Category Archives: Evolution

The discovery of a huge fossilised skull that was wrapped up and hidden in a Chinese well nearly 90 years ago has forced scientists to rewrite the story of human evolution.

Analysis of the remains has revealed a new branch of the human family tree that points to a previously unknown sister group more closely related to modern humans than the Neanderthals.

The extraordinary fossil has been named a new human species, Homo longi or Dragon man, by Chinese researchers, although other experts are more cautious about the designation.

I think this is one of the most important finds of the past 50 years, said Prof Chris Stringer, research leader at the Natural History Museum in London, who worked on the project. Its a wonderfully preserved fossil.

The skull appears to have a remarkable backstory. According to the researchers, it was originally found in 1933 by Chinese labourers building a bridge over the Songhua River in Harbin, in Chinas northernmost province, Heilongjiang, during the Japanese occupation. To keep the skull from falling into Japanese hands it was wrapped and hidden in an abandoned well, resurfacing only in 2018 after the man who hid it told his grandson about it shortly before he died.

An international team led by Prof Qiang Ji at the Hebei Geo University in China drew on geochemical techniques to narrow down when the skull came to rest in Harbin, dating the bones to at least 146,000 years old. The skull has a unique combination of primitive and more modern features, with the face, in particular, more closely resembling Homo sapiens. One huge molar remains.

The skull, which is 23cm long and more than 15cm wide, is substantially larger than a modern humans and has ample room, at 1,420ml, for a modern human brain. Beneath the thick brow ridge, the face has large square eye sockets, but is delicate despite its size. This guy had a huge head, said Stringer.

The researchers believe the skull belonged to a male, about 50 years old, who would have been an impressive physical specimen. His wide, bulbous nose allowed him to breathe huge volumes of air, indicating a high-energy lifestyle, while sheer size would have helped him withstand the brutally cold winters in the region. Homo longi is heavily built, very robust, said Prof Xijun Ni, a paleoanthropologist at Hebei. It is hard to estimate the height, but the massive head should match a height higher than the average of modern humans.

To work out where the Harbin individual fitted into human history, the scientists fed measurements from the fossil and 95 other skulls into software that compiled the most likely family tree. To their surprise, the Harbin skull and a handful of others from China formed a new branch closer to modern humans than Neanderthals.

The Chinese researchers believe the Harbin skull is distinct enough to make it a new species, but Stringer is not convinced. He believes it is similar to another found in Dali county in China in 1978.

I prefer to call it Homo daliensis, but its not a big deal, he said. The important thing is the third lineage of later humans that are separate from Neanderthals and separate from Homo sapiens. Details are published in three papers in The Innovation.

Whatever the name, one possibility is that the Harbin skull is Denisovan, a mysterious group of extinct humans known largely from DNA and bone fragments recovered from Siberia. Certainly this specimen could be Denisovan but we have to be cautious. What we need is much more complete skeletal material of the Denisovans alongside DNA, Stringer said.

Prof John Hawks, a paleoanthropologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said the idea of a new lineage of humans was a provocative claim, because skulls can look similar even among distant relatives. The skull being Denisovan was a good hypothesis, he added, though he was less keen on a new species name. I think its a bad moment in science to be naming new species among these large-brained humans that all interbred with each other, he said. What we are repeatedly finding is that the differences in looks didnt mean much to these ancient people when it comes to breeding.

Mark Maslin, a professor of earth system science at UCL and the author of The Cradle of Humanity, said: The beautifully preserved Chinese Harbin archaic human skull adds even more evidence that human evolution was not a simple evolutionary tree but a dense intertwined bush. We now know that there were as many as 10 different species of hominins at the same time as our own species emerged.

Genetic analysis shows that these species interacted and interbred our own genetics contain the legacy of many of these ghost species. But what is a sobering thought, is that despite all this diversity, a new version of Homo sapiens emerged from Africa about 60,000 years ago which clearly out-competed, out-bred, and even out-fought these other closely related species, causing their extinction. It is only by painstaking searching and analysis of their fossils, such as the Harbin skull, do we know of their existence.

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Massive human head in Chinese well forces scientists to rethink evolution - The Guardian

It has been 14 years since the first iPhone was introduced by Steve Jobs, and a lot has changed since then. Each generation of the iPhone has brought unique advances that are sometimes hard to notice, but that have made a difference when we look back at the past. And thats what I did with GRID frames.

I have always loved understanding how things are made behind what we see and use every day, like the code and hardware that makes it all work. Earlier this year I discovered GRID, a company that sells disassembled electronics in frames. I even wrote about GRID 4S here on 9to5Mac:

As someone who really likes technology (and Apple, of course), I was looking for some related decorations for my home and then I met GRID 4S, which is literally a piece with a disassembled iPhone 4s that you can put anywhere you want.

GRIDis a company that has been selling framed electronic products for some time, and they all seem pretty cool. For Apple fans, they have pieces with the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4s, iPhone 5, and the second-generation iPod touch.

