UK prepares to ignore Trump’s threats and call his ‘bluff’ on Huawei – Business Insider

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The UK government is preparing to defy Donald Trump and strike a deal with Chinese telecoms company Huawei, despite the president's repeated threats to cut off security ties with the country.

Trump has warned the UK that the intelligence-sharing arrangement between the two allies will be at risk if the deal for a role in Britain's 5G network goes ahead, with US officials warningthat "Donald Trump is watching closely."

However, Johnson is preparing to allow the Huawei deal to go ahead despite the threats, amid a widespread belief in Europe that Trump's warnings are a "bluff".

EU trade commissioner Phil Hogan on Thursday told an event in London that the President's threat was simply not credible.

"I don't think that will happen at the end of the day," he said.

"You can call their bluff on that one."

Johnson is now preparing to agree to allow Huawei a "limited" role in the UK's 5G network, with one UK official telling the Daily Mail that the UK security services simply do not believe Trump's blanket ban on Huawei is justified.

"The security world does not endorse the need for a blanket ban on Huawei. They are not naive they are well aware of the risks but they believe they can be contained," the official said.

Another source told the paper: "From a security point of view the risk is manageable."

Johnson repeatedly promised to upgrade Britain's sluggish communications network during his recent victorious election campaign and has publicly backed the possibility of a role for Huawei.

Asked on Tuesday whether he would allow the Huawei deal to go ahead, Johnson told the BBC that "the British public deserves access to the best possible technology."

He added: "If people oppose one brand or another they have to tell us what's the alternative?"

Donald Trump and Boris Johnson Getty

The development came as Johnson's administration responded to Trump's threats by threatening that the UK would cut UK support for future US-led wars.

The UK Defence Secretary told the Sunday Times that Trump's isolationist foreign policy stance meant that the UK would increasingly look to other international allies instead.

"Over the last year we've had the US pullout from Syria, the statement by Donald Trump on Iraq where he said NATO should take over and do more in the Middle East," Wallace said.

"The assumptions of 2010 that we were always going to be part of a US coalition is really just not where we are going to be."

Johnson's administration has repeatedly criticised Trump's aggressive stance towards Iran, with Johnson warning last week that the president's threats to target Iranian cultural sites could be a war crime.

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We shouldnt have to pay for Trumps Wildwood visit so were keeping tabs, mayor says – NJ.com

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One of Pete Byrons first jobs as mayor of Wildwood? Making sure everyone keeps tabs on how much President Donald Trumps upcoming rally will cost the city.

The mayor who was sworn in just days before hearing Trump would hold a rally in the Jersey Shore resort town said the city does not have a budget for the event but has asked their first responder departments, along with the public works department to keep detailed accounts for the costs incurred.

Byron said he does not see the costs being as high as some of the rallies held in bigger cities because of the limited access into Wildwood by way of the three roads in, along with the beach and ocean acting as a natural barrier behind the convention center, where the rally will be held on Jan. 28 at 7 p.m.

Do I think that our taxpayers should foot the bill for this? Absolutely not," he said. "I will do my best to get a final tally, and I will certainly pass that on to the local Republican organization, and I hope that we get some sort of reimbursement for the event.

Cape May County Republican party chairman Marcus Karavan said there should be a focus on the economic impact of the Presidents visit.

The eyes of the entire country are on Cape May County and the City of Wildwood right now," Karavan said. "Rather than being short sighted and playing partisan politics, Mayor Byron should be thanking President Trump for bringing tens of thousands of visitors to the Wildwoods who will be spending money in local hotels, bars, and restaurants, including the one run by the county Democrat chairman, on a Tuesday in January when they would otherwise be shuttered.

Byron, who is succeeding longtime former Wildwood mayor Ernie Troiano Jr. on the three-person non-partisan commission, began the year focusing on placing new professionals into the city to help with tackling objectives such as boardwalk repairs, and revitalizing the citys downtown area.

Ive always said that when Wildwood was at its best, which was, in my opinion, the 70s and the 80s. You had the balance of the downtown and the boardwalk, Byron said. Now we have very little downtown and many of visitors at our boardwalk. People need other options other than the boardwalk. We are going to make a conscientious effort to do what we have to do to bring Pacific Avenue, which is the center of our downtown back.

Now the newly-minted Wildwood mayor of the town of 5,000 is focusing on preparations for the presidents visit to support Congressman Jeff Van Drew, a longtime Democrat who abruptly switched to the Republican party and pledged his own support to Trump.

The Wildwood mayor said he had heard estimates that 40,000 tickets had been issued for an event being held in a venue that can hold up to 7,400 people. There is also the possibility another 10,000 may show up to the city.

The President brings out the people who support him, as well as who oppose them or both," Byron said. "There is no in-between, and they are all very passionate. You are going to have protesters as well. You have to factor all of that into the equation, but theres going to be a lot of people out on the street.

Byron said that although the presidents visit is a political event, he is taking the personal perspective that party affiliations should be thrown out the door, and people should come to Wildwood and enjoy the historic moment.

It is no disrespect to the president, but I look at this more about the position versus the individual, and I think that we should bask in this opportunity, the mayor said. This is going to give Wildwood national exposure. The cost relative to the exposure, we would never be able to pay the advertising cost to get the type of exposure were going to get nationally, and then youre the middle of January when it is typically a ghost town down here.

Cape May County Administrator Elizabeth Bozzelli confirmed the countys Prosecutors Office, Sheriffs Office, and Office of Emergency Management would be involved in the event. The county would only be paying overtime costs associated with the people working the event, a procedure the county follows when other significant events and busier weekends occur during the year.

In the summer, Wildwood has about 150,000 people on any given day in July and August, Cape May County spokeswoman Diane Wieland told NJ Advance Media earlier this week. With fewer businesses open, it makes that more challenging, but it is Wildwood, and I have no doubt they can do this.

Wieland said that while plans have still not been finalized, there could be the possibility that the overflow crowds may be able to watch the speech outside at either nearby Fox Park or the boardwalk itself.

Chris Franklin can be reached at cfranklin@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @cfranklinnews or on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips.

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The pain of losing civil rights icons in the Trump era – CNN

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Indeed, there's something uniquely heavy, and even cruel, about the persistent theme of loss -- about having to reckon with its inevitability -- in today's political climate of at times presidentially abetted bigotry.

That's partly because of the sheer scale of our civil rights forebears' work.

Lewis' civil rights background is epochal: one of the few remaining members of King's inner circle, the chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in the 1960s, a key organizer of the 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches (during one such march, across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, a state trooper beat Lewis and fractured his skull).

The Lewis diagnosis followed the death of Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, who passed in October of last year at the age of 68.

The son of sharecroppers, Cummings was first elected to political office in 1983, as a member of the Maryland House of Delegates. He then won a congressional seat in a 1996 special election; he served in that role until his death.

In other words, the twin stings of Lewis' grim cancer diagnosis and Cummings' death feel in direct proportion to the figures' remarkable histories of confronting the world and its many betrayals, of defining the political fights of their eras. We're losing legends -- rapidly so.

But the context of loss matters, too.

The country is considering the possibility of four more years of Donald Trump: a President who broadly contorts and distorts black experiences, who has specifically taken aim at the reputations of civil rights giants.

If only the President's racist invective were the end of it. But his rhetoric has been reflected in his administration's policies.

Losing civil rights icons in the Trump era, then, can be thought of as a matter of physics: action and reaction, equal and opposite. One minute they're here -- defying a world that'd prefer that black Americans simply move on, not forward -- and the next they're gone. Meanwhile, Trump remains, seemingly looking to cancel out their work.

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The final test of Trump’s domination of the GOP will have nothing to do with his reelection – Business Insider

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Corey Lewandowski, President Donald Trump's belligerent former campaign manager, recently decided against a US Senate run. That's good news for the civil-minded among us who respect a free press.

Lewandowski was famous for his rhetorical and sometimes literal pugilism, if you watched his chaotic congressional testimony or saw his altercations with a reporter and protesters. His campaign would've been Trump 2.0 but on a smaller scale.

Beyond Lewandowski, there are others in Trump's orbit contemplating higher office, including the president's son Donald Trump Jr., Trump loyalist and cable-TV staple Rep. Matt Gaetz, and even George Papadopoulos the Trump campaign aide who, as part of the Mueller investigation, pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI.

As these Trump-adjacent figures start running, it'll be a test for the future of Republican politics and our country.

Trump rose to power with an unconventional, in-your-face style that works for him but not the country. For most of the 2016 primary campaign, he was ignored, considered a crude celebrity but not a president. As he started to gain traction, Republicans like Mitt Romney, an array of national-security officials, and retired military brass began to challenge his qualifications for office.

But they were too late. Trump had the momentum, and the Republicans ushered in the era of divide at will, lie with abandon, and point the finger at people who don't look like you.

And as the Trump presidency has progressed, the GOP has increasingly taken on the image of the president. Republican voters have stayed fiercely loyal to Trump, leading politicians in the party to mirror his style. Fueled by this positive reinforcement, the most Trump-like figures are now looking to work their way up the ranks of the party.

The resemblance between the man in the Oval and his disciples is striking. Don Jr. has been a true a chip off the old block with his Twitter fights, questionable testimony, and clashes with media. And "attack dog" Matt Gaetz's bullying,hypocrisy, and "alternative facts" often land him in hot water. Sound familiar?

