatment.

Global Psoriasis Treatment Market Regional Analysis

By region, the global psoriasis market to witness dominance of North America followed by Europe. As per the National Psoriasis Foundation, there are about X million people in America living with psoriasis. Because of quick adoption of biological therapy and rise in investments on research and development for clinical trials will drive global market in this region. On the other side, the emerging markets in the Middle East and Africa, Latin America, and Asia Pacific are expected to offer growth opportunities thanks to increasing patient pool, the improving healthcare infrastructure and medical facilities.

The objective of the report is to present comprehensive analysis of Global Psoriasis Treatment Market including all the stakeholders of the industry. The past and current status of the industry with forecasted market size and trends are presented in the report with the analysis of complicated data in simple language.

DO INQUIRY BEFORE PURCHASING REPORT HERE: https://www.maximizemarketresearch.com/inquiry-before-buying/37175

The report covers all the aspects of industry with dedicated study of key players that includes market leaders, followers and new entrants by region. PORTER, SVOR, PESTEL analysis with the potential impact of micro-economic factors by region on the market have been presented in the report. External as well as internal factors that are supposed to affect the business positively or negatively have been analyzed, which will give clear futuristic view of the industry to the decision makers.

The report also helps in understanding Global Psoriasis Treatment Market dynamics, structure by analyzing the market segments, and project the Global Psoriasis Treatment Market size. Clear representation of competitive analysis of key players by Psoriasis Treatment Type, price, financial position, product portfolio, growth strategies, and regional presence in the Global Psoriasis Treatment Market.Scope of the Global Psoriasis Treatment Market

Global Psoriasis Treatment Market Drug class

Corticosteroids Tumour Necrosis Factor Inhibitors interleukin inhibitors Vitamin D AnaloguesGlobal Psoriasis Treatment Market by Treatment

Biologic Drugs Small Molecule Systemic Drugs Tropical TherapiesGlobal Psoriasis Treatment Market by Route of administration

Oral Parenteral TopicalGlobal Psoriasis Treatment Market by region

North America Europe Asia Pacific Middle East & Africa South AmericaKey players operating on Global Psoriasis Treatment Market

AbbVie Inc., Amgen Inc., AstraZeneca, Biogen, Boehringer Ingelheim, Celgene, Eli Lilly and Company, Johnson & Johnson, LEO Pharma A/S, Merck & Co., Inc., Novartis AG, Pfizer, Inc., Stiefel Laboratories Inc. (GlaxoSmithKline plc.), Sun Pharmaceutical Industries

MAJOR TOC OF THE REPORT

Chapter One: Psoriasis Treatment Market Overview

Chapter Two: Manufacturers Profiles

Chapter Three: Global Psoriasis Treatment Market Competition, by Players

Chapter Four: Global Psoriasis Treatment Market Size by Regions

Chapter Five: North America Psoriasis Treatment Revenue by Countries

Chapter Six: Europe Psoriasis Treatment Revenue by Countries

Chapter Seven: Asia-Pacific Psoriasis Treatment Revenue by Countries

Chapter Eight: South America Psoriasis Treatment Revenue by Countries

Chapter Nine: Middle East and Africa Revenue Psoriasis Treatment by Countries

Chapter Ten: Global Psoriasis Treatment Market Segment by Type

Chapter Eleven: Global Psoriasis Treatment Market Segment by Application

Chapter Twelve: Global Psoriasis Treatment Market Size Forecast (2019-2026)

Browse Full Report with Facts and Figures of Psoriasis Treatment Market Report at: https://www.maximizemarketresearch.com/market-report/global-psoriasis-treatment-market/37175/

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Global Psoriasis Treatment Market Industry Analysis and forecast (2019 to 2026) By treatment, technology, End-use and Region - WOLE TV

Injustice’s Most Heartbreaking Death Is… Jim Gordon | CBR – CBR – Comic Book Resources

Posted on August 3, 2020 by Danzig

There are a number of deaths in the Injustice: Gods Among Us comic and game, but a stalwart Batman ally's death still hurts today.

TheInjusticeseriestakes place in an alternate DC Universe in which Superman, driven insane by the death of his family, transforms into a ruthless dictatorwho establishes a totalitarian regime that takes over the world. Opposing Superman's tyranny is Batman, who forms an insurgency in hopes of bringing the former hero down, resulting in a violent DC Universe unlike any before it.

Over several years, Batman and Superman recruit various allies and battle each other across the DC universe.The lives of several DC heroes and villains, usually ones allied with Batman, are lost during the long war. But of all the deaths in the series, the one that still ends up being the most heartbreaking is Commissioner Gordon.

Related: Mortal Kombat Creator Would Like To See A Live-Action Injustice Movie

In Year Two of the Injustice: Gods Among Us comics series, Superman has deployed his forces in Gotham and occupies the city. In an effort to liberate the city, Gordon and the GCPD team up with Batman and the Birds of Prey to fight back with Superman's soldiers. A massive war breaks out in the city, but Gordon's forces manage to stay in the fight with the help of Kryptonite pills that allow those who take them to acquire superhuman strength. After Gordon's forces take the Hall of Justice, he and Lex Luthor teleport themselves to the Watchtower to find Cyborg and stop him from finding the location of both Batman and his daughter Barbara Gordon/Oracle.

Gordon confronts Cyborg, who reveals that the lung cancer Gordon has is accelerating rapidly due to him taking the Kryptonite Pills and that he is dying. Undeterred, Gordon knocks Cyborg out and stops him from finding Barbara's location. While Luthor teleports Cyborg back to the Hall of Justice, Gordon remains on the Watchtower and looks down on the Earth as he talks to Barbara and Bruce one last time. Realizing that both Gotham and Barbara are safe, Gordon says goodbye to his daughter and quietly passes away on the tower.

RELATED: Tom Taylor's Latest Injustice Teaser Throws a Curveball at Fans

Gordon's death stands out when compared to many of the other deaths in the original Injusticecomics due to both the build-up leading to it and the quietness of how it happened.Many of the deaths within the first five years ofInjustice, from Green Arrow to Kyle Rayner, are defined by their brutality and how suddenly they occur. But Gordon's was foreshadowed at the beginning of Year Two when Superman revealed his cancer to him, so both he and the reader knew that he would most likely not survive the events of the comics.

Gordon also knew that taking the pills would cause him to die sooner, but he took them anyway because there was no other choice. All of these factors culminate in Gordon sacrificing himself to save both his family and the rest of the world, dying peacefully, knowing that his daughter will still fight for what's right.

Keep Reading: If Injustice 3 Is Coming, Will Mortal Kombat 11 Delay It?

Animal Crossing: Redd's Raffle, Explained

Sage Negron is a freelance writer from The Bronx, New York. He has written about books, movies, tv shows, video games and just about everything in between. He loves reading, writing and gaming (in that order). You can check out some of his earlier work at Bookstr.com

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Injustice's Most Heartbreaking Death Is... Jim Gordon | CBR - CBR - Comic Book Resources

Mini-Neptunes could be super-Earths with bloated atmospheres of water – Astronomy Magazine

Posted on August 3, 2020 by Danzig

Imagine a planet about 2.5 times the radius of Earth orbiting a distant star. Do you picture something like our own rocky, ocean-strewn world? Or is it something more akin to a small version of a gassy planet like Neptune? Now, two new papers suggest that there may be a third option were not taking seriously enough.

As more and more confirmed exoplanets roll in, one thing is clear: The Sun is not orbited by every type of planet that exists. Our solar system basically has two flavors of planet rocky and gassy. The inner planets make up the former group, and the outer planets make up the latter. But in recent decades, astronomers are finding a lot of worlds that break that familiar mold.

Astronomers general consider super-Earths to be exoplanets that have up to about four times the mass of Earth and a radius up to about 1.6 times that of Earth. But because theres been such a wide variety of planets found around other stars, the exact definition of a super-Earth is still largely debated.

To muddy things further, mini-Neptunes are what astronomers usually call planets that have masses several to 10 or more times that of Earth (Neptune is about 17 times the mass of Earth), plus a radius more than 1.6 times that of Earth. The assumption was that even the smallest of these mini-Neptunes are too girthy to be rocky worlds, so they were thought to be made of mostly hydrogen and helium, like a normal gas giant.

In the community, there was this stance that we were really looking at two populations [super-Earths and mini-Neptunes], Jrmy Leconte, an astrophysicists at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) and coauthor of a new paper on the topic, tells Astronomy. But without an easy way to directly capture images of either type of planet, the exact dividing line remained fuzzy.

