Aaron Smith is reaching out for a "Brother" in a time of need – EARMILK

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It seems almost impossible to imagine a reality that is darker or more pervasive than the one we are currently facing, but in times of global solidarity, the little voices that have always tried to speak out seem to be drowned out even more. While the whole world is coming to terms with its own flaws and immortality, this state of uncertain anguish is one many others have already been facing, with Scotland native Aaron Smith bringing their stories to light in his new single "Brother."

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After releasing his debut EPLoveless, it seemed that the world was at his feet, having gone on to perform in sold out shows in London and Glasgow, heavily propelled by the success of his debut single "Unspoken." There was an innocence to the soft voice that spoke to the believing heart in all of us. Holding out hope for a gentler and kinder world may not have always panned out, but Smith's honest lyricism made it feel a little less hopeless.

"Brother"a song about addiction takes the jagged edges of a chewed up stream of thoughts and smoothes them out into a soft piano-led melody. Searing strings slowly roll out the carpet as he hesitantly steps onto the affectionate chorus"Give me time / And ease my mind"before breaking out into a run amidst the rising instrumentals. It's poignant yet clean, leaving no demon swept under the rug. In one emotional swoop, Smith manages to empty that which felt burdened, cleanse that which felt dirty, and give voice to that which felt small.

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Aaron Smith is reaching out for a "Brother" in a time of need - EARMILK

Top 12 LSU Sports Events of the Decade: #9 2017 College World Series – And The Valley Shook

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Since 2009 and LSUs last national title, LSU baseball has been consistently great. LSU has won seven SEC titles (four tournament titles and three regular season crowns), been a regular in the Supers, and made several trips to Omaha.

LSU even had great teams who could have competed for the title but suffered some bad luck along the way: 2012 was bedeviled by the weather against Stony Brook messing with the rotation, 2014 had some crazy bounces go bad against Houston, 2015 just couldnt figure out TCU. But the programs best chance at adding a date to the Intimidator came in 2017.

A loaded roster with such greats as Alex Lange and Kramer Robertson added a ton of freshmen talent: Josh Smith, Zach Smith, and Eric Walker especially.

LSU won the SEC regular season and tournament titles, and after dropping a midweek game to Tulane April 25, LSU rolled off a 12-2 record to close out the season, including winning all of their final seven games. LSU swept three of their final four series and then rolled through Hoover in four games, winning by a combined score of 35-5.

LSU continued its roll in the Baton Rouge Regional as well as the Supers against Mississippi St. LSU won nine straight games to make it to Omaha, and won its first game in Omaha as well, running the streak to ten.

The Tigers made it to the final series in Omaha by taking it the hard way. LSU had to beat #1 Oregon St. twice after dropping their first meeting 13-1. The Tigers responded and rolled into the final series by winning 3-1 and 6-1 decisions against the top ranked team in the nation.

Then came hated Florida.

Due to their run through the losers bracket, LSU had to burn their staff and couldnt start either of their lethal one-two punch of Lange and Jared Poche in Game 1. If LSU could get through Game 1, they could then get to their twin aces, and maybe win the title.

Florida jumped out to 3-0 lead and while LSU rallied, they never could close that gap. LSU had a rally in the eighth, but twin baserunning errors cost LSU two outs, and the rally fell short, 4-3.

In Game Two, LSU fell behind early again, and again, a late rally was defused by baserunning errors. Jake Slaughter was ruled out sliding into a players legs rather than the bag, meaning runner interference, sending Josh Smith back to third, taking away the tying run. Twice, LSU got runners on the corners in the late innings, and the team came away with nothing. LSU would fall 6-1 to not just any conference rival, but a program that truly ratcheted up the hatred with LSU over the past decade.

This was a great LSU team. There was no Rally Possum or can of corn or any other mystical totem. This was a team that simply had talent. They knew they were good and went for it. And they fell just short.

Worse, injuries derailed Eric Walker and Josh Smiths career at LSU. A team that seemed on the precipice of multiple runs to Omaha has instead not been back to the college baseballs most hollowed grounds.

That is the story of LSU baseball in the 10s: a very good program that was frustratingly close to immortality, but still a step away. They still remain that step away today. The run was great, there just wasnt enough magic.

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Top 12 LSU Sports Events of the Decade: #9 2017 College World Series - And The Valley Shook

MLB Writer Predicts Whose Jersey Number Red Sox Will Retire Next – NESN

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Two candidates stand out from the rest in the race toward Boston Red Sox immortality.

MLB.coms Ian Browne last week named Dwight Evans and Roger Clemens as the players whose jersey numbers the Red Sox most likely will retire next. Clemens won the Cy Young Award three times and was Bostons ace for most of his 13-year tenure with the team in the 1980s and 1990s. Evans was a three-time All-Star and earned eight Gold Gloves during the 19 years he spent with the Red Sox in the 1970s and 1980s.

From a statistical standpoint, Roger Clemens is the obvious choice to be the next Red Sox player to have his number retired, Browne wrote. But the Rockets alleged association with PEDs makes it a cloudy issue for the Red Sox. Dwight Evans was an exemplary player for Boston for 19 years, making his No. 24 a candidate to get retired, as well.

Browne also includes Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia and former pitcher Luis Tiant among other potential candidates to be the 12th number Boston retires.

The numbers of Joe Cronin (4), Ted Williams (9), Bobby Doerr (1), Carl Yastrzemski (8), Carlton Fisk (27), Johnny Pesky (6), Jim Rice (14), Wade Boggs (26), Pedro Martinez (45), David Ortiz (34) and Jackie Robinson (42) hang at Fenway Park in honor of their invaluable contributions to the Red Sox and Major League Baseball.

Thumbnail photo via Bob DeChiara/USA TODAY Sports Images

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PASTOR’S CORNER: Celebrate the Wonder of The Resurrection on Easter – Monroe County Reporter

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We have just celebrated Palm Sunday. It is the final Sunday of Lent, the beginning of Holy Week, and the Kingship of Christ before he was crucified. Easter Sunday is the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The wonder of the resurrection may increase your curiosity or doubt about life and death. Neither of which can be fully explained or understood.

Christians know from the gospel that Jesus rose from the dead on the third day following his crucifixion. St. Paul said to the Corinthians, Resurrection was like a seed you sow, it never comes up until it first dies.

This may be interpreted as man has to undergo a change. We must pull off mortality and put on immortality.

1 Corinthians 15:20 says: But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. Some may interpret this as meaning that he is an example of what the resurrection is like.

1 John 3:2 says: Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

Evidence at the grave proves that Christ did rise. Pilates seal was broken, the stone was rolled away, and the grave was found empty.

The resurrection of Christ marks the triumph of good over evil, sin and death. The wonder of the resurrection is that it proves that those who trust in God and accept Christ will be raised from the dead, that religion and worship will not be in vain.

According to St. Paul:

Acts 17:24: The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands.

Acts 17:25: And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.

Acts 17:26: From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.

Acts 17:27: God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.

Acts 17:28: For in him we live and move and have our being.

Acts 17:29: Therefore since we are Gods offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone-an image made by mans design and skill.

Easter Sunday is the greatest of all days for it gives the world the gospel message of good news. It establishes the kingdom of heaven on earth and paves the way for the great commission set forth as follows:

Matthew 28:19-20: Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.

Rev. Clarence Thrower is pastor to the Forsyth Parish United Methodist Church and serves three congregations: Kynette UMC, 266 Martin Luther King Jr. Dr., Forsyth; Hopewell UMC, 483 Hopewell Road, Forsyth; Rocky Mount UMC, 1387 Highway 41 South, Barnesville.The Pastors Corner is sponsored by the Monroe County Ministerial Association, which meets on the second Thursday of each month at 8:30 a.m. at Christ United Methodist Church, 417 N. Frontage Road, Forsyth.

