Daily Archives: November 21, 2019

The Bahamas | History, Geography, & Points of Interest …

Posted: November 21, 2019 at 5:45 pm

The Bahamas, archipelago and country on the northwestern edge of the West Indies. Formerly a British colony, The Bahamas became an independent country within the Commonwealth in 1973.

The name Bahamas is of Lucayan Taino (Arawakan) derivation, although some historians believe it is from the Spanish bajamar, meaning shallow water. The islands occupy a position commanding the gateway to the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean Sea, and the entire Central American region. Their strategic location has given the history of The Bahamas a unique and often striking character. It was there that Christopher Columbus made his original landfall in the Americas. The subsequent fate of the peaceful original inhabitants remains one of the more tragic episodes in the development of the entire region, while the early attempts at European-dominated settlement were marked by intense national rivalries, interspersed with long periods of lawlessness and piracy. As a result, the society and culture that has evolved in The Bahamas is a distinctive blend of European and African heritages, the latter a legacy of the slave trade and the introduction of the plantation system using African slaves. The islands, lacking natural resources other than their agreeable climate and picturesque beaches, have become heavily dependent on the income generated by the extensive tourist facilities and the financial sector that have been developed, often as a result of the injection of foreign capital. The continued popularity of the islands with tourists, largely from North America, has helped to maintain a relatively high standard of living among the population, most of whom are of African descent. The capital, Nassau, is located on small but important New Providence Island.

Lying to the north of Cuba and Hispaniola, the archipelago comprises nearly 700 islands and cays, only about 30 of which are inhabited, and more than 2,000 low, barren rock formations. It stretches more than 500 miles (800 km) southeast-northwest between Grand Bahama Island, which has an area of 530 square miles (1,373 square km) and lies about 60 miles (100 km) off the southeastern coast of the U.S. state of Florida, and Great Inagua Island, some 50 miles (80 km) from the eastern tip of Cuba. The islands other than New Providence are known collectively as the Out (Family) Islands. They include Grand Bahama, which contains the major settlements of Freeport and West End; Andros (2,300 square miles [6,000 square km]), the largest island of The Bahamas; Abaco, or Great Abaco, (372 square miles [963 square km]); and Eleuthera (187 square miles [484 square km]), the site of one of the early attempts at colonization.

The Bahamas occupies an irregular submarine tableland that rises out of the depths of the Atlantic Ocean and is separated from nearby lands to the south and west by deepwater channels. Extensive areas of flatland, generally a few feet in elevation, are the dominant topographic features of the major islands; the Bimini group (9 square miles [23 square km]), for example, has a maximum elevation of only 20 feet (6 metres). A number of islands fronting the Atlantic have a range or series of ranges of hills on the northeastern side that parallel the longer axes of the islands. These ranges are formed of sand washed ashore and blown inland by the trade winds. The newer hills adjacent to the seashore are normally sand dunes. Solidity increases toward the interior, where the particles become cemented to form Bahama limestone. Eleuthera and Long Island (230 square miles [596 square km]) have the greatest number of hills exceeding 100 feet (30 metres). The highest point in The Bahamas, Mount Alvernia, at 206 feet (63 metres), is on Cat Island (150 square miles [388 square km]). Beneath the soil, the islands are composed of limestone rock and skeletal remains of coral fossils and other marine organisms. There are no rivers, but several islandsparticularly New Providence, San Salvador (63 square miles [163 square km]), and Great Inaguahave large lakes. There is abundant fresh water on Andros Island.

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ActiveVideo Rolls Its Cloud-based Service to Cable Bahamas – Multichannel News

Posted: at 5:45 pm

Video technology vendor ActiveVideo has announced that Cable Bahamas will deploy its cloud-based, virtualized pay TV delivery system.

San Jose, California-based ActiveVideo is jointly owned by CommScope and Charter Communications. The latter uses the companys CloudTV platform as the foundation of its Spectrum Guide video service, which virtualizes set-top processing and functions in the cloud, allowing operators to deliver next-generation TV experiences even to older set-tops.

ActiveVideos solution leverages Zodiac Systems software, including the Zodiac Stack set-top box software and Zodiac Matrix cloud integration platform, and is integrated with Minervas service management platform and client presentation engine. The end-to-end solution is branded REVGOPlay by Cable Bahamas.

Our collaboration with ActiveVideo allows us to deliver world-class services across the Bahamas, by maximizing our existing capex and rapidly migrating our entire subscriber base to an advanced UI without needing to ship a new device to each and every home, said John Gomez, COO of Cable Bahamas. "The flexibility of our virtualized platform will support agile and cost-effective growth as we introduce new services and devices.

At the IBC Show in Amsterdam in September, ActiveVideo said that 18 million pay TV customers were using its cloud-based technology.

At that time, Charter issued a statement, seemingly aimed at reminding everyone that its still using ActiveVideo tech.

Spectrum Guide has been deployed to millions of set-top boxes across our footprint providing a reliable, modern navigation experience, and virtualization has been key to that success, said Jake Perlman, senior VP of software development at Charter. Working with ActiveVideo allowed us to realize the promises of virtualization, deploy a world-class, next-generation TV service at scale and have a flexible platform that supports new features and services.

