James Packer caught in the middle of high seas drama – Chronicle

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There has been drama on the high seas on James Packer's yacht IJE.

Confidential can reveal two of the billionaire's guests have separated and are getting divorced after a blow up on board the luxury cruiser.

Hollywood producer Adam Schroeder and Australian musician and songwriter James Maas were among Packer's inner-circle when they fell out on the three week trip off the coast of Mexico.

Tensions have long been high between Schroeder and Maas, who have been married for seven years.

It is understood the situation came to a head when Schroeder cut up Maas' clothes and threw them overboard, along with other personal effects.

The couple stayed in separate rooms for the next week. The American producer, behind films including Clueless, Zoolander, Sleepy Hollow, Shaft, The Truman Show and First Wives Club, is understood to have disembarked in the sea port of La Paz.

"It was all pretty ugly and awkward," said a source. "James (Maas) was mortified at the scene in front of everyone."

Maas, who is close friends with both Packer and his ex wife Jodhi Meares, flew home to Los Angeles four days later on the billionaire's private jet.

Packer is now on the boat with his ex-wife, Erika Packer and their three children, Indigo, Jackson and Emmanuelle, after whom the $200 million 354-Foot Benetti Gigayacht is named.

The boat boasts 11 cabins and is five stories high with its own heated swimming pool, cinema, sauna, driving range and gym.

James Maas and his husband Adam Schroeder. Picture: Instagram

Maas with Packer on the IJE. Picture: Backgrid

Others to have been on the yacht over recent weeks include Packer's best mate, Ben Tilley.

Maas, 32, who grew up in Sydney's northern beaches, moved to Los Angeles nine years ago and was introduced to Schroeder through friends.

The Australian would not comment when contacted by The Daily Telegraph yesterday.

He and Packer have known each other for many years given Maas is close with Meares and are understood to have grown into their friendship over the past year.

Maas has also been seen holidaying in Aspen, Colorado, with Packer and his girlfriend Kylie Lim.

They have been photographed hanging out a number of times.

It was Maas who flew to Hawaii to be with Meares when she split from ex boyfriend, rocker Jon Stevens, back in 2015.

Maas was well connected when he lived in Sydney, and is understood to be friends with Alan Jones, Kyle Sandilands, John Ibrahim and Delta Goodrem.

Originally published as James Packer caught in the middle of high seas drama

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James Packer caught in the middle of high seas drama - Chronicle

Sea Rescue warns of rough seas – Zululand Observer

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IN light of yesterdays (Wednesday) weather warning from the South African Weather Service, the NSRI urges the public to be cautious at the coast in the coming days.

High, rough seas and gale-force winds have been forecast.

ALSO READ: Severe weather warning issued

This severe weather could lead to localised flooding and storm surges, which are some of the winter weather phenomena set to accompany cold fronts that are due to hit the Western Cape today.

High seas could result in damage to coastal infrastructure and coastal erosion, as well as disruptions to port and small harbour activities.

With storms and high seas predicted along coastal regions, our concern is for smaller vessels at sea which may have difficulty navigating through the conditions, said NSRI CEO, Dr Cleeve Robertson.

We also appeal to boaters, paddlers, beach-goers, surfers, coastal hikers, anglers and the general public to be cautious around the coastline, and to follow weather forecasts.

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Beach-goers and coastal hikers should steer clear of the coastline, as dangerous waves or surges may catch them off-guard and sweep them off the rocks along the shoreline.

Sea-going craft are encouraged to download the free NSRI Safe Trax app by visiting https://www.nsri.org.za/safetrx/

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How to Play Roulette and Always Win – TheUSBport

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Roulette is a game based on luck and theres not a single formula to win at it. The same case applies to gamble in general, so roulette is not an exception. To win at roulette, you must first learn the basics. Beware of how the roulette wheel spin, understand the table structure, and the numbering therein. This gambling game like all the rest gives the house an edge over the player. Even if the player wins in the short run, the house always has an advantage in the long run.

Gaming professionals will advise you to always focus on playing roulette for fun, other than making money. If you expect to spin the roulette wheel to earn you a living, disappointment awaits you.

Another secret about playing roulette is to ensure you control your gambling habit. You do not want to experience massive losses after betting all your money away. As much as the game is addictive, ensure that you limit the money you use to bet.

Do you want to know how exactly to be successful at roulette and stand better chances of winning money? I will outline some tips that can increase your odds in the game. Its not necessarily a sure bet that when you apply them you will win. However, these tips will place you a notch higher in succeeding at roulette.

Roulette shouldnt be hard for you as a beginner if you invest some time in practice. The game provides a free version where you can sharpen your skills before playing for real money. If you choose the free version of roulette, you will access free credit that you can use to familiarize yourself with how the game is played.

European roulette should always be your choice of roulette since it has better odds than its counterpart the American roulette. This means that the latter with its single zero pose a chance of wins at 37/1 while the former at 38/1. American roulette always gives the house an edge. So, if European roulette is unavailable, choose not to play roulette to prevent losing money.

What to Consider When you Place Your First Bet

Roulette is a great pastime game once you master how its done. Practicing how to place bets is one step towards achieving success in the game. So, when you place your first bet you have to consider some points;

Choose the right table

Roulette has various tables therefore its up to you to choose the right one. The European roulette table is the best since it will give you an edge over the house. Avoid the American roulette table as its associated with loss of money since it gives the house an edge over you. Check theGclub Grand casino instead.

Start with basic bets and improve them as you progress

When placing your first bet, dont combine bets at first. If you are betting on a color, stick to it. Then when you have mastered the art, you can combine the bets. Hence, you can bet on numbers, colors, and evens at a go.

Where to Practice Roulette Before You Bet Real Money

There are a variety of sites to practice free roulette. They include American Roulette Mobile, European Roulette Mobile, Euro Roulette Gold, Roulette Pro Low Limit, among others. Such sites offer you free versions of roulette so you can hone your skills. Additionally, they guide you on playing the game to the best of your ability. Thus, once you are ready to beat real money, you are good to go and try it on 918kiss.

Free roulette is also good because in case you are an addict to gambling, you wont lose a lot of money. So, whether you are a veteran or a novice, free roulette is available for you. Through it, you can always make yourself an expert in roulette.

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How to Play Roulette and Always Win - TheUSBport

‘People are willing to play Russian roulette with their familys lives’: Doctor slams behavior in US – FOX 10 News Phoenix

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Everyone needs to wear a mask, emergency doctor says

Dr. Hilary Fairbrother, an emergency medicine physician in Texas, discusses the importance of mask-wearing amid the pandemic.

TUCSON, Ariz. - As coronavirus cases continue to climb in dozens of U.S. states, an emergency medicine doctor in Arizona described the devastating situation in hospitals and the dire toll the pandemic has taken on health care workers, who are being stretched to their limits.

We intubated a 26-year-old this last week. We had three members of one family in an ICU. Its devastating. It feels like people are willing to play Russian roulette with their familys lives, said Dr. Brad Dreifuss, an emergency physician and public health specialist in Tucson, Arizona.

The country began the month of July with cases climbing in 40 states and reported its three highest daily case totals since the pandemic began in the spring, according to data compiled by the New York Times.

The surge in new cases, including in states like Arizona, Florida, Texas and California, has been blamed in part on Americans not wearing masks or obeying other social-distancing rules. The rising cases has prompted some governors to halt the reopening of businesses or to order others to re-close.

People, some with a mask and others without, walk along the Venice Boardwalk on July 5, 2020 in Venice, California. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

We have interventions that reduce spread from one person to another, like masking and physical distancing. I dont understand why people risk infecting their loved ones with a potentially deadly disease, a disease we know has long-term health effects for those who survive it, Dreifuss said, adding that even asymptomatic people can suffer from reduced lung function.

RELATED: Today is day 93: People report experiencing COVID-19 symptoms that last for months

On Monday, Dreifuss state of Arizona crossed an alarming milestone in the pandemic, becoming the eighth state to surpass more than 100,000 cases. State health officials said more than half of the reported COVID-19 cases are in people younger than 44.

Additionally, officials said last week that 89% of Arizonas ICU beds were full.

We have had patients backed up into the Emergency Department, waiting for a bed to open in the ICU, but all the beds were full or there wasnt enough staff available to care for the patients, Dreifuss said, who works as the director of rural and global emergency medicine programs at the University of Arizona College of Medicine.