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PASTOR'S CORNER: Celebrate the Wonder of The Resurrection on Easter - Monroe County Reporter

Lord of the Rings: 10 Things That Make No Sense About Orcs – Screen Rant

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Orcs may be one of the prominent species in Lord of the Rings, but not everything about them makes total sense.

The word orc likely conjures the image of a great beast of a creature ripping itself from its slime-covered cocoon in front of Christopher Lee's Saruman in the Lord of the Rings films. Orcs were always the majority of foot soldiers for Sauron in his war against the rest of Middle Earth.

RELATED: The Lord of the Rings: 5 Reasons Legolas Is an Underrated Character (& 5 Why He's Overrated)

They always served evil and were born of evil, and yet, despite the simplicity in their creation and motivation, there are a few things about orcs in The Lord of the Rings, and even in The Hobbit, that don't quite add up. A few questions remain about the ugliest creatures in all of Middle Earth.

According to Tolkien, at least some of the orcs used to be elves. That's right, some orcs have the same ancestors as the beautiful Legolas. Apparently they were tortured and that's how they changed both their appearance and their personalities to the gross and evil kind. They, like elves, can die in battle, but viewers never spend enough time with them to see if, at least some orcs, still possess the immortality of their elf ancestors. Despite the explanations, it's hard to believe that torture can create an entirely new species, bot just a new attitude or outlook.

Orcs, like elves, have been around for a long long time, and yet they were never a real issue until the rise of Sauron. Despite their strength, numbers, and dark nature, orcs seemed to only bother dwarfs. What else were they doing all that time? They weren't exactly building their own culture or cities. They were just sort of around waiting for something to do? It's very weird that they weren't a greater problem for the residents of Middle Earth until an independent leader took charge.

Orcs cause major problems for the dwarfs, rather than Middle Earth at large, because they lived underground. Yet, why they lived underground doesn't make much sense. Elves don't live underground, and many of the earliest orcs were descended from elves. Apparently, due to living underground, orcs were also excellent miners, like Gimli and the dwarfs. If they had skills, again, it makes little sense that they weren't a larger problem earlier on for residents across Middle Earth.

Originally Tolkien said that all orcs were descended from tortured elves. However, not all orcs come from elves. Beyond the birth of the Uruk Hai that is seen in the Lord of the Rings films, Tolkien's son later admitted that his father wasn't always comfortable with the idea that orcs came from elves.

RELATED: Lord of the Rings: 10 Things That Make No Sense About Merry & Pippin

With their ever-changing backstory it's no wonder there is confusion over where orcs come from, what they can do, what their goals are, and what they do in their spare time.

Orcs were strong and talented (see their mining skills mentioned above). Yet, it wasn't until Sauron and Saruman that the orcs also started making a real mark on the different people of Middle Earth. Orcs were never depicted as peaceful so, again, it is strange that they weren't out marauding in the countryside earlier in the history of Middle Earth. They could have been a threat all their own, and been very destructive and powerful if they had taken initiative. It's never exactly clear why they didn't.

Uruk hai, unlike their elf descended brethren, are bred by Saruman at Isengard. They come from the dark arts and magical creation rather than torture or biological procreation. It is often said that uruk hai are actually a result of the crossbreeding of humans and orcs. Despite the difference in their backstory, uruk hai are not seen as their own species or creature, they are also known as orcs, even if they are a subset. Why uruk hai would be thrown in with the unsuccessful minions that came before them is a question that remains.

Despite how it appears in the films, with Treebeard being shocked at the destruction Saruman and Isengard have wrought on the forest, the fact that Treebeard didn't know in advance seems absurd. Orcs are not very smart, and yet the Ents are. The Ents claim they can communicate with the trees, and yet fans are supposed to believe no trees sent out the message that they were being destroyed. Orcs are not talented or secretive enough to have pulled off a move like this, even with Saruman's involvement.

In The Lord of the Rings,Peter Jackson makes it clear that orcs need to be constantly watched if they are going to be successful and organized as a fighting force. This means that orcs, despite their strength and numbers, can be very vulnerable to the well-organized men, elves, and dwarfs who they find themselves fighting against.

RELATED: Lord of the Rings: 5 Reasons Gandalf was the Best Member of the Fellowship (& 5 Why it was Aragorn)

While it's obvious that, before Saruman, orcs were not organized enough to do any real damage to Middle Earth, they still managed to survive. What helpful traits led them to this minor success is never revealed.

Elves live in Lindon, Lothlrien, and Rivendell and yet they are all just elves. Yet, orcs are categorized often by where they come from. There are Mordor Orcs, Isengard Orcs, Dol Guldur Orcs, and the Orcs of the Misty Mountains, along with the specific uruk hai. Why a disorganized species would have so many categories assigned to them doesn't make any sense at all.

Despite their numbers and their strength, even as unorganized as they are, it is very strange how well orcs seem to take orders. They march and so as their told when sent out by Saruman to end the age of men and begin the age of the orc. Again, why they never used their strength and numbers to do anything, including to sack towns and villages before they were pulled together by Saruman and Sauron seems like a lost opportunity.

NEXT: The Lord of the Rings: 5 Reasons Frodo Is an Underrated Character (& 5 Why He's Overrated)

Next 5 Best Action Movie Climaxes Ever (& 5 Worst)

Jessie Atkin holds an MFA in creative writing. She is a storyteller, writer, and reader. She's a YA connoisseur, Star Wars enthusiast, Harry Potter fanatic, Mets devotee, and trivia aficionado.

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Lord of the Rings: 10 Things That Make No Sense About Orcs - Screen Rant

Amid a global pandemic, the Christian story of Easter shows us the power of hope – The Guardian

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In the spring of 1963, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference was engaged in a campaign to defeat Jim Crow laws in Birmingham, Alabama.

As they approached the Easter weekend that year, no victory was in sight. But Dr Martin Luther King Jr knew there was something in the logic of Easter that suggested the way to victory might be counterintuitive. He decided to go to jail on Good Friday and stay there through the Easter weekend. He would not be free to preach a sermon on the holiest day of the Christian year, but he would pen his famous Letter from a Birmingham Jail as he waited to see a way forward.

In the midst of this worlds deepest darkness, the Christian story of the resurrection points towards the power of hope. As we weather a global pandemic, Easter offers a moment for us to reflect on the role of suffering and the possibility of radical solidarity.

Over the past month we have entered a new reality where despair is ever-present and fear pervasive. The death toll keeps rising, and instead of honest leadership we have a president who uses press conferences as political rallies. Trump might remind us of Pontius Pilate, who came from a well-known family and oversaw a tense, violent relationship with the Jewish minority of Jesus day. America today is not unlike the Roman Empire in which Christ was crucified as an insubordinate revolutionary.

Suffering is not anathema to Christians. In the Christian story, Jesus the son of the creator of the universe willingly undergoes a painful, bloody, public death. It is the last sacrifice, so that others do not need to continue the bloodletting. This is an astounding idea, a reversal of all our dominant values, our hunger for immortality, for power, for pleasure above all else. The crucifixion is the story of Jesus ultimate sacrifice and solidarity with the world.

But the story does not end with death. It ends with resurrection, an unbelievable miracle, and with the Holy Spirit persisting in a global community.

Can we come together as a global community today? As we take hope in the Easter story, we must also take the lessons of Christs life, which was spent in radical communion with the poor and sick.

The Poor Peoples Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival has taken up the campaign begun by Martin Luther King Jr and others in 1968, which was itself a revival of the early churchs commitment to the least of these. We stand for the 140 million poor and low-income people who were left out of Congresss Covid-19 relief package: the 60 million workers who do not have paid sick leave, the 25 million with no health insurance, the 72 million who already have medical debt, the 8 million to 11 million people who are homeless, the 11 million undocumented immigrants who will receive no support. Often, in the midst of Americas obsession with the middle class, we forget those who have nothing. But Christ did not forget them.

And, as we seek solutions to this virus at home, we must remember its global reach. Indias 1.3 billion people are all in a 21-day lockdown. In Africa, the difficulty of social distancing in dense areas, paired with underlying conditions caused by malnutrition, could portend a devastating toll. As developing countries become harder hit, people are faced with the choice of infection or starvation.