So for everyone saying that a Democratic president will bring us a return to normality, the alternative narrative is this: The current game is just the first inning of increasingly incendiary leadership in America. We're already beginning to see evidence of this. Despite the turmoil engulfing his administration, Trump faces no credible primary challengers. As state GOP parties scrap their primaries and caucuses, Trump's takeover of the party has never been more apparent.

Twenty years from now, Trump will seem run of the mill, as the divide that began during the Clinton years seems now.

The vocal GOP opposition candidate Trump faced has long subsided in the era of President Trump. While Republicans continue to grumble about Trump in private, they're afraid to stand up to him publicly, even on the smallest matters. If Republicans can stop Trump's disciples from winning office, they'll have a chance to rediscover and recommit to their principles.

For the non-Trumpist Republicans, there's still room to survive and thrive. But their opportunity and maneuverability are limited with Trump at the helm. Their best bet will be when they drop Trump and his minions and rally around a normal standard bearer.

Republicans will need to make a choice about whether to stick with the Trump brand or reject it. Just as with impeachment, they'll have an opportunity to put country first. If they don't, eventually it will catch up to them. But the damage to the country will be beyond repair.

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David Wurmser, Key Iraq War Architect, Advising Trump on Iran – The Intercept

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David Wurmser was a longtime advocate of war with Iraq in the Bush administration. Eventually, he got what he wanted, and it was a total disaster. Now, Wurmser again has the ear of a president this time, Donald Trump and his sights are set firmly on Iran.

An influential neoconservative in President George W. Bushs White House who became a significant force behind the push for war with Iraq in 2003, Wurmser has recently been serving as an informal adviser to the Trump administration, according to new reporting from Bloomberg News. In that capacity, Wurmser helped make the case for the recent drone strike that assassinated Iranian Gen. Qassim Suleimani.

David Wurmser again has the ear of a president this time, Donald Trump and his sights are set firmly on Iran.

Wurmser wrote several memos to then-national security adviser John Bolton in May and June of 2019. In the documents, according to Bloomberg, Wurmser argued that aggressive action by the U.S. such as the killing of Suleimani would, in Wurmsers words, rattle the delicate internal balance offorces and the control over them upon which the [Iranian] regime depends for stability and survival.

The significance of this is two-fold. First, while it was already clear that the neoconservative movement has powerfully influenced the Trump administration, Wurmsers role on Iran is further evidence of the sway that neoconservatism still holds on the U.S. right despite the catastrophic invasion of Iraq and Trumps disavowal of the war. Second, it demonstrates that neoconservatives such as Wurmser still cherish a peculiar theory about Iranian society.

After Bushs reelection in 2005, the hard-right faction of his administration turned its attention to Iran. These officials had always wanted regime change in the Islamic Republic, but now some of them believed that a full-scale invasion would not be necessary to bring this about. A 2005 article in the New Yorker by Seymour Hersh quoted a government consultant who described the perspective of these officials as being that a bombing campaign against Irans nuclear facilities would spur a revolution led by secular nationalists and reformers. The consultant summarized their view: The minute the aura of invincibility which the mullahs enjoy is shattered, and with it the ability to hoodwink the West, the Iranian regime will collapse.

Wurmsers outlook seems not to have changed one bit. In his memos to Bolton, he wrote that the U.S. will not need boots on the ground because Iranians would both beimpressed andpotentially encouraged by a targeted attack on symbols of repression.

This theory, so popular among neoconservatives, has always been bizarre: Nations generally become more right-wing when under attack. For instance, after the destruction of the World Trade Center in 2001, Americans did not demand that Bush be impeached and Dennis Kucinich move into the Oval Office.

We should definitely consider the possibility that the neocons dont know what theyre talking about. And yet, here we are, with those self-same neocons again helping shape our foreign policy in delusional and dangerous ways.

The continued self-confidence of neoconservatives like Wurmser is particularly odd given how all their beliefs were proven disastrously wrong in Iraq.

Wurmser holds a Ph.D. in international affairs and worked for the AIPAC-spinoff Washington Institute for Near East Policy in the mid-1990s. In 1996, he was one of the main thinkers behind a policy document titled A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm that was prepared by an Israeli think tank for then-incoming Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus government in 1996. The paper called for Israel to engage in preemptive attacks on its perceived foes and a focus on removing Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq.

In 1999, Wurmser wrote a book titled Tyrannys Ally: Americas Failure to Defeat Saddam Hussein, which was pretty much what it sounds like. Chemical, biological, and even nuclear weapons are the pillars of Saddams regime, Wurmser said, adding that the menace from Saddams Iraq will continue to grow if the U.S. did not remove him from power.

After the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the purported wishes of the neoconservatives collided with reality, and reality won.

After the September 11 attacks, Wurmser was appointed to a two-man intelligence unit by then-Defense Undersecretary Douglas Feith. (Feith is perhaps best known for being referred to as the fucking stupidest guy on the face of the earth by Gen. Tommy Franks, who led the invasion of Iraq.) Among Wurmsers ideas was for the U.S. to respond to Al Qaeda by, as the 9/11 Commission later put it, hitting a non-Al Qaeda target like Iraq.

Wurmser then became a senior adviser to Bolton, who at that point was an undersecretary at the State Department and one of the most vociferous champions of a regime change war with Iraq.

Eventually, Wurmser and company got what they wanted, and the U.S. led an invasion of Iraq in March 2003. At that point, the purported wishes of the neoconservatives collided with reality, and reality won. Hundreds of thousands of people died, the lives of millions have been blighted, and the entire region will be in flames for the indefinite future.

In a 2007 interview, however, Wurmser continued to defend the decision to go to war, though he did question the Bush administrations rhetorical emphasis on democracy in Iraq. Im not a big fan of democracy per se, he said, Im a fan of freedom and one has to remember the difference. Freedom must precede democracy by a long, long time. In the same interview, he stated that if the U.S. failed to trigger a fundamental change in behavior by Irans leaders that America might have to think seriously about going directly into Iran.

In any case, nothing in the past 17 years seems to have made much of an impression on Wurmser; he still maintains a belief in his own skill at precisely calibrated global strategy. Nor has this past calamitous decade and a half prevented him from having the ear of the people who operate Americas killer drones. Notably, the article about Wurmsers current accomplishments, by neoconservative Bloomberg journalist Eli Lake, does not mention any of Wurmsers unfortunate history.

Wurmser did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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What’s the Difference Between Asteroids, Comets and …

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In our solar system there are billions, possibly trillions, of rogue objects orbiting the sun. These spacefarers are too small to be called planets and are given the names of comets, asteroids, meteoroids, and if they reach Earth, meteors or meteorites. With so many labels, it's easy to forget which is which.

Let's start with a brief definition of each.

Asteroids: These are the rocky and airless leftovers from the formation of planets in our solar system. They mostly orbit our sun in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter and range from the size of cars to dwarf planets.

Comets: Comets are dirty space snowballs of mostly ice and dust that formed during the birth of the solar system 4.6 billion years ago. Most comets have stable orbits in the outer reaches of the solar system past the planet Neptune.

Meteoroids, Meteors, Meteorites: Meteoroids are tiny asteroids or the broken-off crumbs of comets and sometimes planets. They range in size from a grain of sand to boulders 3 feet (1 meter) wide. When meteoroids collide with a planet's atmosphere, they become meteors. If those meteors survive the atmosphere and hit the planet's surface, their remains are called meteorites.

Related: Fallen Stars: A Gallery of Famous Meteorites

At first glance, asteroids may seem like run-of-the-mill space rocks, but these ancient solar system remnants come in all shapes, sizes and flavors.

Despite their small stature (the mass of all the asteroids combined is less than Earth's moon), asteroids are also called minor planets or "planetoids." They range in size from the smallest boulders, 3 feet across (1 m), to the largest asteroid, Ceres, which is nearly a quarter the size of Earth's moon (about 590 miles in diameter, or 950 kilometers). Ceres is so large, it received a promotion to the status of a dwarf planet in 2006, the same controversial distinction given to Pluto.

Most asteroids look like giant space potatoes, with their oblong shapes and surface that's pockmarked by numerous craters caused by collisions with other asteroids. Only a small number of asteroids are large enough that their gravity forms them into spheres, such as Ceres. The composition of asteroids range from dark, rocky clumps of rubble consisting of clay and silicate rocks to bright and solid amalgamations of metals such as iron or nickel, according to NASA.

Nearly all asteroids are found in a doughnut-shaped region between Mars and Jupiter, called the asteroid belt. The belt formed not long after the birth of Jupiter when the massive planet's gravity trapped planet-forming leftovers, causing them to collide with one another and form the millions of asteroids we see in the belt today.

For millennia, the sight of a comet elicited fear and awe. Ancient astronomers believed comets foretold the death of princes and the outcomes of wars. Modern astronomers know comets are the ice-clad leftovers from the material that formed our solar system billions of years ago.

Astronomer Fred Whipple was the first to describe comets as dirty snowballs, or icy conglomerates of frozen gases and dust. The snowball makes up the central nucleus of a comet, which is often less than a few miles across, according to NASA. When a comet nears the sun, the nucleus warms up and the ice begins to sublimate from solid to gas. This produces an atmosphere surrounding the comet that can grow to thousands of miles in diameter, called a coma. Radiation pressure from the sun blows away the dust particles in the coma to produce a long, bright dust tail. A second tail is formed when high-energy solar particles ionize the gas, creating a separate ion tail.

The difference between the composition of asteroids and comets is likely due to how and where they were born, wrote Britt Scharringhausen, a professor of astronomy at Beloit College in Wisconsin.