Efforts are being made to open overflow units and add additional bed capacity, but even if we add spaces to put sick people, our staff is still stretched thin, he added.

RELATED: Mexican state eyes closing US border as COVID-19 cases rise in Arizona

Dreifuss has been living apart from his wife and daughter for months to prevent infecting them. He recently penned a poignant op-ed for the New York Times describing how close health care workers are to breaking amid staffing shortages that have plagued the industry years before the novel coronavirus.

Dreifuss said further movement toward a corporate, for-profit health care model over the past two decades in the U.S. has resulted in a lack of preparedness in the face of COVID-19.

Staffing decisions have been made with an eye to maximizing a profit margin by minimizing the size of the health care workforce. As a result, we have a health care workforce that is already strained, working at unsustainable levels of intensity with limited staffing resources in the name of productivity. Add COVID-19 to that situation and you have a recipe for disaster, he said.

The strain on front-line workers led to the formation of a Tucson-based program called HCW Hosted, spearheaded by Dreifuss and other health care professionals. The coalition aims to help health care workers find suitable housing to isolate from their families and provide emotional support, among other initiatives.

We have a Veterans Affairs department at the highest levels of government to support our military and military families, Dreifuss said. Why should healthcare workers and their families be left unsupported when they risk their lives and health in the battle against a pandemic disease, like COVID-19?

RELATED: CoronavirusNOW.com, FOX launches national hub for COVID-19 news and updates

On the heels of the Fourth of July, Dreifuss said the country needs to unify around the patriotic project of decreasing the spread of COVID-19 calling protective measures such as wearing a mask and keeping physical distance patriotic acts.

Dreifuss is also among a number of public health officials calling for a more effective strategy as a nation to test, contact trace and quarantine.

In countries around the world where mask-wearing is seen as patriotic, they arent seeing the same kind of economic and human toll that we are in the United States, Dreifuss said. Frankly, by resisting masks and physical distancing, we are weakening America.

RELATED: 'Everyone needs to wear a mask': Doctors issue urgent plea to Americans as COVID-19 cases surge

This story was reported from Cincinnati.

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'People are willing to play Russian roulette with their familys lives': Doctor slams behavior in US - FOX 10 News Phoenix

Will the schools open? Behind that unanswerable question lies a national catastrophe – Salon

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Here's what we know about whether it's safe or practical to send millions of American kids and teenagers back to school for the fall term, which in some districts begins in just over a month: Nothing.

Parents, teachers, school administrators and elected officials are I mean, pick your clich: We're lost. (I'm a public school parent in New York City, so I'll go with the first-person plural.) We're wandering in the desert without a map as darkness falls, or perhaps trying to find an invisible needle in a burning haystack, which is threatening to set the entire barn on fire. As Robin Cogan, a school nurse in Camden, New Jersey, told the New York Times: "It feels like we're playing Russian roulette with our kids and our staff."

She's right: It's a "Deer Hunter"-style game of Russian roulette, played blindfolded under conditions of complete chaos. For reasons of their own, which are of course entirely self-interested and poorly thought-out, President Trump and Betsy DeVos, his Dickens-villain education secretary, are pushing all public and private schools to open all the way for all students, five days a week. Like every other Trumpian strategy relating to the coronavirus pandemic, that won't work and is a terrible idea. Its only saving grace is that the federal government plays only a minor role in managing public education, which is one of those things a lot of liberals lament in more "normal" times and should be grateful for now.

One of the great ironies of this painful situation is that many of those liberals, for understandable and in many ways admirable reasons, are also eager to see schools reopen and have put themselves in the darkly hilarious position of urging us not to reject the evil Trumpian plan just because it's an evil Trumpian plan proposed by literally the worst people ever. And look, let's agree on some stuff here.

It would be better for the mental and physical health and intellectual development of nearly all children for them to be in school. Hardly any kids have enjoyed sitting at home struggling with "online learning" models that almost entirely suck and for many kids, especially those with special needs and those in low-income families or immigrant households, online instruction hasn't worked at all.

To state the obvious: People like me, or like my former colleague Michelle Goldberg, a prominent voice in the "schools must reopen" chorus meaning middle-class parents with resources and options are not bearing the brunt of this disaster. It sucks for us too, but one way or another, my kids and Michelle's will be OK. (We don't know the details of "OK" right now, which is distressing, but whatever.) Keeping kids out of school puts an unsustainable burden on all working families, but especially on working-class or poor families and communities of color. And that burden disproportionately falls on women, affecting their ability to make a living, pursue an education or build career opportunities.

All of that is true and devastating and tragic. But that left-liberal social-theory worldview is exactly what led New York Mayor Bill de Blasio to delay closing the city's public schools in March, a decision that quite plausibly cost thousands of lives. It has driven much of the New York Times coverage of this issue, which leans hard on the proposition again, a defensible and understandable one that public education is a foundational element of any social justice agenda. It fueled one of the most ludicrous Times editorials in that institution's troubled recent history, which began by announcing that "American children need public schools to reopen in the fall," and concluded by admitting that probably would not and could not happen on any large scale.

If you've been waiting since the first paragraph to inform me that in fact we know considerably more than "nothing," and that there's fairly strong evidence that young children don't easily catch the coronavirus, tend not to get sick if they do catch it, and do not appear to spread it to others thank you and, yes, that's true. (When it comes to high school kids, the picture is nowhere near as clear.) But honestly, that argument like the "public schools are central to democracy" argument feels like a tangential issue right now, and a classic example of the liberal tendency to compartmentalize and avoid the bigger questions.

Yes, various other countries have reopened their schools, with greater or lesser degrees of success. That's gone pretty well in most of Europe, although Hong Kong and Israel, two very different kinds of places, had to shutter the schools again after renewed outbreaks. But no other country, anywhere in the world, has tried to do the unbelievably stupid thing the United States is apparently about to do: Reopen the schools, in piecemeal, half-baked, "let's put on a show" fashion, while the pandemic is still surging and has clearly not yet crested, and without any semblance of a national strategy to control it.

There's a central flaw in the left-liberal "schools must open" logic, which is so obvious we hardly ever talk about it. All of this rests on the fundamental assumption that a neoliberal "market" economy is the natural order of things, and that real solutions that might make this situation manageable for parents, students, teachers and employers are simply off the table. Another kind of society might have a national child care policy and a national health care policy in place, which might require some emergency augmentation but would already be there. It might authorize direct, continuing payments to parents forced out of work because their kids are at home or, what the hell, even to parents who can continue to work from home but would like to preserve what remains of their sanity and occasionally get some sleep.

We appear to be stuck in a circular conundrum, which everyone can perceive but no one can fix: Kids have to go to school because their parents have to go to work, because that's the only way society can possibly function but none of that stuff is possible amid a massive public health emergency that seems to be getting worse rather than better, especially under a federal government whose official policy is that reality does not exist.

Given all that, what will actually happen? Nobody knows, but it won't be good. Most big school districts, including New York's by far the largest in the country are trying to cobble together some version of "blended" or "hybrid" learning, which means a combination of limited, socially-distanced in-person instruction and the largely disastrous online-learning experiment of the spring.

Some districts in especially hard-hit areas, including Miami and Phoenix, have made clear they will almost certainly begin the year with online instruction only and as inadequate as that is in educational, social and psychological terms, I can't see how they could make any other choice. In Palm Beach County, the president's nominal place of residence, officials have said the entire school year will probably be online and if that's not a giant FU to the lord of Mar-a-Lago, I don't know what would be.

But the bigger picture isn't even as coherent as that sounds. Most school districts still have no idea whether they'll open the doors in the fall, or to what extent, or whether any of their throwing-spaghetti-at-the-wall instructional plans will actually work. The teachers union in Los Angeles, the second-largest district in the nation and one of the worst pandemic hotspots of the summer has officially called for schools to remain closed in the fall, with the overwhelming support of its membership. With Mayor Eric Garcetti clearly on the verge of ordering another shutdown, it appears unlikely that any L.A. students will attend school this year.

A hundred miles south in San Diego, officials not long ago confidently announced a "detailed plan," developedin consultation with public health experts, that would allow them to reopen all schools at the end of August. But that was during the moment of California hubris, when the state appeared to have weathered the COVID storm and begun moving into a measured reopening. Over the last week or so, San Diego County has reported about 500 new cases a day, and dozens of uncontrolled "community outbreaks." The teachers union there has gently expressed "concern" that the school district's plan does not appear to involve smaller class sizes, improved ventilation or increased testing capacity and that there's no funding for any of that stuff.