Now, based on Lecontes and others recent work, its starting to look like super-Earths and small mini-Neptunes might be two versions of nearly the same thing.

On June 15, scientists at the Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille published a paper in The Astrophysics Journal Letters that suggests mini-Neptunes dont have to rely on hydrogen and helium for their fluffy compositions. Instead, the study claims, mini-Neptunes could be irradiated ocean worlds with dense, rocky cores and ultrathick atmospheres of water.

Such an atmosphere, the researchers says, could be the result of an intense greenhouse effect caused by the rocky planets fiery host star boiling water from its surface. Such a scenario, the study suggests, could keep the planets mass in check, while also greatly increasing its radius.

Furthermore, Lecontes recent work, published June 9 in Astronomy & Astrophysics, focuses on how host stars can irradiate the surfaces of a rocky, water-rich exoplanets. This process, the research suggests, can indeed create an expansive atmosphere that balloons a solid rocky world into what looks like a shrunken gas giant.

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Mini-Neptunes could be super-Earths with bloated atmospheres of water - Astronomy Magazine

Study: Universe Might Be 1.2 Billion Years Younger | Astronomy – Sci-News.com

Posted on August 3, 2020 by Danzig

The Universe is assumed to be around 13.8 billion years old, but new calculations suggest it could be younger than that.

This artists impression shows the evolution of the Universe beginning with the Big Bang on the left followed by the appearance of the Cosmic Microwave Background. The formation of the first stars ends the cosmic dark ages, followed by the formation of galaxies. Image credit: M. Weiss / Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

Approaches to date the Big Bang, which gave birth to the Universe, rely on mathematics and computational modeling, using distance estimates of the oldest stars, the behavior of galaxies and the rate of the Universes expansion.

The idea is to compute how long it would take all objects to return to the beginning.

A key calculation for dating is the Hubbles constant, named after Edwin Hubble who first calculated the Universes expansion rate in 1929.

Another recent technique uses observations of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), the oldest light in the Universe.

These methods reach different conclusions, said University of Oregons Professor James Schombert, lead author of the study.

Professor Schombert and his colleagues unveil a new approach that recalibrates a distance-measuring tool known as the baryonic Tully-Fisher relation independently of Hubbles constant.

The distance scale problem, as it is known, is incredibly difficult because the distances to galaxies are vast and the signposts for their distances are faint and hard to calibrate, Professor Schombert said.

The astronomers recalculated the Tully-Fisher approach, using accurately defined distances in a linear computation of the 50 galaxies as guides for measuring the distances of 95 other galaxies.

The Universe is ruled by a series of mathematical patterns expressed in equations, Professor Schombert said.

The new approach more accurately accounts for the mass and rotational curves of galaxies to turn those equations into numbers like age and expansion rate.

The approach determines the Hubbles constant at 75.1 kilometers per second per megaparsec (km/s/Mpc), give or take 2.3.

All Hubbles constant values lower than 70 km/s/Mpc can be ruled out with 95% degree of confidence, the researchers said.

Traditionally used measuring techniques over the past 50 years have set the value at 75 km/s/Mpc, but CMB computes a rate of 67 km/s/Mpc.

The CMB technique, while using different assumptions and computer simulations, should still arrive at the same estimate.

Calculations drawn from observations of NASAs Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WAMP) in 2013 put the age of the Universe at 13.77 billion years, which, for the moment, represents the standard model of Big Bang cosmology.

The differing Hubbles constant values from the various techniques generally estimate the Universes age at between 11.4 billion and 14.5 billion years.

The new study, based in part on observations made with NASAs Spitzer Space Telescope, adds a new element to how calculations to reach Hubbles constant can be set, by introducing a purely empirical method, using direct observations, to determine the distance to galaxies.

Our resulting value is on the high side of the different schools of cosmology, signaling that our understanding of the physics of the Universe is incomplete with the hope of new physics in the future, Professor Schombert said.

The results were published in the Astronomical Journal.

_____

James Schombert et al. 2020. Using the Baryonic Tully-Fisher Relation to Measure Ho. AJ 160, 71; doi: 10.3847/1538-3881/ab9d88

This article is based on text provided by the University of Oregon.

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Study: Universe Might Be 1.2 Billion Years Younger | Astronomy - Sci-News.com

A Movie of the Evolving Universe, Potentially Scary – Scientific American

Posted on August 3, 2020 by Danzig

After the COVID-19 rules about social distancing went into effect, I developed a morning routine of jogging through the woods near my home. During the first months, I focused on the green branches that stretch upward towards the sky, but recently I started to notice the debris of tree trunks lying on the ground. There are many such remnants, eaten by termites, rotting and ultimately dispersing into the underlying soil. A glimpse at the forest reveals a sequence of evolutionary phases in the history of trees that lived or died at different times.

The phenomenon happens in other contexts. For example, I recently completed a nine-year term as chair of the Astronomy Department at Harvard. And only now have I begun to notice the former chairs scattered around me, just like those tree trunks in the woods.

Entering a new stage of life can be humbling. We acquire a false sense of permanence from reviewing the frozen past, as if it were a statue that will never erode. But this view is shortsighted, since each moment can also be seen a new beginning, shaped by forces beyond our control and swirling on a grander scale.

Old-fashioned astronomy was also permeated by a false sense of permanence. Astronomers collected still images of the universe, creating the impression that nothing really changes under the sunor above it, either. But just like the revelation from my stroll through the woods, these snapshots showed stars and galaxies of different ages, at various evolutionary phases along their history. Computer simulations helped us patch together the full story by solving the equations of motion for matter, starting from the initial conditions imprinted on the cosmic microwave background at early cosmic times. By generating snapshots of an artificial cosmos similar to those captured by telescopes, these simulations unraveled our cosmic roots. The scientific insight that emerged is that the likely origins for our existence were quantum fluctuations in the early universe. Perhaps we should add Quantum Mechanics Day to our annual celebrations of Mothers Day and Fathers Day.

There are some missing pages in the photo album made up of our observations, however: the period known as the cosmic dawn, for example, when the first stars and galaxies turned on. These missing pages will be filled in the coming decade by the next generation of telescopes, such as the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the ground-based "extremely large" telescopes and the Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array (HERA).

To reveal a more literal gap in the sky, the Event Horizon Telescope recently captured a still image of the silhouette of the black hole in the giant galaxy M87. The next goal is to obtain a sequence of images or a video, showing the time variability of the accretion flow around the black hole.

The tradition of still images makes sense when dealing with systems like galaxies, which evolve on a timescale of billions of years. But the universe also exhibits transient fireworks that flare up and dim during a human lifetime. Observing them is the motivation behind the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) on the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, which will have its first light soon. LSST will be a filming project, documenting nearly a thousand deep multicolor images per patch of the southern sky over a decade and recording the most extensive video of the universe ever taken with its plethora of transients in full glory.

Some of the LSST flares are expected to be the counterparts of gravitational wave sources detected by LIGO/Virgo or LISA. Their discovery will usher in multi-messenger astronomy based on both gravitational and electromagnetic waves emitted by the same sources, providing new insights about the central engines that power these transients. The related standard sirens could serve as new rulers for measuring precise distances in cosmology.

Within the Milky Way, transient events close to Earth could lead to catastrophe. A supernova explosion, for example, could cause a mass extinction on an unprecedented scale. If a meteor similar to the one that hit the unpopulated regions near Chelyabinsk in 2013 or Tunguska in 1908 hit New York City, it could cause a far larger death toll and economic damage than COVID-19. Or consider the impact of a blob of hot gas from the Sun, a so-called coronal mass ejection of the type that missed the Earth in 2012. Such an event could shut off communication systems, disable satellites and damage power grids. Altogether, astronomical alerts about such celestial threats could be crucial for securing the longevity of our species.

Of greatest relevance for our long-term survival is identifying large objects on a collision course with the Earth, similar to the Chicxulub asteroid that killed the dinosaurs 66 million years ago. In 2005, Congress passed a bill requiring NASA to find and track at least 90 percent of all near-Earth objects larger than 140 meters (enough to cause regional devastation) by 2020. Only a third of these objects have been identified in the sky so far. In a recent paper with my undergraduate student Amir Siraj, we explained some puzzling properties of the Chicxulub asteroid as a tidal breakup of a long-period comet that passed close to the sun. If future sky surveys alert us to another fragment whose apparent size grows rapidly against the sky, wed better have a contingency plan to deflect its trajectoryor else immediately call our realtor.