However, Charter executives have conceded that theyre looking at Comcasts X1 and are considering a white-label license of the video technology, similar to the one used by Cox Communications.

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Men’s basketball looks to gain tournament experience in Bahamas – GW Hatchet

Posted: at 5:45 pm

Mens basketball left the cold in favor of the tropics Tuesday, heading to Nassau, Bahamas for the Islands of the Bahamas Showcase.

The showcase marks the first international tournament for the Colonials in more than 20 years. GW is slated to play three games in as many days, teeing off against UMKC Friday.

Head coach Jamion Christian said the trip simulates the tournament-style play the team will see in the postseason and provides players with valuable experience for quick game turn-arounds.

You dont get a chance early in the year to really test yourself in that kind of environment, Christian said. Were always going to be judged by how well we do in March, so we always want to put ourselves in a position to learn how our body is going to respond in situations like that.

Hosted in March, the Atlantic 10 Championship spans five days, with teams possibly seeing action every day of the tournament. Christian said players need to prepare for the physicality, endurance and mental stamina the championship demands.

Weve got our athletic trainer here, we have our strength coaches here so were obviously going to be stretching a ton and lifting a ton just to get our stamina and those kind of things, Christian said. I think mentally, we do a lot of meditation so I think mentally its going to be about being able to loosen ourselves.

The tournament will also give the Colonials an opportunity to work out kinks away from Foggy Bottom. Holding a 1-3 record in four games this season, GW has experienced some growing pains associated with a new coaching staff and fresh faces on the roster.

Christian has frequently highlighted three-point shooting as one of the key components in his offensive strategy, but the Colonials rank last in the A-10 conference beyond the arc, owning a .274 shooting percentage. The squad has taken over twice as many three point shots as its opponents this year.

During the Bahamas showcase, Christian said he hopes to establish a rhythm for the teams rotation. So far this season, freshman guard Jameer Nelson Jr., senior forward Arnaldo Toro, freshman forward Jamison Battle, sophomore forward Mezie Offurum and junior guard Maceo Jack have seen the most minutes on the court.

Were really trying to settle into our rotation with our team, Christian said. Were trying to settle into an offensive understanding within our group. And I think every game were playing, were learning more and more about our group.

GW currently ranks No. 11 in the A-10 offensively, averaging 65.8 points per game with a -1.5 scoring margin. But three Colonials Toro, Nelson Jr. and Battle average double-digit scoring.

Christian said traveling internationally exposes the squad to different techniques and reinforces GWs tradition of international diversity.

On the floor, it bridges these different styles of play obviously, and in all the parts of the world they play a different brand of basketball, Christian said. The chance to bridge that gap between how they play in Spain, where Javier is from, or how they play in the Caribbean where Toro grew up. I think thats really special.

East Carolina, Evansville, Milwaukee, Morgan State, Rice, UMKC and Liberty will join the Colonials for the showcase. Liberty is the only team that held a winning record in the 2018-19 season and continued its regular season success, reaching the second round of the 2019 NCAA tournament.

This season, the Colonials have already faced off with Morgan State. The squad fell to the Bears 6864 after holding a 10-point lead at the half. The Colonials were without Toro, but Christian said after the game Toro should be back to form for the showcase.

Christian added that team ventures outside of Foggy Bottom facilitate a stronger bond among the players, which results in a stronger bond on the floor.

Any time were able to take them out of the environment that theyre all so comfortable in and put them in a place where they have to bond closer together and they have to do something together, its just better, Chrisitian said.

The Colonials are back in action Friday as they take on UMKC. Tipoff is slated for 5 p.m.

Emily Maise contributed reporting.

This article appeared in the November 21, 2019 issue of the Hatchet.

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Hurricane Dorian Responsible for $3.4 Billion in Losses on Bahamas, Report Says – The Weather Channel

Posted: at 5:45 pm

Devastation is seen in Marsh Harbour, Abaco Islands, Bahamas, on Sept. 11, 2019.

About $3.4 billion in losses was caused in the Bahamas alone by Hurricane Dorian a number equivalent to one-fourth of the nation's gross domestic product according to a report released Friday.

The report by the Inter-American Development Bank also echoed the previously reported death toll of 67 and number of missing, 282, as of late October.

When the Category 5 monster hit the northwestern Bahamas in early September, it left some 29,500 people homeless, without jobs or both, the report added.

(MORE: Cows Washed Away During Hurricane Dorian Found Alive and Well)

The development bank said reconstruction will require big investments and will take many years. Dorian was one of the most powerful Atlantic hurricanes ever to make landfall, unleashing a storm surge of up to 25 feet.

Destruction of homes and other buildings as well as infrastructure caused damage amounting to $2.5 billion, with 87% reported in Abaco and the remainder in Grand Bahama, according to the development bank.

Some 9,000 homes were damaged and seven schools destroyed, leading to the reassignment of 1,500 displaced students, the report said. It described damage to some tourism facilities as "catastrophic."