After getting the iPhone 4s frame, I had to complete my collection with other models. Seeing how the iPhone has evolved over all these years was nice, but being able to look at all the hardware evolution right in front of me is even more amazing which is why I wanted to share this gallery with our readers.

Who doesnt remember the moment when Jobs first unveiled the iPhone in January 2007? That was an iconic moment that changed everything. And although I never had the iPhone 2G (also known as the iPhone Classic), that product made me want to go all in on the Apple ecosystem (and I ended up getting the first iPod touch that year).

The construction of this iPhone may seem simple by todays standards, but it was far more sophisticated than other smartphones of the time. The iPhone 2G body was made almost entirely of aluminum, but with a plastic bottom part to enable cellular and Wi-Fi signals.

This iPhone already had a built-in rear camera, but the quality was really low. Its sensor with a really low aperture captures 2MP photos, and it cannot shoot video. Also, it has no focus adjustment.

The logic board was split into two parts and it relies on a Samsung ARM processor, since Apple hadnt yet developed its own Apple Silicon at that time. Although the CPU has a single 620MHz core, Apple has lowered the clock to 412MHz in order to save battery life. There are also other things to note, such as the simplicity of components like the speakers and vibration motor.

As a gift, GRID included the 9to5Mac logo on a metal plate that made my unit even more unique.

A year later, Apple completely redesigned the iPhone with iPhone 3G. It was the first model to support 3G networks, but there werent many other changes to its hardware (it even uses the same CPU as the iPhone 2G). However, iPhone 3GS came in 2009 keeping the same design but with more hardware improvements.

iPhone 3GS was announced at WWDC 2009 by Phil Schiller, as Steve Jobs had to leave Apple for a few months that year for a liver transplant. During the keynote, Schiller mentioned that the letter S stood for speed, since the iPhone 3GS was the first to have an upgraded processor and graphics. Also made by Samsung, this ARM processor is 600MHz.

Besides the shiny plastic back, we can notice that the iPhone 3GS camera is slightly different when compared to previous generations. Unlike its predecessors, iPhone 3GS had a 3MP sensor with adjustable focus that shoots 480p video.

Its also cool to see how Apple brands its components, even the smaller ones like flex cables.

iPhone 4 in 2010 was the first major change to the iPhone since the original product. After a massive leak, iPhone 4 was introduced with a new glass design, Retina display, the first Apple-made A4 chip, and significant upgrades to the cameras.

In 2011, exactly a day before Steve Jobs passed away, iPhone 4S was announced at an event presented by Tim Cook, who had recently taken over as Apples CEO. The iPhone 4S followed the iPhone 3GS strategy of keeping the same design as the previous generation, but with more in-depth hardware improvements.

One of the main highlights was the A5 chip, the second version of Apples own ARM chip that was also the first dual-core chip in an iPhone. The performance of the iPhone 4S was noticeably better when compared to every other iPhone.

By looking at the camera module, its easy to guess that its much better than the cameras seen on previous iPhones. The sensor looks more advanced, as it now captures 8MP photos and, for the first time, 1080p video. It also has a small LED flash, which was introduced with iPhone 4.

The front camera was only 0.3MP, just like on the iPhone 4 (which was the first model to have one), but even so it certainly provided amazing moments for many people on their first FaceTime calls or selfies taken with an iPhone. Look how small the front sensor is.

Overall, the internal design of the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S is much more robust and most components such as the buttons and flex cables seem more refined.

Following the iPhone 5 and iPhone 5s, which both got a slightly larger screen, theres the iPhone 6. I remember watching the Apple event in September 2014 and being super excited about the new iPhones, as they were much bigger than their predecessors.

iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus had an all-new, more rounded design made entirely of aluminum, with the antennas embedded as plastic strips on their back. With a more compact logic board and more internal space, Apple was able to add bigger batteries to the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus (they still werent perfect, but much better than those in the iPhone 4 and iPhone 5).

The rear camera sensor was still 8MP, but it has more tricks. It was the first iPhone to be able to capture 1080p video at 60 frames per second, or 720p at 240 frames per second which enabled super slow-motion. Users could capture photos while recording videos and the autofocus became faster and more accurate. You can also see the True Tone LED flash in the photos.

Here the front camera was already 1.3MP with the ability to shoot video in 720p. In terms of performance, the A8 chip was still a dual-core processor, but now with 64-bit architecture (first introduced with the A7 chip in the iPhone 5s). The iPhone 6 still had a mechanical Home button, which was also the biometric reader.

Finally, we get to the iPhone 7, which I consider the last iteration of the original iPhone form-factor before the iPhone X (excluding the iPhone 8 and iPhone SE). iPhone 7 was quite an upgrade with a refreshed look (including this gorgeous matte black version) and important enhancements.

Unlike the other iPhones, the Home button on the iPhone 7 is somewhat virtual. It is there, but its not a mechanical part since it works based on pressure sensors.