Keeping up with the challenge of precision cosmology for the next few decades can demonstrate that the Hubble constant, which describes the expansion rate of the universe, is not really a constant, in accordance with the expected Sandage-Loeb test. In the long run, the only thing that stays constant is change. The accelerated expansion of the universe under the influence of so-called dark energy will be the ultimate manifestation of extragalactic social distancing in the post-COVID-19 era, preventing any future contact between us and civilizations outside our galaxy.

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A Movie of the Evolving Universe, Potentially Scary - Scientific American

Stargazing: Astronomers estimate Earth-size planets number in the billions – Oklahoman.com

Posted on August 3, 2020 by Danzig

As of July 4, the NASA Exoplanet Archive (https://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/) listed 4,183 confirmed exoplanets, planets orbiting other stars, with another 2,089 candidate planets awaiting confirmation. NASA and other institutions have only studied a tiny percent of all the stars in our Milky Way. Based on the sample so far, astronomers estimate that planets outnumber stars in our galaxy. That means the Milky Way contains several hundred billion planets.

These exoplanets come in a bewildering variety. Some are Jupiter-size planets so close to their parent star that the heat from the star evaporates them. Some Earth-size planets get so hot, they rain liquid metal from their clouds. Most confirmed planets are significantly larger than Earth, but thats because larger planets are easier to discover than smaller planets. Astronomers estimate that Earth-size planets number in the billions.

Being the size of Earth doesnt mean such a planet has life on it. Many factors play into planet habitability. Distance to its parent star determines surface temperature. Too hot or too cold and habitability becomes unlikely. The type of parent star plays a crucial role. Stars smaller than our sun often produce large, dangerous stellar flares.

If Earth is a good example of what conditions necessary for a planet to support life, water is an absolute must. On our planet, where theres water, life exists, even at the bottom of the ocean, with near-freezing temperatures, in boiling hot springs or three miles underground in cracks in the rock.

Scientist Lynnae Quick, along with several other NASA scientists, looked at the likelihood of finding other life-bearing planets. This initial study contained a small sample of only 53 Earth-size planets. They specifically looked to see if the planets could support surface or subsurface oceans, as is the case with several moons in our own solar system. Of those, they calculated that 30 likely possess such bodies of water, more than half of the planets they analyzed. With a few billion Earth-size planets in our galaxy alone, that means there might be a lot of life-bearing planets out there. "Forthcoming missions will give us a chance to see whether ocean moons in our solar system could support life, said Quick.

The study didnt address the presence of intelligent aliens. There isnt enough data to decide that. But at least we have some idea of the possibilities now.

Planet Visibility Report

If youre up in the wee hours of Aug. 9, take a look at the southern sky between midnight and 1 a.m. The moon and the Red Planet, Mars, are separated by a mere three-finger widths held at arms length about 1/3 of the way up in the southeast. Jupiter and Saturn float less than a handspan apart in the southwest. Halfway between those two sits Pluto, but youll need a good-sized telescope to see it. Neptune is in the south, but, like Pluto, youll need a telescope to spot it.

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Stargazing: Astronomers estimate Earth-size planets number in the billions - Oklahoman.com

Boosting the representation of Black students – Symmetry magazine

Posted on August 3, 2020 by Danzig

On June 10, thousands of academics around the globe halted their usual work to reflect on the systemic racism present in their fields and communities and plan ways to eradicate it. Scientific societies, universities and publishers joined in on the strike, which adopted the hashtags #ShutDownSTEM, #ShutDownAcademia and #Strike4BlackLives.

The strike, which occurred in the wake of the recent Black Lives Matter protests ignited by the murder of George Floyd, has brought conversations about the racism facing Black academics to the fore.

We recognize that our academic institutions and research collaborationsdespite big talk about diversity, equityand inclusionhave ultimately failed Black people, wrotemembers of Particles for Justice, one of the groups that organized the strike,in a statement. Black representation among physics faculty is non-existent at most institutions, and it is widely known that Black students often feel unwelcome, unsupportedand even unsafe in their physics departments and predominantly white campuses.

Black students face obstacles throughout academia, but many of these issues are particularly pronounced in physics. The figures paint a telling picture: Although the number of Black undergraduates earning bachelors degrees more than doubled between 1995 and 2015, in physics, the number of degrees awarded to Black studentsdropped from 5% in the late 1990s to 4% in recent years.

TEAM-UPa task force put together by the American Institute of Physics, a federation of physics societiesrecently completed a two-year study aimed at investigating the key factors stymieing the success of African American students in physics. The groups detailed findings and recommendations, which were published this January, provide insights as the scientific community grapples with ways to stamp out systemic racism in academia.

It has been heartening to see so many copies of the report downloaded from our website and for its recommendations to become part of our communitys dialog on racial justice in the physical sciences, says Arlene Modeste Knowles, TEAM-UPs project manager at AIP.

The TEAM-UP task force, which convened at the end of 2017, included two AIP staff members and 10 academics from various backgrounds, disciplines and career stages. Their study involved multiple lines of assessment, including surveys and interviews with students, visits to physics departments with a good track-record of attracting and retaining African American students, and an extensive review of the literature. The primary goal of the report was to provide a roadmap for community-wide efforts to double the number of bachelors degrees in physics and astronomy awarded to Black students by 2030.

Brian Beckford, a particle and nuclear physicist at the University of Michigan, says that one of his main reasons for joining the task force was that he believes that persistent underrepresentation of Black undergraduate students in physics is a solvable problem.

If we just takesome of the effort that we put into our experimentstrying to detect undetectable particles like neutrinos, searching for rare processesand we put it into trying to figure out solutions to a needed systemic change, we would be very far along in solving this, he says.

In their report, the task force concludes that Black students do not lack the drive, motivation, intellect or capabilities to obtain degrees in physics or astronomy. Instead, they are turning away from astronomy and physics because of a lack of supportive environments and because of the financial challenges facing both students and the departments that have consistently demonstrated the best practices in supporting their success.

The team pinpointed five key factors contributing to the success of African American students: belonging (feelings of inclusion or exclusion within a department), physics identity (students ability to perceive themselves as future physicists or astronomers), academic support (effective teaching, mentoring and strengths-based support that enables student success), personal support (means to lift the burden of financial stress, which disproportionally affect African American students) and leadership and structures (university departments prioritizing and creating supportive environments for African American students).

Beckford says that one of the responses he found most striking was a student who said they felta constant feeling that I am a representative, therefore I must be flawless.

Beckford says he has heard this time and time again from African American students hes mentoredand has felt it himself. I think its a culture issue that makes students feel this pressure to be exceptional, out of the fear that [their performance] reflects on every other student that may be given the opportunity to join the department, to get this fellowship, he says. Its quite a bit of pressure that theyre carrying around.

The task force provided specific recommendations about how to effectively address each of these factors. These include: creating and communicating norms that boost a students sense of belonging and eliminate identity-based harassment, providing services to African American students that focus on their strengths, and establishing a $50 million endowment to provide support for students facing financial hardship and for departments implementing the reports recommendations.

I hope that people will take away the important message that African American students are as capable of successfully earning their physics and astronomy bachelors degrees as other students ... [and] come to understand that the environment, cultureand available resources for these students must change in order to better support them, says Modeste Knowles. I hope that departments will be motivated to implement the recommendations so we can increase not only the number of African American bachelors degrees in physics and astronomy, but also the participation and success of African American students in these fields.

Although it is too early to assess the full impact of TEAM-UPs report, there are already signs that thegroups recommendations are being both considered and implemented.

Several institutionsincluding historically black colleges and universitiesare already practicing many of the recommendations in the report, and faculty members in physics and astronomy departments are reading and discussing the report with their colleagues, Modeste Knowles says.

Using funds provided by the Heising-Simons Foundation, the group now plans to run two workshops to discuss and share strategies to pursue the goal of doubling the number of African Americans earning bachelors degrees in physics and astronomy by 2030. Participants will include AIP and its affiliate societies, other scientific societies and faculty members from university physics and astronomy departments.

What I hope people take away from the report is that there are really no more excuses, Beckford says. The only thing left to do is act.

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Boosting the representation of Black students - Symmetry magazine

There are Natural Starshades Out There, Which Would Help Astronomers Image Exoplanets – Universe Today

Posted on August 3, 2020 by Danzig

In the past few decades, the study of extrasolar planets has grown by leaps and bounds, with the confirmation of over 4000 exoplanets. With so many planets available for study, the focus of exoplanet-researchers is shifting from discovery to characterization. In the coming years, new technologies and next-generation telescopes will also enable Direct Imaging studies, which will vastly improve our understanding of exoplanet atmospheres.