Another $717 million in losses was caused by the storms impact on the production of goods and services provided, with the private sector sustaining 84% of that total, the report said. It estimated another $221 million in costs for the cleanup of an oil spill in Grand Bahama and debris removal and demolition.

Atisha Kemp, an activist in the capital of Nassau, said Bahamians are frustrated with the government and that many of the displaced are still living in tents, with power and water lacking in some areas.

"Things are a mess," she said. "Everything is at a standstill."

The Weather Companys primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.

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Why Cruise Lines Are Expanding Ties to the Bahamas and Caribbean – TravelPulse

Posted: at 5:45 pm

The cruise industrys largest companies are extending their ties with the Caribbean, already their primary deployment region, with projects to build and expand several private islands and exclusive visitor destinations that will roll out across the Bahamas and other Caribbean countries in the next few years.

The Bahamas is at the center of the cruise business Caribbean development boom, highlighted by Carnival Corp.s agreement with the territorys government to launch a port destination on Grand Bahama Island and expand Half Moon Cay, the company's private island on Little San Salvador.

Top operator MSC Cruises will open its own land-based Bahamas development, Ocean Cay MSC Marine Reserve, in December. The private island and nature reserve, constructed on the site of a former industrial sand extraction site, is scheduled to open in December following a recent delay attributed to adverse weather and operational challenges.

Royal Caribbean International meanwhile is planning a port development that promises to revitalize the Bahamas faded Freeport visitor district. The cruise line is partnering with Mexico-based ITM Group to form Holistica, a global port development firm whose first project will be a $275 million redevelopment of the shuttered Grand Lucayan Resort property and cruise facility.

Royal Caribbeans latest project follows the lines successful debut of Perfect Day at Coco Cay, an extensive redevelopment of its existing private Bahamian island. Michael Bayley, Royal Caribbeans president and CEO, said earlier this year Perfect Day at Coco Cay is Royal Caribbeans top-rated global destination.

Cuban Exile

Cruise lines are focused on the Bahamas in a timely confluence of chance, opportunity and planning according to Giora Israel, Carnival Corps senior vice president of global port and destination development.

In a recent TravelPulse interview, Israel said the U.S. governments halt of cruise lines deployment in Cuba earlier this year led Carnival Corp officials to re-focus on their long-held plans for a Bahamas expansion.

The brief Cuba traffic was not only extremely successful for cruise operators, but the business also represented forbidden fruit for the South Florida-based cruise lines, which throughout their history were barred from launching itineraries to the fascinating island only 90 miles away, Israel said.

Meanwhile, Carnivals Bahamas plans took a back seat. The expectation was that sooner or later Cuba would open and ultimately allow for a traditional cruise product, said Israel. But that did not happen. A new president came into power and shifted back to the old [Cuba] regulations, and then shut the door down completely [for cruise lines], he said. In the meantime, additional development in the Bahamas kind of fell asleep.

Those plans included a private Bahamian island for Carnival Cruise Lines to complement sister brands Holland America Lines Half Moon Cay, which opened in 1997.

Carnival Cruise Lines never had a private Bahamian island, said Israel. We wanted to have an island close to where all of the other private islands are, close to the U.S. cruise ports of Orlando, Port Everglades and Miami.

In terms of the larger cruise industry, The Bahamas proximity to those three main Florida cruise ports and the U.S. East Coast, coupled with the Bahamas sunny skies, warm temperatures, beautiful beaches and cultural activities, make the territory a cant natural target for cruise operators.

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The Bahamas has again become very important for the cruise lines, Israel said. The cruise lines private island developments in the Berry Islands are all important projects and also contribute to the economies of those locations.

Carnivals Grand Bahama port will embody more than a traditional cruise line private island, said Israel. It will be the first time a real port will be developed on a populated island in the Bahamas, he said.

We are developing an exclusive destination for Carnival capable of taking up to two large ships. The new port will encompass 329 acres, more acreage than all of Carnival Corp.s other private island destinations combined, Israel added.

The devastation caused by Hurricane Dorian across Grand Bahama Island made the development plans especially timely, Israel said. Our investment, which is a major investment into the port, will be a major injection into the economy, he said.

The Bahamas is far from the only Caribbean country where cruise lines are spending significantly to develop new guest attractions and amenities. Cruise lines are planning new ports and land-based projects in several Caribbean nations following the success of other recent cruise port projects in countries Belize, the Dominican Republic and Jamaica.

In October Royal Caribbean unveiled plans for a Royal Beach Club in Antigua. The new beach destination concept for cruise guests will open in 2021 and offer private cabanas, a family splash pad, a pool with a swim-up bar, and jet skiing, paddle boarding and snorkeling, plus beach barbecues and live music.

Also in October, Carnival Corp. and Royal Caribbean Cruises signed an agreement with Saint Lucias government to form a joint venture that will design, construct and operate a new cruise port in the Vieux Fort district. The partnership will also manage the island's existing cruise pier and terminal facilities at the Port of Castries.

It is essential that we continue to diversify what we have to offer, grow our brand and ensure that different sectors in our islands economy benefit from the growth in cruise tourism, said Allen Chastanet, Saint Lucias prime minister.