The four-core A10 Fusion chip was way ahead of the competition at the time, and it is still considered a great chip today. The Fusion name is due to the fact that this chip was the first with different cores for full performance and power efficiency.

The cameras on the iPhone 7 were quite advanced, with optical stabilization on all models for the first time. The larger 12MP sensor has an aperture of f/1.8 for capturing better photos in the dark and it can record videos in 4K resolution. The front camera also had a giant leap with a 7MP sensor.

Components such as the Lightning port and the speakers have rubber protection, as the iPhone 7 was the first water-resistant iPhone. Speaking of speakers, look how much bigger the iPhone 7 earpiece is thats because it was also the first iPhone with stereo speakers. And I couldnt forget Taptic Feedback, which is really cool to see that it looks exactly like Apple shows in its videos.

Nowadays we have very different iPhones with no Home button, much smaller chips, and advanced sensors for facial recognition. These, however, Ill leave for another article in the future when we get to the next iteration of iPhone design.

If you also want to take a closer look at iPhone hardware or simply decorate your home with technology, check out GRIDs store to get these and other frames. GRID is now selling the frames with the iPhone 5 and iPhone X, and the company will soon have more units of the iPhone 2G frame which are expected to be available on June 29 at 7AM PT.

FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.

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A look back at the evolution of iPhone hardware with GRID frames [Gallery] - 9to5Mac

Joyner Lucas is returning to his hometown for a show at Worcesters Palladium, promising fans the biggest outside party Massachusetts has ever seen.

Cant wait to perform ADHD & EVOLUTION LIVE for my hometown for the first time, the Grammy-nominated rapper wrote on his Facebook page. This will be a SOLD OUT event and the BIGGEST outside party Massachusetts Ever seen. ALL AGES, Food, games, and giveaways.

The show, called Joyner Fest 2021 and presented by Jamn 94.5, is on Sunday, Sept. 5 and doors open at 5 p.m.

Joyner wrote on his Facebook page that VIP tickets are already sold out.

Earlier this year, Lucas received a key to the city of Worcester as a horde of people gathered outside City Hall, hoping to get an autograph or photo with the musician.

All these people outside, they come from where I come from, Lucas said at the time. To see them look up to someone like me, its a blessing. What I see when I look at them, I see greatness too.

Lucas, whose full name is Gary Maurice Lucas Jr., was born in Worcester in 1988. He attended South High Community School. Worcester is the backdrop for several of Lucas music videos.

Meanwhile, the soundtrack for the highly-anticipated Space Jam: A New Legacy, will include Lucas song Shoot my Shot.

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Joyner Lucas films at Worcester YMCA

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Worcester native Joyner Lucas to perform ADHD and Evolution in outdoor show at citys Palladium - MassLive.com

Town Square with Ernie Manouse airs at 3 p.m. CT. Tune in on 88.7FM, listen online or subscribe to the podcast. Join the discussion at 888-486-9677, questions@townsquaretalk.org or @townsquaretalk.

When "RuPaul's Drag Race" debuted back in 2009, did anyone realize how much impact it would have on the LGBTQIA+ community and popular culture? Over the past decade, it has entertained mainstream audiences and has arguably brought drag queens into the zeitgeist.

In honor of Pride Month, national and local drag queens are here to share their insights and experiences.

Guests:

Cynthia Lee Fontaine

Kofi

Regina Thorne-DuBois

Violet SArbleu

Then, moments after Derek Chauvin was sentenced to 22 years for the murder of George Floyd, experts weigh in on the public response and the legal implications of the decision.

Guests:

Town Square with Ernie Manouse is a gathering space for the community to come together and discuss the day's most important and pressing issues.

Audio from todays show will be available after 5 p.m. CT. We also offer a free podcast here, on iTunes, and other apps.

Fill out the form below to subscribe our new daily editorial newsletter from the HPM Newsroom.

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The Evolution Of Drag In The Age Of Social Media - Houston Public Media

The first Jurassic World Evolution did a fantastic job bringing the dinosaurs of the film series to digital life, but it wasnt quite able to measure up to the gameplay of other management games. Developer Frontier has promised that the core business of running the park will be heavily improved for Jurassic World Evolution 2, and a new dev blog explains how some of the original games most annoying busywork is going away.

Hatcheries are getting streamlined so that you can create multiple dinosaurs at once. The synthesis portion of the process will still let you apply genetic modifications to your animals, while the incubation process will still have you waiting for your dinos to reach adulthood before releasing them into the park. (In keeping with the post-Fallen Kingdom plot, youll also be able to capture wild dinosaurs for your park.)

You can now release dinosaurs in groups into the park, and you can choose to do remote releases, too meaning you can directly transport newly-grown dinosaurs from your hatchery to other enclosures. No more finding space in your enclosures to attach hatcheries, if you dont want to.