To facilitate this process, astronomers will rely on costly technologies like coronagraphs and starshades, which block out the light of a star so any planets orbiting it will become more visible. However, according to a new study by an international team of astronomers and cosmologists, eclipsing binary stars could provide all the shading thats needed to directly image planets orbiting them.

The study, which recently appeared online, was led by Stefano Bellotti, a Ph.D. student at the LInstitut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Plantologie (IRAP) at the University of Toulouse. He was joined by researchers from the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), the Steward Observatory, the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ), and NASAs Ames Research Center.

As the name would suggest, the Direct Imaging method consists of studying planets directly by analyzing light reflected from their surfaces and/or atmospheres. This method is rather lucrative when it comes to exoplanet studies since it allows astronomers to obtain spectra directly from a planets atmosphere, thus revealing its chemical composition and whether or not it could be habitable.

These and other benefits were spelled out by Bellotti who spoke to Universe Today via email. As he put it:

First of all, this method gives you a reliable yes or no answer: the planet (or planets) is there or it is not. Furthermore, because this method allows us to directly collect the light coming from a planet, we can directly examine the chemical composition of its atmosphere and have an idea of its features (clouds). Ultimately, this information enables us to assess the habitability of the planet, which is the current main focus of exoplanetary sciences.

However, this method presents a number of challenges since starlight is likely to be a billion times brighter than any light reflected from its planets. Scientists are able to reduce this discrepancy by an order of magnitude (where the stars appear 1 million times brighter) by examining reflected light in the infrared spectrum.

Because of these limitations, only 50 planets have been discovered using the Direct Imaging method to date. For the most part, these planets have been gas giants that have wide orbits around their stars. Astronomers anticipate that next-generation telescopes that rely on adaptive optics, coronagraphs, or an even an orbiting spacecraft (like NASAs proposed Starshade), will be able to image smaller, rocky planets that orbit closer to their planets.

For the sake of their study, however, Bellotti and his colleagues examined the potential for eclipsing binaries to do the same job, but without any of the expensive tools involved. As the name suggests, eclipsing binary systems consist of two stars that periodically pass in front of each other relative to the observer. When this happens, the brightness of one star in the system is temporarily blocked out, leading to a reduction in luminosity.

By using eclipsing binaries, explained Bellotti, astronomers can take advantage of the fact that the stellar system already undergoes periodic dimming which is predictable and can be timed accurately.

In this sense, the eclipse event suppresses the starlight coming from the binary in a natural way, and therefore results in an enhanced contrast between the binary and a potential planet. However, the eclipse event is not considered as a substitute of coronagraphs or artificial starshades, but it can be thought [of] as an additional tool to use along with them in order to achieve improved contrast levels. Indeed, because during [an] eclipse the binary system becomes point-like as a single star, techniques such as coronagraphy can be applied to block the light of the whole binary in one shot.

To test this, the team selected eclipsing binaries from several star catalogs whose luminosity drops by a factor of 10 during an eclipse. They also differentiated between types of exoplanets based on whether they emit their own light aka. self-luminous (SL) or reflect light (RL). They then simulated how bright orbiting planets would appear based on their mass, and whether or not theyd be visible using current or future telescopes.

Around two targets, [U Cephei] and [AC Scuti] respectively, we are [sensitive] to planets of roughly 4.5 Jupiter masses and 9 Jupiter masses with current ground- or near-future space-based instruments, and roughly 1.5 Jupiter masses and 6 Jupiter masses with future ground-based observatories (such as [the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT)], said Bellotti.

For reflected light planets, they selected three eclipsing binaries that were closest to Earth: V1412 Aquilae, RR Caeli, and RT Pictoris. For these systems, they used Jupiter, Venus, and Earth as templates for any possible exoplanets. Here too, they obtained some positive results.

We concluded that a Jupiter-like planet at a planet-star separation of 20 [milli arcseconds] might be imaged with future ground- and space-based technologies around all three targets, Bellotti added. A Venus-like planet at the same separation might be detectable around RR Cae and RT Pic, but a habitable Earth-like planet is challenging, as the planet-star separation is too small compared to the angular separation limit of modern coronagraphy.

In the coming years, ground-based observatories like the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT), and the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) are expected to enable direct imaging studies of Earth-like exoplanets. Similarly, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope (RST) will have cutting-edge infrared instruments that will also be able to study exoplanet atmospheres directly.

While these next-generation telescopes will have a better shot at observing exoplanets directly, it is encouraging to know that less-advanced observatories could still conduct direct imaging studies where eclipsing binaries are concerned. Whats more, these star systems could provide opportunities for advanced telescopes as well since they will be able to get a better look at exoplanets when their stars are eclipsed.

How astronomers rediscovered a lost world – EarthSky

Posted on August 3, 2020 by Danzig

Telescopes at the Next-Generation Transit Survey (NGTS) in Chile. Astronomers used these telescopes to find the lost world NGTS-11b. This image shows star trails; the bright streak is the moon. Image via University of Warwick.

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The habitable zone or Goldilocks zone around a star is of great interest to astrobiologists, those scientists probing for life beyond Earth. It is the region where temperatures on a rocky world are suitable for liquid water to exist. Astronomers have been discovering many exoplanets orbiting within habitable zones. But they wonder, just what percentage of exoplanets in our Milky Way galaxy might orbit within a habitable zone? In other words, what is the potential for life in our galaxy? Now, a new method devised and announced by scientists at the University of Warwick in the U.K. has found a cooler planet that had been previously lost close to its stars habitable zone. The planet is called NGTS-11b. These scientists say their method promises to help find many more such worlds orbiting in the habitable zones of their stars.

This rediscovery was published in the peer-reviewed journal The Astrophysical Journal Letters on July 20, 2020.

NGTS-11b is about the size and mass of Saturn. It orbits its star every 35 days. It is five times closer to its star than Earth is to the sun and is 620 light-years away.

Astronomers think that that it is just one of hundreds of lost worlds that this new technique can help rediscover.

Samuel Gill at the University of Warwick, lead author of the new study, is searching for lost worlds. Image via ResearchGate.

What do scientists mean by lost worlds?

Basically, they are exoplanets discovered by the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite(TESS) space telescope but detected only once. TESS finds planets by observing them transit in front of their stars, but only scans most sections of the sky for 27 days. Any planets that have orbital periods longer than 27 days would only appear once in the observations. If a second observation cannot be obtained, the planet is considered lost as it were. But the researchers at the University of Warwick were able to reobserve some of these stars, using the Next-Generation Transit Survey (NGTS) in Chile, for up to 72 days. That way, planets with longer orbits could be detected. Thats how NGTS-11b was refound, by catching it transiting a second time. Samuel Gill, lead author of the paper, explained:

By chasing that second transit down weve found a longer period planet. Its the first of hopefully many such finds pushing to longer periods.

These discoveries are rare but important, since they allow us to find longer period planets than other astronomers are finding. Longer period planets are cooler, more like the planets in our own solar system.

NGTS-11b has a temperature of only 160 degrees Celsius (320 degrees Fahrenheit), cooler than Mercury and Venus. Although this is still too hot to support life as we know it, it is closer to the Goldilocks zone than many previously discovered planets which typically have temperatures above 1000 degrees Celsius (1800 F).

Co-author Daniel Bayliss said:

This planet is out at a thirty-five-day orbit, which is a much longer period than we usually find them. It is exciting to see the Goldilocks zone within our sights.

Artists illustration of the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). Some of the exoplanets found by TESS are categorized as lost when they cant be detected in a second transit of their star. Image via NASA/ Goddard Space Flight Center.

Another co-author,Pete Wheatley, added:

The original transit appeared just once in the TESS data, and it was our teams painstaking detective work that allowed us to find it again a year later with NGTS.

NGTS has twelve state-of-the-art telescopes, which means that we can monitor multiple stars for months on end, searching for lost planets. The dip in light from the transit is only 1% deep and occurs only once every 35 days, putting it out of reach of other telescopes.

The researchers expect that NGTS-11b will be just the first of hundreds of lost worlds found once again. Gill said:

There are hundreds of single transits detected by TESS that we will be monitoring using this method. This will allow us to discover cooler exoplanets of all sizes, including planets more like those in our own solar system. Some of these will be small rocky planets in the Goldilocks zone that are cool enough to host liquid water oceans and potentially extraterrestrial life.

