Monthly Archives: June 2021

Over 200 Million Years Ago, Nature Called. It Was Full of Beetles. – The New York Times

Posted: June 30, 2021 at 3:00 pm

Dr. Qvarnstrom initially thought the insects must have climbed aboard following defecation. But the researchers saw many different stages of chewed-up-ness, so to speak, from almost fully preserved bodies down to disembodied heads, wings and other parts, many from the same kind of boat-like, millimeter-and-a-half-long beetle.

The researchers determined that the new species and genus, Triamyxa coprolithica, belongs to an extinct and previously unidentified family in a lineage of small beetles, Myxophaga, that today tend to live around algal mats. According to the authors, this is the first insect species described in the fossilized feces of a vertebrate animal.

As for how some beetles made it through the animals gut without much damage, Dr. Qvarnstrom thinks there are a few possibilities. The beetles were tiny, and might have been accidentally sucked up en masse while congregating on a piece of algae eaten by a Silesaurus opolensis; they also seem to have been well-defended by their exoskeleton, like modern beetles. The ones who werent chewed up still probably died quickly, Dr. Qvarnstrom said. They didnt have to suffocate in the poop.

Beetles are probably the most diverse group of organisms on the planet, and learning more about their early evolution could help researchers understand why that is, said Martin Fikacek, a co-author and entomologist at National Sun Yat-sen University in Taiwan.

The Triassic Period, when this coprolite was produced, is kind of a black hole when it comes to our understanding of the insect fossil record, Dr. Heads said. A beetle of the Triassic age is really a significant discovery.

Learning more about the diets of these close dinosaur relatives, Dr. Qvarnstrom said, might also help researchers better understand how dinosaurs eventually became so ecologically dominant.

If we want to know more about the past, he said, I think its fairly important to get all the pieces of the puzzle.

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Over 200 Million Years Ago, Nature Called. It Was Full of Beetles. - The New York Times

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Lanarkshire band Glass Raspberry showcases fruits of its labours with debut single – Daily Record

Posted: at 3:00 pm

Lanarkshire band Glass Raspberry has released its first single but members admit they're missing one thing.

Coronavirus restrictions mean the four-piece still haven't played a gig, and the group cannot wait to get onstage.

"It's been strange" admits their bassist Michael Farrell.

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"We formed the band at the end of 2019, and we were just starting to sort out some shows when the pandemic started and everything stopped.

"So we have only had the online reaction to our music and we've only had a few releases so far. We can't wait to play gigs."

The quartet are hoping to be onstage soon, having just released the tracks Walk With Me and Getaway on streaming platforms. Walk With Me's intense slice of indie rock, all propulsive guitar and ethereal vocals, is suitably anthemic, and an impressive way to introduce the band.

Michael and guitarist Paul Curran, who both hail from East Kilbride, had been aiming to kickstart Glass Raspberry for a while, but the group only clicked into place when they met Rebecca Burns, a Cambuslang singer who works as a teacher at Duncanrig Secondary in East Kilbride and who had never been in a band before.

She explained: "We met through friends, and they'd seen videos of me singing online. So I guess they headhunted me after that, which was cool. We met up and got on really well, and everything with the band just seemed to go really easily from there."

The group is completed by drummer Tamas Peto, and Michael believes the band benefits from having a mix of styles and interests.

He explained: "There's only really a couple of bands like Oasis that we all agree on. We all have really different interests and we bring that into the band.

"So Paul loves funk, Tamas is into heavy metal, I love bands like New Order, The Smiths and The Sex Pistols and Rebecca really likes soul singers. It's good for the band to mix it up."

The group have got more studio time booked for later this summer and are hoping to work on an album, while another two new songs are scheduled to come out next month.

More information on Glass Raspberry can be found here while Walk With Me and Getaway are available on platforms such as Spotify and Bandcamp now.

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Lanarkshire band Glass Raspberry showcases fruits of its labours with debut single - Daily Record

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These Are the Best Silk Hair Scrunchies to Accessorize With This Summer – Yahoo Lifestyle

Posted: at 3:00 pm

In The Know

Diana (@mrsblinks) is a self-described Pinterest Mom who loves sharing creative parenting activities and hacks on TikTok. She has 366.7K followers . One follower recently asked Diana to reveal how she braids bubble braids into her daughters hair, and Diana obliged. In the video, Diana explains that bubble braids are the perfect hairstyle for parents who havent quite mastered the art of braiding. To create the adorable braids, Diana begins by making two ponytails one above the other on the top right side of her daughters head. She takes the top ponytail, splits it in half, and feeds the bottom ponytail through. The process continues directly below the first two ponytails. Once Diana finishes the right side of her daughters head, she restarts the process on the left . The final hairstyle looks adorable, is easy to achieve, and helps keep the hair out of Dianas daughters face as she plays. Viewers jumped into the comments to express their gratitude for Dianas hair-styling tutorial

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These Are the Best Silk Hair Scrunchies to Accessorize With This Summer - Yahoo Lifestyle

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Weezers Rivers Cuomo: Like a lot of the other bands around that time, we were a little uncomfortable with the sound of our first album… – Guitar…

Posted: at 3:00 pm

It stands to reason that, as one of the bands that helped pioneer and define it, Weezer are synonymous with the boom of bubbly and buoyant, ultra-melodic pop-rock of the late 90s and early 2000s. But while thats where the Californian quartets mainstream esteem may have peaked, its undoubtedly today that Weezers flame burns the brightest.