Instead of busywork, it seems that were getting deeper systems elsewhere. For example, dinosaurs will now develop their own territories within enclosures, depending on how the environments are meeting their needs. Theyll also form herds and packs to move more dynamically around that environment, which means you have to pay even closer attention to where you place your viewing areas.

Jurassic World Evolution 2 is due to launch sometime later this year.

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Jurassic World Evolution 2 is cutting back on the annoying busywork - PCGamesN

Photo credit: Luis Miguel Bugallo Snchez, CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons.

Because crustaceans have shells, we may tend to think of them as like machines. Yet crustaceans, along withoctopuses, show some surprising abilities and complexities.Take crabs,for example:

A new Swansea University study has revealed how common shore crabs can navigate their way around a complex maze and can even remember the route in order to find food

Spatial learning is quite complicated, so figuring out how it works in crustaceans gives us a better understanding of how widespread this ability, and learning in general, is in the animal kingdom.

The researchers tested 12 crabs over four weeks, placing food at the end of the maze each time. The route to the end of the maze required five changes in direction, and included three dead ends.

Over the four-week period, the team saw the crabs show a steady improvement in both the time taken to find the food at the end of the maze and, crucially, in the number of wrong turns taken.

Even more surprisingly, when returned to the maze two weeks later but without any food on offer at the end, they all reached the end of the maze in under eight minutes a clear sign that they had remembered the route.

New crabs which had had not been in the maze before took far longer to reach the end, and some did not make it to the end of the maze at all during the one-hour study period.

Another thing about crabs is that they suffer from stress. Noise from ships rattlesshore crabs:

when crabs were subjected to a simulated shore bird attack, those that heard ship noise didnt run and hide as they would normally. About half of the crabs exposed to ship noise did not respond to the attack at all, and the ones that did were slow to hide themselves, says Carter. Similar to how people have trouble concentrating when stressed, the nature of their response indicates that they couldnt process what was happening, as if that awareness and decision-making ability just wasnt there.

So some calculation is going on inside that shell, if only in the interests of finding the menu or not becoming the menu. But calculation goes on inside a computer too and we dont think of the computer as a being, in any sense.

What about shrimp? Their brains turn out to havememory and learning centers,which has triggered an evolution squabble.

Read the rest at Mind Matters News, published by Discovery Institutes Walter Bradley Center for Natural and Artificial Intelligence.

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Can Crabs Think? Can Lobsters Feel? - Discovery Institute

Kasper's Foxes story began in the summer of 2011 as former England manager Sven-Gran Eriksson constructed a squad he believed was capable of securing the Club's long-awaited return to the Premier League. Leicester's recent history had been arduous.

They were still recovering from a first campaign outside the top two tiers in England but, with the backing of King Power International, finally the Blue Army could look upwards. Although a sound piece of business at the time, few would have anticipated quite how successful Schmeichel's signing would be.

Today, as City's No.1 toasts 10 years on Filbert Way, Schmeichel stands among the Club's greatest-ever players a roll call which includes shot-stoppers such as the late Gordon Banks, Peter Shilton and Mark Wallington. Domestically, Kasper has achieved more than all of them at Leicester City Football Club.

Only five players across the Club's entire 137-year history have made more appearances than Schmeichel. Nobody has starred so frequently on the international scene while being a Leicester player. Not one won more Player of the Season honours either.

Ten years to the day since his transfer from Leeds United was confirmed, Kasper himself reflects on his historic decade as a Fox...

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Kasper was an integral member of Sven-Gran Eriksson's Leicester side - just as he's been for every Foxes manager since.

"I felt at home when I came here, Ive said that many times," Kasper recalls, looking back to the decision he made to swap Elland Road for King Power Stadium in 2011. "I was lucky to find somewhere where I stayed for a long time. There were big ambitions.

"The Chairman (Khun Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha) always spoke to me about the vision he had and where he wanted us to be. I can honestly say that everything he said, he delivered on."

Eriksson has been in charge for half a year, but the summer of 2011 was a big one for the Club. Leicester showcased their ambitions with a summer window which included the signings of David Nugent, Jermaine Beckford, Paul Konchesky, Glson Fernandes and Schmeichel himself.

Things didn't quite work out, though, and by November, Nigel Pearson was back at the helm after a brief spell away. The man who lifted the League 1 title on Filbert Way would eventually guide the Club back to the Premier League a decade after their last campaign in the top division.

Many of the staff at King Power Stadium or at the training ground today were at the Club back then. A spine of 'good people' as Schmeichel calls them experts in their respective fields runs through the Club's football operation. For Kasper, that consistency is part of Leicester City's incredible story.

"Theres so many good people at the Club," the Danish Footballer of the Year adds. "That was something that the Chairman thought was really important. He knew it was important to have good people. When you look at the players, think about how many of them have stayed here for a long, long time.

"The staff here now, so many of them were here when I joined. Theyre still here. The Club is a unified club, its woven into the fabric that everyone looks after each other and respects each other. Theres so many great moments that weve shared together.