"While asteroids and comets did form at the same time, they did not form under quite the same conditions," Scharringhausen wrote. "The solar system formed from the solar nebula, a cloud of gas and dust. At the center of the nebula, the sun was being born through gravitational collapse. Because of this collapse, which releases heat, the central regions of the nebula were hotter and denser, while the outer regions were cooler."

Asteroids formed near the center of the hot nebula where only rock or metal remained solid under extreme temperatures. Comets formed beyond what's called the frost line, where it was cold enough for water and gases like carbon dioxide to freeze. Because of this, comets generally are found only in the far reaches of the solar system in two regions named the Kuiper Belt and the Oort Cloud.

Meteoroids are the true space rocks of the solar system. No larger than a meter in size (3.3 feet) and sometimes the size of a grain of dust, they are too small to be considered asteroids or comets, but many are the broken pieces of either. Some meteoroids originate from the ejected debris caused by impacts on planets or moons.

If meteoroids happen to cross paths with a planet's atmosphere, like Earth's, they become meteors. The fiery flash given off by meteors when they burn up in the atmosphere can appear brighter than the planet Venus, which is why they've earned the nickname "shooting stars," according to NASA. Scientists estimate more than 48 tons (43,500 kilograms) of meteoritic material falls to Earth every day. If a meteor survives its descent through the atmosphere and hits the ground, it's called a meteorite.

When Earth passes through the trail of debris left by a comet we're treated to the dazzling fireworks display of a meteor shower, where thousands of shooting stars can be seen in the night sky. The Perseid meteor shower is one of the most spectacular, occuring every year around Aug. 12. At its peak, 50 to 75 meteors can be seen per hour if the sky is clear. The Perseids are caused by the meteoroids broken off from Comet Swift-Tuttle.

These brilliant meteor showers serve as a reminder that despite the seemingly empty expanse of space, we're more closely connected to our solar system than we imagine.

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Comets to Catch in 2020 – Sky & Telescope

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Here's the lowdown on which comets will brighten our skies this year.

Comet McNaught (C/2006 P1), the most recent "Great Comet," photographed on January 23, 2007 from Western Australia. Wikipedia / Public domain

Comets have long been my favorite type of sky object. I'm a soft touch for their beauty and changeability. I like surprises, too. You never know exactly what to expect when you point telescope at one. Changes in brightness, color and tail length reveal just how dynamic these objects are. Fragilely composed of honeycombed dust and ice, a comet is liable to crumble into a beautiful mess at any moment, especially when passing near its nemesis, the Sun.

Each year I eagerly look forward to the next batch of returning comets and maybe a bright discovery or two. Some years are comet-rich. Others, we barely scrape by. If you think 2019 skimped on bright comets, you're right. But get ready for 2020 it may be even leaner.

Last year, amateur and professional astronomers discovered about 50 new comets (some still await confirmation), and recovered 17 returning visitors. Not a single one of the new discoveries was bright enough to see in amateur equipment, save for 2019's most famous visitor, interstellar comet 2I/Borisov. A few fortunate souls with 16-inch, and larger, telescopes scrounged up this 14.5-magnitude object in late December.

Ah, the good old days of naked-eye comets! 46P/Wirtanen (left) and the Pleiades star cluster on Dec. 16, 2018. Bob King

Bright comets in 2019 included 46P/Wirtanen a 5th magnitude holdover from 2018 and long-period Comet Iwamoto (C/2018 Y1), which reached 6th magnitude last February. Comet Africano (C/2018 W2) pulled through at a respectable 8th magnitude in late September, while Comets 38/Stephan-Oterma, PanSTARRS (C/2016 M1), 64P/Swift-Gehrels, and PanSTARRS (C/2017 T2) achieved magnitude 10.

In 2020 there'll be three relatively bright comets gracing the sky: PanSTARRS (C/2017 T2), 2P/Encke, and 88P/Howell. Encke's Comet will be visible only from the southern hemisphere within two months of its June 26 perihelion. Thanks to its short period (just 3.3 years) many amateurs have already seen this comet on multiple apparitions.

Comet 88P/Howell will reach 9th magnitude around perihelion on September 26, but for northern latitudes will be poorly placed low in the southwestern sky at dusk. Comet-hungry northerners should instead focus their attention on C/2017 T2, which peaks in May at around magnitude 8 as it plies the circumpolar sky. Let's face it. We desperately need another Hale-Bopp!

C/2017 T2 was discovered by the PanSTARRS-1 survey telescope back in October 2017. At the time the comet was nearly as distant as Saturn, and glowed feebly at magnitude 20. Astronomer Carl Hergenrother describes it as a dynamically new, long-period comet from the Oort Cloud, on its first trip around the Sun since the infancy of the solar system.

This sketch of Comet PanSTARRS made on Dec. 16.1 UT, 2019, while observing with a 15-inch Dobsonian reflector. The comet showed a 45 arc-second-wide coma with a bright, well-condensed nucleus and faint, southward-pointing tail. North is up.Bob King

Exotic forms of ice on these "fresh" comets often vaporize or sublimate at a great distance from the Sun, resulting in a sudden increase in brightness at first. But after the initial outburst, they're famous for fizzling. Do the names Kohoutek or ISON ring a bell? Both harken from the Oort Cloud and neither lived up to expectations.

Barring an unexpected outburst, T2 should glow at magnitude 8 around the time of its May 4 perihelion, and remain nearly that bright for the entire month as it travels from Camelopardalis to the Bowl of the Big Dipper. From a dark sky, the comet should be easily visible in 50mm binoculars and remain in view the entire night from mid-northern latitudes. Unless a new and brighter comet is discovered, T2 will be our best shot in 2020.

Comet PanSTARRS reveals a bright,pale blue coma and a short curving dust tail in this photo taken on January 13, 2020. Rolando Ligustri

Observers in the southern hemisphere should get their first look at the comet in late June when it appears low in the northern sky, in Canes Venatici. The comet sticks around through August, remaining as bright as magnitude 10.5 as it glides across southern Botes. For now, T2 is a small, condensed object of magnitude 9.5, with a silky, south-pointing tail about 2 long. An 8-inch scope will show the comet easily.

Comet PanSTARRS narrowly misses the Double Cluster later this month. Stars are plotted to magnitude 10.5 with the comet's position marked daily at 0h UT. To convert to EST, subtract 5 hours; 6 hours for CST, and so on. For example, 0h UT January 15 = 7 p.m. EST the previous evening, January 14. Click here for additional maps.Chart generated using SkyMap software

Astrophotography alert! The comet skirts the famed Double Cluster in Perseus from January 24th through the 29th, passing within about 0.5 of the cores of NGC 869 and NGC 884. Don't miss this striking double-double conjunction!

Comet 2P/Encke displayed a bright, emerald green coma and a long, skinny tail during its most recent apparition. This photo was taken on March 27. 2017.Gerald Rhemann

First seen by French astronomer Pierre Mchain, in 1786, Comet Encke was only recognized as a periodic comet in 1819, when German astronomer Johann Encke computed its orbit. Like Halley's Comet, Encke is named for the person who calculated its orbit rather than its discoverer. Enke's Comet has a period of just 3.3 years, and this year will mark its 64th apparition. I've seen it at nine returns starting in 1980 and most recently viewed it in 2017. In 2023, we can look forward to an apparition that'll be favorable for both northern and southern hemispheres.

Comet Encke may brighten to 7th magnitude for southern-hemisphere observers in July. The map depicts the view from Santiago, Chile. Stars are plotted to magnitude 6. Chart generated using SkyMap software

Perihelion this year occurs on June 26. By early July, skywatchers at southern latitudes will nab the comet shining around magnitude 7 to 8 as it crosses Cancer in evening twilight, passing just 15 south of the open cluster M67 on July 7. Moving rapidly eastward, the comet fades quickly, dimming to 11th magnitude by month's end.

Discovered by American astronomer Ellen Howell, in August 1981, this year's will be the comet's 9th observed return. Occasional close approaches to Jupiter have resulted in the comet's perihelion distance decreasing in recent decades. Amateurs may get their first look at 88P in early May as it emerges in Virgo, glowing weakly at magnitude 12. On May 20 it passes a mere 10 north of the close double star Gamma () Virginis, and on September 4, slides a similar distance south of globular cluster NGC 5897, in Libra.

88P/Howell takes a southern route, cutting across Libra and Scorpius when brightest in September and October. Stars plotted to magnitude 9.5. Chart generated using SkyMap software

Perihelion occurs on September 26 when 88P passes just 1 north of Antares, in Scorpius, and peaks at around 9th magnitude. Although the comet will be visible from mid-northern latitudes throughout autumn, itremains low in southwestern sky at twilight's end as it tracks across the southern constellations Ophiuchus and Sagittarius. Observers in the southern hemisphere will get the best views.

Go ahead, say it out loud with all the German accent you can muster SHVAS-maan VACH-maan. And don't forget to clear your throat on the "ACH." 29P/S-W is subject to unpredictable outbursts which can raise the comet's nominal magnitude 16 to as bright as 10.5. Though varying in brightness, several outbursts occur each apparition, which is the reason some amateurs (including me) have seen this comet on more returns than any other. Chances are it'll blow again in 2020.