Meanwhile, there is little interest in the United States for increasing aid abroad. On the contrary, industrial nations expect to bring in tens of billions in debt payments in 2020. The International Monetary Fund, aid organizations and world leaders are calling on creditors to suspend these payments. But there is much more that could be done. Many of the same leaders, including the IMF leadership and Nobel laureate economists, have called for the IMF to help countries through this crisis by providing, as it did in 2009, large amounts of debt-free special drawing rights. We could end the illegal sanctions on countries like Iran and Venezuela, which target civilians and have caused tens of thousands of deaths. Or we could make a commitment to ensuring that when a vaccine is found, it will be available to all.

American leaders have not taken any of these actions and we should not be surprised. This is the way of a civilization that has lost touch with its own humanity. It is the sign of a civilization that cannot last. But Christs life and death reminds us that we must continue the struggle. The resurrection reminded Christs followers that the death of the body is not the ultimate evil. On the contrary, it is the death of the soul, the death of our ability to see clearly what is right, which is far more devastating.

Christs life was an indictment of the Roman Empire and ultimately he was executed for his revolutionary protests. Pontius Pilate washed his hands before ordering the crucifixion, much like western governments might wash their hands today as they turn away from the suffering they could have avoided.

This Easter, the resurrection offers an indictment of empires and leaders that have become cruel in their hunger for power. But it also offers us a path forward. Though empires rise and fall, our ability to love and care for one another persists. When we press on in solidarity with those who are suffering, even when a way forward is not clear, we prepare ourselves to receive the good news of this season.

The Rev Dr William J Barber II is president of Repairers of the Breach and co-chair of the Poor Peoples Campaign

Dr Leah Hunt-Hendrix is a writer and co-founder of Way to Win

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Amid a global pandemic, the Christian story of Easter shows us the power of hope - The Guardian

Star Wars: How Long Palpatine Was On Exegol Before Rise of Skywalker – Screen Rant

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The Rise of Skywalker revealed a clone of Palpatine hiding on Exegol, but what had the Sith Lord been up to since his defeat on the Death Star II?

Emperor Palpatine returns inStar Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, but neither Rey nor Kylo Ren fully learn what he has been doingin the thirty years since his death. Released intermittently over the course of 42 years, the Skywalker saga's storyline spans 67 years in-universe, covering the lives of three generations of the Skywalker family. However, the widerStar Wars universe is vast, and much of its history takes place on the order of tens of thousands of years, especially in theformerly-officialStar Wars Legends continuity. Emperor Palpatine, in spanning the film franchise and channeling eons of Sith legacy, bridges these two timescales.

The first two films of the sequel trilogy present Supreme Leader Snoke and Kylo Ren as the primary antagonists, but after Snoke's death inStar Wars: The Last Jedi, a power vacuum opens in the First Order that Ren looks poised to fill. However, it is then revealed byThe Rise of Skywalker in 2019 that, in spite of his apparent death at the Battle of Endor, a revived Darth Sidious had been controlling the workings of the First Order for decades, although his specific actions aren't elaborated upon in the film.

Related: Why Star Wars Recast The Original Palpatine After Empire Strikes Back

As he hurtled toward the core of the Death Star II at the close ofReturn of the Jedi, Palpatine used his formidable control of the Force to throw his spirit across the galaxy to Exegol, where his followers in the Sith Eternal had prepared a cloned body for him to inhabit. The scheming paranoia necessary to take such a precaution is characteristic of the Sith mindset, but the laboratory on Exegol was more of a backup plan than anything, so Sidious didn't immediately take any further steps following Darth Vader's betrayal. Hedid, however, become preoccupied with the faults of his new form, which began to deteriorate under the weight of his evil.

In seekinga way to stabilize their master's condition, the Sith Eternal produced many more failed clone bodies over the course of years, but in doing so, accidentally created a functional, but non-Force-sensitive, one. This "son" would go on tofatherRey, whom Palpatine would come to view as the key to achieving immortality. Inert copies of Snoke, who had been created by Palpatine decades before, were also stored in the facility, showing the Supreme Leader's importance to Palpatine's plan. It was alongside Snoke's more direct influence that Sidious remotely pushed Kylo Ren to the dark side.

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Rick and Morty plot hole: Fans spot huge error in the Whirly Dirlys Immortality Field – Express

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Adult Swims irreverent science fiction animated series wrapped up its fourth season this year with an impressive finale. Before five new episodes of Rick and Morty drop on Netflix, some eagle-eyed animation fans noticed a strange continuity mistake with the Whirly Dirly during Rick and Jerrys theme park adventure.

Rick and Morty (both played by Justin Roiland) have kept fans entertained during the coronavirus lockdown with a new series of twisted sci-fi escapades.

Back in 2017, co-creators Roiland and Dan Harmon took audiences on one of Ricks darkest adventures yet in the season three episode, The Whirly Dirly Conspiracy.

Following the brief separation of Ricks daughter Beth (Sarah Chalke) from husband Jerry (Chris Parnell), Rick decides to treat his newly single and despondent son-in-law with a trip to a theme park in space.

In signature Rick and Morty fashion, this particular resort isnt quite as it seems as the whole park is surrounded by an Immortality Field, preventing the death of its guests.

READ MORE:Rick and Morty theories: Season three reveals both Beths are clones

Despite their temporary invulnerability, Rick still manages to run afoul of an old enemy who is out for blood and concocting a complicated assassination attempt.

Jerry comes across Risotto Groupon (Clancy Brown), an alien who holds a grudge against Rick for selling weapons to the enemies of his people, who were then enslaved.

Groupon explains a tiny section of the Whirly Dirly rollercoaster travels outside the Immortality Field, a perfect window of opportunity to assassinate the unhinged inventor.

Thankfully, Jerry declines to help, but their peaceful holiday takes a turn for the worse when Groupon sends his hitmen onto the ride to take Rick out themselves.

The coaster car appears to be flung off the track in what can be assumed to be a Whirly, but the number of Dirlys is harder to determine.

Plus, their ride may have been interrupted before the third Dirly, as Rick uses his exploding jacket to fend off oncoming assassins, causing the coaster to derail.

Rick and Morty is infamous for its frequent use of bizarre, made-up languages and names, often improvised on the fly by creator and voice actor Justin Roiland.

It may simply be that the writers came up with an amusing name for the fictional rollercoaster, without putting too much thought in making sure the action scene lined up with Groupons exact plan.

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Rick and Morty plot hole: Fans spot huge error in the Whirly Dirlys Immortality Field - Express

Under Ben Bulben: Neymar And A Saga Of Resurrection And Immortality – World Football Index

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By Raj Das.

After his 222m move from Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain in the summer of 2017, Neymar was heavily criticised. It was viewed as a downward career move by many, in what was the most heavily dissected saga in the history of football transfers.

The move may not have made sense on the surface, but how can any player deny a weekly contract of 600,000 a week? Would the critics themselves have been able to resist such an offer? That is of course if somebody made such an offer for them.

For the last three years, the road has been bumpy for the Brazil star. He took all criticism in his stride. Injuries also played a part in declining his stock and further propelling his downward trajectory.

Despite all the accusations hurled at him, Neymar has shown great maturity of late and has assumed greater responsibility. He has shown the performances that the PSG faithful have been clamouring for so long.

Reaching the Champions League final against Bayern Munich is a road to redemption for the 28-year-old.

In many ways, he has resurrected his career and is on track to making himself an immortal. Neymar may be Brazilian, but there is something romantically Irish about his resilience and fightback.

Everything looks rosy from the outside but it is difficult to live the life of a celebrity footballer.

The celebrity footballer is not a human, he is projected as a demi-god into our imagination. Perhaps we need to humanise Neymar and consider him as a vulnerable, insecure athlete.