Teachers unions in New York, Chicago and other large cities haven't taken clearpositions yet, but the possibility of a widespread refusal to return to work appears very real. There's a growing sentiment among teachers, principals and many elected officials that schools should not even try to reopen in any given locality until coronavirus case numbers are declining and "community spread" is clearly under control. Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner put it succinctly over the weekend: "It makes no sense"to consider sending children in his city back to school, given the scale of the current crisis. Under that standard, probably only the Northeast Corridor states would currently qualify for reopening but given the horrific experience those of us in the New York metropolitan area endured through the early spring, there's not much appetite for taking on unknown risk.

Who wants to stand up right now and tell me that this is the greatest nation in the world? Because that has gone from highly debatable to an objectively cruel falsehood. Along with all the conflicting arguments and ambiguous public-health evidence, we face the transmutation of what ought to be a straightforward (if challenging) question of social policy into a culture-war issue because absolutely goddamn everything in 2020 America has to be a culture-war issue. (I stood in a supermarket in upstate New York this weekend looking at the stacks of beer cartons on the floor and realized that they presented a culture-war issue: Coors Light, or some overpriced, overly-hoppy IPA with zany graphics on the box? If there's a neutral space in that conflict, it's probably Heineken which was sold out.)

The fact that we do not have the slightest f**king idea how to send 60 million-plus American kids back to school safely amid a worsening pandemic isn't just an inconvenience, or an impediment to a return to economic normalcy which is just not a thing we can have right now, people, and pretending it might somehow be possible is not helping.

It's a social catastrophe whose effects will be far-reaching and unknowable. It's a national humiliation, one of many in this period of rapid American decline or implosion. It's a giant flashing ALL-CAPS sign, directed at adults of all backgrounds and dispensations and political parties, informing us that we have failed in our primary responsibility of creating the best possible options and opportunities for those who will still be here when we're gone.

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Will the schools open? Behind that unanswerable question lies a national catastrophe - Salon

MDH: Don’t even think about holding a ‘COVID party’ to get exposed – Bring Me The News

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Health officials in Minnesota have warned people considering holding "COVID parties" to expose themselves to the virus to think again, saying they could be playing "Russian Roulette" with their safety.

Minnesota Department of Health Director of Infectious Diseases Kris Ehresmann says the department has heard "from various sources" that there are talks of groups of people organizing such parties, "presumably to get COVID at time more convenient to them."

This is similar to the "chickenpox parties" some parents held for their children before the vaccine for the disease was approved, and apparently is now being considered for COVID among younger Minnesotans, prompting a warning during the Wednesday COVID-19 MDH briefing.

"If you're thinking, 'let's just do this and get it over with,' it's really playing Russian Roulette," Ehresmann said.

She said that while cases of COVID-19 affecting younger people aren't typically as severe, "this does not mean younger individuals do not have serious illness."

"We've had at least three deaths in healthy people in their 20s," she said. "So this is something we are very concerned about."

With the pandemic only about six months old, health officials around the world are still learning more about the effects of COVID-19.

At this stage, it's not known whether you can be re-infected with COVID-19 having already had it.

There have been early studies that suggest antibodies to the virus diminish after two months from recovery, while a study of 61,000 people in Spain found that only 5 percent had COVID antibodies, a long way from the 60-70 percent required to develop herd immunity.

The comments from MDH come in the same week that the city of Edina has warned young people to limit their exposure to others, after a surge in cases among young people in the city.

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The health department confirmed that surge Wednesday, saying contact tracing found that those infected have attended house parties, bonfires, and cabin weekends, while some sports teams have reported exposures albeit some of those infected on said sports teams have also attended house parties and cabin weekends.

Ehresmann also said there have been multiple positive cases traced back to a "very large party held in late June in Edina."

"We recognize and appreciate the mayor's admonition to young people to ensure they are practicing social distancing," she said. "We want to acknowledge as well that this surge in young people is not restricted to Edina, young people from across state are accounting for the bulk of cases in the last two weeks."

Ehresmann said bars and restaurants continue to be a "significant source of exposure" in younger people, which follows several instances of multiple cases being traced back to bars in Minneapolis, Mankato, and St. Cloud.

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MDH: Don't even think about holding a 'COVID party' to get exposed - Bring Me The News

Encore Boston Harbor Opens With Safety Precautions After Coronavirus Shutdown – msnNOW

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BOSTON (CBS) More and more businesses are welcoming back customers across Massachusetts as the state is now in Phase 3 of its reopening plan. That list now includes Encore Boston Harbor.

The casino opened its doors at 9 a.m. on Sunday, about four months after closing due to coronavirus.

So what can you expect at the casino? Customers are going to be required to wear masks, and have their temperatures checked at the door.

Encore Boston Harbor reopened July 12 with a new normal. (WBZ-TV)

Protective plastic dividers are set up between slot machines and between seats at gaming tables.

Capacity on the gaming floor will be limited to about half. Games, like poker, craps and roulette, are not going to be offered.

They have to wear a mask to have a little fun and its a small price to pay to have a great night, said Encore Boston Harbor President Brian Gullbrants.

Most of the propertys restaurants will be open. Rooms in the hotel are available four days a week.

Patron Ryan Caldeira said, Its just a precaution of opening up and being safe. Its going to come to an end sometime so Im just trying to see how things are now because I know what its like when its normal.

The turnout was really, really well, Gullbrants added. We need to eventually get things going again, but we need to do it safely and this is just another step in that.

Despite the casino reopening, hundreds of employees are not returning to work yet.

MGM Springfield is set to open on Monday.

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Encore Boston Harbor Opens With Safety Precautions After Coronavirus Shutdown - msnNOW

Summer on Mars: NASA’s Perseverance Rover Is One of Three Missions Ready to Launch – Scientific American

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If space exploration was a popularity contest, Mars would be struggling for admirers.Once the darling of 20th-century planetary scientists, the worlds allure has cooled somewhat as other exciting localesthe woefully unexplored Venus, for example, or Saturns thrilling moon Titanbegin to turn more heads. But Mars is not relinquishing its time in the limelight quite yet. This summer, three new missions are launching to the Red Planetand at least one of them could reinvigorate interest in Mars with a renewed search for life there.

On July 14 the United Arab Emirates Hope orbiterthe first interplanetary spacecraft ever built by the the countryis scheduled to take off for Mars on a Japanese rocket. In the same month-long launch windowwhich occurs every 26 months, when the planet aligns with Earth for easier traversalit will likely be joined by Chinas Tianwen-1 orbiter and lander, also a first mission to Mars for the rising space power. And NASAs Perseverance rover, the U.S. space agencys latest effort to hunt for life on the planet, will probably launch in that window as well. A fourth mission, Europes Rosalind Franklin rover, was supposed to join this Martian armada. But it was delayed until 2022, in part because of the coronavirus pandemic. Nevertheless, these three missions are as clear a sign as any that the Red Planet has not lost its appeal just yet.

NASAs exploration of Mars has been steadily consistent. Following the Mariner probes in the 1960s and 1970s, which returned the first images of the planet, the Viking 1 and 2 landers became the firstand still the most ambitiousmissions to search for Martian life. While inconclusive, the Viking landers were followed by subsequent orbiters and rovers, culminating in the Curiosity rovers landing in 2012, that have painted a fascinating picture of what the world was once like. Weve learned that Mars has a diversity of habitable environments, says astrobiologist Kennda Lynch of the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston. People are more positive for potentially being able to find evidence that life, in some point in Mars past, existed.

Perseverance is the next step in that journey. The rover is now scheduled to launch between July 30 and August 15, after a slight delay because of the late discovery of a minor hardware problem in the final stages of testing. If all goes as planned, it will touch down in a fascinating region of Mars known as Jezero Crater on February 18, 2021. Measuring 45 kilometers across, this crater is home to a multi-billion-year-old river delta, an environment that may have preserved clear signs of life on the early planet.

This is an impact crater that has ancient river valleys over 3.5 billion years old that fed water into the basin of the crater, a standing lake about the size of Lake Tahoe in the U.S., says Timothy Goudge of the Jackson School of Geosciences at the University of Texas at Austin, who led the case for Jezero during the landing site selection process. Its not the only delta on Mars, [but] its one of the best-exposed. Lakes on Earth are very good habitable environments where life flourishes. And delta deposits can preserve a record of any potential life that was extant within the lake.