Using special filtering techniques, this pair of images of Comet 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann shows expanding shells of dust and gas (left) as well as jets of material shooting from the nucleus (right) during the object's October, 2008, outburst. Juan LaCruz / CC BY-SA 4.0

Each outburst provides an opportunity to see one of the most distant comets visible in amateur telescopes. 29P/S-W orbits between 5.7 and 6.2 a.u. from the Sun, tens of millions of kilometers beyond Jupiter. Dr. Richard Miles, Asteroids and Remote Planets section director for the British Astronomical Association, attributes the outbursts to pressurized pockets of carbon monoxide and methane that erupt explosively as cryovolcanoes from solar heating. If you happen to catch 29/S-W early in an outburst, it resembles a bright, compact planetary nebula. To keep tabs on it so you don't miss a blowup, subscribe to the Comets Mailing List or visit the ALPO Comet Blog or Seiichi Yoshida's Weekly Comets Update.

Gamma () Pegasi in the lower left corner of the Great Square will help point you to 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann this winter. Stars plotted to magnitude 11.5. Chart generated using SkyMap software

The comet currently locates in central Pisces and is well placed until the beginning of March. After its conjunction with the Sun in mid-April, 29P/S-W returns to the morning sky in late June in Aries. Its high declination will improve the visibility of even modest outbursts for northern-hemisphere skywatchers.

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Comets to Catch in 2020 - Sky & Telescope

First new comet of 2020 crashes into sun just after being discovered – CNET

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An artist's depiction of a comet flying through the inner solar system

Space is so vast that it can be hard for a little comet to get noticed. In the case of one tiny Kreutz sungrazer, it was seen for the first time just before plunging headlong into the sun to be promptly vaporized.

Karl Battams, who runs NASA's Sungrazing Comets Project at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, DC, shared the news via Twitter on Monday that the first new comet discovered in 2020 is already gone. Battams also shared some footage of its last moments from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, aka SOHO.

Kreutz sungrazersare a family of comets leftover from one massive comet that fragmented into hundreds of smaller bits centuries ago. A number of the mini-comets are spotted each year.

"It's actually quite unusual that it has taken 13 days for SOHO to find a comet," Battams told Spaceweather.com. "This is the furthest we've gone into a new calendar year without a discovery since 2008."

The yet-to-be-named comet (it might never get one now that it's gone) was noticed in the SOHO images by an amateur comet hunter in Thailand named Worachate Boonplod.

While this bold, nameless comet may be gone, there could soon be others to follow in its coma trail. In fact, Battams says it's likely that the second new comet of 2020 will also be a Kreutz sungrazer.

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First new comet of 2020 crashes into sun just after being discovered - CNET

Comets soaring: Coleman boys notch another road win – Midland Daily News

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Arnold scores 26 to lead CHS to double-digit victory over Merrill

Fred Kelly, fred.kelly@mdn.net

MERRILL Coleman boys basketball coach Clark Swerdan wasnt entirely satisfied with his teams performance on Thursday. But he wasnt complaining not after getting a decisive conference win on the road.

The Comets started the game strong, finished the first half on a run to build a seven-point halftime lead, and then continued to pull away after the break to beat host Merrill 48-34 in Mid-State ActivitiesConferenceaction.

We had a big win last week, and I was kind of hoping that would springboard us (into the rest of the season), said Swerdan, whose Comets picked up a rare overtime victory over Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart a week earlier.

That was our first win against Sacred Heart in 12 or 15 years, so that was really nice, he added. Tonight, we didnt play our best, but, hey, anytime you get a double-digit win anywhere in the conference, thats great, especially on the road.

Coleman star senior forward Connor Arnold wasted no time in getting his team going, scoring the games first seven points, while the Vandals committed six early turnovers. Arnold scored 12 of his game-high 26 points in the opening quarter, but Merrill ended the period on a 12-7 run to cut CHSs lead to 14-12.

Coleman's Jaden Bovee reaches for the ball after it was knocked from his hands during a game against Merrill Thursday, Jan. 16, 2020 at Merrill High School. (Katy Kildee/kkildee@mdn.net)

Coleman's Jaden Bovee reaches for the ball after it was knocked from his hands during a game against Merrill Thursday, Jan. 16, 2020 at Merrill High School. (Katy Kildee/kkildee@mdn.net)

Photo: (Katy Kildee/kkildee@mdn.net)

Coleman's Jaden Bovee reaches for the ball after it was knocked from his hands during a game against Merrill Thursday, Jan. 16, 2020 at Merrill High School. (Katy Kildee/kkildee@mdn.net)

Coleman's Jaden Bovee reaches for the ball after it was knocked from his hands during a game against Merrill Thursday, Jan. 16, 2020 at Merrill High School. (Katy Kildee/kkildee@mdn.net)

Comets soaring: Coleman boys notch another road win

Both teams struggled to score for most of the second quarter, but after a couple of lead changes, Coleman ended the half on an 8-0 spurt on a steal and layup by Dominic Beauchamp, a free throw by Beauchamp, a layup by Cash Goethals, and a 3-point play by Arnold off of a strong driving layup to give the Comets a 26-19 edge at the break.

We really moved the ball and were unselfish and played really good defense, said Swerdan. ... We just did a solid job of taking care of the ball, and our defense was our biggest asset tonight. We had guys getting after it defensively.

Coleman outscored the Vandals 11-5 in the third quarter to extend to a 37-24 advantage, and the Comets led by as many as 17 in the fourth.

Beauchamp had nine points and three steals for the Comets, while Kam DeVrieze had five rebounds, and Arnold finished with eight boards and three steals to go with his 26 points.

Logan Heath paced Merrill with 14 points, while Michael Buckley scored 10.

Swerdan said he wouldve liked to put the game out of reach sooner, but his team didnt shoot as as well, either from the floor or from the foul line, as it is capable of doing.

We moved the ball really well and got a lot of good looks, but we didnt shoot our best, he noted. We had a lot of good looks that just didnt fall, or else we couldve opened up the lead a little bit.

But it was still a pretty comfortable win, even though we didnt quite blow it open, he added. They (Merrill) were never really able to get it going.

Coleman (3-3 overall, 3-2 MSAC) will host Beaverton on Wednesday.

The Comets also won the junior varsity game, 41-31, behind 11 points by Ayden Ruhle and nine points by Konnor Carbeno.

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Ranchers hand Comets first loss in thriller | Sports – Rapid City Journal

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The Comets were led by Roisum, who finished with 30 points, while Mitch Heidecker had a big game with 26 points and 24 rebounds.

Ethan Wipf chipped in with 19 points for Rapid City Christian.

Hats off to Harding County, Courtney said. They played an outstanding basketball game and they shot the lights out. Coach Wammen does a great job with his kids and I have a great deal of respect for their program. We could not stop them, they just played a great game. I was really proud of our kids, we were down 12 or 13 in the fourth and we battled back.

Up next, Harding County (8-2) will travel to Bowman, N.D.., on Tuesday, while the Comets (6-1) will look to rebound when they play Madison in Presho on Saturday.

ST. THOMAS MORE 64, CUSTER 27: St. Thomas More led 44-17 at the half and remained unbeaten with a lopsided win over the Wildcats.

Caden Casey led the Cavs with 16 points, while Ryder Kirsch finished with 14 points.

Jace Kelley paced the Wildcats with 11 points.

St. Thomas More (8-0) will travel to Lead-Deadwood on Tuesday, while Custer (7-3) hosts Newell on Thursday.

WALL 68, EDGEMONT 43: The Eagles carried a 50-30 lead into the fourth quarter as it dropped the Moguls in the West River Tournament on Thursday.

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Another Bailey hat trick helps pace Comets past Wolf Pack – Utica Observer Dispatch

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UTICA Another day, another milestone for Justin Bailey.

With his mom in attendance Friday, the speedy Utica Comets forward notched his second hat trick in as many games and third career pro achievement in the last seven days.

Baileys impressive feat with assistance from a empty-netter late helped the Comets rally for a gutsy 6-3 win over the Hartford Wolf Pack for the second win in three days between the Eastern Conference teams.

"It has been a special week for sure," Bailey said. "You dont score goals by yourself, especially in pro hockey. ... As a whole, our team is doing a great job. It is obviously a really fun time for all of us."

According to the AHL, Bailey is the first player since 2011 to have hat tricks in consecutive games since Mark Mancari.

Baileys jaw-dropping stretch includes 13 goals and 17 points in his last 11 games. His 22 goals are tied with Reid Boucher for the team lead. Bailey and Boucher are among five Comets in the top 5 in the AHL in scoring.

The Comets are 3-1-0-0 on their season-long five-game homestand. The team is 12-8-2-1 at home this season.

The win pushed the Comets to 24-13-2-2 overall and two points ahead of idle Belleville in a tight North Division. The Comets play a total of six games over the next nine days before the All-Star break.

"Thats a really good team over there. To beat them back-to-back nights is great for our team and great for our morale," Bailey said. "It is a special night with my mom (Karen) in the building. ...You want to stay dialed in."

Kole Lind notched his 11th goal of the season and added two assists, including waiting to feed his linemate Bailey him on the empty-netter. Bailey said Lind is "like his little brother."

"Obviously, I told him right before we took the center-ice faceoff if the goalie comes out no matter if Im on a breakaway or what, skate up the ice because Im giving you the puck," Lind said with a laugh.

Olli Juolevi also had a goal and an assist, and Carter Camper added an empty-netter for the Comets, who had standout rookie defenseman Brogan Rafferty (undisclosed soreness) join veteran Sven Baertschi among the list of injured players to miss the game.

Trent Cull credited the effort of the teams defensemen, especially in the third period.