Did Neymar regret his choice of leaving Barcelona? Absolutely. He regretted his move just a week after leaving the Nou Camp. He sought refuge in videogames to drown out his inner voice. That is when his great love for Fortnite began.

In life, we make choices and Neymar made his. What seemed to be the wrong move three years ago suddenly seems to be the right one today.

It is an interesting crossroads of sorts for the former Santos star. He is 28, and has now entered the stage when most footballers are at the peak of their powers. He feels confident, is in a positive mood, and has the results to show for it.

In 2015, he was among the three best players in the world but since his move to PSG in 2017, he disappeared from the centre of footballing conversations for a few years.

Now he has the chance to shine, to show the world that he is still one of the best.

The French media, especially the likes of Frank Lebouf, have always worried about Neymar casting a bad influence on their wonderkid Kylian Mbappe.

After Mbappe disrespected Thomas Tuchel after the head coach took him off in a match against Montpellier in which PSG were already 5-0 up, critics speculated that the youngster had picked up dissent from Neymar through osmosis.

It is true to a certain extent that Neymar indeed has a penchant for nightlife and partying. It is also true that during his last days at Barcelona, he had an altercation with assistant manager Juan Carlos Unzu when the Spaniard had warned him to mend his ways, or he would wind up like Ronaldinho.

Then, he has been called a spoilt brat, a showoff, a snake who left Barcelona for money.

What is interesting is that people have always shown false concerns. They have tried to correct Neymar. Even now when he is in the form of his life, his detractors, who are in their legions, have attempted to find faults with him.

But his Champions League performances since the restart of football has only proved his detractors wrong.

Against RB Leipzig we could see glimpses of the confident Neymar. There was the body swerve, the nutmeg and the magnetic ball control and dribble.

Perhaps his greatest achievement of the night was his sublime touch-assist to Angel di Maria that led to PSGs second goal of the night just before half-time.

It is ironic that for all their energy drink sponsors, it was Marquinhos who brandished the wings and headed in the first goal.

But Neymar was at his usual best, pulling the strings sometimes from the middle, sometimes from out wide. He became the old-fashioned enganche, the hook player who enjoined the midfield with attack. It was like a breath of fresh air.

A few days before the Atalanta match, he had told reporters: I am in the best form since I arrived in Paris. Looking at his performances, we can absolutely agree with him.

Despite massive criticism, he has actually been very prolific for the capital side this season.

In the Champions League, he has scored three goals and provided four assists in six games, playing 495 minutes. Thats a goal contribution every 70 minutes. He had also been prolific for PSG in Ligue 1. In 15 appearances, he scored 13 goals and provided six assists.

His statistics would have looked even more impressive had the league season not been curtailed midway through.

But more than his statistics, Neymar is a presence. He likes to take the ball to draw fouls and win freekicks. He likes to dribble past defenders in tight spaces; he enjoys playing incisive passes. He has unrivalled ball control and he looks to use that to his advantage.

There is a sense of leadership in his game, an awareness that this could finally be his year in Europe. He has seized the moment.

It seems that in a span of two months, he has resurrected his career. Winning the Coupe de la Ligue and the French Cup infused him with the confidence and belief to also put sublime performances in the Champions League.

Despite all his faults, Neymar has still been an incredible footballer. Now, after his sublime performances against Atalanta and Leipzig, he has become the centre of footballing conversations all over again. People are once again talking about the former Barcelona player in a positive light.

Neymar now has the chance to etch himself in the annals of PSG folklore if he can win the club their first-ever European Cup on the 23rd of August. It will not be easy by any means.

Bayern have been flawless under Hansi Flick, a team who look capable of scoring with every attack. They put eight past Barcelona, and three past a brave Lyon side who did everything apart from finding the back of the net.

Robert Lewandowski has fifteen goals this season in Europe, and will undoubtedly be the main threat for the Parisians. Yet, worryingly enough, Die Roten are not dependent on their prolific number 9. They have other contributors, most notably in Surge Gnabry who hogged all the limelight against Lyon.

Neymar will have to tussle with the likes of Leon Goretzka and Thiago Alcantara in midfield. He must then face Joshua Kimmich and Jerome Boateng further up.

Neymar must undergo the proverbial trial by fire. Immortality must come at a price.

It is not going to be easy to win the Champions League against Bayern Munich, but surely the footballing gods have created this script for the 28-year-old Brazilian for some higher purpose.

Surely it is divine intervention that has landed him this opportunity to wash away three years of criticism, anxiety and disappointment.

Neymar has the chance to create his own Ben Bulben in Lisbon. He will yet have a long and illustrious career. But victory against Bayern will provide him with a fitting epitaph, just as the great Irish poet W.B. Yeats did for himself:

Poet and sculptor do the work

Nor let the modish painter shirk

What his great forefathers did.

Bring the soul of man to God (Under Ben Bulben, 1938)

Neymar, PSGs chief poet and sculptor, must juxtapose the divine and the human, and play the greatest game of his life. His ancestral spirit blesses him and wants him to shine. From now on, there will be no pain and criticism; a win against Bayern will completely justify his move to France.

Just as Ben Bulben symbolises the towering aspirations of the Irish people, Neymar, too, has the chance to make Paris proud and immortalise himself in the citys folklore.

It is also interesting that like Yeats who was repeatedly spurned by his love interest Maude Gonne, Neymar too has craved love and respect. In Barcelona, he played second fiddle to Lionel Messi, the only love of the Blaugrana faithful.

But he has now found his love in PSG, just as Yeats found it later through his wife Georgiana Hyde-Lees.

If Neymar can inspire PSG in the Champions League final, his journey from footballing resurrection to immortality will be complete. It will be a fitting, folklore-like finale to an epidemic-laden season.

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Under Ben Bulben: Neymar And A Saga Of Resurrection And Immortality - World Football Index

New study reveals people more likely to donate when reminded of own mortality – Newswise

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Newswise New research from the UBC Sauder School of Business shows that people are 30 per cent more likely to donate their assets when faced with their own mortality.

The study examines how people respond to "mortality salience" -- that is, the uniquely human awareness that they're going to die.

Earlier studies have shown that some people console themselves by acquiring more material possessions -- in other words, they subscribe to the notion that "He who dies with the most toys wins."

But the new research shows that people can also express a desire to pass important possessions on to others, because it gives them a kind of immortality the researchers call "transcendence."

"It sounds dramatic, but it's the idea that you can live on longer, symbolically through something else," says study co-author and UBC Sauder Professor Katherine White, who co-authored the study with UBC Sauder Professor Darren Dahl and Lea Dunn, assistant professor of marketing at the Foster School of Business at the University of Washington. "So, if a product or a possession is somehow linked to your identity and you pass that on to others, it could potentially have this ability to transcend the self."

The researchers first launched the study several years ago, long before the threat of COVID-19 had people more closely considering their mortality, and updating wills and planning estates.

"For many people, that mortality salience is much higher now, for better or for worse. People are just more aware of how fragile life can be," says Dahl. As a result, adds White, more people are likely thinking about the idea of symbolic immortality and where their possessions will go when they pass on.

To conduct the experiment, 512 participants were asked to arrive at the lab with a book they might consider giving away. One group was then given a task that made them contemplate their deaths, while the other considered what their typical day was like.

Later, participants were asked if they wanted to donate their book to charity; some were also offered the chance to write an inscription in the book and sign it, making the offering more personal. No researchers were present when participants made their decision to ensure there was no pressure to donate.

"The people who had contemplated their death were more than 30 per cent more likely to give away the product -- particularly when they had connected it to themselves," says White.

"They're much more likely to donate it after they have somehow connected it to their identity."

However, the effect goes away if the item may be broken up or recycled, thereby losing its perceived potential for transcendence.

"Let's say you're passing on a car or a motorcycle. If it's broken up into pieces and sold off as parts, it's not the same as if your specific car or your specific product was left to endure," says Dahl. "The specialness of it, and the fact that it represents you, is broken up, and you're not a whole entity sticking around."