Armed with a suite of instruments, Perseverance will probe this region in exquisite detail. In some respects, the rover is a twin of Curiosity: the two outwardly appear almost identical. Their landing systems will match, too. Both use the same sort of autonomous, rocket-powered sky crane platform that previously lowered Curiosity on cables to a gentle, pinpoint touchdown on the Martian surface.

While similar in appearance to Curiosity, under the hood, Perseverance is a vastly different beast. The rover has benefited from a number of upgrades, including an improved, more precise landing system and hardened wheels to better cope with the rough Martian terrain. And whereas Curiositys tools were suited to assessing the habitability of Mars, Perseverance will be more focused on the hunt for evidence of life itself.

Were seeking signs of life, and that motivates a different suite of instruments, says Ken Farley, project scientist for Perseverance at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory. On the robotic arm, we have an instrument called PIXL, which measures the elemental distribution in a postage-stamp-sized area of rock. In that same area, we can take visual imagery with an instrument called WATSON. And we can measure the distribution of organic matter with an instrument called SHERLOC. These things together provide the most compelling way to find evidence of the kind of simple life that might have existed on Mars.

That evidence could include signs of fossilized microbial life hidden in Jezeros substantial deposits of carbonate rocks. On Earth, such environments have preserved ancient stromatolites, moundlike layered structures formed by primitive microorganisms. Those could be left in the rock record as macro-sized fossils that we might be able to see, says Kirsten Siebach, a Mars-focused geologist at Rice University. Thats pretty ambitious. It would be a strong claim to say we expect that. But those are the kinds of things were looking for. Such evidence will be examined using SHERLOCs ultraviolet Raman spectrometer, the first of its kind on Mars. Doing so will allow the composition of rocks to be measured without first vaporizing them with laser beams (the more destructive technique employed by Curiosity).

Perseverance alone might not be able to understand this evidence, however. One of the rovers key objectives is to collect samples of potential astrobiological significance and then store them in small caches on the Martian surface. The plan is for a future sample-return mission to land, pick up the caches and launch back to Earth in about a decade. The exact logistics of that mission are not clear, but it will likely be an international effort involving NASA and the European Space Agency that will arrive around 2028 and bring the samples to our planet in 2031. Ultimately to really confirm the presence of biosignatures, the samples are going to have to be returned to Earth, says Frances Rivera-Hernandez, a planetary geologist at Dartmouth College.

Perseverance has a few more tricks up its sleeve, too. An instrument called MEDA will monitor the Martian weather, while MOXIE will practice producing oxygen from carbon dioxide in the Martian airwhich could be a critical tool for future human missions. The RIMFAX instrument will be the first ground-penetrating radar landed on Mars, able to detect water and ice to depths of 10 meters. And a variety of onboard cameras will reveal the rovers surroundings in unprecedented visual clarity, producing videos of the surface, as well as detailed footage of the landing itself.

If that was not enough, the rover even has a helicopter named Ingenuity tucked into its belly. Weighing just shy of two kilograms, Ingenuity will be deployed and operated in the first 90 days of the mission. And it will constitute the first attempt at aerial flight on another world. The helicopter is unlike anything weve ever really built before, says Matt Wallace, deputy project manager of Perseverance at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Although mostly just a technology demonstration, Ingenuity will also attempt to take images of Mars from the air, including pictures of the rover that carried it to the surface.

Following the landing, Perseverance will spend its two-Earth-year primary mission exploring Jezero Crater, studying and collecting signs of life. After this task, the rover could be driven out of the crater to explore another nearby region, called Midway, that is rich in carbonate rocks. People believe it is another habitable environment, Farley says. Some house-sized rocks there could also be pieces of the planets mantle thrown out by the impact that formed Jezerointriguing targets of study that could potentially yield new insights into the Martian subsurface.

Joining Perseverance at Mars will be Hope and Tianwen-1. The former is an orbiter designed to study the atmosphere of the world. Over the course of a Martian year, it will also examine the planets climateincluding massive dust storms, one of which led to the demise of NASAs Opportunity rover in 2018. Aside from its science goals, however, Hope is intended to signal the United Arab Emirates shift from an oil-driven economy to one focused on science and engineering. Our space program and Mars mission is a means for a much bigger goal, says Omran Sharaf, Hopes project lead. Its about the future of the U.A.E.

Chinas Tianwen-1 mission is similarly a statement. The nation has already showcased its cosmic aspirations by launching humans to space, developing a space station and conducting lunar missions, including the first ever landing on the far side of the moon. Now, with Tianwen-1, it aims to prove it is an interplanetary space power, too. It would bring a lot of prestige, says Andrew Jones, a journalist that covers spaceflight in China. Only NASA has been able to land and operate on Mars.

Tianwen-1 will be slightly unusual, however. After arriving at the planet in February 2021, it will linger in orbit for months before it deploys its lander and rover and attempts a landingperhaps in Utopia Planitia, not far from the Viking 2 lander. The rover will then drive off its landing platform and study its environs with its six instrumentsincluding a radar device to study ice and water under the surface and a laser tool to measure rock compositions. Its intended lifetime will be three Earth months.

Hope and Tianwen-1 are worthy efforts in their own right. But it is Perseverance that will likely take center stage in this next act of Mars exploration. It is a jack-of-all-trades machine, almost comically overstuffed in its mission ambitions. Perseverance will fly a helicopter on Mars, produce Martian weather reports and even make oxygen out of thin air. Its greatest trick of all, however, is just how close it will bring us to knowing if we are truly not alone in this universe. Were entirely on new ground, says Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA. Thats what makes it so exciting.

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Summer on Mars: NASA's Perseverance Rover Is One of Three Missions Ready to Launch - Scientific American

4 Strange Objects Discovered in Deep Space Have Astronomers Baffled – MovieWeb

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Four unidentified objects have been discovered in deep space and astronomers have never seen anything like them. Australian astronomers know that the mysterious objects are round with bright outer edges. They apparently look like four "distant ring-shaped islands" and were discovered while astronomers were mapping the sky in radio frequencies. This is a part of a pilot survey for a new project called the Evolutionary Map of the Universe (EMU).

The four unidentified objects have been dubbed, odd radio circles, or ORC. According to the research team's findings, "None of the ORCs has obvious optical, infrared, or X-ray counterparts to the diffuse emission, although in two cases there is an optical galaxy near the center of the radio emission." They went on to note that the ORCs have "strong circular symmetry" and all had a diameter of around one arcminute. For comparison, the moon's diameter is 31 arcminutes. The astronomers have ruled out objects like supernovas, star-forming galaxies, planetary nebulas, and gravitational lensing.

One theory about the ORCs states that they could be shockwaves leftover from some "extragalactic event" or even possible activity from a radio galaxy. "While this is a theoretical possibility, such a shock has not yet been observed elsewhere," researchers say. With that being said, it sounds like this could very well be a pretty major discovery, which is all thanks to two different radio telescopes. The astronomers used two just to make sure they were not getting any imaging errors since they were blown away by what they discovered. Kaustubh Rajwade, from the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, University of Manchester, U.K., who is not affiliated with the original study, had this to say about the discovery.

This is exciting for the world of astronomy, but may be a bit of a disappointment for those hoping that these were UFOs with Alien pilots. There's a lot going on out in space exploration at the moment and there's more to come. Chinese astronomers recently found a green gel-like substance on the dark side of the moon, which was very intriguing to everybody involved, though it turned out to be a mixture of melted moon rock, thanks to an alleged meteoroid crash.

The report has not been officiated by Nature Astronomy, though it has been submitted for peer review. From there, the scientists will more than likely get the green light to explore further using different wave lengths and possibly getting a budget to do so. Who knows what else is lurking out there in deep space? You can head over to the Arxiv website to read the research paper and form your own hypothesis as to what these ORCs really are.

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4 Strange Objects Discovered in Deep Space Have Astronomers Baffled - MovieWeb

Australia’s first Aboriginal-owned ground station could be vital for space research – SBS News

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Arrernte man Peter Renehan has made history in Australia as the first person to be at the helm of an Aboriginal organisation owning and maintaining a commercial Earth ground station, which opened for operation this month in Alice Springs.