"It was any easy game," Cull said. "They were completely invested in that one."

Mike DiPietro totaled 20 saves on 21 shots in relief of Zane McIntyre, who allowed two goals on seven shots in the first period.

Nick Jones gave Hartford (23-10-3-5) a 1-0 lead with 11:24 left in the first period when his shot from top of the right circle got through a screen and past McIntyre following an extended possession in the Comets zone.

Then, Utica killed half of Linds four-minute high sticking infraction before Vinni Lettieris blast from the top of the left circle ended McIntyres night.

"Coach kept it pretty cool and calm on the bench," Bailey said. "We didnt panic and played our game."

With help from the forecheck, the Comets got some momentum late after Bailey forced a turnover and sent a feed to Lind, who fired from the right circle and past Tom McCollum with 1:16 left.

Utica carried the energy into the second period, tying it at 2 after Boucher sent a cross-ice feed to Juolevi, who scored his second of the season from the slot with 12:33 left. Nikolay Goldobins outlet pass helped set up the goal.

Bailey put the Comets ahead 3-2 on a nice individual effort, making move to get around Wolf Pack defenders and then put a perfectly placed shot in from the slot to end McCollums game with 7:28 remaining.

Shawn McBride tied the game at 3-3 less a minute later, putting in a rebound from the left side.

Bailey gave Utica the lead for good when he forced another turnover and quickly scored from the edge of the right circle with 3:24 remaining.

"I thought in the second period we got our forecheck rolling a little bit," Cull said. "I thought that created momentum for us."

The teams played a mostly even third period and Hartford pulled Adam Huska for an extra attacker and Camper put in a slow-rolling empty-netter with 2:26 to go.

Notes: The Comets called up Matt Petgrave from ECHL Brampton on Friday in part because of injuries to Rafferty and Dylan Blujus. Petgrave, who is on AHL deal, did not play. ... Ashton Sautner left the game late in the third period after blocking a few shots. ... Vincent Arseneau was injured with eight seconds remaining following a fight with Mason Geertsen. Arseneau got an instigator penalty, which carries an automatic one-game suspension.

Comets 6, Wolf Pack 3

Hartford 2 1 0 - 3

Utica 1 3 2 - 6

1st Period-1, Hartford, Jones 5 (Hajek), 8:36. 2, Hartford, Lettieri 18 (LoVerde, O'Regan), 11:50 (PP). 3, Utica, Lind 11 (Bailey), 18:44. Penalties-Lind Uti (double minor - high-sticking), 9:20; Malone Uti (hooking), 15:14.

2nd Period-4, Utica, Juolevi 2 (Boucher, Goldobin), 7:37. 5, Utica, Bailey 20 (Lind), 12:32. 6, Hartford, McBride 1 (Gropp), 13:31. 7, Utica, Bailey 21 16:16. Penalties-No Penalties

3rd Period-8, Utica, Camper 5 (Juolevi), 17:34 (EN). 9, Utica, Bailey 22 (Lind), 18:54 (EN). Penalties-served by Lettieri Hfd (bench minor - too many men), 4:53; Arseneau Uti (holding the stick), 7:38; Fogarty Hfd (interference), 9:24.

Shots on Goal-Hartford 10-13-5-28. Utica 5-12-11-28.

Power Play Opportunities-Hartford 1 / 4; Utica 0 / 2.

Goalies-Hartford, McCollum 0-1-1 (12 shots-9 saves); Huska 8-5-4 (14 shots-13 saves). Utica, McIntyre 11-7-2 (7 shots-5 saves); DiPietro 12-5-1 (21 shots-20 saves).

A-3,935

Referees-Mitch Dunning (43), Tim Mayer (19).

Linesmen-Tory Carissimo (54), Jason Brown (44).

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Comet of the Week: (6478) Gault – RocketSTEM

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Hubble Space Telescope image of Gault obtained February 5, 2019, showing the two tails. Courtesy NASA, ESA, Karen Meech and Jan Kleyna (University of Hawaii) and Olivier Hainaut (European Southern Observatory)Comet(6478) GaultsPerihelion: 2020 January 2.79, q = 1.859 AU

It has been obvious for several decades that the dividing line between comets and asteroids is, in a word, nebulous, and some facets of this will be explored in future Special Topics presentations. One group of objects that are included within this discussion were initially referred to as main belt comets, so called because they are objects traveling in near-circular orbits within the main asteroid belt that nevertheless have exhibited behavior typical of active comets. That term has now been largely supplanted by the term active asteroids, which among other things recognizes that there are objects under this umbrella that orbit outside the main asteroid belt. The activity exhibited by some of these objects does genuinely seem to be due to the sublimation of volatiles that is typical of comets, but the activity exhibited by other such objects appears to be due to various other mechanisms. The entire subject of active asteroids is the topic of a future Special Topics presentation.

One of the most dramatic examples of an active asteroid is an object discovered on May 12, 1988 and provisionally designated as 1988 JC1 by Carolyn and Eugene Shoemaker during the course of their photographic survey for near-Earth asteroids conducted from Palomar Observatory in California. After several observations over the next few years including an accidental re-discovery from Catalina Observatory in Arizona in May 1995 it received the permanent number (6478) in July 1995, and in July 1999 it was officially named Gault in honor of planetary geologist Donald Gault who was an expert in impact and cratering processes on planetary bodies. Gault is apparently a stony-type asteroid approximately 4 km in diameter; it orbits within the inner regions of the main asteroid belt in a low-eccentricity orbit (0.19) with an orbital period of 3.50 years.

For the first two decades following its discovery Gault apparently behaved as a seemingly ordinary asteroid. However, on January 5, 2019, an image taken during the course of the ATLAS survey in Hawaii showed that Gault was accompanied by a bright, straight tail-like structure over two arcminutes long. Several images taken elsewhere, including a Las Cumbres Observatory image that I took on January 8, confirmed this feature, and in fact I measured it as being slightly over four arcminutes in length.

This tail remained relatively constant in appearance and brightness for the next few weeks, however in late January another tail, brighter than the first one, appeared to the north of the original tail and oriented about ten degrees in position angle relative to it. Numerous observatories around the world followed the development of this second tail, and in early February Gault was imaged with the Hubble Space Telescope.

Analysis of all the data about Gault does not indicate the presence of any gaseous emissions but instead indicates that the tails are composed entirely of dust. The Hubble data in particular suggests that the dust was ejected in October 2018 as a result of a rapid rotation, with this rapid rotation being due in turn to a phenomenon known as the Yarkovsky-OKeefe-RadzievskiiPaddack (YORP) effect, which is caused by scattering of sunlight impinging on planetary surfaces and by emission of thermal radiation. Ground-based infrared observations obtained in March 2019 indicate that Gault was changing color from reddish to bluish apparently due to sun-exposed red dust being spewed off by the rapid rotation and in turn exposing the bluer surface underneath.

On the other hand, a recent study conducted by a team led by Colin Chandler of Northern Arizona University of archived images taken by the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile has revealed that Gault has been more-or-less undergoing sustained activity since September 2013 the activity shown in the images not being noticed at the times they were taken. This long period of sustained activity suggests at the very least that the mechanism driving the activity is complex, and may mean, in the words of Chandler and his colleagues, that Gault represents a new class of object, perpetually active due to rotational spin-up.

Gault was near opposition, and about 18th magnitude, around the time its activity was observed in early 2019. It has recently passed through perihelion but, having been in conjunction with the sun last November, is still low in the dawn sky for observations but should be accessible within another couple of months. When at opposition in late September it should be close to 17th magnitude. For what its worth, at the time of its next perihelion passage in early July 2023 Gault will be only one month past opposition and will be well placed for observation.

Ice and Stone 2020 Week 4 consists of two other articles:This Week in History: January 19-25Special Topic: Asteroid (433) Eros

Return to home page for Ice and Stone 2020

All of the Ice and Stone 2020 educational materials for Week 4 are available in a PDF format.CLICK HEREto download the content from any of the released weeks.

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Comet of the Week: (6478) Gault - RocketSTEM

Carver shoots out of this world against Lady Comets – Murray Ledger and Times

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MAYFIELD Lady Comet Malle McGee swished in one last three as the buzzer sounded to end the All-Classic State Semifinals last night. Carlisle County fans cheered but it wasnt enough.

Despite Carlisles threes, the Murray High Lady Tigers defeated Carlisle County 47-33 and will be advancing to the finals on Saturday.

I knew they were capable of knocking down some threes, Lady Tiger head coach Tom Foust said. With that being said, I still wanted that to be their offense. I told our girls, If we can limit their offensive rebounds, thats whats going to put a good dent in their offense.

Fousts prediction was correct. Less than 20 seconds into the game, Lady Comet Kierra Whitaker shot a beautiful three. Fortunately, that was something Murray High had been prepared for.

The game plan was to let them shoot some threes, Foust said. They were going to hit some, and we were just going to have to live with it.

Two minutes later, junior Angela Gierhart shot a three of her own to bring the game to a tie at 3-3 with 5:55 left in the first quarter. Once senior Calli Carver shot for two, Murray High took the lead 5-3 and never looked back. By the end of the first half, the Lady Tigers were up 18-12, and they were able to stretch the game out to 47-30 before McGee shot her game-ending basket to make the game 47-33.

Not only did Murray High execute top-notch defense and control the Lady Comets offensive rebounds, but they also had Carver show up and show out. Before the game was over, Carver totaled 26 points.