Since roaring back to life from their second hiatus with 2014s ripping and rousing Everythingt Will Be Alright In The End (on which they treated old-school fans to an onslaught of booming hooks and earwormish choruses), theyve struck gold with everything from doughy 60s-revering surf-rock (on 2016s White Album) to polarising avant-garde pop (on 2019s Black Album) and even tongue-in-cheek covers of yesteryears cheesiest FM hits (on 2019s Teal Album).

But as they near 30 years of their reign as the rightful kings of pop-rock, its become crystal clear that Weezer have, until now, only scratched the surface of their powerful and polychromatic potential. Even for a band as unpredictably quirky as them, nobody could have foreseen Weezers 2021 output: an introspective, orchestral-backed album of ballads and Broadwayesque showtunes, and a slamming, shred-heavy bombshell of 80s hair metal-channeling rock anthems the admirable efforts of a band that is truly unhinged.

And then theres Weezers 2022 slate because if two career-defining, critic-stunning albums isnt enough for one year, how about four? Starting shape as a mental exercise to keep frontman Rivers Cuomo sane as he trod along through last years pandemic-incited lockdown, the Seasons saga quickly blossomed into an ambitious four-disc epic, taking Weezer to a quadrant of very distinct, individually inspired corners of their musicality.

This is Weezers age of recklessness: theyre doing what they want to do, living their wildest musical dreams and embracing the most whimsical corners of their imaginations all with absolute creative authority. As he gears up for one of the biggest and busiest chapters of the Weezer story, we caught up with Rivers to vibe on Van Weezer and OK Human, what we can all look forward to from the Seasons project, and everything else going on with one of rocks most idiosyncratic characters.

Were only halfway through 2021, and its already been one of the biggest years in Weezers history. Whats the vibe like on your end?Well, I just get so absorbed in whatever Im doing that I kind of forget about everything else. So I could answer a lot of about the Fall album right now Im probably going to struggle on Van Weezer [laughs]. It doesnt exactly feel hectic, but theres just so much material thank goodness for modern technology and spreadsheets. I dont know how people did it before they had technology to help them keep track of everything.

Some of the stuff on Van Weezer goes back to the days before this band even existed, right?Yeah. I dont care when something was written or what its from, I just want the best possible bits; I just want to put it all together and make a great song. It doesnt matter where any of it came from. Im pretty agnostic about that stuff a lot of times, I forget when something was even written. I just go searching through my Dropbox folders and go, Okay, I need a great verse, give me a great verse Okay, heres a great verse! And Ill get to a point where I realise, Oh wait, that was from, like, 25 years ago!

Whats the method to the madness when it comes to how you save, collate and draw from your stable of ideas?Ultimately its just what feels right, but I do have tools that help me narrow down the field. I just made this really cool app called Demolisher its this big panel with all these switches I can flip, and itll search through all my thousands of demos to give me exactly what Im looking for. Depending on which switches are flipped, it will give me, like, only choruses that start on the one chord in major key, between 120 and 130 beats per minute, and that are a particular genre and then Ill be faced with ten options instead of 1,000. And then its just a matter of trying them all out and seeing which ones feel the best for a song.

And you developed the app yourself?Yeah! I love all of that stuff! Thats half the fun right there. I got into computer programming in 2015, and I spend hours on it every day. I just love it. But even before that I had spreadsheets, and before spreadsheets there were notebooks and graph paper. Im just always trying to keep track of everything.

How many albums worth of viable song ideas would you say you have?I dont know I guess the time-consuming part is putting them all together, that would be the limiting factor to figuring that out. Theres a lot of pieces in there. Obviously I have my phone with me wherever I go, and several times a day an idea will pop into my head and Ill record it in a note, and then it automatically gets uploaded to Dropbox, and then there are scripts that go in there and analyse tempo and put other tags on it, and then its easy to filter and sort.

I like that youll sometimes use the fans as a sounding board, like via your forum Mr. Rivers Neighbourhood.Yeah, its really great! I just love their tastes so much theyre so similar to my own tastes, and they share a lot of my core values. So sometimes when Im working on something, if Ive gotten distracted or confused by other forces around me, I can see what the fans reactions will be and go, Oh yeah, thats what I like! [Laughs].