The cruise lines expanding Caribbean development and deployment is supported by strong cruise-ship visitor numbers, say Caribbean Tourism Organization officials. Caribbean destinations reported a record 16.7 million cruise visits the first six months of 2019, 1.3 million more than in the same period of 2018. The present 8.1 percent passenger growth eclipses that for similar periods in the last four years, officials said.

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Carnival Corporation Signs Agreement With the Bahamas to Fund and Support Restoration of Rand Memorial Hospital Following Hurricane Dorian -…

Posted: at 5:45 pm

FLORIDA, Nov. 19 /CSRwire/ - Carnival Corporation & plc (NYSE/LSE: CCL; NYSE: CUK) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with The Bahamas to fund and support flood damage repairs and basic restoration efforts at Rand Memorial Hospital, the primary hospital in Freeport, Grand Bahama Island, which sustained significant damage in September from Hurricane Dorian.

The MOU agreement formalizes a collaborative partnership between The Bahamas and Carnival Corporation designed to provide hurricane relief funds for the joint mission of rapidly restoring Rand Memorial Hospital, with a collective goal of returning the facility to a safe and healthy environment for patients and medical professionals by the end of March 2020.

The Rand Memorial Hospital project comprises two critical restoration initiatives: remediation and basic repairs for the facility, and replacing damaged medical equipment.

Additionally, the hospitals existing kitchen suffered damage, so the restoration project is expected to include the completion of a new kitchen that was partially constructed prior to the storm, which will be able to provide meals for patients and staff once the hospital officially reopens.

Working with a project coordinator that will have day-to-day oversight of all elements of the project, Carnival Corporation and the Government of The Bahamas will coordinate with collaborative partners in support of the restoration efforts, including Direct Relief, an international relief organization that provides critical medications and supplies during emergencies; World Central Kitchen, a food relief organization that serves meals to local communities following a crisis; the Grand Bahama Shipyard based in Freeport and the University of Miami, among others.

Also, during the restoration process, Carnival Corporation will support World Central Kitchens continued provisioning of daily meals for patients and staff as part of an ongoing partnership following the storm.

We are extremely pleased to immediately begin remediation efforts at Rand Memorial, which serves as Grand Bahama Islands primary medical facility and represents a critical step in our ability to recover and once again serve our community, said Sharon Williams, administrator for Grand Bahama Health Services, the local healthcare system that includes Rand Memorial Hospital. We are grateful to the Bahamian emergency response team from Carnival Corporation, Direct Relief, Grand Bahama Shipyard, University of Miami and its partners for working together to restore our facility as quickly as possible to a safe, secure and healthy environment for medical care.

In support of overall recovery efforts in The Bahamas, we have worked with government and community leaders to determine meaningful ways we can help that will deliver a lasting impact, and our shared mission to support the restoration of Rand Memorial Hospital exemplifies that commitment, said Marie McKenzie, vice president of global ports and Caribbean government relations for Carnival Corporation. This restoration project is crucial for the health needs of residents, while also supporting the longer-term vitality of the community and is indicative of the rebuilding progress on the island. Along with our partners, we look forward to supporting the governments efforts to reopen Rand Memorial Hospital as an important step in the overall recovery of Grand Bahama Island.

The Rand Memorial Hospital restoration efforts outlined in todays MOU are part of a significant donation from Carnival Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Carnival Corporation, the companys cruise line brands and its guests, and the Micky and Madeleine Arison Family Foundation to provide funding and in-kind support to help overall hurricane recovery efforts in The Bahamas.

Since Hurricane Dorian hit in September, Carnival Corporation and its brands have worked with local and international organizations, including Grand Bahama Shipyard, Direct Relief, Tropical Shipping and World Central Kitchen, to partner with businesses across The Bahamas on projects providing both immediate relief and long-term impacts wherever possible.

The companys partnership with Tropical Shipping collected and delivered an estimated 10 million pounds of supplies in over 250 shipping containers to the country made possible by generous donations from countless individuals and organizations throughout South Florida and North America. In addition, two ships from the companys Carnival Cruise Line brand Carnival Liberty and Carnival Pride made stops in Freeport to deliver relief supplies to assist residents, including water, generators, chain saws, prepared meals and medical supplies.

With support from Carnival Corporation, Carnival Foundation, and the Micky and Madeleine Arison Family Foundation, Direct Relief has delivered more than $2.9 million in life-saving medical aid to health facilities across the Bahamas, including Rand Hospital.

Carnival Corporation and Carnival Foundation are among the organizations that provided support to World Central Kitchen, which served more than 25,000 meals per day to people in Abaco and Grand Bahama following the storm. In total, Chef Jose Andres's World Central Kitchen has provided over one million meals throughout The Bahamas.

Carnival Corporation brands also conducted donation drives to support The Bahamas through Direct Relief and World Central Kitchen. Overall, Carnival Cruise Line guests and employees have donated more than $500,000 to organizations supporting Bahamas relief efforts.

In addition to these broad relief efforts, three of Carnival Corporations brands Carnival Cruise Line, Holland America Line and Princess Cruises are continuing regular sailings to The Bahamas with an expected 250 total calls to the country throughout the remainder of 2019, helping to support the countrys tourism industry and its vital economic impact on businesses and residents. Carnival Cruise Line officially returned to Grand Bahama in mid-October when multiple ships docked in Freeport for the first time since the storm, marking the return of regular cruise calls to Grand Bahama Island.