Based in Central Australia, the Centre for Appropriate Technology (CfAT) has an Aboriginal workforce of more than 50 per cent and were the leading drivers behind the infrastructure of the commercial satellite station.Mr Renehan, the chief executive officer of CfAT, said being behind the project puts Aboriginal people in a league of their own.

Often remote Australia and outback Australia are overlooked as contributors ... this project shows that we can do some really complex projects based out of the bush, particularly here in Central Australia, he told SBS News.

We are in a unique location, its a fantastic opportunity for an Aboriginal organisaiton in Alice Springs to be at the forefront and this is the first of its kind on Aboriginal-owned land in Australia and its something we are very proud of.

Job opportunities have been provided to the local community.

Indigenous Business Australia

The infrastructure of the facility took around two years to construct and brought abundant job opportunities to the local community.

And while CfAT continues to run the maintenance of the facility, employment opportunities for the local community will continue to flow.

We are currently and will continue to provide maintenance to the facility ... theres going to be ongoing maintenance that has to take place over a long period of time, so our guys are being trained up to be able to offer that, he said.

As more opportunities like this arise, we are developing the capacity of Aboriginal staff to be able to take on future roles as well. Thats really exciting for us.

But this effort wasnt without difficulty. In 2015 CfAT had their government funding cut, and Mr Renehan was worried they would have to shut down.

Through countless board meetings and deciphering how to keep the company afloat, they turned to the hectares of land in which CfAT was sitting on, just 10 kilometres south of Alice Springs.

We really had to think about how we can sustain ourselves into the future, and because we had significant land assets, that was one way that we thought we could better utilise those assets, he said.

From there, a collaboration with the United States-based communications company Viasat was born and progress towards a commercial satellite station began, utilising CfAT's land for science development.

Were in a unique location where we are able to access the infrastructure either above and below the ground to help support satellite dishes on our start, so from there negotiations started with Viasat, he said.

Mr Renehan said he hopes the resilience of CfAT speaks widely to other organisations who might be doing it tough.

We are really proud to be able to say we have gone through some really tough times, but by thinking differently shows that you can continue to get it done, he said.

The facility has now become part of a global network known as Real-Time Earth ground stations, tracking low orbit satellites and feeding back the data in real-time to the end-user.

The facility has now become part of a global network known as Real-Time Earth ground stations.

Indigenous Business Australia

It will be able to track fast-moving events like bushfires, oil spills in the ocean, floods, and tsunamis, as well as lending a hand in search and rescue missions.

That information will then be distributed to the end-user its pretty quick, so the economic opportunities would be quite significant, said Eddie Fry, the chairperson of Indigenous Business Australia (IBA) and a Dagoman man.

The project was funded by IBA, who said it was a great opportunity for Indigenous Australians to get involved in enhancing Australias space sector.

As this business footprint expands over Australia, this is a good opportunity for Indigenous organisations to establish a toehold in this new business opportunity, he said.

Because of CfATs speciality in providing infrastructure labour to Central Australia, mostly to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, Mr Fry said they were the model business to take the reigns on the facilitys framework.

This is a significant step in a sector that requires significant skill sets and significant management, and the CfAT is probably the appropriate place at this point in time to get this project underway, he said.

Passionate about space exploration himself, Mr Fry said having a facility like this in Central Australia could help to inspire future scientists.

Imagine in 10 years time if we're able to develop a scientist out of this as a result of this whole platform ... and they come from an Indigenous background, he said.

Eddie Fry: 'Imagine in ten years time if we're able to develop a scientist out of this.'

Indigenous Business Australia

Dr Sarah Pearce, director of the CSIRO Space and Research program, said having real-time data delivery for science research in Australia is vitally important for the sector.

Downloading data from space is a real bottleneck for Earth observation research ... so having more ground stations and, better yet, having more ground stations in Australia close to where we need the data is really important, she said.

Australian-based ground stations are really critical for conducting space research in Australia.

We really appreciate the efficiency that comes with being able to download the data directly to Australia.

Ms Pearce said it is critical that we have space ground stations in Australia.

We have a large landmass with remote areas which are really well suited to hosting this facility, she said.

It's an area as well where Australia can really contribute to the global space community.

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Australia's first Aboriginal-owned ground station could be vital for space research - SBS News

IU can rename Jordan Avenue, at least part of it – Times-Mail

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Indiana University can rename a portion of Jordan Avenue without getting permission from the city of Bloomington. The university is not planning to do that at this time, but the road and other things named after IUs seventh president are being reviewed.

The formation of a committee to review all things named after David Starr Jordan on IUs Bloomington campus was announced last week. The announcement came after more than 70 members of the biology department signed a letter calling for Jordan Hall to be renamed. The letter cites Jordans extensive advocacy for eugenics as the reason. Eugenics is the practice of selective breeding of humans, often carried out through forced sterilization.

An IU news release announcing the formation of a six-member committee included a list of things named after Jordan that would be reviewed. Along with Jordan Hall, the list included the Jordan River, the Jordan Parking Garage and Jordan Avenue.

The road runs through IUs Bloomington campus and part of the city of Bloomington. The dividing line is 13th Street, said Adam Wason, director of public works for the city. The university owns and maintains everything north of that line, while the city owns and maintains everything to the south, he said.

The universitys section of the road also includes a piece commonly referred to as the Jordan extension. This piece runs between Fee Lane to 17th Street, but it does not align with Jordan Avenue south of 17th Street. The two intersections are about 400 feet apart.

It will be at least a few months before a decision is made about whether to rename IUs portion of the road. The university committee is expected to deliver a report to IUs president, the Bloomington provost and the university naming committee by Sept. 1.

Were just dealing with this step right now, said Chuck Carney, university spokesman.

While its possible the city and university could disagree about a name change, it seems the two entities will work together.

We are collaborating with IU on this issue. We appreciate the thought thats going into the process and agree that the name and perhaps others should be reviewed, said Yal Ksander, spokeswoman for the mayors office, in an email.

The last time a road was renamed in Bloomington was in 2019. North Range Road at the site of the new IU Health Bloomington hospital is now East Discovery Parkway.

Changing the name of a road is a lengthy process, Wason said. It requires the approval of an address committee as well as the board of public works. Residents and businesses must be informed of the change. The city utilities department, U.S. Post Office and emergency services must be informed as well.

Changing the name of a road can also cost businesses money, Wason said. Those expenses can come from changes to letterhead, signs, advertisements and anything else that has a business old address.

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IU can rename Jordan Avenue, at least part of it - Times-Mail

Is nature all healed now? A look at the pandemic’s best meme. – Grist

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Nature has been showing up in places you never expected. Dinosaurs roaming Times Square? A bunch of Lime scooters abandoned in a lake? According to the internet, the appropriate response to these situations is Nature is healing.

The memes started in earnestness. As the coronavirus pandemic tightened its grip on our lives earlier this year, people were suddenly stuck in their homes. With fewer cars on the move, streets were eerily quiet, and city dwellers started hearing birdsong. This lockdown period, now dubbed the Anthropause, temporarily improved air pollution around the world. Seismologists said that the absence of traffic quieted the Earths upper crust. Even carbon dioxide emissions took an unexpected dip. People latched onto reports of wild boars taking to the medians of Barcelona, goats commandeering the streets of a Welsh town, and a thousand monkeys brawling in a formerly touristy city in Thailand.

Its one of the COVID memes for sure, said Gretchen McCulloch, an internet linguist and the author of the bestselling book Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language. I think it pretty quickly became this sort of parody version of itself.

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Some stories in this genre were fake. Dolphins, for example, did not return to the canals of Venice. Elephants never passed out drunk from drinking too much corn wine in the tea garden of a Chinese village.

These images were often captioned nature is healing, we are the virus. That rings of environmentalisms dark side. The idea that human suffering is good for the planet is reminiscent of whats been called ecofascism, or using oppression for purposes like climate action or conservation. In the 20th century, conservationists used this logic to justify eugenics and anti-immigration policies.

The earliest known nature is healing meme pushed back on this rhetoric with irony. On March 26, Ronnie Becker, a student in Minneapolis, shared an image of rideshare scooters submerged in a lake. She posted it because she was annoyed by the spread of we are the virus, and also happened to hate the scooter-share business, she told BuzzFeed News.