Lets riff on Van Weezer pun intended. Where did the idea for this record come from? Have you always had a soft spot for 80s hair metal?Yeah! I mean, thats what I grew up on. I never wouldve called it hair metal at the time, though, it was just metal heavy metal. Thats what real music was to me when I was a teenager. Thats how I learned to play my instrument, by learning how to play heavy metal songs. But right around the time Weezer got together, just about all the musicians in LA did an about face we all went from being metalheads to alternative guys, so we changed our guitar sound, we cut our hair, and we made our first album. But all those heavy metal instincts are still in there, in our souls and in our fingers, and theyve just been waiting to come out all these years.

So why was now the right point in time for that to happen? I know the initial rollout plan was very closely tied to the Hella Mega Tour was it a bit of a chicken and egg scenario?Yeah, thats exactly right. We actually were working on OK Human first, and wed mostly finished working on that, but just as we were wrapping that one up our manager called and said, You guys got booked on the Hella Mega Tour with Green Day and Fall Out Boy. Its going to be Monsters Of Rock all over again, youre going to be shredding stadiums all around the world. And we were like, Uh oh! We just made this introspective singer-songwriter album with pianos and an orchestra! Thats like the worst kind of album you could put out before a tour like that. So we put OK Human on the shelf and said, Alright, I guess its time to unleash the beast! Because yknow, if were going to go out every night and have to compete with Green Day, weve gotta bring some serious rock riffage.

I read on a forum that Van Weezer went through some changes after it got delayed. Is there any truth to that?I guess the change was just that as we were finishing up on Van Weezer, the Hella Mega Tour got postponed because of the whole lockdown situation, and we realised that Van Weezer was the worst type of album we could put out during a quarantine. We couldnt even be in the same room together, let alone go out and promote a rock album. So we put Van Weezer on the shelf and focussed our attention back on OK Human. I dont remember going back and making any significant changes to Van Weezer, though do you remember what you heard?

I think the big thing was that some of the tracklisting got changed around.Yeah, I mean, Im gonna tweak up until Well, even til after the album is on shelves. But it was nothing major taking an old song off, putting a new song on, that kind of thing.

Do you think theres potential for Van Weezer to not just be a one-and-done sort of concept?Yeah. I mean, were very responsive to the people in front of us every night when were playing. We want to get that applause, so whatever people are responding to, thats what were going to gravitate towards.

What guitars were you jamming on in the studio for this record?Well the album is called Van Weezer, so obviously everyone is going to focus on the Van part when were talking about it because thats the new thing, thats the interesting thing but really, half of it is still classic Weezer. So in the spirit of that first part, I did try out a couple of crazy 80s guitars, but it seemed to be overdoing the schtick a little bit. So I just ended up going back to the same guitar Ive always used, since the Blue Album, which was Ric Ocaseks late-50s Les Paul Special. Thats the meat of the record right there.

What is it about that LP Special thats made it your ride-or-die?Well, I never use it at a show, because its actually kind of delicate. But something about my right hand and my pick crunching into those strings, on that guitar with that pickup, jamming a powerchord through an overdriven amp It just sounds like music. Its an unmistakable sound. Its thick, but its punchy at the same time.

Are you much of a pedal-head as well?Not at all. In fact, going back to our first album, I dont think theres a single effect on anything. Sometimes people will go, Oh, were doing The Sweater Song, its got that cool, clean riff lets put a flanger on it, lets put some chorus, lets do this and that But its like, no, you dont need any of that. Its already built into the riff, just play the riff!

Do you find that going straight into an amp helps you capture that raw, authentic Weezer energy?Yeah. The spirit is in the notes. Its not so much about the sound of them, I just want to get the notes across to the listeners ears.

Which I suppose is how OK Human works so well as a Weezer album despite there not being a single riff on it. Where did the idea for that record come from?The idea originally came from the producer, Jake Sinclair. I went over to his house one day, and I wasnt expecting to start a project I was going over to say hi, but he said, Oh, Ive got an idea for your next album. You should do something like Nilsson Sings Newman, this obscure album from the early 70s. He gave me a copy of it and said, The jist of this is you sitting down at a piano no guitars and write totally personal, non-commercial, weird, quirky, Rivers/Weezer songs; then well back you up with a full orchestra instead of distorted guitars. And I was like, Woah, that sounds like a lot of fun! I wasnt used to writing on a piano, so it was a real new experience for me.

Did that songwriting process take you very far out of your comfort zone?It was pretty darn comfortable, actually. It was incredibly fun! I love classical music, I love Beethoven and Bach and all of that stuff. Im a total amateur, but I love trying to explore that side of music composition. So I wouldnt say I was creatively out of my comfort zone at all but technically speaking, for sure. I had to practise quite a bit. We recently played a concert with the LA Philharmonic Orchestra at Disney Hall, and I practised for three weeks straight every single day, practise, practise, practise so I wouldnt make a fool out of myself in front of these amazing musicians.