# # #

About Carnival Corporation & plcCarnival Corporation & plc is the worlds largest leisure travel company and among the most profitable and financially strong in the cruise and vacation industries, with a portfolio of nine of the worlds leading cruise lines. With operations in North America, Australia, Europe and Asia, its portfolio features Carnival Cruise Line, Princess Cruises, Holland America Line, Seabourn, P&O Cruises (Australia), Costa Cruises, AIDA Cruises, P&O Cruises (UK) and Cunard.

Together, the corporations cruise lines operate 104 ships with 249,000 lower berths visiting over 700 ports around the world, with 17 new ships scheduled to be delivered through 2025. Carnival Corporation & plc also operates Holland America Princess Alaska Tours, the leading tour company in Alaska and the Canadian Yukon. Traded on both the New York and London Stock Exchanges, Carnival Corporation & plc is the only group in the world to be included in both the S&P 500 and the FTSE 100 indices.

With a long history of innovation and providing guests with extraordinary vacation experiences, Carnival Corporation has received thousands of industry awards including recognition by the Consumer Technology Association as a CES 2019 Innovation Awards Honoree for the OceanMedallion. A revolutionary wearable device that contains a proprietary blend of communication technologies, the OceanMedallion enables the world's first interactive guest experience platform transforming vacation travel on a large scale into a highly personalized level of customized service. The prestigious CES Innovation Awards honor outstanding design and engineering in consumer technology products.

Additional information can be found on http://www.carnival.com, http://www.princess.com, http://www.hollandamerica.com, http://www.seabourn.com, http://www.pocruises.com.au, http://www.costacruise.com, http://www.aida.de, http://www.pocruises.com and http://www.cunard.com.

Carnival Corporation Media Contacts:Roger Frizzell, Carnival Corporation, rfrizzell@carnival.com, (305) 406-7862Mike Flanagan, LDWW, mike@ldwwgroup.com, (727) 452-4538

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Adrian Mateos, Christopher Brammer, and Daniel Dvoress Win Big in The Bahamas – PokerNews.com

Posted: at 5:45 pm

November 21, 2019Matthew Pitt

The 2019 partypoker LIVE Caribbean Poker Party crowned another three champions on the fourth day of the festival with Adrian Mateos, Christopher Brammer and Daniel Dvoress walking away with wallet-filling prizes.

Mateos victory came in the $25,500 MILLIONS Super High Roller, a tournament that saw 125 entries processed. Only the top 17 finishers received a slice of the $3,125,000 pie and it was Elio Fox who was the first to cash; Fox banked $60,000.

Fox gained some company on the rail when Alex Foxen and Kristen Bicknell busted. Sean Winter,Peter Jetten, Rainer Kempe, and Davidi Kitai then crashed out to leave only 10 players in the hunt for the title.

Ten became nine when Jeremy Ausmus busted and the official eight-handed final table was set when Darren Elias lost his stack.

The prize money had now grown to $115,000 and this sum went to Michael Zhang, who already has a MILLIONS Super High Roller title to his name, fell in ninth. Zhang lost a coinflip wth ace-king against Christopher Frasers pair of tens.

Orpen Kisacikoglu also lost a flip when his king-eight failed to connect with the board when he was all-in against Niall Farrells pocket fives.

Frances Benjamin Pollak will count himself unlucky with how his tournament ended. Pollak three-bet all-in with ace-ten when Brock Wilson had opened with a raise. Wilson had initially raised with a pair of aces in the hole so had a simple call. Call he did and Wilsons hand held, leaving five players in contention to become the champion.

Those five became four when Farrell got the last of his chips into the middle with ace-seven and found himself up against the king-queen of Fraser. A king on the flop put Fraser in the lead, but the three community cards were all clubs and Farrell held the seven in that suit. No help arrived on the turn or river and Farrells tournament ended abruptly.

David Eldridge jammed with eights into the nines of Fraser before Fraser got his stack in with a draw against the top pair of Wilson to send the tournament into the heads-up stage. This hand gave Wilson a massive chip advantage with his 105,000,000 chips playing Mateos 18,500,000.

Mateos class shone through and he managed to pull almost level, prompting Wilson to agree to a deal that saw him walk away with $619,536 and Mateos scoop $520,464. The pair decided to flip for the tournament and the flip went Mateos way. Comeback completed!

*reflects a heads-up deal

Christopher Brammer padded his bankroll with $165,000, the fourth-largest live score of his career, by taking down the $1,100 MILLIONS Mini Main Event. Brammer overcame a tough final day that saw the likes of Ryan Riess and Jeff Gross bust before the final table.

That final table was the home to a talented bunch of players, including Joe Cada who ran out of luck in fifth-place for a $40,000 score.

Brammer eventually found himself heads-up with Joseph Cheong. Cheong and Brammer have clashed dozens of time at the virtual felt but were no face-to-face for the title and the not-so-small matter of $165,000. It was Brammer who emerged victorious, resigning Cheong to the $110,000 consolation prize which takes his lifetime live winnings past $14.5 million.