It went viral, and suddenly everyone and your grandma was using nature is healing to explain the abundance of squirrels in their local park. It became a stock phrase that got repeated in different contexts, from commentary on city living to pop culture references. McCulloch compared the meme to the comic-strip-style image where a dog sips its coffee inside a room engulfed in flames, saying This is fine. It tends to be used in situations where things clearly arent fine rather, theyve gotten so bad that your brain turns off, unable to grapple with the reality youre facing.

Nature is healing is a way of injecting a little levity into the situation. People are stuck at home, bored, and trying to find some ironic optimism in this objectively pretty terrible situation, McCulloch said.

Los Angeles saw clearer skies and improved air quality in mid-April. David McNew / Getty Images

Perhaps the proliferation of fake stories about nature rebounding was also a way of finding hope while dealing with a pandemic that arrived during a slow-burning ecological crisis. (People got very upset at the fact-checkers, after all.)

I was really, really touched by the fact that people wanted so much for there to be dolphins in the canals in Venice, said Alan Weisman, the author of The World Without Us. The book, a bestseller from 2007, imagines how the natural world would take over what weve built, pulling down bridges and submerging cities, if humans disappeared one day with a snap. Say a Homo sapiens-specific virus natural or diabolically nano-engineered picks us off but leaves everything else intact, Weisman mused in the book.

As governments ordered people indoors this spring, Weisman started getting a lot of emails. People were telling him about bird songs, animal sightings, and empty streets. So much of these communications were wistful, he said. It was like, Wow, isnt this lovely? He says that people are desperate for a connection to the outdoors, and some respite from the sounds of the city. Its like we have some genetic memory of how nature once was before we started to trash it or maul it, he said. And something in us just misses it so much.

Then he started getting a barrage of press requests asking him to talk about his book coming to life, first from news outlets in Italy, and later Spain, Taiwan, Argentina, and more. It wasnt that I had the realization, This looks like The World Without Us, but everyone was telling me, Weisman said. He lives in a small town in rural New England, surrounded by forests and sheep farmers. Nothing really has changed much here, he said.

As lockdowns gradually lift, bumper-to-bumper traffic and carbon emissions are rebounding. Chinas air pollution has overshot pre-pandemic levels, with other countries soon to follow. But it looks like even as smoggy skies return, the nature is healing memes are sticking around.

Im glad that people are finding ways to keep laughing, Weisman said, because laughter is really one of the most healing things that human beings know how to do.

The way that humanity tackles this pandemic parallels how it might fight climate change. Sign up for our semi-weekly newsletter,Climate in the Time of Coronavirus.

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Is nature all healed now? A look at the pandemic's best meme. - Grist

Adrian Peterson says NFL running back pay is ‘disrespectful,’ but thinks ‘a change is going to come’ – CBS Sports

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If there's one thing we have learned over the past few years, it's that you should think twice before resetting the running back market. Devonta Freeman and Todd Gurley didn't live up to their big extensions, and holdouts byLe'Veon Bell and Melvin Gordon'sdid not bring forth the results they were hoping for. Adrian Peterson of the Washington Redskins has been one of those rare exceptions when it comes to durability as a running back, however, as the future Pro Football Hall of Famer is entering season No. 14 and still making major contributions on the field. This week, Peterson was asked by TMZ why running backs aren't valued as highly as other positions such as quarterback, and Peterson responded saying he still hasn't been able to figure it out.

"I still haven't been able to answer that question, man," said Peterson. "It's disrespectful to be honest with you, it really is. But I think a change is going to come, I think this young core of guy and you know me and Frank Gore continue to show guys, 'Hey, we are valuable. We can have 10, 14-year careers as well, so value us as well like you would value a quarterback.'"

While the NFL is considered more of a passing league now, the top rushing team (Baltimore Ravens) finished with the best regular-season record in 2019, and the No. 2 rushing team (San Francisco 49ers) made it all the way to the the Super Bowl. The third best rushing offense in the Tennessee Titansmade it to the AFC Championship game, as Derrick Henry quite literally carried his team through the postseason. Henry received the franchise tag earlier this offseason, but is still hopeful he will be able to secure an extension in the coming months.

Peterson is hopeful for the future of the running back position because of young talented players like Henry and Christian McCaffrey of the Carolina Panthers. In April, the Panthersreset the running back marketby signing McCaffrey to a four-year deal worth $16 million per season. It was hard to challenge the Panthers on this decision, since McCaffrey has recorded two straight 1,000-yard rushing seasons to go along with two straight 100-catch performances, totaling nearly 2,400 total yards and 19 touchdowns in 2019.

"This young core of backs are really changing the game for the better," said Peterson. "You look at McCaffrey and all he was able to do. So I feel like you're going to continue to get guys like that that are going to help raise the value of the running back position."

Not everyone can have a stellar career like Peterson has had. He is currently No. 5 on the all-time rushing list. It's pretty incredible that he was able to record a 1,000-yard rushing season at the age of 33 and thinks he can play until he's 39 or so. It will be interesting to see if players like Henry and McCaffrey can change the narrative when it comes to paying running backs in the future. Peterson certainly thinks they can.

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Adrian Peterson says NFL running back pay is 'disrespectful,' but thinks 'a change is going to come' - CBS Sports

Beefed-up rosters give Cardinals opening to flex versatility, depth of bullpen – St. Louis Post-Dispatch

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Cardinals pitcher Kwang Hyun Kim, right, and pitching prospect Johan Oviedo head to the mound during the seventh day of "Summer Camp" at Busch Stadium in St. Louis on Friday, July 10, 2020. Photo by Colter Peterson, cpeterson@post-dispatch.com

Whenever, however he was being used in a game or, in the past few months, throwing bullpens with catcher Yadier Molina in Florida, rookie Junior Fernandez referred to a note he and pitching coach Mike Maddux committed to paper and he committed to using as a compass.

It reminds him regardless of the situation, regardless of the opponent, and regardless of the spot in the game to pitch to his strengths.

Now that Im here Im ready for everything, Fernandez said Friday evening at Busch Stadium. Here you have to be ready for everything any role, any time they call, any time they say youve got to be ready, youve got the next guy. With the plan that I set up, it doesnt matter who I face, doesnt matter what inning I pitch. Im always ready, and I come with the mindset that nobody can hit against me. Pitch with my strengths.

The note gives him direction.

That should help in a shortened season that will start backward and inspire teams to consider reverse-engineering games from the bullpen forward. The 60-game sprint for the postseason starts with a dash of September in July. Rather than end the season with expanded rosters, clubs will begin that way opening with a 30-man roster, as many as 17 pitchers, and handfuls of reasons to go sooner and more often to a deeper bullpen.

Its definitely more backwards than any of us are used to in our game, manager Mike Shildt said. But so are our circumstances. And we adjust and figure it out. I do feel like our ability to understand that weve got a bit more moving parts, with a more abbreviated spring training (makes) sense and literally guys get their legs under them. I feel like our approach is fairly aggressive. With more options, I could see the point of it, allowing for more aggressiveness knowing the next day youre got protection.

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Beefed-up rosters give Cardinals opening to flex versatility, depth of bullpen - St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Peterson: Steve Prohm advocates players players utilizing their platform to bring much-needed social change – Ames Tribune

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Steve Prohm could have talked for hours, it seems, about how much awareness his included has been heightened since the George Floyd tragedy.

Hes done it through conversations with his assistant coaches. Its happened through large-group and small-group virtual meetings with players.

It was something that needed to happen, not only him, but with everyone associated with the Iowa State basketball program he oversees.

Weve covered a variety of topics. Its been healthy, for not only the players, but also the coaches, Prohm told reporters Monday.

Its challenged me to learn; to really understand. We all need to do that. We all need to grow. We need to continue to figure out ways to make much-needed change.

He spoke a couple hours after it became public why Rasir Bolton transferred from Penn State to ISU.

He spoke a week after Blake Hinson said one of the factors behind transferring from Ole Miss to ISU was because of the Confederate emblem on the Mississippi state flag.

He spoke, knowing that some of his players and coaches participated in what he called peaceful protests.

Any of our players have my support from the standpoint of talking, bringing awareness, trying to make a difference and using their platforms, Prohm said. I support those guys 100 percent from that standpoint. This is our future.