The effect also didn't work on people who had already satisfied that desire for transcendence through other channels.

White says the findings could be helpful to charitable organizations looking for people to donate a portion of their estates. "Anything they can do to connect the self to something that's more lasting will help," says White. "So, it could be something like a plaque or a mural or a somewhat permanently displayed list of donors -- just a tangible representation of the self that's going to continue to exist."

Companies can also use transcendence as a selling point by marketing products as having high emotional value or being precious and irreplaceable family heirlooms.

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New study reveals people more likely to donate when reminded of own mortality - Newswise

What are the best Overwatch support heroes in the anti-barrier meta? – Dexerto

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The new Overwatch meta is already proving to be one of the most divisive in history with main tanks becoming seemingly obsolete and teams opting to run double off-tanks in place, completely flipping the game on its head.

Notably, Orisa, Sigma, and Brigitte were all nerfed heavily. As a result, the days of double barrier are seemingly over and teams moving in the complete opposite direction: no barriers at all.

With the rise of Roadhog, who received some buffs in the patch, this also changes up which support heroes are the most viable because so much of the game is determined by shutting him down.

If youre going to rank up as a support player in this meta, there are some heroes you should be playing and others that may be a bit of a hindrance to your team.

As Overwatch streamer Harbleu explained, there are three supports that will get more value for your team than the others: Baptiste, Zenyatta, and Ana.

Any combination of those three. If you have a hero on your team that isnt one of those three, youre probably losing, he explained. If youre a support player, for the love of God, be able to play one of those heroes.

Baptiste brings a lot to the table through his damage output, Immortality Field, and a decent ultimate in Amplification Matrix. The Immortality Field, nicknamed lamp by players, can be super beneficial in team fights as it can save an ally who gets hooked by Roadhog or is caught in a Graviton Surge.

Ana is also an incredible pick and with less barriers in the game, its easier than ever to land big Biotic Grenades and completely deny healing for the enemy. Its also one of the best tools to defeating Roadhog using grenade on him when hes self-healing to put him in a vulnerable state. Sleep dart can also take a Hog out of the fight giving your team a chance to win.

Finally, Zenyattas Discord orb can get a tonne of value, making any enemy take 30% more damage. It also is key to removing Roadhog or any other hero your team can focus down. Plus, with some damage buffs, Zenyatta is more of a threat than ever to everyone on the opposing side.

Unfortunately, not all of the other supports are viable. Lucio does have Speed Boost, which can be a plus, but in the heat of battle, Discord and Biotic Grenade provides more benefit to the team.

Elsewhere, Mercy, Moira and Brigitte just lack the utility of the others to outplay the other team. Raw healing simply wont be enough, especially with so much burst potential.

While the anti-barrier patch on August 13 left many in a state of shock, it could be here to stay for some time. The Overwatch League playoffs will be run on the patch. They begin September 3 and will run until October 10.

Its unlikely that developers will want to have two completely different metas/patches running concurrently, so while there may be some hero tuning from now until then, expect this meta to last a couple months at least.

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What are the best Overwatch support heroes in the anti-barrier meta? - Dexerto

Altered Carbon Season 3: Click to know the cast, plot details, and release date! – Auto Freak

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Weve got all dreamt of a futuristic world. This world will have flying trains and cars, and even buildings as high as the skies. We would also have towns that are floating! Should they finally figure out immortality with technology, what would the human race do?

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Modified Carbon paints a beautiful image of what a future would look like. It informs you that the future may be innovative and shows the upsides and drawbacks to modern technology, but you may not enjoy it!

This show stars a few very famous actors in Hollywood. This garnered half of the media attention that the series received. The use of machines and technology sequences and the mystery of several unsolvable crimes make the lovers hooked on the show.

Dive in to learn what the future ofAltered Carbon holds!

Altered Carbon is an American cyberpunk net collection. Its a version of a novel by Richard Morgan. Its a Netflix series, which makes Netflix the show distributor that is key.

February 2018, the first year premiered on Netflix on the 2nd. The setup consisted of 10 episodes. The show was revived for another year with eight chapters on July 27th, 2018, and the second season aired on February 27th, 2020.

The show needed a budget more fabulous!

The series revolves around Takeshi Kovacs. Hes a man who works for a security organization for the Protectorate. Takeshi includes a traumatic past, and the only family he has left is his sister Reileen.

Technology allows humans to put away their entire memory in dynamic discs calledstacks, and its the essence of living. Youre dead for good, Should you damage your stack. You can attach your stack if your body is destroyed. They call the entire authorities assleeves.

Takeshi is put from sleeve to sleeve, used by various people for their particular purposes. On his trip, he meets with Quellcrist Falconer. He aligns himself and falls in love with her.

The narrative proceeds across two seasons with loss, death, and a lot of time jumps. You might be unable to decode the real story until the finish, which adds allure to the story.

Altered Carbons Attractiveness is the fact that actors have played the role:

Joel Kinnaman, Anthony Mackie and Ray Chase as Takeshi KovacsJames Purefoy as Laurens BancroftMartha Higareda as Kristin OrtegaChris Conner as Edgar PoeDichen Lachman and Elizabeth Maxwell as Reileen Kawahara/GinaAto Essandoh as Vernon ElliotKristin Lehman as Miriam Bancroft and Naomi BancroftTrieu Tran as Mister Leung/ GhostwalkerRenee Elise Goldsberry as Quellcrist FalconerLela Loren as Danica HarlanSimone Missick as TreppDina Shihabi as Dig 301Torben Liebrecht as Jaeger/ Ivan Carrera

No official cast list was published for the upcoming season. But it will be fun to find out what a cast member brings to the table.

Altered Carbon, generally speaking, received a lot of praise. The actors the cast, and the set designs highlight the story. No new release date has been set for the season. But Netflix will green-light the show love its received. Its the perfect sci-fi drama!

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Altered Carbon Season 3: Click to know the cast, plot details, and release date! - Auto Freak

My all-time West Indies XI – Jamaica Observer

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Who are the best cricketers produced by the West Indies since we started playing Test cricket in 1928? Or to be more precise, which players would select themselves as the all-time best West Indies cricket team? The selection of this all-star side is no easy task, but it raises interesting points of conjecture.

We need to note certain general considerations. In the first place, intertemporal comparisons are notoriously difficult. How does one who did not see George Headley in action in 1939 on his way to immortality at Lords realistically compare him in terms of sheer quality with Lawrence Yagga Rowe delicately slicing his way to 214 and 100 not out at Sabina Park in 1972? Not many spectators would have seen both innings, and fewer still would remain in command of the points of evidence to clinch the case one way or another.

Secondly, the selection is to be for a Test cricket XI. Today's international cricket assumes divergent forms, and the exciting qualities that would almost automatically land Chris Gayle on a T20 team of yam hitters are not necessarily key considerations for the five-day subtleties of the Test arena. A fair question, though, is whether performance statistics from the shorter, more modern, forms of the game provide good guidance on likely results in Test cricket. For the ground rules, we could say yes, but with reservation.

Insularity

Thirdly, we must seek escape from the parochialism and insularity sometimes said to bedevil West Indies team selection. In some quarters, it is argued, for instance, that Viv Richards, Andy Roberts, and Leeward Islands colleagues had to demonstrate exceptional talent (well in excess of others) in order to gain a firm place on the West Indies team. In some cases, this argument cannot be refuted.

Selectors may respond by pointing out that they do not always have the means to review regularly the talent emerging throughout the more than 10 countries that form the circle of Windies cricket. This may also be true, in some cases. Thankfully, however, the problem of insularity should not detain us for long; in the modern game, by the time a player has reached the pool for consideration as an all-time great, he will be known to the general public and to the selectors.