What was it like working with an orchestra for the record?Sadly, I had no contact with them. Because yknow, mid-pandemic and all, if youre not absolutely required to be there, you cant be there. But I would pop in on Zoom and check it out, and it was an incredible thrill. Id never heard my music played by an orchestra before, and I was just blown away. I had a lot of the basic ideas for their arrangements, but I had just pumped them out on a piano. To hear them all played back by a full orchestra Its such a thrill.

The lyrical themes on OK Human feel so timely. Did the concept for the record grow as it came together?Yeah. There actually wasnt an intended concept to begin with it was more just like, Write whatever youre going through on any given day. Just whatever happens to be troubling you. And dont write for anybody else. So thats just what I did, so I guess it ends up sounding a bit like a day in the life of Rivers in the middle of a pandemic.

Do you think theres potential for an OK Human tour with an orchestra behind you?I sure would love to do an orchestral tour! But it seems so incredibly expensive theres just no way we could pull it off, unfortunately. But hopefully well come up with something. At the bare minimum, maybe just a few special concerts like the one we just did at Disney Hall. Maybe we could do one in Sydney at the Opera House. That would be amazing!

Have you thought about how some of the back catalogue might translate to an orchestral setting?At the concert we just did, we did OK Human in full and an additional six songs, and we got the same arranger and conductor to rework those songs for the orchestra. I played an acoustic guitar and Pat [Wilson] was still on the drums, but it was basically like OK Human versions of classic Weezer songs And a Toto song [laughs]. I havent heard the concert back yet, but to be standing in the midst of an orchestra, hearing Island In The Sun It was so beautiful.

Speaking of what youve got coming up in the pipeline, are there any plans to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Pinkerton this year?It hasnt been discussed not yet, at least. I did recently uncover a song from 1995 which was written right around the same time as El Scorcho. Its a song I never demoed I never recorded it, but I had it written down, and I only just recently made a demo of it. Right now its slated to come out on the Winter album in December of 2022, but maybe we could put it out later this year as a little gift for the fans in celebration of Pinkertons anniversary. And maybe well do some Pinkerton shows later in the year its all up to the pandemic.

When I was growing up, my exposure to Weezer was through songs like Island In The Sun, Buddy Holly, Beverly Hills those really catchy, or for lack of a better word, safe kind of songs. So when I got around to hearing Pinkerton, it was so unexpectedly rough and angsty and evidently it was the same for people in 99, hot on the heels of the Blue Album. Was that part of the intention, to really dismantle what people knew of and expected from Weezer?I dont think we intended to be unsuccessful [laughs]. I think we all thought it was going to be a huge record, honestly. But like a lot of the other bands around that time, we were a little uncomfortable with the sound of our first record. Thats not exactly who we were when we were playing in the clubs. We were much rougher and more aggressive we werent meant to be this polished, major label alt-rock band. So we kind of swung back the other way and produced the next record ourselves, and that was a lot more true to what we thought Weezer was supposed to be.

Youve done that a few times since throughout the Weezer timeline, to varying degrees of success whether thats making a pop record like Raditude or going really experimental on the Black Album, or working with a 38-piece orchestra on OK Human. Do you see a value in subverting fan expectations every so often?Not really. Its basically me just wanting to try something I just get excited to try new things. Im not really thinking about how the fans are going to react.

Theres not a balance you have to strike between passion projects like OK Human and fan-service projects like Everything Will Be Alright In The End?Everything Will Be Alright In The End was definitely a case of us saying, Hey, what if we made an album just for the straight-up hardcore fans? But I guess as the years go by, nothing seems to really matter anymore. We can do whatever we want, and it doesnt really change the course of this giant ship that is Weezer its just going to sail on into the distance.

I think Weezer is one of the few bands that can truly do whatever the f*** it wants and get away with it, because thats just the core ethos of Weezer.I mean, its not like that for other bands?

To a degree? Most bands dont have fanbases that expect the unexpected in the way your average Weezer fan would.Sure. I guess AC/DC is the big counter example, right? You pretty much know exactly what youre going to get from a new AC/DC album. It would be really trippy if they just totally changed it up and dropped a pop album.

Imagine if AC/DC did a record like OK Human.I mean, Id check it out! An introspective piano-orchestral album with their style of vocals on top? That would be wild.

What can you tell us about the Seasons project youre working on right now?I actually just finished doing some stuff for the Fall album. There are four albums in the series, and each one is based on the season its named after. Each record has a predominant emotion that I have in mind as Im writing. Spring is on the happy, chill side, and Summer is indignant, youthful rebellion. Fall would be anxiety, and then Winter is sadness and loss. In terms of the sound, Spring is kind of like Island In The Sun, and Summer is kind of like a crunchy Beach Boys I guess a bit like the Blue Album. Fall is the most risky direction of all thats going to be dance-rock, like Franz Ferdinand. And then Winter is all 90s singer-songwriter, a bit like Elliot Smith.