For me as a coach, Ive got to figure out ways to be better. Thats just the bottom line. Ive got to figure out ways to help my guys more. Ive got to figure out ways to educate myself more. Ive got to figure out ways to lead better to making sure Im open to listening to everybody. Theyre all going through a lot of different things. I cant put myself in their shoes. Thats why Ive got to be an awesome listener.

Coaches and players have had regular conference calls. Theyve had small-group discussions. Prohm meets virtually each week with players parents. Players have generally been off-limits to reporters since last Februarys loss to Oklahoma State in the Big 12 Conference tournament.

They have a platform, Prohm said of his players. They need to utilize that, for the things that they want to see changed. We support those guys.

Prohm talked about other things during the 40-minute session, like

Will there even be a basketball season?

I think so, Prohm responded with cautious optimism.

He understands why college administrators everywhere have had things other than hoops on their minds since the coronavirus pandemic changed how we live. Prohm knows, for example, that the game his buddy, Matt Campbell, coaches, is the engine that drives athletic departments everywhere.

He knows more people wonder if and when a 2020 football season will start, than wonder the same about basketball in November.

Our first focus has to be football to get them up and running, he said. Football is the major driving force for a lot of things. Weve got to get them up and running first, and then well go forward from there. Im sure a lot of decisions will be made based on how football goes.

An Election Day off

Big 12 basketball coaches were unanimous in declaring the Nov. 3 Election Day to be a players day off.

Its a movement, not a moment, Prohm said. Weve done a great job of collaborating with each other since the major push and major focus for change in our country started with George Floyds tragedy.

We wanted to make sure we took that day off, to spend more time listening better and learning the importance of why taking that day off is important.

He mentioned making players aware of voting procedures poll locations and absentee ballots.

Those are things right now that everybody should be trying to learn as much as possible about, he said.

Healthy advice to the players: Stay away from socializing

Workouts start in two weeks. Players report next week. Story County hasnt exactly been immune to COVID-19 positive tests, although just four have been associated with the Cyclone football program.

We have to emphasize with our players that when youre not at the Sukup (practice facility), you need to be making good decisions, Prohm said. That means wearing your mask, not going to out to eat, and staying in your apartment as much as possible.

Weve talked about the things that we need to do, to have a great reintegration process and to keep everybody heathy.

Prohms bottom line?

This isnt time to be out socially and trying to have a great, great time if we want to keep healthy.

Iowa State columnist Randy Peterson has been writing for the Des Moines Register for parts of six decades. Reach him at rpeterson@dmreg.com, 515-284-8132, and on Twitter at @RandyPete.

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Peterson: Steve Prohm advocates players players utilizing their platform to bring much-needed social change - Ames Tribune

Bird Droppings: Arizona Cardinals need someone to help Chandler Jones, Patrick Peterson under pressure, and m – Revenge of the Birds

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Happy Monday one and all. We are heading into what is going to be an important month to figure out if there will be any NFL this year.

However, while not much is going right now we have plenty of news on the Arizona Cardinals to help you get your week started.

Lets get to it.

Full NFL Game: 2015 NFC Divisional Round - Packers at CardinalsRelive the 2015 NFC Divisional Round matchup between the Cardinals and Packers, featuring Larry Fitzgerald's dramatic pair of catches in overtime.

Top Postgame Shots From 2019Images of the Cardinals and their opponents after the game

Then and now: Cardinals hope OLB is more than the Chandler Jones showDevon Kennard joins Chandler Jones in Vance Joseph's attacking defensive front, and rookie Isaiah Simmons' pass-rushing talents could come into play, too.

Then and now: Return jobs up for grabs on Cardinals special teamsZane Gonzalez is back, while the Cardinals must replace kick and punt returner Pharoh Cooper. Will Christian Kirk and Andy Isabella step in?

Then and now: DeAndre Hopkins a big addition to Cardinals WR roomDeAndre Hopkins not only gives the Arizona Cardinals a No. 1 option but pushes the question-markers further down the depth chart at receiver.

NFL.com's Schein: Cardinals CB Patrick Peterson under pressure in 2020Always confident, Arizona Cardinals cornerback Patrick Peterson isn't buying that his age was a factor in last year's performance.

Several Arizona Cardinals could be salary-cap casualtiesThere are several players who could be targeted for release if the Arizona Cardinals elect to free up some salary cap space

Several Arizona Cardinals could be fantasy studs this seasonRotisserie football players would be wise to keep the Arizona Cardinals in mind when they assemble their teams this summer

A Reliable Defense is Pivotal for the Arizona CardinalsThe Arizona Cardinals defense will have a huge spotlight on them in 2020. The defense must become the anchor and not dead weight.

Arizona Cardinals should see hope from MLBMLB has started their return to baseball with a low COVID-19 positive rate but could that translate to same for the Arizona Cardinals and NFL?

Cardinals Flight Plan 2020: Drafting Kyler Murray, One Year Later (BONUS MINI-EP) - YouTubeOn the heels of #CardsFlightPlans most recent episode, Working With Perspective, comes bonus content! Hear the untold, behind-the-scenes story behind draf...

NFLPA Board Votes Unanimously to Play No Preseason Games This Year amid COVID-19 | Bleacher Report | Latest News, Videos and HighlightsThe board of representatives of the NFL Players Association voted unanimously Thursday to recommend the league cancels the entire preseason amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to Dan Graziano of ESPN...

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Bird Droppings: Arizona Cardinals need someone to help Chandler Jones, Patrick Peterson under pressure, and m - Revenge of the Birds

BenFred: Baseball’s first week back was a bumpy ride. Can things improve from here? – STLtoday.com

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The easiest job at the moment is playing Monday Morning Quarterback when it comes to how leagues try to navigate the unknown every business, family and individual is attempting to sort through.

This is hard. It might not work. There is some good news.

MLB shared Friday that the now-completed intake testing caught 66 positive cases, or 1.8 percent of the 3,748 samples tested from players and staff members. Since fully shifting to the monitoring phase of testing, which tests players every other day, there have been 17 new positives found in 7,401 samples. Thats a new-positive percentage of 0.2.

Encouraging. Can it hold through the end of camp? Can it hold when teams begin to travel for games?

I dont know. No one does. Now is no time for victory laps, not even from the Chicago Cubs, which is believed to be the lone team in the National League without a single positive test.

We cant allow the good results thus far to create the illusion were in control, Cubs executive Theo Epstein said in Chicago.

What is starting to stand out, though, is how these completely bizarre circumstances truly can fade between the white lines. Once the temperature checks are finished and the masks come off, baseball is still baseball, even when its played in an empty stadium beneath a song written about a pandemic.

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BenFred: Baseball's first week back was a bumpy ride. Can things improve from here? - STLtoday.com

Keeping up With Kevin Kwan: the author on his upcoming novel, ‘Sex & Vanity’ – The Hindu

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In 2018, Kevin Kwans bestseller, Crazy Rich Asians, transformed into a watershed moment for Asians in Hollywood. A film adaptation with an all-Asian cast, Asian director and writers, luring white audiences to the cinemas, where franchise movies reigned supreme in the summer, was previously unheard of. Kwan, the brain behind it all, found unprecedented fame, propelling him to an enviable New York City (NYC) clique of celebrity writers. But he doesnt consider himself as one. Celebrity is such a strange word, he says, over a long-distance phone call from the Big Apple. I have friends who are actual celebrities and to me that is a very special condition, which I wouldnt wish on anyone.

Kwan says he is very much a writer in a room who lives a normal life, and is eager for his latest book, Sex & Vanity, to release. It is his first novel after the big Hollywood success and the Crazy Rich Asians trilogy ended. But the essence of his writing and universe carries on in his latest one occupied by the filthy rich. A modern-day rendition of EM Forsters A Room with a View, the novels writing is over-the-top and impudent, the characters (mostly Asian or Asian-American) are among the top 1% (as Bernie Sanders would disdainfully call it) and romance drives the plot through exotic private islands and uppity venues in NYC.

But the book has something previously unexplored: the rift between old and new money. To most, the wealthy are a homogeneous and cloistered group but Kwan, whose lineage can be traced to the upper-class establishment of Singapore, knows the finer differences. After spending over two decades in NYC, the 47-year-old author not only understands the lives of the wealthy Asians but also the East Coast elites. In New York, I could be a fly on the wall and observe how the elites treated people they perceived as new money, he recalls, adding, No matter how privileged you are, theres always going to be someone who will think you are not good enough. The snobbery never ends.