Being able to detect multiple transits of a planet is crucial for determining its orbital period and mass, which cannot always be done by TESS alone. From the paper:

It is important to note that we have been able to determine the mass and radius of this relatively long-period exoplanet with a very modest number of radial-velocity measurements (nine with HARPS and six with FEROS). The detection of the second transit with NGTS was crucial for tightly constraining the possible orbital periods, and this serves to demonstrate the value of intense photometric monitoring in following up single-transit events. Without this second transit detection we would have required many more radial-velocity measurements in order to confirm the planet, determine its orbital period, and measure its mass (e.g., Daz et al. 2020). The strategy of large investments of photometric follow-up with instruments such as NGTS thereby allows efficient confirmation of single-transit events without adding to the considerable pressure on high-precision radial-velocity instruments. This highlights the power of high-precision ground-based photometric facilities in revealing longer-period transiting exoplanets that TESS alone cannot discover.

Many exoplanets discovered so far orbit very close to their stars, including hot Jupiters. Such objects are relatively easy to detect, but their nearness to their stars also makes them unlikely to be habitable. Finding more planets farther out from their stars, including those in their stars habitable zones, is important in the search for habitable worlds.

Telescopes like those at NGTS will help to find more habitable zone exoplanets, these scientists say.

Later, other telescopes like the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope now scheduled for launch in October 2021 will be able to analyze these planets atmospheres for possible biosignatures. By conducting research such as this, on Earth and in space, astronomers are stepping closer to finding other life in the galaxy, if it exists.

Artists concept of a gas giant planet orbiting its star. Researchers at the University of Warwick have rediscovered a planet about the size and mass of Saturn orbiting near the habitable zone of its star. Image via NASA/ JPL-Caltech.

Bottom line: Astronomers rediscover a previously lost exoplanet that is relatively cool and close to its stars habitable zone.

Source: NGTS-11 b (TOI-1847 b): A Transiting Warm Saturn Recovered from a TESS Single-transit Event

Via University of Warwick

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How astronomers rediscovered a lost world - EarthSky

SpaceX: Crew Dragon is returning to Earth here’s when to hold your – Astronomy Magazine

Posted on August 3, 2020 by Danzig

Importantly, the missions primary purpose is to test and demonstrate the vehicles capability to safely carry crew to and from Earth orbit, as the first step in the plan of commencing regular ISS missions and commercial space flights.

The extreme velocities and temperatures the vehicle must endure present a major challenge to engineers and makes reentry the most perilous part of a mission.

The danger starts with finding the right angle of the trajectory as the spacecraft enters the upper atmosphere. If it is too steep, the astronauts will experience potentially fatal g-forces, and the friction of the air drag could cause the spacecraft to explode. If it is too shallow, the capsule will instead catastrophically skip off the atmosphere and back into Earth orbit.

The spacecraft will enter the upper atmosphere at 27,000km/hour. That is 7.5km/second, or more than 20 times the speed of sound. In whichever units you prefer this is fast. At these velocities, a very strong shock wave forms around the front of the vehicle, compressing and superheating the air. Managing the immense thermal load is a huge reentry engineering challenge.

At the most extreme stage, the temperature of the air in the shock layer exceeds 7,000C. By comparison, the temperature at the surface of the Sun is around 5,500C. This makes the vehicles heat shield so hot that it starts to glow a process called incandescence. SpaceXs new and advanced PICA-X material heat shield has managed to protect the capsule in test flights, later being recovered in a very charred state.

The air molecules around the vehicle also break down into positively charged atoms and free electrons a so-called plasma. When some of the molecules recombine, excess energy is released as photons (light particles) giving the air around the vehicle an amber glow.

This plasma layer may be beautiful, but it can cause radio blackouts. When an electron travels along a conductive wire, we have electricity. Similarly, when free electrons move through the plasma around the vehicle, we have an electric field. If the electric field becomes too strong, it can reflect and attenuate the radiowaves trying to reach the spacecraft.

Blackout not only leads to a loss of connection to on-board crew and flight data, it can also make remote control and guidance impossible. The Apollo missions, the Mars Pathfinder and the recent, failed 2018 Soyuz rocket launch all incurred communications blackout on the order of minutes. NASA mission control are anticipating a nervous six minutes of blackout during the peak heating phase of Crew Dragons return if anything goes wrong during this time, its in the hands of the astronauts.

Another risky stage is the parachute-assisted landing. The Crew Dragon will deploy four parachutes upon the final stage of reentry, as the vehicle descends toward a gentle splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Florida. This manoeuvre has been tested by SpaceX 27 times prior to next weeks crewed landing, so it should work.

A successful landing will have huge implications lowering the cost of space exploration through the use of reusable rockets and enabling private space exploration. While SpaceX engineered the Crew Dragon vehicle under contract to NASA, the company is free to use the spacecraft for commercial flights without NASA involvement after operational certification.

SpaceX has a partnership with commercial aerospace company Axiom Space, which has the ultimate goal of building the worlds first commercial space station. The proposed commercial activities for the station are broad: from in-space research and manufacturing to space exploration support.

Then there is space tourism. Private citizens are already queuing for their ticket to space, and with a successful Crew Dragon splashdown, they wont be waiting long. American space tourism company, Space Adventures (partnered with SpaceX), are planning to offer zero-gravity atmospheric flights, orbital flights with a spacewalk option and laps of the Moon by late 2021.

Whether the costs, environmental impact and dangers of spaceflight is justified for space tourism is debatable. As this articles shows, the required safety briefing for Space Adventure ticket holders will be much more comprehensive than your regular please take a moment to read the safety card in the seat pocket in front of you.

Heather Muir, PhD in Computational Physics, University of Cambridge

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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SpaceX: Crew Dragon is returning to Earth here's when to hold your - Astronomy Magazine

Antonia: A Maury to be Proud Of – Vashon-Maury Island Beachcomber

Posted on August 3, 2020 by Danzig

The Beachcomber published our article Should We Rename Maury Island? on July 16. We posed three options: topple the name Maury from our islands and find another name; rename Maury Island after a different Maury who does not carry the legacy of support for slavery; or, leave the name as it is and recognize the tarnished legacy William L. Maurys name carries.

In this piece, we explore Option 2, rename Maury Island after a different Maury who does not carry William L. Maurys tarnished legacy. This would accomplish something parallel to what happened here in 1986 when King County, which was originally named for William Rufus DeVane King (a senator from Alabama who enslaved people and was elected U.S. vice president in 1853 but died before serving in office) officially changed its eponym to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

We want to suggest that Maury Island could remain Maury Island, but be named for Antonia Caetana Maury rather than William Lewis Maury. Antonia Maury was a remarkable early astronomer whose star classification system was adopted by the International Astronomical Union, was the first woman to publish in an astronomical observatory publication, and was one of the first to be awarded the Cannon Prize in Astronomy by the American Astronomical Society.

Antonia Maury, born in Cold Spring, New York on March 21, 1866, was the daughter of Protestant Reverend Mytton Maury and Virginia Draper and was a very distant cousin (second-cousin once-removed) of William L. Maury, after whom Maury Island was named in 1841. Antonia was the granddaughter of John William Draper, an astronomer who took the first detailed photograph of the moon in 1840, and a niece of astronomer Henry Draper, who pioneered star photography in the 1870s.

Antonia graduated from Vassar College in 1887 with honors in physics, astronomy, and philosophy. Edward Pickering, director of the Harvard College Observatory, hired her to be one of what was then termed women computers, analyzing light from stars as seen through the telescope and passed through a prism. Analysis of these spectral lines provides information about a stars temperature, chemistry and motion. Antonia was the Harvard Computer responsible for cataloging stellar spectra for bright stars in the northern hemisphere and was paid 25 cents an hour, less than half the amount paid to men.

Pickering and his staff had devised a simple alphabetical system for classification of stars, but Antonia independently found spectral patterns that did not fit into this system and devised her own more complex star classification. Her efforts to refine the spectral categories were not appreciated by Pickering. Doing original theoretical work conflicted with his expectations for her as a computer, and she left Harvard in 1891.

Before Antonia arrived at Harvard, Pickering had discovered the spectroscopic double, or binary, star Zeta Ursae Majoris; Antonias first task at the observatory was to determine its orbital period, and in 1889 she independently discovered a second spectroscopic binary, Beta Aurigae, and determined its orbit. Pickering wrote On the Spectrum of Zeta Ursae Majoris for the American Journal of Science in 1890; he noted briefly that The spectrum of this star has been photographed at the Harvard College Observatory on seventy nights and a careful study of the results has been made by Miss. A. C. Maury, a niece of Dr. Draper. There followed a detailed presentation of the results of that study, with no further mention of Antonia.