"I joined in the Championship and it was a side that had just been taken over and I think the world had seen so many takeovers by rich owners. They might not have known what wed be getting here.

"Obviously, the Chairman did everything for us and has brought us to this day where we sit here, 10 years later, and weve won the Premier League, won the FA Cup and we have great opportunities in every single competition we enter. Were sitting in this amazing training ground which was built as well.

"The Club just keeps progressing and thats part of the appeal of Leicester City. Why I love being here is because we're a club which is in constant evolution. Were always trying to get better.

"The perception from the outside world, I think, is that were a club going in the right direction and one that has been for a long time. Its important that its not just a rich owner coming in for a couple of years its sustained. Theres been investment but money is being invested into the future of the Club."

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Schmeichel played all 46 matches of the Club's Sky Bet Championship-winning campaign in 2013/14.

The pinnacle of Schmeichel's time at Leicester City and indeed the Club's existence came in the summer of 2016 when, just two years after winning promotion, the Foxes were confirmed as Premier League champions for the first time. It was arguably the greatest achievement in football history.

A side who had narrowly avoided relegation 12 months earlier had transformed itself into the most in-form outfit in Europe, losing just three league games all season, eclipsing some of the largest clubs in world football. Schmeichel played every single minute of every league match for Claudio Ranieri in 2015/16.

"Obviously, winning the Premier League would be my favourite moment," the 34-year-old continues. "Thats on the pitch, its one you get to share with the fans. The favourite moments are being in the dressing room after the games, being with the lads, with the staff, everybody we have at the Club.

"We like to celebrate things together, we had dinners and times away from football with each other. Theyre the kind of things Ill look back on one day when I do finish my career. Im sure Ill look back and really miss those days. Its been an amazing time. Theres so many unbelievable memories.

"So many ups and downs. Its just the best time of my career and Im still loving it."

Kasper has been a virtual ever-present throughout his entire time with the Foxes. His current run of consecutive Premier League starts spans back to 19 April, 2018 and covers three whole campaigns. He's played behind a variety of defensive collectives, both domestically and in Europe.

Whenever Leicester have been successful, the triumphs have been defined by rock-solid defences. Wes Morgan, Marcin Wasilewski, Robert Huth and Jonny Evans have been warriors for City over recent seasons and that solidity at the back is essential for a goalkeeper to thrive, Schmeichel believes.

"I think, for any team, stability is really important, particularly in the defensive positions," he explains. "Were lucky because weve had that a lot over the years. Obviously, Wes has been here for so many years and provided such great service, such stability.

"Huthy was the same. Now, with Jonny, being able to be stable and have that running through for long periods is really important because that gives you a platform to build on for creative players to go on and express themselves and go and win the games.

"If youre on the outside looking in on Leicester, we have probably the best training ground in the country now. We have one of the best managers in the world. We have an exciting squad too. We have everything going for us to be successful. Its a great place to be. Its somewhere I really enjoy being.

"Brendan [Rodgers]coming in, I think, has lifted it to a level itd never been before. He brought a level of playing and professionalism which demands everything. Its all brought us to a place where we can compete. I think thats always going to be really, really difficult in this league, with the money and resources at the disposal of other teams, but for us to be consistently competing is really, really important."

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Hoisting the FA Cup trophy to the skies alongside Club captain Wes Morgan.

Kasper's Leicester City journey has not been a straight line. In the early days, promotion bids faltered, most famously at Watford in 2013. Relegation was averted in dramatic fashion two years later. The summer of 2016 was an unforgettable period of happiness and glory.

European runs followed. Dips down the division too. But now, as the Club prepares for an eighth consecutive campaign in the Premier League, the Foxes are in fine health as newly-crowned FA Cup winners and regular competitors at the top of the league table.

There's more to come, too, says Schmeichel, whose own game has evolved with the times. Not only he is such an authoritative shot-stopper, but he's also a vital component of City's possession-based game plan. It's a philosophy inspired by Rodgers and embraced by Leicester's squad, including Kasper himself.

"No matter what, every time you have a new manager, or youre in a different league, you have to adapt," he adds. "Playing in the Championship, we played in a specific way, and then under different managers, you play in all sorts of different ways.

"In terms of the way we play now, its a style Ive always played for my national team and its a style I like playing. When youre put into a team like Leicester with a manager like Brendan with this kind of structure, it makes it so much more enjoyable.

"Theres so many options for you. As a keeper, you have to be creative with your style of play. My style of play has to evolve and it is evolving. When we had fans in the stadium, I think you could hear the nervousness and the trepidation when we started playing out from the back.

"It wasnt something that Leicester fans were used to seeing, so you could feel that nervousness. But its something which is a process.

"Its an education for the players, its an education for the Club and for the fans, but were seeing that its a way of playing which also works. It gives us great rewards, which the results show. For me, having that style of play is fantastic.

"I have to be creative with my feet now, which means you cant be perfect all the time. Youre being asked to be creative. As a goalkeeper now, it's highlighted a lot more, but its something I really enjoy doing and its something weve really seen the rewards you can reap from it."