So will that be the next project to surface after Van Weezer?Itll start on the first day of Spring 2022, when the first album comes out. Im excited for people to hear it!

Is all your creative energy focussed on Seasons, or are you still tinkering away on other bits and pieces?I have a few other projects which are just starting to pick up steam, but they involve other collaborators and forms of media, so its a very slow process Im just waiting for my role to kick in. So Ive given myself this four-album project to tide me over. Theres some kind of musical drama that Im working on at the moment called Buddha Superstar. I dont know if its going to be a Broadway show or a movie, but apparently thats going to be, like, a five-year process.

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Weezers Rivers Cuomo: Like a lot of the other bands around that time, we were a little uncomfortable with the sound of our first album... - Guitar...

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National Security Agency Dismisses Tucker Carlson Surveillance Claims – Variety

Posted: at 2:58 pm

Tucker Carlson says the U.S. government is trying to take his Fox News Channel program off the air. But the nations top surveillance agency says it hasnt been looking at the pundit or his primetime showcase.

After Carlson made allegations on air Monday evening about the National Security Agency monitoring him, the NSA responded Tuesday evening that it isnt watching his show and has no plans to do so.

On June 28, 2021, Tucker Carlson alleged the National Security Agency has been monitoring our electronic communications and is planning to leak them in an attempt to take this show off the air. This allegation is untrue. Tucker Carlson has never been an intelligence target of the Agency and the NSA has never had any plans to try to take his program off the air, the NSA said in a statement Tuesday evening. NSA has a foreign intelligence mission. We target foreign powers to generate insights on foreign activities that could harm the United States. With limited exceptions (e.g. an emergency), NSA may not target a US citizen without a court order that explicitly authorizes the targeting.

During his broadcast Tuesday evening, Carlson called the NSA statement infuriatingly dishonest, and continued to allege that NSA officials had read what he called private emails without his permission. He said he had spent part of Tuesday trying to reach Paul Nakasone, the U.S. General who oversees the NSA, but was unable to do so. A Fox News spokesperson declined to elaborate beyond Carlsons remarks on air.

Carlsons claims have generated social-media chatter all day, with detractors wondering why other Fox News programs hadnt picked up the anchors shocking allegations.

The anchor leads the most-watched program on Fox News Channel, and is a frequent generator of controversy, even backlash. Carlson maintains that he discusses issues and angles on them that no one else wants to, and the show draws heavy scrutiny of its hosts discussion of issues centered around race and politics. His allegations against the government threaten to kick up a discussion that borders on conspiracy theory, unless the host can offer further proof behind his claims.

Other Fox News hosts have spurred hot talk around assertions that could not be proven. In May of 2017, Fox News primetime host Sean Hannity agreed to stop talking about a debunked theory around the death of a former Democratic National Committee staffer, Seth Rich, after using his show for days to bolster the notion that Rich had been killed in retaliation for the leaking of certain DNC documents. There has never been credible evidence to support such claims. Fox News in September of last year agreed to a private legal settlement with Richs family over a 2017 report it published purporting Rich had leaked DNC emails to Wikileaks. Fox News retracted the report in 2017, just as Hannity said he would cease discussion about it on air.

Carlsons program, Tucker Carlson Tonight, reached an average of 2.9 million people in the second quarter, according to data from Nielsen.

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NSA, Cybercom Leader Says Efforts Have Expanded > US DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE > Defense Department News – Department of Defense

Posted: at 2:58 pm

Adversaries have heavily invested in cyberspace operations and capabilities. As such, cyber operations, cybersecurity and information operations are increasingly important to the joint force, said the commander of U.S. Cyber Command, who's also the director of the National Security Agency.

"The scope of what we need to defend and protect has dramatically expanded," Army Gen. Paul M. Nakasone said today during a virtual address to the U.S Naval Institute and Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association's WEST Conference.

The Defense Department's information network is composed of 15,000 sub-networks, 3 million users, 4 million computers, 180,000 mobility devices and 605 million website requests a day, he said.

"We used to think about cyberspace as merely the need to protect these computer networks. And while it's a good place to start, the attack surface is much broader," Nakasone said.

For example, protecting weapons systems is a related but distinct challenge compared to networks, he said. They require software updates and patches. In the case of the Navy, they're onboard ships that don't return to port for months at a time, making it even more challenging to provide timely updates.

Another challenge with weapons systems is ensuring that cybersecurity considerations are implemented in the earliest phases of the acquisition cycle, he said.

Protecting DOD's data is also a major challenge, he said.

Understanding how state and non-state adversaries are able to successfully carry out cyberattacks is important, he said. "They learn over time in terms of what they can do. They're not static in the terms of how they approach cyberspace."

In about the past 150 days, adversaries have successfully conducted supply chain attacks, particularly ransomware attacks, he said. In the last several years, election cybersecurity has taken on an increasingly important role.