Calli did what shes been doing, Foust said. She knows that when were struggling to shoot from outside a little bit that shes going to be the go-to inside, and shes really aggressive. She knows when we need her. She doesnt really take bad shots. Shes a really smart kid, and shell do whatever we need her to do either with rebounding or on a night like tonight where she carried us in scoring.

Carver is well known by Murray High opponents, which means she is often heavily guarded, but that doesnt stop this athlete from putting points on the board.

Most nights Callis going to be a primary target, Foust said. Even when people are face guarding her like they (the Lady Comets) were a little bit there at the end, shes a smart kid and knows how to work around that. Then she knows that she needs to be more of a screener, get other people involved. Everybody on the team fights for each other. That makes my job a lot easier.

Foust is overall pleased with the effort he saw from his girls last night but said they need to clean up some simple things before they compete on Saturday.

We had a couple of silly walks and a couple of illegal screens, he pointed out.

Next up, Murray High will take on Mayfield on Saturday at 6 p.m. The Lady Tigers have already competed against the Lady Cardinals once this season and came away victorious 45-36.

Weve played them already this year, Foust said. I dont think theyll be the same team that we saw last time. They were early in the year. They have some talented kids and good coaches. I have some film, so I have to go home and get back to work tonight. I expect quite a few changes.

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Carver shoots out of this world against Lady Comets - Murray Ledger and Times

Game on: Comets bond through TV show – Utica Observer Dispatch

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UTICA Comets, come on down!

No, they arent the next contestants on the "The Price is Right," but a handful of Comets players have developed a ritual of getting together to watch the longtime game show.

The teammates spend many mornings bonding over the show before showcasing their own talents in showdowns against opposing American Hockey League teams.

"Obviously, we goof around and try to guess the price of the stuff and whats going to go on," said Lind, who is in the middle of an impressive standout second season with the Comets. "It is kind of cool that we have a TV show that we all watch together and can bond over, too."

The good-natured get-together among the 20-somethings isnt new this season, it extends back at least a couple years. A small group of Comets congregate around a TV at Aqua Vino Restaurant. The eatery is one of three managed by the Mohawk Valley Garden group, which is headed by Comets President Rob Esche.

In addition to Lind, the informal club includes Justin Bailey, Sven Baertschi, Dylan Blujus and Vincent Arseneau. Nikolay Goldobin also sometimes joins the group.

Theres a fair bit of banter between the players during the 60-minute show as they battle for bragging rights by correctly guessing the prices during the games.

"I just wing it. A couple guys will say $850 and Ill say $900," Bailey said with a smile following Tuesdays practice. "We just watch and try to guess what it is going to be and who is going to win. Just little things like that."

Bailey said he enjoys getting together with the other guys away from the rink and said he probably wouldnt watch the show outside of the group. Though, Lind who has been a frequent linemate of Baileys this season said the speedy forward gets into the show more than he might let on.

So, who among the group is the best at correctly guessing the prices?

"Me," Lind said jokingly. "It is all luck to be honest with you. (Bailey) is the worst, for sure."

Bailey noted that while it is a small group that watches the show, he believes the team as a whole is tight-knit this season.

That mindset along with an assortment of skilled players has helped the Comets (22-13-2-2 overall) remain near the top of a tight North Division. Entering a two-game challenge against Atlantic Division-leading Hartford, the Comets are in second place in the North and one point back of Belleville. The top five teams in the division are separated by five points. The Comets play seven games in the next nine days before the All-Star break.

"Ive been really proud of our players," said Comets coach Trent Cull, whose team is 6-3-1-0 in the last 10 games. "It is great that weve had some success, but I dont think anybody is getting too carried away with that. You see how tight our division is (with) how a good weekend puts you in good standing and a poor weekend puts you out of the playoffs. It is a tough division to play."

Things got a little more interesting Tuesday. Comets General Manager Ryan Johnson said forward Wacey Hamilton is out six to eight weeks with a broken foot after blocking a shot last weekend against Belleville. Baertschi (ankle sprain) is also not expected to play this week, leaving the Comets without two veterans who have recently helped form the top line with leading scorer Reid Boucher. The Comets are 18-5-1-2 with Baertschi in the lineup and 4-8-1-0 without him.

While Arseneau (lower-body) appears set to return from injury against Hartford, Blujus (chest) could be a possibility for the weekend. Seamus Malone (who participated Tuesday in a non-contact jersey) could return soon while Dyson Stevenson (ankle) and Francis Perron (eye) remain out. Perron wont return until after the All-Star break, Johnson said.

"We have to make sure as a staff were steady as she goes and try to better our group. Weve talked a lot about getting better every day," Cull said.

Richard Bachmans gear is going green. pic.twitter.com/A21eqztWVZ

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Comets cruise to 72-49 win over Patrick Co. HS – YourGV.com

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A strong defensive and offensive push over the first nine minutes of the game put the Halifax County High School varsity boys basketball team on the path to a runaway 72-49 win over Patrick County High School Tuesday night at Halifax County High School.

Tuesday nights win in the Piedmont District contest gave the undefeated Comets their 12th straight win and improved their record in Piedmont District play to 5-0.

The Comets, using a stifling pressure defense to trigger their offensive opportunities, took the lead on a basket from Kameron Roberts with 4:11 left in the first quarter. Roberts basket kicked off a run of 22 unanswered points by the Comets that produced a 26-4 lead in the first minute of the second quarter. Patrick County High School never recovered.

We came out of the gate really well defensively, holding them (Patrick County High School) to four points in the first quarter, which allowed a lot of guys to get playing time, said Comets head coach Sterling Williams.

The first five guys really came out with a lot of intensity and a lot of fire, and the lead opened up real quick. We were able to cruise the rest of the way.

Halifax County High School had nine players to score, with four of them reaching double figures. Kevon Ferrell led the Comets with 13 points, all of them coming in the first half. Jaden Waller and Isaiah Hubbard followed with 11 points each, and Roberts finished the night with 10 points.

Davon Jennings was next in line with seven points, Keshawn Wells and William Davis pitched in five points each, Adam Palmer scored three points, and Drew Russell scored two points.

It was a good team win, a good game to get everybody involved, Williams pointed out.

It was good for Isaiah Hubbard, who was our second-leading scorer. We had four guys in double figures, and a bunch of guys coming off of the bench scoring. It was a good night.

Halifax County High Schools 22-0 run early in the first half included a trio of 3-point baskets and a free throw from Ferrell, two baskets from Jennings, a basket and two free throws from Waller, and a basket each from Roberts and Wells.

The Comets led 46-23 at halftime, held the same 23-point edge at the end of the third quarter with a 60-37 score, and led by a game-high margin of 28 points when Russell drained a shot with 4:34 left in the game.

Halifax County High School had its best night of shooting from beyond the 3-point arc. The Comets sank 11 of 31 attempts from 3-point land, with Ferrell hitting four long balls and Hubbard draining three to lead in that effort.

It was good to see the ball go in the basket from behind the arc, Williams remarked.

They (Patrick County High School) were playing zone the whole game, and we were able to get open shots, open threes, and we were able to knock them down.

The Comets pressure defense more than did its job, as the Comets forced the Cougars into 24 turnovers. By contrast, the Comets had only nine turnovers in the game.

With Tuesday nights win being a good overall team win, Williams was able to give reserves a good deal of playing time and rest his top seven players. Tuesday nights game was the first of three games the Comets are slated to play this week. The Comets were scheduled to go on the road to face Prince Edward County High School on Wednesday night, and face Magna Vista High School at home on Friday night in a Piedmont District contest.

Those first five to seven guys in our rotation didnt play many minutes, Williams noted.

They started each quarter and filtered out. It was a good game to have everybody involved.

Halifax County High Schools TyShawn Medley (22) scoops up a loose ball after knocking it away from a Patrick County High School player during Tuesday nights Piedmont District game at Halifax County High School.

Halifax County High Schools Kevon Ferrell (15) attempts to grab a rebound during Tuesday nights Piedmont District game against Patrick County High School at Halifax County High School. Ferrell led the Comets in scoring in the game.

Halifax County High Schools Isaiah Hubbard (50) steals the ball from Patrick County High Schools Jonathan Norman (11) during the second half of Tuesday nights Piedmont District game at Halifax County High School.

Halifax County High Schools Jaden Waller (4) leaps to block the shot of a Patrick County High School player during the second half of Tuesday nights Piedmont District game at Halifax County High School.

Halifax County High Schools Kameron Roberts (14) leaps between a pair of Patrick County High School players to attempt to haul in a rebound during the second half of Tuesday nights Piedmont District game at Halifax County High School.

Halifax County High Schools Keshawn Wells (10) splits a pair of Patrick County High School players as he goes in for a layup during the first half of Tuesday nights Piedmont District game at Halifax County High School.

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Comets look to turn tide against Wave – The Blue Testament

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Kansas City Comets vs Milwaukee Wave

When: Friday, January 17th, 2020 at 7:05 PM CT

Where: Silverstein Eye Centers Arena, Independence, Missouri

How to Watch/Stream: Masl.tv/YouTube

The Kansas City Comets will welcome in the Milwaukee Wave for the second time this month, after the Wave ran away with it in the fourth quarter in an 8-3 Wave win earlier this month.

The 2019 Ron Newman Cup champions enter Fridays showdown with 6-2 record. Led by head coach Giuliano Oliveiro, both losses for the Wave came on their own territory, losing to the Florida Tropics and most recently suffering a devastating overtime defeat after an incredible, yet unsurprising comeback against the St. Louis Ambush on January 12th.