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Sharing a vintage moment with the Blue Army at Wembley.

There's little Schmeichel hasn't achieved at the Football Club. A Premier League and Championship champion, domestic cup success did, however, evade City's No.1 at King Power Stadium until 15 May, 2021. With a 1-0 success over Chelsea at Wembley, a 137-year-old wait finally came to an end.

After Youri Tielemans' stunning opener, a decisive touch onto a Ben Chilwell header kept Leicester in front. Then, with seconds remaining, Kasper flung himself across his goal to divert Mason Mount's emphatic volley behind for a corner. Just as he'd always done, Schmeichel stepped up for the big occasion.

"Its a dream come true," the Copenhagen-born 'keeper continues. "Its something I dreamed of when I was a child, so to realise it and to realise it in the way we did, its amazing. I was just happy for the final whistle at the end. Were all there to do our jobs and, this time, it came off for us.

"What a goal to win it with as well, so its a great day and an absolutely amazing experience, the whole thing. You can see that in the celebrations, how together people are, and how much it means to us. It was amazing to be able to have fans there and to share that moment.

"After 137 years of trying, to be able to write our names in history as the first Leicester City team to do it, its amazing, and to share it with the fans and with each other on the pitch and in the dressing room was fantastic. Having won the Premier League, that feeling just gets amplified.

"When you experience these highs, you want more. This should be a taster of what we want to be doing every season we want to be competing in every season. Weve showed the youngsters what is possible. When you work together as a team, you might not be favourites, but you can come out on top.

"Its all a bit of blur right now. Ive held that trophy before when my father won it, so to be able to lift it ourselves was an amazing feeling."

Ten years into his magical association with Leicester City, Schmeichel is still lifting trophies for the Foxes. As the Club looks boldly into the future, there is genuine reason for optimism at King Power Stadium and Kasper is likely to be a central figure yet again in 2021/22.

As the Dane enters his second decade with the Foxes, he is keen to address the Blue Army directly. Although opportunities to be together have been limited over recent months due to COVID-19, Schmeichel says their backing never goes unnoticed.

"Thank you for amazing support through all these years," he concludes. "Its been amazing to see and feel the backing we have always. From the first moment I joined the Club, I felt at home. Weve missed you. Its been far too long without fans.

"King Power Stadium is a lovely stadium, but its not the same when its empty. I hope we can get them back and start having that interaction again, but Im just so very grateful for all the support Ive received over these years. Thank you."

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'A Club In Constant Evolution, Always Trying To Get Better' Schmeichel On 10 Years As A Fox - Leicester City

In the two decades since Linda Hasenfratz took the helm of Linamar Corporation from her father, Frank, the Guelph-based auto-parts manufacturer has grown into a global giant with a market cap of almost $5 billion. The company recently struck a strategic alliance with Ballard Power Systems to develop fuel-cell electric powertrains and components in a big bet on hydrogen fuel. We asked the one-time factory machine operator how she feels about the dramatic evolution the automotive industry is going through.

You largely manufacture auto parts but the pandemic brought you into a new niche: ventilators.

Jumping into production of ventilators when there was a global shortage was probably the most meaningful thing we did in the early days. We made ventilator parts and full ventilators for five different customers. We made nearly one million parts or full assemblies for ventilators last year and that business is continuing.

Will you stay in that business?

Interestingly, we had already identified medical devices as a market we wanted to expand into, given the aging global population. We were not looking at ventilators specifically, but the work last year helped us get more connected with the industry and refine our strategy.

Automotive sector remains your primary focus and the industry has weathered this downturn much better than the financial crisis. How has that affected Linamar?

Well, we were fully shut down for two months last year, which was painful. But when our customers started coming back online, they came back quickly, particularly in North America and Asia. Then, at the beginning of this year, the brakes got put on again as we started to feel supply chain issues. The notable one is semiconductor chips. The auto industry tends to work on just-in-time inventory; if manufacturers dont need the parts, they shut suppliers off. For the chip guys, automakers only represent six per cent or seven per cent of the global market, and with the surge in demand for consumer electronics and computers, they had plenty of other places to allocate those chips. When the automakers wanted that supply again, it wasnt there for them. Back in 2010, the exact same thing happened, so unfortunately we didnt learn from that.

What about other commodities that have also soared in price?

The steel prices would be where were feeling the most impact. On the automotive side, most of our contracts have metal market pass-through adjustments so every quarter we change our pricing based on the metal market index and that makes us reasonably well insulated. In our industrial businesses Skyjack and MacDon, were more exposed so we have to negotiate the best we can.

Youve partnered with Ballard to produce automotive fuel-cell components. Do you expect that technology to take over from battery electric cars?