Terrorist groups are also mounting cyberattacks, he said. In response, the department has emphasized close teamwork between the NSA, Cybercom, and other commands U.S. Special Operations Command, in particular.

"We learned how to work closely with U.S. Special Operations Command, both to support their efforts against kinetic targets and to leverage their capabilities against virtual ones," he said.

Nakasone also emphasized the importance of working with industry, academia, interagency partners like the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security, as well as with allies and partners.

Having a skilled and motivated workforce is also critically important, he said. They need to have the right training and career paths and professional development opportunities, and the DOD must be open to their new ideas.

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NSA, Cybercom Leader Says Efforts Have Expanded > US DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE > Defense Department News - Department of Defense

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Here’s Why Momentum Investors Will Love National Storage (NSA) – Yahoo Finance

Posted: at 2:58 pm

Momentum investing is all about the idea of following a stock's recent trend, which can be in either direction. In the 'long' context, investors will essentially be "buying high, but hoping to sell even higher." And for investors following this methodology, taking advantage of trends in a stock's price is key; once a stock establishes a course, it is more than likely to continue moving in that direction. The goal is that once a stock heads down a fixed path, it will lead to timely and profitable trades.

While many investors like to look for momentum in stocks, this can be very tough to define. There is a lot of debate surrounding which metrics are the best to focus on and which are poor quality indicators of future performance. The Zacks Momentum Style Score, part of the Zacks Style Scores, helps address this issue for us.

Below, we take a look at National Storage (NSA), a company that currently holds a Momentum Style Score of B. We also talk about price change and earnings estimate revisions, two of the main aspects of the Momentum Style Score.

It's also important to note that Style Scores work as a complement to the Zacks Rank, our stock rating system that has an impressive track record of outperformance. National Storage currently has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy). Our research shows that stocks rated Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and #2 (Buy) and Style Scores of A or B outperform the market over the following one-month period.

You can see the current list of Zacks #1 Rank Stocks here >>>

Set to Beat the Market?

Let's discuss some of the components of the Momentum Style Score for NSA that show why this real estate investment trust shows promise as a solid momentum pick.

A good momentum benchmark for a stock is to look at its short-term price activity, as this can reflect both current interest and if buyers or sellers currently have the upper hand. It's also helpful to compare a security to its industry; this can show investors the best companies in a particular area.

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For NSA, shares are up 4.5% over the past week while the Zacks REIT and Equity Trust - Other industry is up 2.14% over the same time period. Shares are looking quite well from a longer time frame too, as the monthly price change of 9.74% compares favorably with the industry's 0.61% performance as well.

While any stock can see a spike in price, it takes a real winner to consistently outperform the market. Shares of National Storage have increased 24.64% over the past quarter, and have gained 78.2% in the last year. In comparison, the S&P 500 has only moved 8.33% and 44.45%, respectively.

Investors should also take note of NSA's average 20-day trading volume. Volume is a useful item in many ways, and the 20-day average establishes a good price-to-volume baseline; a rising stock with above average volume is generally a bullish sign, whereas a declining stock on above average volume is typically bearish. Right now, NSA is averaging 751,615 shares for the last 20 days.

Earnings Outlook

The Zacks Momentum Style Score also takes into account trends in estimate revisions, in addition to price changes. Please note that estimate revision trends remain at the core of Zacks Rank as well. A nice path here can help show promise, and we have recently been seeing that with NSA.

Over the past two months, 6 earnings estimates moved higher compared to none lower for the full year. These revisions helped boost NSA's consensus estimate, increasing from $1.85 to $1.99 in the past 60 days. Looking at the next fiscal year, 6 estimates have moved upwards while there have been no downward revisions in the same time period.

Bottom Line

Taking into account all of these elements, it should come as no surprise that NSA is a #2 (Buy) stock with a Momentum Score of B. If you've been searching for a fresh pick that's set to rise in the near-term, make sure to keep National Storage on your short list.

Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free reportNational Storage Affiliates Trust (NSA) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.

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Ghaziabad assault case: NSA invoked against Samajwadi Party leader for making the viral video – Scroll.in

Posted: at 2:58 pm

The Ghaziabad Police on Wednesday invoked the National Security Act against a member of the Samajwadi Party who has been arrested for making the video of the assault of an elderly Muslim man in Uttar Pradesh.

The man, identified as Ummed Pahalwan Idrisi, was arrested on June 19, three days after a first information report was filed against him at the Loni Border police station. The FIR claimed that Idrisi had unnecessarily made the video in which the Muslim man, Abdul Samad Saifi, was seen being assaulted.

Idrisi was booked under Indian Penal Code Sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups), 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious belief), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) and 505 (public mischief).

The police said that the action against Idrisi had been taken against the accused under sub-section 2 of section 3 of the National Security Act.

The case relates to a video depicting 72-year-old Abdul Samad Saifi saying that he had been abducted in an autorickshaw by several men and locked up in a secluded house. Saifi alleged he was assaulted and forced to chant Jai Shri Ram. He also said the assailants cut his beard and made him watch videos of other Muslims being attacked.