In Sex & Vanity, the tussle between heritage and newly-acquired richness manifests itself in Lucie Churchills relationship with her fianc, Cecil Pike. In a bid to fit in, he is flashy, opulent and eager to please, while she is a goody-two-shoes who only wants to chase personal gratification. In a way, they embody Kwans observation of the differences between the elites in the East and the West. While the former project their affluence with big houses, cars and jewellery, the latter have made a shift towards satiating private experiences like lavish holidays, golf, collecting art or even philanthropy, he says.

It is not just Kwans interactions with the crme de la crme, but also his personal struggle for self-identity in the US that finds its way into the novel. Lucie, a hapa half Chinese, half American spends her life reconciling with her dual racial heritage, a struggle that not only impacts her self-esteem but finds pertinence in a racially-divided America of late. This is something I have had much experience with, says Kwan, who spent his adolescent years in Texas, before moving to New York. No matter what, you are always going be an outsider, whether it is the world of privilege in Houston or in NYC; you are always an interloper.

Representation in mainstream cinema and literature, therefore, is imperative to trigger change. Crazy Rich Asians started a revolution, he declares. It took me by surprise how much it affected white Americans, and not just Asians. In the last two years, Kwan has witnessed a gradual, if not a tectonic, shift in narratives and casting. He counts films like The Farewell (2019) and actors like Awkwafina as examples of breakout successes, and Mindy Kalings Never Have I Ever among his current favourites. I do see that Crazy Rich Asians has opened the eyes of Hollywood that our stories are financially viable, he says. But the progress may be slower in the casting department. The instinct for big players in Hollywood is to be as risk-averse as possible and that entails casting well-known stars and, unfortunately, there are a lot more well-known stars who are not Asians.

Currently working as a creator and co-writer on a television series for STX Entertainment, Kwan informs that Sex & Vanity is the first in a trilogy. While the first novel is an homage to Manhattan, the second and third will be an ode to London and Paris. He is open to optioning the book for an adaptation, but says he didnt write it with a movie in mind. If you think about a possible film while writing, you are setting yourself up for disaster, he says. The novel, though, reads quite like a romcom, rife with mushy dialogues and sweeping descriptions of panoramas waiting to be filmed. I try to stay in the literary world and evoke a story visually. At the same time, I am very influenced by movies, concludes Kwan.

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Keeping up With Kevin Kwan: the author on his upcoming novel, 'Sex & Vanity' - The Hindu

The tough job of spending Patrick Mahomes money. Lets give it a shot – Deseret News

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Patrick Mahomes agreed to a new deal, worth up to a reported $503 million on a 10-year contract extension with the Kansas City Chiefs this week. Spending that money will be a big job, but somebodys got to do it. Lets give him a hand and spend it for him. Or try. This wont be easy.

If we had half a billion dollars its easier to deal with round numbers we could buy 50 private jets the Learjet 75 Liberty seats nine. The brochure notes, Reading lights and side ledges with recessed cup holders. Its amazing what $10 million will buy.

We could buy 277 Zenvo ST1 sports cars, which boast a 1,104 horsepower engine and 1,054 pound feet of torque (cost: $1.8 million each). I dont know what torque is, but apparently its a good thing. The Danish sports car has a top speed of 233 miles per hour. Good luck finding one; according to Road and Track, only 15 of the original models were made.

We could build 5 Delta Centers or whatever it is they call it these days and use it as a private gym. The original cost was $93 million, so we could build several of them.

We could buy the Boston mansion formerly owned by Tom Brady 14 of them.

We could buy 8,333 Samsung Q900-98 class big-screen TVs, an electronics wonder that is so real the characters walk right out of the screen into your family room and introduce themselves.

We could buy 1,730 Hublot MP-05 LaFerrari wristwatches. For $289,000 youd think it was a self-winding watch, but, no, you hand-wind it. But it is water resistant down to 30 meters, which is handy if youre a scuba diver or have a very deep swimming pool. Mahomes wore a Rolex to the Super Bowl parade, but, worth a mere $47,000 per MSN, it shouldnt even be allowed to grace his wrist.

We could pay the salaries of all of Mahomes teammates for the upcoming season and the next one after that and most of the next one.

We could buy 87,719 hand-tailored Brunico suits with a fully lined, two-button jacket and matching trousers lined at the waist for comfort and wearability (they also feature one stitched dart whatever that is and side pockets for coins). Price: $5,700 per, all of them essential gray.

We could buy 200,000 pairs of Santoni Lace-Up Dress Shoes. Cost: $2,500 each.

To complete our sartorial needs, we could shop Nieman Marcus and buy 384,615 pairs of Balmain-brand Destroyed Slim-Fit Moto Jeans, which are riddled with holes and tears and look like they either survived a bomb blast or were sacked hundreds of times by the Baltimore Ravens. Cost: $1,300 each.

To wear with our new ripped up jeans, we could buy 418,410 pairs of Dolce & Gabbana mens graffiti Portofino jeweled, low-top sneakers, at $1,195 per. The graffiti on the sides and tops of the sneakers contain deep thoughts such as, More, more and more, Sorry, Im the best, No way, and Just pizza. Word.

We could buy a luxury yacht. How about the one owned by the estate of the late Microsoft co-founder, Paul Allen. Its longer than a football field, at 414 feet. According to Business Insider, the yacht has 41 suites and includes a pool, two helicopters, a basketball court, a recording studio and a movie theater. It hit the market at $325 million late last year and originally cost $200 million to build.

Just for fun and just because we can lets also splurge on Allens private submarine. Whats another $12 million? Its 40 feet long and can stay underwater for a week, which seems like a good place to be considering the pandemic and all. You probably dont even have to practice social distancing with the other submarines down there.

For the man who has everything, we could buy a private island. Or several of them. Lets buy one in the Mediterranean Agria Trias is a bargain at $28 million and includes the main house, beach houses, a house for the staff, fruit trees and even a church one in the Caribbean Ronde Island, Grenada, is 2,000 acres of paradise, at a cost of $100 million and one in the South Pacific Rangya Island, Thailand, which includes 110 acres, fresh water, an electric generator for $160 million. We still have money left over for the yacht.

We could buy a town. Actress Kim Basinger was one of several investors who did just that, plunking down $20 million to buy most of the 2,000 acres that made up Braselton, Georgia. We could buy 25 Braseltons.

We could buy 2,000 tickets for a private flight into space enough for family, friends and teammates. No such flights have happened yet, but three companies say they are closing in on making them a reality. The cost to fly Virgin Galactic would be $250,000 per passenger, but the good news is theres no baggage fee and the price does include a stay at the International Space station. And it does offer a beverage service.

We could buy 2,800 24-carat gold-plated toilets, enough to stock our house and our islands.

Speaking of which, we could buy 27,964,205 packages of Charmin Ultra Soft 18-pack toilet paper at Walmart, which would give us a total of 503,355,690 mega rolls of TP. As we discovered during the pandemic, you can never have too much.

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The tough job of spending Patrick Mahomes money. Lets give it a shot - Deseret News

Dr. Fauci Says Trump Hasn’t Talked to Him in a Month – Futurism

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It has been two months since Dr. Anthony Fauci, the chief infectious disease expert at the White House, has been able to brief President Trump on the coronavirus pandemic.

In fact, Fauci says, the two havent even spoken to each other in a month.

Fauci told Financial Times in a dark, revealing interview that he last saw Trump on June 2. Lately, hes had to merely pass messages along to the President. And while hes sure the messages reach Trumps desk, the President clearly isnt heeding his warnings, as the coronavirus outbreak in the U.S. continues to get worse.

I dont think its an exaggeration to say we have a serious ongoing problem, right now, as we speak, Fauci told Financial Times. What worries me is the slope of the curve. It still looks like its exponential.

Part of the reason things have gotten so bad, Fauci explained in the interview, is that states lifted restrictions or allowed businesses to open before the coronavirus had become manageable in the area.

I think we have to realize that some states jumped ahead of themselves, Fauci said. Other states did it correctly.

But while Trump has urged states to reopen, is currently pushing for schools to resume in-person classes in the Fall, and otherwise flouted Faucis repeated warnings to government leaders, Fauci deflected when asked if Trump was wrong.

Instead, Fauci just said thats the famous question.

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Dr. Fauci Says Trump Hasn't Talked to Him in a Month - Futurism