This slight weighed on Antonia and, when Pickering implored her to return to the Observatory or turn her work over to others, she wrote: I do not think it is fair that I should pass the work into other hands until it can stand as work done by me. I worked out the theory at the cost of much thought and elaborate comparison and I think that I should have full credit for my theory of the relations of the star spectra and also for my theories in regard to Beta Lyrae. Antonia returned to Harvard for a year in 1893 and again in 1895, to complete, using her own classifications, Spectra of Bright Stars Photographed with the 11-inch Draper Telescope, which was the first astronomical observatory publication credited to a woman, published in 1897.

She received further vindication of her insights in 1922 when the International Astronomical Union modified its classification system to adopt her classification methods, and in 1943 when she was awarded the Annie Jump Cannon Prize in Astronomy by the American Astronomical Society. She returned to the Harvard Observatory in 1918, after Pickerings death, and remained until her full retirement in 1948. In retirement, Antonia became an accomplished ornithologist and a passionate conservationist who fought to save western Sequoia forests. Antonia died on January 8, 1952.

In 1978, stellar astronomer William Wilson Morgan dedicated the Revised MK Spectral Atlas for Stars Earlier Than the Sun to Antonia C. Maury Master Morphologist of Stellar Spectra whom he also acclaimed as for me, the single greatest mind that has ever engaged itself in the field of the morphology of stellar spectra.

We plan to explore Option 1, topple the name Maury from our islands and find another name, in a subsequent article. One way that could happen is to consult with the descendants of the sHebabS Coast Salish Native People, the first people of Vashon Island, who were forcibly removed from our islands following the 1854 Treaty of Medicine Creek. We could ask them to suggest an appropriate name for Vashons sister island.

Steven C. Macdonald is a retired epidemiologist and a 20-year resident of Vashon Island. Bruce Haulman is an island historian.

Antonia Maury as a student at Vassar College (Courtesy Photo).

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Antonia: A Maury to be Proud Of - Vashon-Maury Island Beachcomber

Mental Wellness with MindPath: Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation for Depression and OCD – WTVD-TV

Posted on August 3, 2020 by Danzig

Persons suffering with depression or OCD may now be candidates for TMS, Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, therapy. This FDA-approved treatment is a non-invasive, non-medication therapy that aims to restore chemical balance in the brain.

This Weekday Showcase aired July 29, 2020, at 12:55 pm, joined by MindPath Care Centers' own Dr. Sandeep Vaishnavi, MD, PhD.

For more information visit mindpathcare.com or contact MindPath Care Centers at 919-261-3958 for telehealth and in-person resources near you.

Dr. Vaishnavi is the Medical Director of MindPathCare Center's Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) and Clinical Research Institute. He earned his BS in Biology from the Georgia Institute of Technology, his PhD in Cognitive Science (specializing in cognitive neuroscience) from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and his MD also from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He completed a residency in Psychiatry at Duke University, a residency in Clinical Psychopharmacology at Duke University and GlaxoSmithKline, and a fellowship in Behavioral Neurology and Neuropsychiatry at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Dr. Vaishnavi is board-certified in Behavioral Neurology & Neuropsychiatry by the United Council for Neurologic Subspecialties as well as board-certified in General Psychiatry by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology.

He previously worked as the Director of the Neuropsychiatry Clinic and Neuropsychiatry Consult Service at Alexian Brothers Neurosciences Institute and Behavioral Health Hospital in Chicago, IL, and as a Neuropsychiatry Physician at NC Neuropsychiatry Attention and Memory Center, Raleigh, NC.

Dr. Vaishnavi is widely published with over twenty articles in medical journals, several chapters in textbooks, and numerous conference proceedings and abstracts. He is the author of The Traumatized Brain: A Family Guide Understanding Mood, Memory and Behavior After Brain Injury (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2015). Dr. Vaishnaviis a member of the American Neuropsychiatric Association and the American Academy of Neurology. Dr. Vaishnavi is also an instructor at the highly acclaimed Duke University TMS Course and sees patients at the Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center at Duke University.

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Mental Wellness with MindPath: Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation for Depression and OCD - WTVD-TV

Nashville NeuroCare Therapy Marks 10-Year Milestone in TMS Therapy for the Treatment of Depression – PRNewswire

Posted on August 3, 2020 by Danzig

NASHVILLE, Tenn., July 28, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --Nashville NeuroCare Therapy, the flagship neuroCare Centers of America clinic in Tennessee, today announced it is celebrating its 10-year anniversary of providing Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) Therapy for depression, as the company continues to focus on leveraging innovative technologies and its personalized care approach of providing medication-free treatment options.

The FDA cleared TMS Therapy for clinical use in 2008. This revolutionary technology has quickly become the new standard of care for treatment-resistant depression and Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) as a proven safe and effective non-drug treatment option.

TMS Therapytechnology targets neuronal-networks that cause depression in a way no other treatment method can. It utilizes MRI-strength magnetic pulse technology to non-invasively excite neuronal networks in the brain involved in mood regulation. TMS Therapy improves regional blood flow and metabolic activity, as well as facilitates the production of neurotransmitters important in mood regulation.

Nationally recognized, board-certified psychiatrist, Dr. W. Scott West blazed the trail for TMS Therapy in Tennessee as the first physician to offer this advanced technology in 2010 and serves as the clinic's medical director.

"These last 10 years have been an amazing experience for me both personally and professionally," said Dr. W. Scott West, Medical Director at Nashville Neurocare Therapy. "The advent of TMS technology is truly a leap forward in depression care, and I'm very pleased to be able to be part of this patient care revolution."

With 30+ years of experience in the treatment of clinical depression and his pioneering efforts in TMS Therapy, Dr. West was the top choice for neuroCare Centers of America's U.S. expansion as the organization researched the Nashville market. Nashville NeuroCare Therapy represents Tennessee's most experienced and largest provider of TMS Therapy. The company maintains some of the industry's best clinical outcomes, collectively having treated 600+ patients and administering more than 18,000 TMS treatment sessions.

Nashville NeuroCare Therapyuses NeuroStar TMS technology and is one of 108 practices to participate in the company-sponsored TMS Clinical Outcomes Registry. The Outcomes Registry collected TMS Therapy patient outcomes data spanning September 2016 May 2020, which included 5,230 patients and demonstrated that TMS Therapy could transform the lives of patients suffering from depression. The physician-rated data showed that 73 percent of patients respond well, and 52 percent of patients achieve full remission when completing a full course of TMS Therapy.

The NeuroStar Outcomes Registry is now the largest dataset in the treatment of major depression field, surpassing the U.S. government's National Institute of Mental Health STAR*D (Sequenced Treatment Alternatives to Relieve Depression) study that tracked clinical results for 3,671 patients with major depression.

Nashville NeuroCare Therapyis accepting patients at both its Green Hills and Cool Springs clinic locations.

About Nashville NeuroCare Therapy

Nashville NeuroCare Therapy specializes in Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) Therapy and Neurofeedback. We provide safe and well-researched therapies for depression, ADHD, and sleep problemsall without the need for medication.

Nashville NeuroCare Therapy offers its patients individualized treatment plans that help them regain a healthier brain and a better quality of life. With our technologies, remission from the symptoms of depression, ADHD and sleep disorders is possible.

For more information, visit nashvilleneurocare.com or call (615) 465-4875.

About neuroCare Centers of America

neuroCare Centers of America is part of an international network of centers of excellence dedicated to helping patients suffering from neuropsychiatric illnesses that have not been helped by traditional medication management. The network includes locations in Australia, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands.

For more information, visit neurocarecentersofamerica.com.

Media Contacts:

Nashville NeuroCare TherapyAudra Wait, President | Wait & Co.[emailprotected] | 615.504.8812

neuroCare Group America, Inc.Stanford Miller, Managing Director[emailprotected] | 404.394.9672

SOURCE Nashville NeuroCare Therapy

Nashville NeuroCare Therapy Marks 10-Year Milestone in TMS Therapy for the Treatment of Depression - PRNewswire

Pokmon: 5 TMs You Can Buy That Are Absolutely Not Worth The Money (& 5 That Are) – TheGamer

Posted on August 3, 2020 by Danzig

Experienced Pokmon players will know just how important a good moveset is, as well as how crucial good TMs can to making them. Often, a Pokmons natural learnset just isnt up to snuff. Fan favorite Mewtwo, for instance, is a special attacking powerhouse, but without TMs itll mostly have terrible moves like Swift to choose from.