Though the alleged assault took place on June 5, the video of the attack and of Saifi narrating the incident was circulated widely on social media on June 14.

However, the Ghaziabad Police, which registered a case based on Saifis complaint, on June 15 claimed that there was no communal angle to the assault. The police added that both Hindus and Muslims were among the accused who beat up the elderly man. Saifi, they claimed, had been beaten up because an amulet he gave one of the assailants had an adverse effect on them.

The police had arrested nine people in connection with the assault. However, the accused have been granted interim bail by a court in Ghaziabad.

Meanwhile, the police have claimed that the tweets and videos on the assault of the man were an attempt to destroy communal harmony.

Apart from Idrisi, the Uttar Pradesh police have filed a case against Twitter India, The Wire, journalists Rana Ayyub, Saba Naqvi and Mohammad Zubair, and Congress leaders Salman Nizami, Masqoor Usmani and Sama Mohammad in connection with their social media posts about the assault.

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Ghaziabad assault case: UP Police move Supreme Court against High Court relief to Twitter India head

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Quantum computing: This new approach could be the fastest path to real applications – ZDNet

Posted: at 2:57 pm

Rigetti launched the multi-chip device with the objective of reaching 80 qubits later this year, up from the current 31 qubits supported by the company's Aspen processor.

Finding out how to pack as many high-quality qubits as possible on a single quantum processor is a challenge that still keeps most researchers scratching their heads but now quantum start-up Rigetti Computing has come up with a radically new approach to the problem.

Instead of focusing on increasing the size of a single quantum processor,Rigetti has linked up various smaller chips together to create, instead, a modular processor that still has a higher overall qubit count.

Describing the technology as the world's "first multi-chip quantum processor", the company launched the device with the objective of reaching 80 qubits later this year, up from the current 31 qubits supported by its Aspen processor.

By that time, the new quantum system will be available for Rigetti customers to use over the firm's Quantum Cloud Services platform.

"We've developed a fundamentally new approach to scaling quantum computers," said Chad Rigetti, the founder of Rigetti Computing. "Our proprietary innovations in chip design and manufacturing have unlocked what we believe is the fastest path to building the systems needed to run practical applications and error correction."

Like IBM and Google, Rigetti's quantum systems are based on superconducting qubits, which are mounted in arrays on a processor where they are coupled and controlled thanks to microwave pulses. Qubits are also connected to a resonator and associated wiring, which enables the system to encode, manipulate and read out quantum information.

Qubits come with special quantum properties that are expected to lend quantum computers unprecedented computational power. But for that to happen, processors will need to pack a significant number of qubits far more than they currently do.

For quantum computers to start generating very early value, experts anticipate that at least 1,000 qubits will be necessary; and a million qubits is often cited as the threshold for most useful applications. In contrast, the most powerful quantum processors currently support less than 100 qubits.

Scaling up the number of qubits sitting on a single processor, however, is difficult. This is mostly due to the fragility of qubits, which need to be kept in ultra-protected environments that are colder than outer space to ensure that they remain in their quantum state. More qubits on a chip, therefore, inevitably mean more potential for failure and lower manufacturing yields.

Instead, Rigetti proposes to connect several identical processors, such as those that the company is already capable of reliably manufacturing, into a large-scale quantum processor.

"This modular approach exponentially reduces manufacturing complexity and allows for accelerated, predictable scaling," said the company.

According to Rigetti, this will also enable future systems to scale in multiplicative ways, as individual chips increase their number of qubits, and new technologies enable more of these chips to be connected into larger processors.

With scale being a top priority for virtually every organization in the quantum ecosystem, Rigetti's new launch could well give the start-up a competitive advantage, even in an industry crowded with tech giants the likes of Google, IBM, Microsoft and Amazon.

IBM recently unveiled a roadmap for its quantum hardware thataims to built a 1,121-qubit device for release in 2023.

And smaller players are now emerging, often with the goal of exploring alternatives to superconducting qubits that might enable quantum computers to grow faster. UK start-up Quantum Motion, for instance,recently published the result of an experiment with qubits on silicon chips.

"There is a race to get from the tens of qubits that devices have today, to the thousands of qubits that future systems will require to solve real-world problems," said Amir Safavi-Naeini, assistant professor of applied physics at Stanford University. "Rigetti's modular approach demonstrates a very promising way of approaching these scales."

As demonstrated by Rigetti's latest announcement, new approaches, methods and technologies are constantly developing in the quantum ecosystem. It is unlikely that one clear way forward will stand out anytime soon.