Daniel Dvoress may have won $4,080,000 in the Super High Roller Bowl Bahamas event but his hunger for success is as large as ever. Dvoress was one of 45 entries in the $25,000 Short Deck event and he took down the whole shebang for another $375,000.

Dvoress defeated Danny Tang heads-up for the title with the recent WSOP bracelet winner having to make do with a $250,00 runner-up prize.

Earlier at the final table, former WSOP Main Event champion John Cynn busted in sixth-place for $70,000 before Isaac Haxton collected $95,000 for his fifth-place finish. The legendary Phil Ivey busted in fourth for $126,250 before Chin Wei Lim became the penultimate bust-out, his third-place exit being worth $175,000.

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To move to a circular economy, we need to stop recycling – World Economic Forum

Posted: at 5:43 pm

Too often the concept of a circular economy is muddled up with some kind of advanced recycling process that would mean keeping our industrial system as it is and preserving a growing consumption model.

This idea is based on a belief that recycling will take care of everything.

One of the most startling examples of this is the part of the European Unions Circular Economy Action Plan which aims to increase recycling rates: up to 70% of all packaging waste by 2030 and 65% of all municipal waste by 2035. In a properly built circular economy, one should rather focus on avoiding the recycling stage at all costs. It may sound straightforward, but preventing waste from being created in the first place is the only realistic strategy.

While we obviously need to continue recycling for quite some time, putting the emphasis on genuine circular innovations that is, moving us away from a waste-based model should be our sole objective.

In a linear economy, we do not account for the side-effects generated by a product once sold to an end customer. The aim is to sell a maximum number of products at minimal cost. Continuous pressure to reduce costs leads to the creation of many of these side-effects called externalities by economists. The higher a companys rate of production and the higher its efficiency, the more successful it will be at selling its goods in a fiercely competitive environment.

The global population is expected to reach close to 9 billion people by 2030 inclusive of 3 billion new middle-class consumers.This places unprecedented pressure on natural resources to meet future consumer demand.

A circular economy is an industrial system that is restorative or regenerative by intention and design. It replaces the end-of-life concept with restoration, shifts towards the use of renewable energy, eliminates the use of toxic chemicals and aims for the elimination of waste through the superior design of materials, products, systems and business models.

Nothing that is made in a circular economy becomes waste, moving away from our current linear take-make-dispose economy. The circular economys potential for innovation, job creation and economic development is huge: estimates indicate a trillion-dollar opportunity.

The World Economic Forum has collaborated with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation for a number of years to accelerate the Circular Economy transition through Project MainStream - a CEO-led initiative that helps to scale business driven circular economy innovations.

Join our project, part of the World Economic Forums Shaping the Future of Environment and Natural Resource Security System Initiative, by contacting us to become a member or partner.

This worked well in the 20th century when resources were easily available and raw material prices kept decreasing. Waste, as an economic externality, was not the producers responsibility. Managing waste cycles, dumping it out of sight or, at best, recycling it but only when it was cost-effective were under the control of our national institutions.

Visionary manufacturers, who understand the upcoming challenges of increasing their economic resilience, know better: a product that is returned for repair will cost less to fix and sell again, than manufacturing it from scratch.

In our current model, we extract resources, transform them into products, and consume or use them, prior to disposing of them. Recycling only starts at the throwing-away stage: this is a process that is not made to preserve or increase value nor to enhance materials.

We need to understand that recycling is not an effective strategy for dealing with unused resource volumes in a growth model. We will find ourselves in a never-ending pursuit of continuously generated waste, rather than seeing the avoidance of waste as a path to beneficial innovations on many levels.

Of course, it is easier to think about recycling. This avoids changing the whole of our volume-based production model. But in a world where we have to shift our consumption patterns and use less energy, recycling no longer has all the answers.

Since we cannot stop the volume of waste overnight, investments in the recycling industry are needed. But truly meaningful investment in developing a circular economy takes place outside of the recycling space. Indeed, the more we recycle and the more we finance recycling factories, the more we stay linear. We mistakenly believe this is the best route to solve our problems - but by staying in a recycling-based economy, we will delay the transition to an advanced circular economy.

In a circular economy, resources do not end up as recyclables since products are made to last several lifecycles. Products lifespans are extended via maintain, repair, redistribute, refurbishment and/or re-manufacture loops, thus they never end up in the low-value, high-need-for-energy loop: recycling.

We live in a world in dire need of disruptive innovations. Closing loops next to where customers live while avoiding waste is a short and longer-term win-win for any leading re-manufacturer. Short-term because you are in direct contact with your customers, and taking back a product that needs maintenance is an opportunity to better understand their needs and help them with additional services. Long-term because you will lower your exposure to future financial risks. Any of the feedback loops that exist prior to the recycling loop are an opportunity to take back control over your stock of resources taking control away from the raw material markets, which may become highly volatile. Increased interactions with your customers, both commercial and financial, and an in-depth understanding of their needs, would increase customer loyalty and a business overall resilience.