Just to clarify the terminology, a fuel-cell vehicle is still an electric vehicle but instead of a battery pack, its powered by fuel cells. Were big believers that fuel-cell technology is the future of mobility, from passenger cars to commercial vehicles and heavy trucks, because its superior to battery-electric for four reasons. The first and possibly most important one is that its a clean technology end to end from fuel sourcing right through to the tailpipe because its not reliant on electricity grids, which are pretty dirty. A battery pack itself is heavy, 800 kilograms or more, which is not very efficient for vehicle performance and produces heavy emissions: making one battery pack for a large sedan releases 17 tons of CO2. A car with an internal combustion engine generates between six and eight tons of CO2 a year, so making that one battery pack produces as much pollution as more than two years of driving an internal-combustion car. Hydrogen is made from water using solar or wind power. In a way, youre temporarily storing the solar and wind power in the hydrogen, because when you run the fuel cell, the byproduct is water.

Number two, fuel-cell vehicles can be refilled in minutes, the same as what were used to. Thirdly, hydrogen is a highly efficient fuel with high energy density. Lastly, fuel-cell vehicles dont rely on regionally concentrated sources of so-called conflict minerals used in battery packs. More than half of the worlds cobalt comes from the Congo, and a third of it is mined artisanally, which sounds nice but it means by hand, which isnt very sustainable. Eighty per cent of the worlds cobalt is then refined in China, which concentrates the supply chain risk. You never want to have to buy 80 per cent of something from a single place.

Do auto-parts suppliers and automakers have to choose between committing to hydrogen fuel cells or batteries the way one might choose Windows versus Apples iOS as a computing platform?

Its not about making a big decision because the vehicle architecture is similar; you can pull out the battery pack, put in the fuel-cell system and use the same propulsion system. Thats part of our strategy with Ballard: we want to develop a plug-and-play technology so we can supply either vehicle type. We dont want to bet the farm on one technology because there is much uncertainty around which technology will be adopted.

Which parts of the automotive markets do you envision embracing fuel cells first?

It will be commercial vehicles: heavy trucks that have to worry about the payload. When youre paid by the pound of freight you deliver, the last thing you want is to fill up your truck with batteries. The passenger-car side, many automakers are working on fuel-cell vehicles but we wont see significant volumes for at least 10 years.

Thats OK because were in the middle of a transition from internal combustion to hybrid, and then to battery electric, and then ultimately to fuel cells, and that takes a long time. Even the shift to hybrid and battery is slower than people estimated. We always overestimate technology adoption in the short term and underestimate it in the long term, and the more complex the products youre transitioning, the longer the transition takes. Then you need to bring the consumer on board.

Consumers have certainly been buying lots of cars, with vehicle sales breaking records. Is that just driven by pandemic-related fear of using transit or car-sharing?

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Remember that dealerships were closed last year so we have pent-up demand. At the same time, the automotive industry works in cycles. Automotive production peaked in North America in 2017 and volumes in 2018 and 2019 were down. Then the pandemic hit. Now were back on a natural upward trajectory, and the low interest rates are impacting that, too.

Aside from fuel cells, what new technologies are you most excited to see?

Electrification, broadly, is the single biggest opportunity for suppliers in the history of automotive manufacturing. Vehicle autonomy is another area that has lots of implications. We may move away from individual ownership toward fleet ownership, and that would affect vehicle design. Consumers care about performance and how a car handles, but if the vehicle is owned by a fleet, different things matter, such as how often the vehicle breaks, its simplicity and how easy is it to repair. Owners may not care as much about horsepower.

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From machine operator to CEO, Linda Hasenfratz dishes about the evolution the automotive industry - Toronto Star

The Nayaks of Kandy ruled over the Kingdom of Kandy in present-day Sri Lanka for over 85 years. This began in 1739 and ended in 1815. In terms of the broader context of history, this is a relatively short reign. However, if we look at it closely enough, we can see that their time presiding over Kandy was significant in terms of social development.

The genesis of the dynasty is pretty unique. They did not come into power through outright conquest or diplomacy. Instead, they inherited power in an unusual fashion. Prior to the Nayaks of Kandy, the region was ruled by the Kandy Mahanuwara dynasty. In 1739, their final king, Vira Narendra Sinha, died without leaving any heirs. Although he had a son, this was from a second marriage, and it was not permissible for him to inherit the throne. Instead, the power passed to the brother of Sinhas wife, who was named Sri Vijaya Rajasinha. He was the first of the Nayaks to rule over Kandy. He was related to the Madurai Nayak dynasty and Thanjavur Nayaks as well. The Nayaks of Kandy were Hindus of Telugu origin, spoke Tamil or Telugu, and used both Tamil and Sinhala as their court languages.

Sri Vijaya Rajasinha showed early signs of what was to come. Despite being a Hindu, he encouraged participation in and practicing both Hinduism and Buddhism. This may have been in an effort to strengthen local religious fervor against the foreign colonial Christianisation brought by Portuguese traders. Indeed, much of his reign was spent resisting foreign influence. Although, in retrospect, this may seem like the behavior of an aggressor, an objective view might show that it was actually the Portuguese who were the aggressors, and Rajasinha was merely protecting the interests of his own people.