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Missing Piece Discovered in the Puzzle of Optical Quantum Computing – Californianewstimes.com

Posted: at 2:57 pm

Along Washington University in St. LouisJune 30, 2021

Jung-Tsung Shen, an associate professor of electrical systems engineering, has developed a deterministic and fidelity 2-bit quantum logic gate that utilizes a new form of light. This new logic gate is orders of magnitude more efficient than current technology. Credit: Jung-Tsung Shen

Until now, efficient 2-bit quantum logic gates have been out of reach.

A study at the McKelby Institute of Technology at Washington University in St. Louis found a missing part of the photon computing puzzle.

Jung-Tsung Shen, an associate professor at the Department of Electrical Systems Engineering, Preston M. Green, has developed a deterministic and fidelity 2-bit quantum logic gate that utilizes a new form of light. This new logic gate is orders of magnitude more efficient than current technology.

In the ideal case, fidelity can be as high as 97%, says Shen.

His study was published in the journal in May 2021 Physical Review A..

The potential of quantum computers is linked to the anomalous properties of superposition (the ability of a quantum system to contain many different properties or states at the same time) and entanglement (two particles that function in a non-classical correlation). I am. Manners despite being physically separated from each other.

When a voltage determines the value of a bit (1 or 0) in a classical computer, researchers often use individual electrons as qubits, which are quantum equivalents. Electrons have several properties that make them suitable for tasks. Electrons are easily manipulated and interact with each other by electric or magnetic fields. Interactions are useful when you need to entangle two bits. In other words, it reveals the wilderness of quantum mechanics.

But the tendency for them to interact is also a problem. Everything from stray magnetic fields to power lines affects electrons, which can make it difficult to truly control them.

However, for the past two decades, some scientists have tried to use photons as qubits instead of electrons. If computers have a real impact, we should consider using light to create a platform, says Shen.

The opposite problem can occur because photons are uncharged. Photons do not interact with the environment like electrons, but they do not. It was also difficult to design and create ad hoc (effective) photon interactions. Or so the traditional way of thinking went.

In less than a decade, scientists working on this issue seemed to have done so by measuring two photons when they exited, without having to get entangled when entering the logic gate. I found that I behaved in. A unique feature of measurement is another wild manifestation of quantum mechanics.

Quantum mechanics isnt difficult, but its full of surprises, Shen said.

The discovery of the measurements was groundbreaking, but not at all. This is because for every 1,000,000 photons, only one pair was intertwined. Researchers have been more successful since then, but Shen says, its still not enough for computers. Computers need to perform millions to billions of operations per second.

With the discovery of a new class of quantum photonic states, photonic dimers intertwined in both space and frequency, Shen was able to construct 2-bit quantum logic gates with such efficiency. His predictions of their existence were experimentally tested in 2013, and since then he has found this new form of use of light.

When a single photon enters a logic gate, nothing special happens it goes in and out. But if you have two photons, It was then that we predicted that they could create a new state, the photonic dimer. We found that this new state was important.

A fidelity 2-bit logic gate designed by Jung-Tsung Shen. Credit: Jung-Tsung Shen

Mathematically, there are many ways to design logic gates for 2-bit operations. These different designs are called equivalents. The specific logic gate designed by Shen and his research group is the control phase gate (or control Z gate). The main function of the control phase gate is to be in the negative state of two photons containing the two photons that come out.

On a classic circuit, there is no minus sign, Shen said. But in quantum computing, the minus sign exists and turns out to be important.

Quantum mechanics is not difficult, but it is full of surprises.

Jung Tsun Sheng

When two independent photons (representing two photon bits) enter the logic gate, the logic gate design allows the two photons to form a photonic dimer, Shen said. .. The new quantum photonic state has proved to be very important because it allows the output state to have the correct sign, which is essential for optical logical operations.

Shen has worked with the University of Michigan to test his design as a solid-state logic gate that can operate under moderate conditions. So far, he says, the results look positive.

Shen says this result is confusing to most people, but apparent as a day known to those in the know.

Its like a puzzle, he said. It can be complicated to do, but once you do it, a glance at it will tell you its right.

Reference: May 21, 2021, Two-photon control phase gate realized by photonic dimer by Zihao Chen, Yao Zhou, Jung-Tsung Shen, Pei-Cheng Ku, Duncan Steel Physical Review A..DOI: 10.1103 / PhysRevA.103.052610

This study is supported by the National Science Foundation and is numbered by ECCS. 1608049 and 1838996. This was also supported by the 2018 NSF Quantum Leap (RAISE) Awards.

The McKelby Institute of Technology at Washington University in St. Louis promotes independent research and education with an emphasis on scientific excellence, innovation, and borderless collaboration. McKelvey Engineering has top-ranked research and graduate programs across departments, especially in biomedical engineering, environmental engineering and computing, and has one of the countrys most selective undergraduate programs. With 140 full-time faculty members, 1,387 undergraduate students, 1,448 graduate students, and 21,000 alumni, we are working to solve some of the biggest challenges in society. Students become leaders and prepare to innovate throughout their careers. To catalyze economic development in the St. Louis region and beyond.

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