RELATED: Ranking The 10 Best TMs In Pokmon Generation 1

Whether youre breeding competitive Pokmon or just playing through the story, TMs offer quick and convenient access to some of the very best moves in the game (more convenient than ever now that they can be used unlimited times, unlike the TRs of Pokmon Sword & Shield). Some are available in stores and should be snapped up, while others can be an utter waste of money. Here are some Sword & Shield TMs you should steer clear of buying, alongside others youll want to make a beeline for.

With its premium price tag (50,000 Pokmon Dollars at the Battle Tower) and impressive-sounding name, you might think this Psychic-type status move would be a powerhouse worth acquiring. Sadly, though, in 99% of situations it just wont be.

What does it do? Switches the Defense and Special Defense stats of all Pokmon for a brief time. Now, there are a lot of advanced strategies to employ in Pokmon battles, but this move is probably one of the most difficult to pull off successfully. Its about as niche as it gets.

Trick Room has a lot in common with Wonder Room, being a status move that alters the state of the battlefield for five turns. In this case, however, its an incredibly powerful effect, perhaps the strongest that those terrifying Psychic-types have in their arsenal.

Trick Room reverses the turn order while its in effect, making the slowest Pokmon move first and the fastest move last. Its a devastatingly powerful and popular strategy, and only four Pokmon learn the move naturally: Porygon-Z, Oranguru, Diancie and Hoopa (both forms). This TM is a Battle Tower must-buy.

Now, were not about to snark on Normal-types here. They can be fantastic assets to teams, with their single weakness and super handy Ghost-type immunity. Its just that Normal STAB isnt super effective on anything so isnt as valuable, while Normal-type coverage moves basically arent a thing at all.

RELATED: 5 Reasons Its Important To Have A Normal-Type Pokmon On Your Team (& 5 Not To Bother)

Mega Kick, while very powerful at base 120, is mostly redundant. Once the signature move of Hitmonlee (which didnt get STAB on it), its a stronger, 75% accurate counterpart to Mega Punch, which is four times more expensive at 40,000 P from the rightmost Hammerlocke Pokmon Center. Feel free to skip this one.

If youre primarily a singles battler, you might not see very much use for Protect at all. Its much more niche in that format. Experienced doubles battlers, meanwhile, have surely used this invaluable TM over and over.

Protect simply shields the user from (almost) all damage for a turn, making it an essential part of many doubles Pokmons movesets (watch out for Dynamax/Gigantamax moves, though). Predicting which of your critters the opponent will target and keeping them safe in this way is the key to play in this format. One of the greatest Normal moves ever,Protect is an absolute bargain at 10,000 P and should be immediately nabbed from Motostokes leftmost Pokmon Center.

Also weighing it at 10,000 P, from a Hammerlocke Pokmon Center this time, we have TM35, Hail. This Ice-type status move is well, not one of the best that Ice-types have to offer.

Weather effects are astonishingly powerful strategies to build teams around. Rain, sun and sand are all very powerful in their own ways, offering passive boosts to certain typings and activating a range of useful Abilities (such as Swift Swim and Chlorophyll, which double the Pokmons Speed in rain and sun respectively). While hail has had a recent buff in the shape of the Slush Rush Ability (the equivalent of the aforementioned ones) and Aurora Veil, it remains the weakest of the weathers. When it is seen, its almost never set manually, making Hail the weakest of the weather-based TMs.

Next, were crossing over to Wyndon, where the Pokmon Center on the right side of the city offers the elemental punches as TMs. Fire Punch (TM03), Ice Punch (TM04) and Thunder Punch (TM05) are available here for 50,000 P each. All these moves provide excellent coverage options for physical attackers (though they do lack a little in raw power), but weve plumped for Ice Punch here.

Because Ice-types are weak to well, basically everything ever, the typing offers great offensive coverage in return. Dragon, Flying, Ground and Grass are all hit super effectively, with some key x4 weaknesses to boot. Tailor your choice to fit your team, but all three of these TM options can be great.

While youre in that Wyndon Pokmon Center, youll also notice Solar Blade available. This TM can be tempting, as its 125 base power will claim the soul of any Pokmon that doesnt appreciate Grass-type attacks. The trouble is, though, its a two-turn move, which tends to instantly make an attack unviable.

RELATED: Pokmon: The 10 Most Powerful Grass Moves, Ranked

In the sun, it doesnt require that charge turn, and it can also be mitigated with the use of a Power Herb. However, this makes it very restricting and unreliable outside of favorable weather or Dynamax. Its not the most efficient way to use your held item slot either. It can be very powerful, yes, but its so awkward to use.

Off we go back to Motostoke now, to claim a pair of TMs that we just couldnt choose between. Light Screen and Reflect have always been two sides of the same excellent coin, the cornerstone of many offensive and defensive strategies alike.

Light Screen halves the damage your team takes from special attacks for five turns, while Reflect has the same effect on physical damage (both can be extended to eight turns if the users holding Light Clay). Aurora Veil and Laprass G-Max Resonance sets both effects at once, though the former is only available in hail and the latter has obvious limitations. So-called dual screen Pokmon pack both of these moves and use the appropriate one for the situation, so youll want to grab both if this strategy appeals. Just watch out for Galarian Mr. Mime and Mr. Rime, as their exclusive Ability Screen Cleaner cancels out the effect of these moves entirely while its in battle (even for its own team)! Presumably the one above doesn't have that Ability.

As weve mentioned, Normal-type STAB isnt exactly the most sought-after. It can certainly leave a heck of dent, though, as when it comes to incredibly strong moves like the infamous Hyper Beam.

This special attack boasts great power, theres no denying. Aside from that and its super neat animation, though, we really cant recommend this one outside of very niche cases (such as Pixilate Sylveon, which sometimes rocks this for when it really needs to take something out). Its hugely appealing to newer players for its high base power, but this is another Wyndon TM youll probably want to leave in the store.

To close out our list, we have our most expensive TM of all: Imprison, which costs 100,000 P at the Battle Tower. What are you getting for your money? One of the most situational yet potentiallly devastating moves in the game, thats what.

This Psychic-type status move prevents opponents in play from using any move that the user also has. As such, it can be fantastic in doubles matches, denying the use of format mainstays like Trick Room and Protect. It wont come into play every match, but it can be deadly. Trick Room stategies are more popular than ever just now, and you might be surprised how much use you get from this move in competitive play.

NEXT: Ranking The 10 Best TMs In Pokmon Generation II

Next Pokmon: Which Water-Type Are You, Based On Your Chinese Zodiac?

Chris is a freelance video game journalist and entertainment writer from a small town in England. While he's an ardent fan of video games, regardless of platform, he specializes in retro games. His heart will always belong to the Sega Genesis. When he isn't gaming, Chris will usually be found catching up on the latest and greatest movies, whether at the theater or at home. He has sat through the Harry Potter movies more times than you have, and he doesnt care if you disagree.

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Pokmon: 5 TMs You Can Buy That Are Absolutely Not Worth The Money (& 5 That Are) - TheGamer

Racin’ Today Jeff Burton Talks Loudon, TMS, Family And TV – RacinToday.com

Posted on August 3, 2020 by Danzig

Jeff Burton has moved from the Cup cockpit to the TV booth. He talked about both this week. (RacinToday/HHP file photo by Alan Marler)

By John Sturbin | Senior WriterRacinToday.com

Once upon a restrictor plate, Jeff Burton led every lap of a NASCAR Cup Series race on a strange, early autumn Sunday afternoon in Loudon, N.H.

The events surrounding the Dura Lube 300 on Sept. 17, 2000 likely will be revisited this afternoon when Burton, in his role as NASCAR analyst for NBC Sports Group, covers the Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway (3 p.m., EDT, NBC Sports Network). But on that overcast race day nearly 20 years ago, the late Bob Bahres 1.058-mile oval was known as New Hampshire International Speedway _ and it was enveloped in controversy.

Kenny Irwin Jr., 30, had been killed at NHIS on July 7, 2000 in a crash during a Cup Series practice session. Irwins fatality occurred at almost the same spot in Turn 3 where 19-year-old Adam Petty _ grandson of King Richard and son of Kyle _ died on May 12, 2000 during a Busch Series practice. In both instances, reports cited stuck throttles with sending the respective cars head-on into the Turn 3 wall during a time before the mandated installation of SAFER Barriers.

In a bid to reassure its competitors and the public that the flat, paperclip-shaped NHIS layout was safe for big-time auto racing, NASCAR opted to slap restrictor plates onto the engines of each Cup car for the fall event. Plates had been in use only on the high-banked/2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway and 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway since 1998 to restrict an engines ability to create horsepower. While mandating plates didnt necessarily address the throttle issue, it did drop speeds by approximately 10 mph.