Strategy

Fourthly, we should acknowledge that the final composition of an all-time team, as in the case of other teams, may turn on specific strategic considerations and playing conditions at home and abroad. The West Indies team may benefit substantially from a four-pronged pace attack as conceptualised by Clive Lloyd in the 1970s and 80s in matches at Sabina Park. But what if the match is on a turning wicket in New Delhi, or at Queen's Park Oval? In the latter situations, Lance Gibbs with his one-time record of 309 wickets of tight off breaks may present a strong case for selection.

Similarly, if the all-time West Indies team is to go up against a team of legendary Australian pace bowlers (Dennis Lillee, Jeff Thomson, Max Walker, Glenn McGrath et al), or against world-class spinners such as Bishen Singh Bedi, Chandrasekar, or Muralitharan, this may influence my team selection. So, for example, Brian Lara and Lawrence Rowe would be on my shortlist for the all-time XI. I would, however, need to consider carefully whether to keep Brian Lara on the team for matches against Glen McGrath, and whether Rowe would travel consistently well outside Sabina Park and Kensington Oval.

Averages

Fifthly, as far as general considerations go, we need to underline the importance of statistical evidence. Bearing in mind especially but not exclusively the problem of intertemporal comparisons noted above, we need a common yardstick as a rough measurement of achievement. That yardstick should be batting and bowling averages in Test cricket, but it can only be a starting point. Other factors to be addressed will include the putative strength of the opposition, social circumstances (Headley's career was affected by World War II), and the overall weight carried by the cricketer in the context of his team.

The team

So then, here is my all-time West Indies XI, in proposed batting order:

(1) Conrad Hunte (45.06)

(2) Gordon Greenidge (44.72)

(3) George Headley (60.83)

(4) Brian Lara (53.17)

(5) Viv Richards (50.23)

(6) Garfield Sobers (57.78)

(7) Jeff Dujon (31.94)

(8) Joel Garner (Runs per wicket: 20.97)

(9) Malcolm Marshall (Runs per wicket: 20.94)

(10) Michael Holding (Runs per wicket: 23.68)

(11) Curtley Ambrose (Runs per wicket: 20.99)

I have placed the Test career batting averages in brackets for the first seven players, and the bowling averages for Joel Garner down to Curtley Ambrose.

Atlas and Sobers

Now to defend my selections. To begin with, Headley and Sobers automatically pick themselves. It is not an accident that Headley was known as Atlas; not only does he hold the highest Test batting average for a West Indian, he set that marker on a team which faced heavy pressure from its opponents in the fledgling years of our cricket.

Sobers has the third-highest Test batting average but was also a world leading bowler with both medium pace and spin (with a bowling average of one wicket for every 34.08 runs). In comparison with others such as Ian Beefy Botham and Jacques Kallis, Sobers retains superlative standing as the greatest all-rounder of all time.

Prince and Viv

Then matters become more subjective. At positions 4 and 5, I have selected Lara and Richards. These batsmen, with rankings 6th and 8th in the all-time batting averages, had a marked appetite for runs, and demonstrated a pronounced capacity to undermine the spirit of opposition bowling with exquisite timing, coordination, and power.

Richards, as the Master Blaster, played cricket with pride and confidence for his Caribbean people, while Lara, with 375 and then 400 as world Test batting records is unique in the ability to register huge scores and to turn the tide in a Test match.

But could either Lara or Richards be excluded? Three batsmen not in my final XI Everton Weekes (58.61), Clyde Walcott (56.68), and Charlie Davis (54.20) have higher batting averages than Lara and Richards, while Shivnarine Chanderpaul (51.37) also supersedes Richards in statistical terms.

Along with Frank Worrell, Weekes and Clyde Walcott, as the illustrious 3Ws, have played defining roles in the development of West Indian cricket. All the same, I would still be inclined to retain Lara and Richards ultimately because of their distinct ability to win matches on their day.

Charlie Davis and Chanderpaul were prolific, dogged, and reliable run-scorers, who often faced difficult batting circumstances and may have been slightly underrated by spectators; however, they too fall a little behind Lara and Richards in my ranking flair and entertainment value are among the factors which have taken me to this conclusion.

Hunte and Greenidge

With respect to the openers, at 1 and 2 above, Hunte and Greenidge justify their selection largely by reference to their batting averages. Among other specialist openers, Allan Rae (46.18), Jeff Stollmeyer (42.33), and Desmond Haynes (42.29) would also present valid claims.

In the case of Rae, however, his relatively short Test cricket lifespan of 15 matches over five years, and his comparatively low first-class average of 39.65, would work slightly against his case.

Chris Gayle, with a Test average of 42.18 would also make the shortlist for the Test team, and would be a star in the T20 aggregation, as intimated above.

Selecting Hunte and Greenidge as the two specialist openers may present a dilemma. There are other cricketers with very high public ratings including Rohan Kanhai (47.53), Seymour Nurse (47.60), Clive Lloyd (46.67), plus the 3Ws, Chanderpaul, and Davis who present stronger averages than the selected openers. What if the non-specialist batsmen, with clearly superior averages, were prepared to open the innings for the All-Time XI? Should they receive priority over Hunte or Greenidge?

I would turn down this option on the grounds that specialist openers are integral to a team's response to pace like fire. Substitute openers, even as stars with versatility, will not match the genuine article.

Holding & Co

As regards the bowling line-up, I have opted for four pacers Garner, Ambrose, Marshall, and Holding. The first three of these have the best bowling averages for the West Indies. Holding's average at 23.68 runs per wicket is slightly below the figures for the impressive Emmanuel Manny Martindale (21.72) and Colin Croft (23.3). This, though, is not decisive for team selection. Martindale and Croft played in 10 and 27 matches, respectively, while Holding did in 60. Holding, therefore, kept his consistency across a longer stretch of time.

At the same time, selectors would do well to remember Holding's extreme pace off the long, Rolls Royce run-up, his potential to capture prized wickets, and his ability to seize the initiative in tight circumstances witness, for instance, Holding's treatment of England's Geoff Boycott at Kensington Oval, Barbados, in the March 1981 Test match, and his 14 for 149 at the Oval, England, in August 1976.

Croft will have to go on the waiting list where he will be in good company with leading wicket-taker Courtney Walsh (24.44), Andy Roberts (25.61), and Wes Hall (26.38). He will also join famous spinners such as Gibbs (29.09), Sonny Ramadhin (28.98), and Alf Valentine at the slightly more expensive rate of 30.32.

Keeper and skipper

Finally, the wicketkeeper and the captain. For the former position, there are interesting possibilities, leading to my support for Jeff Dujon.

Dujon, with 81 matches, 267, catches and five stumpings, has a track record for durability and reliability. Moreover, for about 10 years, he bore the brunt of the four-pronged pace combination, and still managed a batting average of 31.94.

Other candidates on the list of contenders for glove work and batting would include Ridley Jacobs, Jackie Hendricks, and Gerry Alexander.

Clyde Walcott of superior batting fame kept wicket for the West Indies for his first 15 Tests, and Kanhai did so for his first five. Neither of them, though, would make the team as wicketkeeper/batsmen.

The ideal captain for the team would be either Frank Worrell or Clive Lloyd. Great as they are, however, neither would make the final XI as a player, and so, an alternative would need to be found. Step forward Viv Richards to keep the individual heroes in top form!

Ambassador Stephen Vasciannie is professor of International Law at The University of the West Indies, Mona.

Now you can read the Jamaica Observer ePaper anytime, anywhere. The Jamaica Observer ePaper is available to you at home or at work, and is the same edition as the printed copy available at http://bit.ly/epaperlive

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Peafowl have their uses around the farm – Fergus Falls Daily Journal

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If you find a peacock strutting around on your porch you might be wise to let it stick around.

Legend has it that a peacock, the male bird of the peafowl family, is a symbol of immortality.

The residents of a home on 190th Avenue northwest of the Fergus Falls city limits recently had the unusual experience of finding a peahen, the female version of the magnificent bird, right outside the front door. It was reluctant to leave, either because it had shelter, food or room to strut.