Re-using, re-distributing and/or remanufacturing strategies are the preferred approaches in a circular economy, as they are based on parts durability. Caring for and preserving the value of product components increases corporate economic resilience, while diminishing external market risks. Whether you are acting in a highly advanced or a developing economy, these strategies make crystal-clear sense: they are less costly in the long-run because repairing a product made to last is always less expensive than producing it from scratch.

Following this approach, we must move away from activities that devalue the material, such as recycling, and instead invest in those activities that preserve it: reuse and remanufacture. These two are especially important since they create many more secure jobs. Walter R. Stahel, the godfather of the modern circular economy, introduced the metric of labor input-per-weight ratio (man-hour-per-kg, or mh/kg) to measure job creation in relation to resource consumption. He found that the ratio of mh/kg when building a remanufactured engine from used resources compared to making the same engine from virgin materials is 270:1. The impact on employment is huge.

The re-localization and the re-sizing of activities closer to customers become critical. Production sites should migrate from a highly centralized global hub to units designed to fulfill local needs. In developed markets, a possible plan could be to develop strategic partnerships with local service providers, who can provide the infrastructure. In emerging markets, where there is often an urgent need for jobs, leapfrogging straight into a national re-manufacturing strategy is the way forward. Becoming the next world factory hub is an obsolete vision today.

One way to start thinking like a leader in the next economy while creating jobs could be in order of priority:

Reuse by repairing (goods) through re-hiring (people), while sharing the radical benefits (awareness) of such a model

Redistribute by promoting access (goods) through collaboration (people), while sharing information (awareness) about this model

Remanufacture via the ease of disassembly (goods) by training (people), while sharing the acquired knowledge (awareness) through this model

Migration of recycling activities by diverting (goods) to service models, transferring skills (people) to remanufacturing processes (awareness).

All of the above make sense in a world where planetary limits have already hit most economies.

Adopting a circular strategy by avoiding reliance on recycling is the way forward.

This is about genuine innovation derived from genuine leadership.

This article was originally published in UNIDO's Making It magazine

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World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with our Terms of Use.

Written by

Alexandre Lemille, Co-founder and general secretary, African Circular Economy Network

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

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To move to a circular economy, we need to stop recycling - World Economic Forum

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"A World Worth Imagining; Jacque Fresco – The Man with the Plan" Now Available to Public, Following Moving Debut at Lucasfilm’s Premier…

Posted: at 5:43 pm

SAN RAFAEL, Calif., Nov. 19, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --A World Worth Imagining; Jacque Fresco - The Man with the Planwas released on 11/11/19 to an awe inspired crowd at LucasFilm's Premier Theater in San Francisco. The documentary, which was picked up for distribution by Films for Action, is about the life's work of late, legendary visionary Jacque Fresco, founder of The Venus Project, and features the inspirational last interview of his life at age 101. S.O.U.L. jointly produced the film with Roxanne Meadows (co-founder of The Venus Project) to raise awareness of their elaborate concepts and plans to alter humanity's self-destructive course, offering us a well conceived system beyond capitalism, and beyond all forms of money, in which our collective values nurture our survival and inform us how to thrive as one human family.

The film, available at souldocumentary.love/thevenusproject, is also a fundraising vehicle for The Venus Project's new 501(c)(3) organization, with a portion of each rental going to them. S.O.U.L.'s co-founder Evan Hirsch has also pledged a $50,000 matching grant to boost the effort through December 15, 2019. One near term goal of The Venus Project is the planning and construction of their Center for Resource Management, intended to showcase their comprehensive plans for a complete redesign of human civilization, acknowledging, at last, our role as responsible stewards of the Earth. The centerpiece of this blueprint for a sustainable future is Jacque's concept of a Resource-Based Economy, a system in which the planet's resources are inventoried and distributed humanely and equitably to elevate all of humanity to a high standard of living, while employing technology to handle physical labor and resource management.

Philanthropist Evan Hirsch and producer Kip Baldwin founded the non-profit S.O.U.L. Documentary because they both felt there was far too much time and resources devoted to promoting the problems that humans are creating for ourselves with the ages-old story of institutionalized fear, rather than solutions to help us thrive. To achieve their goal of sharing solutions they have discovered, S.O.U.L. has created wide ranging content, including six weekly internet shows, short films, and original music from S.O.U.L.'s band S.O.U.L. Twin Messiah for their soundtracks and beyond. Ultimately, their goal is to unite the self-proclaimed "change-makers" of the world to contribute their attention, energy, and resources toward collaborating on the common goal of bringing the vision for humanity proposed by The Venus Project to life.

For more information on S.O.U.L. Documentary and The Venus Project, please visit these links, and be inspired to consciously evolve:https://souldocumentary.lovehttps://www.thevenusproject.comFilm soundtrack available here: https://souldocumentary.love/soul-twin-messiah/

Contact: Kip Baldwin S.O.U.L. Documentary LLC Phone:408.316.0601 Fax: 415.306.7053 Kip@souldocumentary.love

SOURCE SOUL Documentary

S.O.U.L. Documentary

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"A World Worth Imagining; Jacque Fresco - The Man with the Plan" Now Available to Public, Following Moving Debut at Lucasfilm's Premier...