While the Wave will continue without goalkeeper Josh Lemos, Rafa Dias has had a mostly good season stepping in for Lemos, who remains out with a torn ACL. The Wave will also be without Jonathan Santos, who was traded to the St. Louis Ambush for a player to be named later. While they are now without two key figures for them last season, they still are a very talented squad, with an offensive explosion from Luan Oliveira, who has scored 13 goals in eight games this season.

The Wave, who sit second in the Eastern Conference with a 6-2 record, can afford to lose a couple games and still make the playoffs, but the Comets, who sit seventh in the East with a 4-5 record (top four teams from both conferences qualify for the playoffs), must enter every game expecting a win.

Kansas City comes fresh from a 14-6 victory over the Orlando SeaWolves on January 10th, a game in which Kevin Ellis returned to the scoresheet with five goals. The Comets are led by Leo Gibson, who is tied with Milwaukees 2019 MASL MVP Ian Bennett as the Eastern Conferences second highest scorer with 14 goals.

While the Wave have won 11 of the last 12 meeting against the Comets, Kansas City played a promising opening three quarters without some of their best players despite the ending scoreline showing 8-3 in favor of Milwaukee. With players like John Sosa, Stefan Stokic, Lucas Rodriguez, Ray Saari, and a confident Kevin Ellis, the Comets might be able to leave Fridays match with a win.

Another thing to consider is that these two teams meet again on Monday in Milwaukee. It will be interesting to see how head coach Leo Gibson approaches these next two games, whether he puts his best possible squad out there as long as they are in the game or if he might be more conservative in how many minutes players log. Expecting a holiday weekend sweep of the Wave would be a very tall task, so I would play my best possible squad on Friday which would require a win, and hope to put a decent lineup together for Mondays trip to Milwaukee.

In order to get a win, the team must remain focused and patient, as the Wave will capitalize on mistakes and bring the MASLs strongest defense to Silverstein Eye Centers Arena, which has given up just 29 goals this season. They cant afford to give much space to lethal players like Ian Bennett, Luan Oliveira, and Alex Bradley, who combined to score seven of the teams eight goals, and was directly involved in all eight goals against the Comets in their last meeting. The Comets also must remain balanced and avoid quick counter attacks against a dangerous Milwaukee team, which the return of John Sosa will help with.

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Comets look to turn tide against Wave - The Blue Testament

Comets trying to repeat as champs – Duncan Banner

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With playoffs around the corner, the last tournament for area teams is usually the Stephens County Tournament and the Velma-Alma Comets are trying to repeat as champions in 2020.

In the history of the Stephens County Tournament there has only been 18 instances in the 89 year history where a repeat champion has occurred and the No. 2 seed Marlow is the recent in 2017 & 2018.

The No.3 seed and host Comanche will look to continue their streak of championship game appearances as they have six in a row and are currently looking for their seventh in 2020.

Davis and Waurika will be the No.4 and No. 5 seeds, Empire is the No.6 seed, Central High will be the No.7 seed and the No.8 seed is the Bray-Doyle Donkeys.

On the boys side of the bracket the first round will be held Tuesday, Jan. 21, the semi-finals on Thursday Jan. 23 and the consolation semi-finals on Friday Jan. 24 followed by championship Saturday on Jan. 25.

Games will begin 30 minutes earlier on the first day as it was voted by the Stephens County coaches to get the earlier start to begin the tournament.

No. 4 Davis Wolves (4-6) vs. No. 5 Waurika Eagles (9-5), 4 p.m. Tuesday Jan. 21

Davis comes into the tournament with a two game winning streak and maybe three games if they can beat Washington Friday evening in their final game before the Stephens County Tournament.

Waurika will be facing the Empire Bulldogs in their final game before the annual Stephens County Tournament. This will be the first time that Davis and Waurika meet up in the 2019-2020 season.

No. 1 Velma-Alma Comets (11-2) vs. No. 8 Bray-Doyle Donkeys (0-11), 5:20 p.m. Tuesday Jan. 21

Velma-Alma is one of the top ranked teams in Class A and will be the top ranked team heading into the defense of their title from a year ago against the Bray-Doyle Donkeys.

The Comets won their most recent game against Empire in big fashion while the Donkeys will be searching for their first win of the year after losing to Turner this past Tuesday.

The next game for Velma-Alma before the tournament is when they host Elmore City-Pernell as they try for their 12th victory of the season.

No. 2 Marlow Outlaws (7-5) vs. No. 7 Central High Bronchos (3-10), 6:40 p.m. Tuesday Jan. 21

Marlow will try and get back into the championship game of the Stephens County Tournament and will have Central High to start off the first round of the tournament.

The Outlaws are currently 7-5 on the year after beating Bridge Creek this past Tuesday 81-45 with four Marlow players being in double digits.

Jace Gilbert had 16 while Josiah Johnson had 14, Jamison Holland had 13 and Blake Harris had 11 with the rest of the scoring spread out between six other players.

Central High had a tough road test this past Tuesday losing to Class A No. 3 Ft. Cobb-Broxton 65-32 with the Bronchos still looking for their first win of the 2020 calendar year.

The Bronchos will host Ringling in their final game before the Stephens County Tournament while Marlow will travel to Purcell in the final tune-up before the 89th Annual tournament.

No. 3 Comanche Indians (6-5) vs. No. 6 Empire Bulldogs (6-7), 8 p.m. Tuesday Jan. 21

The final first round game of the Stephens County boys tournament will see the host Indians have a rematch against the Empire Bulldogs who faced each other earlier this season.

Comanche got the 67-30 victory over Empire in their second game of the season and most recently beat Dickson 55-39 to be one game above the .500 mark for the year.

Empires most recent game was a loss to Velma-Alma and their last victory was at Chesapeake Arena against Ryan as they have lost four straight looking to face another Stephens County Tournament mate in their next game.

The Bulldogs will host Waurika while Comanche will travel to Sulphur to try and finish up the last game before the Stephens County Tournament.

Full coverage of the 89th Annual Stephens County Tournament will be on The Duncan Banner website and in several editions of The Duncan Banner next week.

The following is the full schedule for the tournament that will be held at Comanche High School.

Tournament Schedule:

Game 1: Davis vs. Waurika - 4 p.m. Jan. 21

Game 2: Velma-Alma vs. Bray-Doyle - 5:20 p.m. Jan. 21

Game 3: Marlow vs. Central High - 6:40 p.m. Jan. 21

Game 4: Comanche vs. Empire - 8 p.m. Jan. 21

Game 5: Semi-Final #1 - 5:20 p.m. Jan. 23

Game 6: Semi-Final #2 - 8 p.m. Jan. 23

Game 7: Consolation Semi-Final #1 - 5:20 p.m. Jan. 24

Game 8: Consolation Semi-Final #2 - 8 p.m. Jan. 24

Game 9: Consolation Championship- 12:30 p.m. Jan. 25

Game 10: Third-Place Game- 3:30 p.m. Jan. 25

Game 11: Championship Game - 8 p.m. Jan. 25

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Comets trying to repeat as champs - Duncan Banner

Will immortality take place by 2050? | Columns – Grand Haven Tribune

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Can humans ever become biologically immortal? There are some people who believe that someday that could happen.

Biological immortality the ability to never die attracted my interest recently when I watched an old TV episode of Twilight Zone called Long Live Walter Jameson. In the storyline, Jameson, a college professor, is a 2,000-year-old man who hadnt aged since agelessness was stowed upon him by an ancient alchemist. His co-worker discovered Jamisons agelessness and asked if he could help him live longer. I wont reveal any more of the story line, but Jameson reveals that living 2,000 years has its pitfalls.

So, that got me wondering if there are people who believe in immortality. It turns out that there is at least one person believes immortality is not only possible but will happen sometime in this century.

According to an online article in The Sun, futurologist Dr. Ian Pearson believes that humans are very close to achieving immortality. Pearson predicts that by the year 2050, humans will have the ability to at least have their brains live forever.

He told the Sun that there are several different ways we could live forever. He suggested that biotechnologies and medicine might be able to be used to renew the body and rejuvenate it. No one wants to live forever at 95 years old, but you could rejuvenate the body to 29 or 30, you might want to do that, he told the Sun.

Most likely, though, he believes brains could be connected to robots. The mind will basically be in the cloud, and be able to use any android that you feel like to inhabit the real world, Pearson told the Sun.

If youre not rich, dont expect immortality right away. Pearson said initially the first brain-to-machine links will cost millions of dollars and will only be available to the rich and famous. By 2060, he predicts working and middle-class people willbe able to afford achieving immortality; and by 2070, it will be available to low-income people.

Pearsons theories are certainly interesting. As technology keeps improving, no one knows for sure what is in store in the next 50 years. Will there be cures for cancer and other diseases? Will there be immortality?

There will be opposition to mortality efforts. Besides the ethical and religious questions, some believe that living forever could be extremely boring, because there would be no incentive to accomplish anything.

I know that Im not going to be around in 2050, so I wont be able to see if Pearsons predictions come true. I do know, like many of you, that I have enjoyed my life, even though aging takes a toll on us. My friend, Jack Perko, and I sometimes joke about how bodies are like used cars and need replacement parts.

It also saddens me to learn that some of my good high school friends have passed away. I am in my 70s and hopefully I have a few more good years left, barring any diseases, or an accident.