Fergus Falls Department of Natural Resources wildlife manager Jim Oehler has encountered domesticated peacocks and peahens in farmyards from time to time - even in chilly Minnesota.

They are pretty hardy, Oehler said.

Yet Oehler and the DNR are only in favor of domesticated peafowl. Wild peafowl can be found in India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Java and Africa.

While the birds may stray from their home ground, as the visitor to 190th Street did, they are a welcome addition to many farms. The brilliant feathers in a peacocks train are often used during the Easter season as church decorations. Peafowl also has the reputation of being feathered watchdogs.

People like them for an alarm system, Oehler said. When people come around they get pretty vocal.

Peafowl are considered omnivores and eat mostly plants, flower petals, seed heads, insects, reptiles and amphibians. Domesticated peafowl also feed on bread, cracked grains, cooked rice and even cat food.

Some people look beyond aesthetics when it comes to peafowl. Peachicks can bring $10 to $30 apiece and hatching eggs commonly go for between $45 and $85.

Peafowl are not that easy to raise. Peahens can be quite temperamental and both cocks and hen are known to sing or scream at night during the mating season. Given these nocturnal outbursts it is not considered a good idea for people who raise peafowl to live too close to their neighbors.

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Peafowl have their uses around the farm - Fergus Falls Daily Journal

The 100 Exposes Two False Gods With Fire and Blood | CBR – CBR – Comic Book Resources

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As tensions and the body count continues to grow on The 100, two demigods are exposed as false by their peers.

WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for The 100 Season 7, Episode 5 "Welcome to Bardo," which aired Wednesday on The CW.

One of the biggest recurring themes at the beginning of The 100's final seasonhas been the idea of false gods lying to the overzealous masses with hollow promises of a safe, better future. From Madi Griffin no longer bearing the Flame and uniting the Grounder tribes to the Primes on Sanctum seizing new host bodies to create the illusion of immortality among their followers, charismatic figures have been forming their own cults of personality since at least Season 6. And, as the political situation worsens on Sanctum throughout the start of Season 7, two false gods have been exposed as the charlatans they are, with fiery, bloody consequences.

With the Grounders having balkanized in the wake of the Flame being revealed as destroyed, Indra was forced to spare Russell Prime's life to appease his followers in order to prevent further bloodshed in the community. This action was not enough to quell the growing unrest, however, with the cult leader Trey demanding Russell's freedom. For every hour this demand is unmet, a follower will self-immolate, as evidenced by a woman who sets herself aflame before the community's horrified eyes. Unwilling to cow to the cult's demands, John Murphy reluctantly agrees to talk the cult down as the group still believes him to be Daniel Prime, a ruse he perpetuated in the season premiere to similarly defuse a violent standoff.

RELATED: The 100: [SPOILER] Seizes Power With Bloody Results

Initially, Murphy approaches the cult with Indra safely watching over him from the shadows but, when he realizes the cult plans to set its children afire next, he angrily moves out of her supervision to confront the cultists himself. While attempting to leave the compound with all of the cultists' children to safety, he is exposed for not knowing the Four Pillars of Sanctum, the holy tenets established by the Primes to facilitate how their followers would worship them. Subdued, Murphy is prepared as the next sacrifice, forcing Indra to have Russell approach the cult to talk them down.

Of course, Russell hasn't been himself since the start of the season; after the Flame was purged of the digital consciousnesses stored within it to save Madi's mind, the malevolent Sheidheda had uploaded himself into Russell's body and killed his mind instead. This change is unnoticed by the Prime cult and he is still revered, however, Sheidheda is visibly enraged that his makeshift army nearly killed themselves before he could continue to develop his power base. After freeing Murphy, Sheidheda angrily admonishes the cult, with Indra realizing the truth about Russell's body after he uses similar authoritarian language as he had back on Earth.

RELATED: The 100 Launches Its Most Ambitious Rescue Ever

Indra quickly makes this deception known by speaking to Sheidheda in the Grounder's language which he instinctively responds to. Exposed, Sheidheda gloats that Indra still cannot risk making a martyr of him as she still lacks a unified Grounder army to hold back the Prime cultists. Still in command of the situation, Indra has the mind drive inside Russell's body cut outto ensure he can never upload himself to anyone else's body ever again. While Sheidheda is still evidently alive and well in Russell, the Dark Commander is now restricted to his current host body, raising the stakes for the villain while his secret is now known by a select few.

The 100 stars Eliza Taylor, Marie Avgeropoulos, Bob Morley, Lindsey Morgan, Richard Harmon, Tasya Teles and Shannon Kook. The series airs on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.

KEEP READING: The 100: Two Characters Shockingly Cross the Line

I Know This Much Is True's Hail Mary Play Kills Off a Major Character

Sam Stone is a 10th level pop culture guru living just outside of Washington, DC who knows an unreasonable amount about The Beatles. You can read his work in the pages of Image+, follow him on Twitter @samstoneshow, and listen to his podcast Geek Out Show on iTunes and Google Play.

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Paatal Lok Character Teasers Out: News Anchor Sanjeev Mehra, Cop Hathi Ram Will Dig Out The Truth | WATCH – India.com

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The much-awaited crime thriller series produced by actor Anushka Sharma, Paatal Lok, is creating the right kind of buzz on social media. Ahead of the premiere of the show, the makers have released two character trailers featuring Neeraj Kabi in the role of a news anchor Sanjeev Mishra and Jaideep Ahlawat in the role of police inspector Hathi Ram. Also Read - Paatal Lok Trailer Out: Anushka Sharmas Upcoming Crime Drama Shows Real Side of The World

In the first clip, it shows that news anchor Sanjeev Mehra isnt afraid to face the lies of the game. In the teaser, he says, something about this country changes. Now we get trolled and killed. Fired! As per the clip, he starts a new war with King of the land and opens doors to the truth. Also Read - Paatal Lok New Teaser Out: Anushka Sharma's Show Unveils 'Lawless, Godless, Merciless' World Where Hell Has Broken Loose

Sharing the teaser, Anushka wrote, Sanjeev Mehra isnt afraid to face the lies of the game. This is #PaatalLok New Series, May 15 @primevideoin @officialcsfilms @kans26 #SudipSharma @manojmittra @saurabhma @prositroy @avinasharun24fps @jaideepahlawat @NeerajKabi @gulpanag @swastikamukherjee13 @nowitsabhi. (sic) Also Read - Paatal Lok Teaser Out: Anushka Sharma's First Web Series on Amazon Prime is About Darker Side of Humanity

In another teaser featuring Jaideep Ahlawat in the role of police inspector Hathi Ram, it shows that he will rise and nothing can stop him from digging the truth. A strong portrayal of a police inspector who will go to any limits for his investigation for the big case of his career.

She captioned the video, Amidst all the deception, Hathi Ram will rise and nothing can stop him from digging the truth in #PaatalLok. New Series, May 15 @primevideoin @officialcsfilms @kans26 #SudipSharma @manojmittra @saurabhma @prositroy @avinasharun24fps @jaideepahlawat @NeerajKabi @gulpanag @swastikamukherjee13 @nowitsabhi. (sic)

Helmed by NH10 and Udta Punjab writer Sudip Sharma and produced by Anushka Sharmas Clean Slate Films, Paatal Lok features Neeraj Kabi, Gul Panag, Jaideep Ahlawat and Abhishek Banerjee.

The series explores the dark bylanes of immortality and delves into the four estates of democracy surrounded in ancient realms Swargalok (heaven), Dharti Lok (earth), and Patal Lok (netherworld).

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Paatal Lok Character Teasers Out: News Anchor Sanjeev Mehra, Cop Hathi Ram Will Dig Out The Truth | WATCH - India.com

I Wish I Was Making It Up That Democrats Thought About Putting Joe Biden in Fortnite – TheStranger.com

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Imagine this, but in a video game where literally every single person has a gun. Scott Olson / Staff

It is a deeply relatable scene, one that I imagine is similar to what happened recently inside the Joe Biden 2020 campaign.