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To build a circular economy, we need to put recycling in the bin – Big Think

Posted: at 5:43 pm

Too often the concept of a circular economy is muddled up with some kind of advanced recycling process that would mean keeping our industrial system as it is and preserving a growing consumption model.

This idea is based on a belief that recycling will take care of everything.

One of the most startling examples of this is the part of the European Union's Circular Economy Action Plan which aims to increase recycling rates: up to 70% of all packaging waste by 2030 and 65% of all municipal waste by 2035. In a properly built circular economy, one should rather focus on avoiding the recycling stage at all costs. It may sound straightforward, but preventing waste from being created in the first place is the only realistic strategy.

While we obviously need to continue recycling for quite some time, putting the emphasis on genuine circular innovations that is, moving us away from a waste-based model should be our sole objective.

In a linear economy, we do not account for the side-effects generated by a product once sold to an end customer. The aim is to sell a maximum number of products at minimal cost. Continuous pressure to reduce costs leads to the creation of many of these side-effects called externalities by economists. The higher a company's rate of production and the higher its efficiency, the more successful it will be at selling its goods in a fiercely competitive environment.

This worked well in the 20th century when resources were easily available and raw material prices kept decreasing. Waste, as an economic externality, was not the producers' responsibility. Managing waste cycles, dumping it out of sight or, at best, recycling it but only when it was cost-effective were under the control of our national institutions.

Visionary manufacturers, who understand the upcoming challenges of increasing their economic resilience, know better: a product that is returned for repair will cost less to fix and sell again, than manufacturing it from scratch.

In our current model, we extract resources, transform them into products, and consume or use them, prior to disposing of them. Recycling only starts at the throwing-away stage: this is a process that is not made to preserve or increase value nor to enhance materials.

We need to understand that recycling is not an effective strategy for dealing with unused resource volumes in a growth model. We will find ourselves in a never-ending pursuit of continuously generated waste, rather than seeing the avoidance of waste as a path to beneficial innovations on many levels.

Of course, it is easier to think about recycling. This avoids changing the whole of our volume-based production model. But in a world where we have to shift our consumption patterns and use less energy, recycling no longer has all the answers.

Since we cannot stop the volume of waste overnight, investments in the recycling industry are needed. But truly meaningful investment in developing a circular economy takes place outside of the recycling space. Indeed, the more we recycle and the more we finance recycling factories, the more we stay 'linear'. We mistakenly believe this is the best route to solve our problems - but by staying in a recycling-based economy, we will delay the transition to an advanced circular economy.

In a circular economy, resources do not end up as recyclables since products are made to last several lifecycles. Products' lifespans are extended via maintain, repair, redistribute, refurbishment and/or re-manufacture loops, thus they never end up in the low-value, high-need-for-energy loop: recycling.

We live in a world in dire need of disruptive innovations. Closing loops next to where customers live while avoiding waste is a short and longer-term win-win for any leading re-manufacturer. Short-term because you are in direct contact with your customers, and taking back a product that needs maintenance is an opportunity to better understand their needs and help them with additional services. Long-term because you will lower your exposure to future financial risks. Any of the feedback loops that exist prior to the recycling loop are an opportunity to take back control over your stock of resources taking control away from the raw material markets, which may become highly volatile. Increased interactions with your customers, both commercial and financial, and an in-depth understanding of their needs, would increase customer loyalty and a business' overall resilience.

Re-using, re-distributing and/or remanufacturing strategies are the preferred approaches in a circular economy, as they are based on parts durability. Caring for and preserving the value of product components increases corporate economic resilience, while diminishing external market risks. Whether you are acting in a highly advanced or a developing economy, these strategies make crystal-clear sense: they are less costly in the long-run because repairing a product made to last is always less expensive than producing it from scratch.

Following this approach, we must move away from activities that devalue the material, such as recycling, and instead invest in those activities that preserve it: reuse and remanufacture. These two are especially important since they create many more secure jobs. Walter R. Stahel, the godfather of the modern circular economy, introduced the metric of labor input-per-weight ratio (man-hour-per-kg, or mh/kg) to measure job creation in relation to resource consumption. He found that the ratio of mh/kg when building a remanufactured engine from used resources compared to making the same engine from virgin materials is 270:1. The impact on employment is huge.

The re-localization and the re-sizing of activities closer to customers become critical. Production sites should migrate from a highly centralized global hub to units designed to fulfill local needs. In developed markets, a possible plan could be to develop strategic partnerships with local service providers, who can provide the infrastructure. In emerging markets, where there is often an urgent need for jobs, leapfrogging straight into a national re-manufacturing strategy is the way forward. Becoming the next 'world factory' hub is an obsolete vision today.

One way to start thinking like a leader in the next economy while creating jobs could be in order of priority:

All of the above make sense in a world where planetary limits have already hit most economies.

Adopting a circular strategy by avoiding reliance on recycling is the way forward.

This is about genuine innovation derived from genuine leadership.

Reprinted with permission of the World Economic Forum. Read the original article.

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To build a circular economy, we need to put recycling in the bin - Big Think

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