Depending on what report you read, the life expectancy for Americans is 80 years. I have a brother who will turn 81 in April. Some of my aunts and uncles lived until their 90s.

Both of my parents died in their 60s. Both were heavy smokers, and my father worked in coal mines and steelmills, which certainly could have affected his health.

Even at present, technology has come a long way in helping us live longer. Potentially fatal illnesses can now be treated. Complicated surgeries in the past have become more routine now.

I know that I wont reach immortality or live for 2,000 years, but I have been happy with my life.

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Will immortality take place by 2050? | Columns - Grand Haven Tribune

Chip Walter is dying for you to read his new book on immortality. Or is he? – NEXTpittsburgh

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Is it possible to cure aging?

Chip Walter says yes. The author spent years researching and writing his new book Immortality, Inc.: Renegade Science, Silicon Valley Billions, and the Quest to Live Forever which explores the efforts being taken to cure aging and hence dramatically prolong life.

This is not a work of fiction.

Walter, a science journalist, filmmaker, skeptic and former CNN bureau chief interviewed many authorities, including Craig Venter, the scientist who accelerated the completion of the first human genome and Robert Hariri, one of the worlds leading stem cell experts.

The book, published by National Geographic, is available in bookstores and online. As part of his tour to promote the book, Walter will appear at the Carnegie Library Lecture Hall in Oakland on Thursday, Jan. 16 to discuss the death of growing old. The event, which is part of the Pittsburgh Arts & Lecture Series, is free with registration.

The topic is fascinating with so many implications. NEXTpittsburgh caught up with Walter to ask him some burning questions of our own.

Define immortality. Is it infinite or are we talking hundreds of years?

None of us is going to live forever. Sooner or later well be hit by a bus or lightning, or maybe an angry spouse who just cant stomach celebrating their 400th anniversary! We used the title Immortality, Inc. in the book to differentiate it from simply living a couple of extra years or even a couple of extra decades. So, this book doesnt pretend to have revealed science that will guarantee infinite life, but it does explore scientific advances on the horizon that will very likely diminish and then eliminate aging. And since aging and age-related diseases are the number one reason why we die (one million people a week die of age-related disease), curing aging would radically lengthen healthy life spans into the hundreds of years, crazy as that may sound.

Do we have to cure cancer and conditions like depression first?

The opposite, I think.

If scientists solve aging, then it would also vastly reduce the number of people who die from cancer and many other diseases. The reason most people get cancer is because they are aging. If science can solve the underlying, biological causes of aging, these killer diseases would largely disappear. Well basically grow younger. And, as a rule, most people do not die when they are young unless its from an accident, murder or a severe genetic problem.

So, by curing aging, we will, in one fell swoop, cure much of the cancer, heart disease, Alzheimers and other major diseases. This arguably makes solving aging the best way to eliminate a whole group of diseases, rather than try to track each one down individually like were playing some game of whack-a-mole. In fact, you could argue that these diseases will never be eliminated unless aging is eliminated first. Well just create a series of band-aids, but eventually something will get us.

Issues like depression are more problematic because they are not directly related to aging (though they sometimes can be). But, an additional bonus is that as science attempts to cure aging, we may well develop cures for many diseases that afflict people in their youth genetic diseases, mental and emotional syndromes, viruses, childhood cancer because we will understand the genomics of the human body so much better.

How close are we really to achieving immortality and what will be the first discovery?

I doubt there will be a silver bullet any more than scientists found a silver bullet that would cure cancer when the war against cancer was launched in the 1970s. Its just too complex. But, I do believe that some major advances will be revealed and in use within the next four years. These advances will be incremental, but they will also gather speed. First, I expect to see a far broader use of stem cell technology to repair damaged and diseased bodies from arthritis to kidney disease. A company and scientist I explore in the book (Celularity) is tackling that.

Next, will come major advances as we better understand the human genome. We are gathering more and more information that is enabling us to decode the genome so that we can understand and develop drugs tailored to each individual. But first we have to understand what interactions within our DNA unravel the human body in the first place. ( I explore a company called Human Longevity, founded by genomic pioneer Craig Venter, that is working on that.) Third, based largely on genomics, will come advances that truly unveil why we age at all. Clearly we do. But why? Calico and Apple Chairman Arthur Levinson is working on that.

How will we solve all of these complex problems? Only the development of increasingly robust computing can solve that problem, and that software is advancing at an exponential pace. Ultimately, those machines, working with scientists of many stripes will crack some of these profoundly complex challenges. Generally, I believe those are the four forces that I believe will lead to the end of aging.

Has there been an actual breakthrough and if so, what is it?

There have been breakthroughs, but no cures (because, again, I doubt there will be a silver bullet). But as I reveal in the book, scientists now know, definitively, that genetics is the source behind why we age (or one of the key sources). We also know that certain key genes in other animals (like mice) can be switched, and when they are, the mice live far longer and healthier lives, sometimes more than four times longer. We also know that some mammals simply dont age. They die of other things, but not aging. This was discovered while I was writing the book. Scientists in the book also have discovered what they suspect is the explanation of youth. Why are we born young? How does that happen and then why and how do we age? So, we have already seen significant fundamental advances, and theyll continue to come.

How much of the book is about the personalities and how much is about science?

I did not want to write a book that was just a bland science survey filled with a bunch of facts. Theres a difference between fact and truth. When I first set out to explore and research Immortality, Inc., the main question in my mind was this: are we actually now living in a time when science could solve one of the greatest mysteries the human race has ever faced? And if science can accomplish that, what does it mean? To tell that story I needed to understand the history of the key scientists, and the finances and thinking of those involved. And I needed to gain access to them. It wasnt easy, but eventually I did. Much of what I found is exclusive information. Unknown until now.

In the end I wanted to thread all of those themes together into one larger, compelling story. How did something like this come to be? Who were these scientists? What motivated them? Are they crazy or geniuses? So, I spent a lot of time with all of them and I wrote about who they are and what led them to undertake such a monumental task. Who does that? Once I set the stage for outlining the personalities and the cultural and historical and financial issues, then I dove into the science that these scientists and companies were developing. I think this makes the book a much more compelling human story. At least I hope so.

How would you respond to critics who think the book is more about very wealthy older people in a quest to cheat death?

Well, the simple answer is thats not what the book is about. So folks should read it and theyll see that such an assumption would be off-base. I am sure that there are many well-heeled older people who would like to live longer and healthier lives. And I am sure that there are many not-so-well-heeled people who would as well. That doesnt make them evil. This is only evil if the rich, and only the rich, hold on to technologies that would lead to longer life. That would be wrong. But history shows that as new technologies evolve, costs drop and then they become more ubiquitous. I believe that will happen here. Insurance companies will begin to see that they can save a lot more money by enabling people to remain healthy longer than by paying to have them go into the hospital again and again.

When it comes right down to it, does anyone want to die (unless you are facing horrible physical, emotional or mental pain)? I mean when each of us is facing death, that day, do we really want to blink out? Living is literally wound into our DNA. Every living thing does everything it can to remain alive, until it simply cant anymore. From the beginning of time we have always tried to avoid dying. Thats the origin and purpose of Medicine with a capital M. Now, if we solve that problem and huge numbers of us live exceptionally long, will that create problems? Absolutely. But again, will most people say, Its okay, Ill die so we dont have an over population problem. Lets imagine someone has cancer and science offers a potential solution, do they say, No thanks. Not usually. I suspect the same will be true of drugs and treatments that extend life. A bigger issue in my mind is how, as a society, we are going to deal with a world in which we are living, not decades longer (as we already are), but hundreds of years longer. These advances are going to capsize everything. So I suggest we get a handle on it now.

Did you discuss immortality with any religious leaders or people in the death care industry? What were their thoughts?

I did speak to those people, but I didnt get deeply into it in the book or it would have been 600 pages long. Peoples feelings about this are all over the map, pro and con. There is, however, no religion that fundamentally holds that we must die. Some people, however, do feel its wrong to want to cheat death. That somehow its unnatural or that God wants us to die. But if this were universally true, then why take antibiotics? Why try to save people from automobile accidents? Why try to cure or treat any disease? All of these are basically ways to cheat death, at least for awhile.

But again, I want to clarify that my goal with this book isnt to advocate one way or another for outfoxing the grim reaper. I am simply trying to tell the story of these forces and people who are creating profound and fundamental change in the human story. I wanted to tell that tale, not explore the theology and philosophy of life and death because its not about my point of view. Its about whats happening and why its important.

Carnegie Library Lecture HallChip WalterImmortalityInc.National GeographicPittsburgh Arts and Lecture Series

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Chip Walter is dying for you to read his new book on immortality. Or is he? - NEXTpittsburgh

Corofin on brink of immortality | Irish Sport – The Times

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Side chasing third All-Ireland in a row are relentless on and off pitch

In the autumn of 2017, Michael Donnellan had Mountbellew-Moylough in the Galway football final feeling good about themselves, and plenty others feeling even better about them. Corofin were the familiar face greeting them in the final, like the house band on a TV chat show. But people were asking questions whether Corofin could still hold a tune, the sort of questions that seem inconceivable now.

Corofin had scraped their semi-final against Annaghdown by a point while Mountbellew destroyed Monivea-Abbey. Corofin were already in full control of the wheel in Galway with ambitions well beyond that, but recent results suggested a weakening.

Mountbellew trusted the progressive, fast-paced football that swept them to the final. Corofin took a handful of steps backwards, strung a line of players

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Corofin on brink of immortality | Irish Sport - The Times