Here's what we know: in an interview with Politico, ex-Buttigieg-advisor Lis Smith casually mentioned that the Biden campaign is looking for ways to creatively shake up the traditional campaign stop. According to Lis, ex-Buttigieg-digital-guy Stefan Smith mentioned how musician Travis Scott recently staged a virtual concert inside the game Fortnite, and then spitballed:

"If we could do that with Joe Biden, you know Joe Biden projected against the Grand Canyon. That might be a little bit ambitious. But we could have exclusive musical content from some of the biggest musical artists in the game at these, driving eyeballs to the convention so that people watch them. It doesnt just have to be these speeches."

Okay. Wait. What? You want to put Joe Biden ... as a giant projection ... against the Grand Canyon ... in Fortnite? Jeeeesus, the Democratic Party really will do anything to appeal to the youth except have an actual good platform.

"Universal health care? Ah, no, we can't do that, but how about we give out slap bracelets featuring inspirational quotes by Michael Dukakis."

"You want free college? Lol hahaha yeah right, here's another gif of Nancy Pelosi clapping weird."

"Haha this kid thinks that every millionaire is a policy failure, isn't that cute, anyway I'm off to another fundraiser in a mansion with 84 tennis courts."

Let's set aside the obvious smooth-brain genius of putting your presidential candidate into an environment where literally every single person has a gun. It sounds like they didn't spend all that much bandwidth planning a Fortnite appearance by Biden (jk haha ... unless...?) but what are we to make of this "exclusive musical content from some of the biggest musical artists in the game, driving eyeballs to the convention so that people watch them"??????

I'm sorry about the number of questions marks I ended that graf with but I'm going on a consternation journey right now, DEAL WITH IT.

So like ... first of all ... yes, there are tracks from famous musicians in Fortnite, and musicians do hang out there and use the platform for concerts and whatnot in the Party Royale hub. But how are you going to convince, I don't know, Deadmau5 or whoever to give you new music, with exclusive streaming rights (!!!!!) as a way to market a political convention????? Oh God here come the question marks again.

And and and and and, on the off chance that Steve Aoki is like "yeah, sure, you can use this track, I was never planning to release it anyway because it's so shitty," in a million years how is that going to drive eyeballs to the convention? Like, what??? "Hello fellow youths, if you like dancing to sick beats, perhaps you would enjoy the sickest beat of all: the allocation of delegates chosen in a ratfucked staggered voting contest that primarily favors corn farmers of the midwest."

Around half of Fortnite players are too young to vote, so there's also that.

Anyway, this is all to say that I am deeply, deeply sympathetic to the mid-level campaign staff who were in that meeting at Biden HQ. Many a time have I found myself in meetings where some consultant from nowhere bent the boss's ear about technology of the future in a way that seems 100% clear that they have no idea what they're talking about, only for the boss to turn to the staff and say, "okay, so, where are we on that?"

Today, we are all the middle manager trying to placidly sip coffee while listening to a supervillain from space convince our boss that we are now in the Highlander-finding business, knowing perfectly well that our doom is inevitable and inescapable.

For more up-to-date news about the Biden campaign, Highlander II: The Quickening is available for streaming on Amazon.

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I Wish I Was Making It Up That Democrats Thought About Putting Joe Biden in Fortnite - TheStranger.com

Ramdesivir, hailed as cure for COVID-19: is history repeating itself? – National Herald

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In June 2002, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) approved Oseltamivir for prophylaxis and treatment of influenza. In 2005 SE Asia witnessed another corona virus (H5N1) outbreak avian or bird flu. Panic mongers went on an overdrive and projected up to 200 million deaths. Governments across the globe stockpiled the drug worth billions of dollars in a bid to prepare to meet the pandemic. It turned out to be unnecessary and ended in an anti-climax. Deaths due to the bird flu epidemic did not exceed a few hundred.

In 2009 we had another outbreak of coronavirus, this time the Swine Flu(H1N1). In no time, the WHO declared the A/H1N1 influenza a pandemic. The National Institute for Health and Care Exellence (NICE), the CDC, the WHO, and the ECDC were also quick to recommend the use of Oseltamivir both for treatment as well as prophylaxis. WHO included the drug in the list of essential medicine.

A red flag was raised in 2009 itself by Keiji Hayashi, a Japanese physician. He pointed out that the key piece of evidence for the conclusion--that Tamiflu reduced the risk of secondary complications such as pneumonia--was based on a manufacture-authored, pooled analysis of 10 manufacturer-funded trials, 8 of which were unpublished.

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Ramdesivir, hailed as cure for COVID-19: is history repeating itself? - National Herald

Milwaukee Bucks: 3 biggest what ifs during the Bucks 1970s run – Behind The Bucks Pass

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MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN FEBRUARY 22: (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)

When people think of the Milwaukee Bucks historically, its hard not to immediately go to the early years of their life in the NBA.

The heights that the Bucks reached during this golden era have yet to be seen again in the subsequent years and decades that have passed, though recent history has been far kinder to the Bucks in this sense.

Still, this is still a Bucks run, which featured all-time greats such as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Oscar Robertson and Bob Dandridge, that only had one NBA title to show for it.

Considering how those Milwaukee teams were viewed at the time, that would have been considered a massive disappointment under todays prism.

Leave it to Robertson to say what he thought of the Bucks falling short more often than they won titles, as he said this to On Milwaukee back in June of 2014:

Three or four rings (in that era), look, youve got play when the games on the line. You cant play 40 years later.

Ive played a lot of games in high school, a lot in college, a lot in the pros. I love to win but its a game of basketball. You cant always go back and recapture the thing. When people get into you life youve got to live today and tomorrow. You cant go back and recapture anything. Id love to do it sometime. A lot of things I think I couldve done better, but it happened.

Of course, we often take for granted the perpetual climb to simply be on the cusp of glory and reach that level of immortality, as even the slightest or overlooked moves and decisions can sink a teams championship aspirations or even lead to its eventual undoing.

So without further ado, lets run through the three biggest what if questions that hung over the Bucks glory days throughout the early 1970s.

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Milwaukee Bucks: 3 biggest what ifs during the Bucks 1970s run - Behind The Bucks Pass

Talking Antonio Gibson, Frank Gore, and more on the fantasy football podcast – Yahoo Sports

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The year is 3042. In a future incredibly different from our present, Frank Gore rushes for another touchdown.

Okay so hes not that old, but his longevity does make one wonder about Gores potential immortality, as it was announced that he would be signing with the New York Jets.

Matt Harmon is joined by Dalton Del Don to discuss that signing and much more in the latest fantasy football podcast.

[Create or join a 2020 Yahoo Fantasy Football League for free today]

Now that Gore is a member of Gang Green, should we as fantasy players be worried about LeVeon Bell? (02:30)

Speaking of running backs, Washington head coach Ron Rivera made quite the statement recently, saying rookie Antonio Gibson has a skill set like Christian McCaffrey. Soon, well find out that Antonio Gibson is already in the best shape of his life, has lost 20 pounds, and has put on 30 pounds of muscle. (06:41)

Elsewhere in the NFL, the fifth-year option wheel began to turn, as both the Bears and Titans declined to pick up the options of Mitchell Trubisky and Corey Davis, respectively. (10:37)

Oh, and Andy Dalton signed with the Dallas Cowboys like we all suspected he would. (23:15)

To wrap things up this episode, our experts recap what they learned recently from a 10-team Best Ball draft. (27:33)

Fun fact: Frank Gore was considered injury prone early in his NFL career.

Please remember to rate, review, and subscribe on your podcast provider of choice and send us your questions for future episodes on Twitter@YahooFantasy.

Follow Dalton @DaltonDelDon

Follow Matt@MattHarmon_BYB

Check out the rest of the Yahoo Sports Podcast family athttps://apple.co/2Abi8jkor atyahoosports.com/podcasts

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Talking Antonio Gibson, Frank Gore, and more on the fantasy football podcast - Yahoo Sports