Jeff Burton remembers the day plates were on the table at New Hampshire.(RacinToday/HHP file photo by Christa L Thomas)

Burton qualified second to pole-sitter/championship-leader Bobby Labonte, immediately jumped to the front and went on to lead all 300 laps around the Magic Mile. Burton, driver of the No. 99 Exide Batteries Ford Taurus fielded by Jack Roush, said that rather than complain about the plate mandate, he and crew chief Frankie Stoddard were very focused on trying to get stuff done. To that end, Burton joined Steve Park, driver of the No. 1 Chevrolet fielded by Dale Earnhardt Inc., in a test on the Wednesday before the NHIS race at The Milwaukee Mile in West Allis, Wis.

At New Hampshire, when they put restrictor plates on the cars, we didnt complain about it, we just went to work, Burton recalled during a phone interview with RacinToday.com. We went to Milwaukee and tested and were really good at that _at not getting caught up in complaining. We were just really focused on us.

The race ended under caution when Sterling Marlins No. 40 Chevy blew a tire with three laps remaining, capping the safe and uneventful day the sanctioning body desperately needed. Burtons average speed in a race slowed for 42 laps by seven caution flags was 102.003 mph.

Burton also had won the Pepsi 400 at DIS in July, giving him two consecutive victories in restrictor plate races. This was a lot different, Burton said. Anytime there is big change and you do well you have a lot of pride.

That workmanlike approach, Burton noted, had carried him to his first Cup win in another controversial race. Burton posted the first of his 21 Cup victories in the inaugural Interstate Batteries 500 at Texas Motor Speedway on April 6, 1997 before a crowd of over 200,000 in Fort Worth.

It started at the test, said Burton, then paired with veteran crew chief Buddy Parrott on the No. 99 team. I went out there in a rental car and about wrecked coming off Turn 4. I almost hit the wall and immediately went, Oh my God! All we kept hearing is, Its just like Charlotte and I made a lap in a rental car and Im like, This is NOTHING like Charlotte. It was sketchy. Like, if you missed a groove you were going to wreck. It was a mess.

But our team was really good at this. We didnt do a whole lot of complaining about race conditions. It was what it was. And if you look at our wins, we really won races where we had adverse situations. So that approach led into the race (at TMS). This is going to be really difficult, but were in control of this. That attitude was really a lot of what helped us on that day.

Jeff Burton has vivid memories of racing at Texas Motor Speedway. (RacinToday/HHP file photo by Harold Hinson)

That goes into the year before as well. The year before that we had started the No. 99 team and had come really close to winning some races. And there were times we looked like a really, really good experienced team and there were times we looked like a very inexperienced and immature team. We were putting ourselves in a position to win and we just werent pulling it off. We just werent making it happen. I mean, we were a brand new team. Hell, we didnt have a car. We didnt move into our shop until after Thanksgiving (1996), so we were just crawling. So that year and early in 1997 was kind of the culmination of all that stuff.

Somewhat fittingly, the native Virginian also became the first repeat Cup winner in Fort Worth by leading the 334th and final lap in the No. 31 Chevrolet Monte Carlo fielded by Richard Childress Racing during the Samsung 500 on April 15, 2007.

Burtons NASCAR resume at TMS also features a celebrated physical confrontation with four-time Cup champion Jeff Gordon. Unfortunately, its really high on my list. Its one of the moments I really regret, said Burton, referring to the crash and resulting backstretch shoving match involving Gordon during the AAA Texas 500 on Nov. 7, 2010. Burton admittedly initiated the contact _ under caution _ after an incident that began to unfold through Turns 3 and 4.

Its one of the few things that are kind of humorous after the fact, but one of those moments I wish I could have taken back, Burton said. Jeff and II think we were running 17th and 18th and thats where the problems start _ were both running frustrated and both mad and both of our angers got the better of us. Its one of those moments I look back on and am not proud of.

Still, all those moments have shaped the perspective Burton now brings to the TV audience. And in his role as NASCAR dad, every hot lap is central to the advice Burton is passing onto 19-year-old son Harrison in his fledgling Xfinity Series career.

You have to have a code in which youre going to race, said Burton, 53. Youre going to race people a certain way. And when you race people that way, you should expect that they race you that way.

That advice came into play after the Alsco 200 Xfinity race at Kentucky Speedway on July 17. Noah Gragson drifted into Harrison Burton during a restart with 13 laps to go, sending both cars into the outside wall and out of contention for possible top-five finishes. Burton confronted Gragson post-race, with a conversation escalating to the point where Burton shoved Gragson in the chest. Gragson, 22, responded with a right cross that caught Burtons ear before NASCAR officials and crewmen ended the scrum.

Burton, who drives the No. 20 Toyota Supra for Joe Gibbs Racing, said he was frustrated with Gragson after a similar incident this season at Charlotte Motor Speedway with the No. 9 Chevy Camaro fielded by JR Motorsports.

Harrison and I didnt ever have conversations about, Well, you need to learn how to fight,^ Jeff Burton said. Im not the dad that hugs my kids when they get in a fight. Im the dad that believes that your kids need to treat people the way they want to be treated, and theres times that you have to make a stand. And I thought that Harrison would be making a mistake to leave that racetrack without letting Noah know how he felt.

Jeff Gordons car after run-in with Jeff Burton at Texas a couple years back. (File photo by Robert Laberge/Getty Images for NASCAR)

At the same time, Burton reiterated he is a TV analyst and an easy target of social media second-guessing when it comes to nepotism.

Im not able to just be a dad, Burton said. Noah Gragson deserves to know that Im going to be fair to him, too. I see Noah as a young driver that in the offseason has decided he needs to make a mark. Hes said, I dont know what Im doing next year. I dont know what I got going on. He has told us in interviews with our NBC crowd, They dont ask how youve won, they ask how many youve won. So heres a young man trying to make his way in racing and hes decided hes going to push the barriers in an effort to get what he needs out of the sport.

I have to respect that, too. My situation is unique. I dont get to pick a side.

The TV booth has been Burtons second garage area since joining NBC in 2015. As has been the case during the current COVID-19 pandemic, Burton will be covering Sundays race from a booth at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C. That facility has two individual booths, with Burton and former Hendrick Motorsports Cup superstar Dale Earnhardt Jr. in one and lead announcer Rick Allen and former Hendrick Motorsports Cup crew chief Steve LeTarte in another. The crew works off monitors and screens covering the entirety of the track.

Were doing our best to simulate being at the track without being at the track, said Burton, whose transition from driver to analyst has been relatively seamless. Still, prep work certainly is part of his weekly routine.

Were pretty low on meetings (at NBC), said Burton, whose network nickname is Mayor of the Cup garage. We typically have a meeting during the week that lasts 30 to 45 minutes at the most. And then well have a get-together when we first arrive at the track _ six-seven of us at the most _ and have a conversation. Thats about it.

Burton said he keeps in near constant contact with crew chiefs, car-owners and crew members during a typical week. Ive learned that texting is the most effective way and the texts many times lead into a phone conversation, Burton said. Its reading articles. Its reading stuff the teams put out. Its going back and listening to interviews. Its the texting and calling that I do myself. We do ZOOM meetings with drivers.

So I dont know how to put a timeframe on it because with social media youre constantly following the drivers, the teams and all that. I dont want to say its all the time, meaning Im just sitting in my house looking at Twitter and Instagram and press releases and all that. But youre constantly checking on things.

And despite his natural gift-of-gab, Burton admitted to once being lost for words on-air. Oh, yeah. The one that really sticks out is the very first race that I did, when Austin Dillon got into the fence at Daytona, Burton said.

Recall that the finish of the Coke Zero 400 on July 6, 2015 was marred by a crash that catapulted Dillons No. 3 Chevrolet from the bottom of the track, over two rows of speeding cars and into the catchfence at DIS. Shredding parts and pieces, the car slammed back onto the track on its roof and spun to a halt. Miraculously, Dillon exited the wreckage with help from safety workers and waved to the crowd.

It happened almost right below us and the view I had was terrifying, Burton said. I know Austins dad (Mike Dillon) really well and his grandad (team-owner/former boss Richard Childress) really well and at that point, I was at a loss for words. And theres times you really dont need to say anything. Its important to remember Im an analyst, and Rick, hes our voice. And in moments like that its best to just step out and let Rick handle it. But that one time really sticks out, for sure.

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Racin' Today Jeff Burton Talks Loudon, TMS, Family And TV - RacinToday.com

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