The regions and kingdoms of Sri Lanka were often turbulent in the 18th century due to local political and social differences. Rajasinha did his best to placate others, offering positions of importance to other Sinhalese. Although the success of this policy was variable and sometimes negligible, it shows a genuine desire to keep the peace in what was an unstable period.

Similar to his predecessor, Sri Vijaya Rajasinha died without having any kids. In the absence of an heir, he repeated the policy of electing his eldest brother-in-law to succeed him. His brother-in-law was named Kirti Sri Rajasinha and took the throne in 1751. Largely, he continued the policy of religious tolerance, choosing policies friendly towards the advancement of Buddhism instead of religious repression. This is shown in his renovation of various Buddhist temples. He is also well-known for the revival of literature in Kandy, striving to improve local culture.

Perhaps the most challenging part of Sri Vijaya Rajasinhas reign was his relationships with the Dutch. Keeping balanced between a defensive mindset and a willingness to trade was a constant battle. He did manage to negotiate this reasonably competently. Whilst there were some conflicts with the colonizers, it never boiled over into a full-scale war, nor did it result in a considerable loss of territory or autonomy. Sri Vijaya Rajasinha was eventually killed when he fell off his horse. The fact that this dismayed much of the populace is a testament to his contributions to society during his reign.

Following his death, his brother ascended to the throne in 1782. His name was Sri Rajadhi Raja Singha. He shared the literary passion of his brother and is even said to have been a practicing poet himself. He was also known as a man of culture and was able to speak many languages, including Tamil, Telugu, and Sinhalese. This undoubtedly allowed him to navigate the complex political landscape of the time, despite being only 18. He did not preside over Kandy for very long and died in 1798. The pattern of childless monarchs continued as he died without an heir.

A new heir had to be chosen by the Prime Minister of the time. He chose Sri Vikrama Rajasinha as the successor, who was Sri Rajadhi Raja Singhas nephew. He immediately took the throne in 1798. Like his predecessor, he was just 18 years old. Like others in the dynasty, he was a Hindu who encouraged the growth of both Hinduism and Buddhism to ensure religious harmony in the region. However, by this time, other forces were at work against his government. No longer concerned with internal Sinhalese politics or relations with the Dutch, a greater threat was on the horizon. The British Empire was now taking an interest in the governance of Sri Lanka.

While Sri Vikrama Rajasinha did manage some notable achievements, including some architectural development of Kandy itself, he will largely be known as the king who ceded Kandy to the British. This may have been inevitable for any king of the time and is unlikely to have anything to do with the individual himself.

Sri Vikrama Rajasinha brutally put down a rebellion led by his nephew, who was also Prime Minister at the time. The severity of this action gave the British an excuse for seizing control. They did this under the guise of saving Sri Lanka and Kandy from the kings tyranny. After a short invasion, the king was captured by the British. He later signed what is known as the Kandyan Convention, which was essentially a surrender of Kandy to the British. It meant that Sri Lanka became a colony of Britain, and Sri Vikrama Rajasinha was exiled in Vellore. It brought an end to 85 years of Nayak rule in Kandy and over 2000 years of Sinhalese control of the region.

The Nayak dynasty of Kandy was perhaps always doomed to collapse in the face of imperial behemoths. Nevertheless, their contribution to their subjects during their rule cannot be understated. Most notably, the 85 years of control to a revival of Buddhism and incredible religious tolerance. Essentially, it was a peaceful time despite a turbulent political climate. Areas such as literature and culture were also advanced during this time. Aside from its inevitable capitulation, the Nayaks can be looked upon with a degree of respect for their influences on the kingdom.

Views expressed above are the author's own.

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Nayaks of Kandy Evolution and Contribution in Sri Lankan History - The Times of India Blog

Back in 1980, on Wednesday mornings during the fall when the Kansas City Chiefs were conducting their walk-through, I would slip into the closet-sized office of special-teams coach Frank Gansz at Arrowhead Stadium for an education on the NFL kicking game. The room was big enough for two chairs, a desk and a projector to watch film.

And we watched film.

Gansz showed me the concepts of kickoff coverage stay in your lane and explained to me the value of directional punting. He pointed out the soft spots in opponent kick protection and how he planned to exploit them that Sunday with some creative rushes.

Gansz also showed me his formula for ranking NFL special teams. Not all the franchises had special-teams coaches in 1980. The kicking game was still an after-thought in pro football. So Gansz devised a 12-category formula to determine how his Kansas City special teams performed in relation to the rest of the league.

I took his formula that year and figured out the league rankings. For five years I compiled the rankings for my own benefit, just to find out who was good in the kicking game and who wasnt. The first time I published the rankings was 1985 when I worked for United Press International in Kansas City. Ive taken the rankings with me over the last 36 years and published them at my various career stops atThe Kansas City Star, Dallas Morning News and, of late, The Talk of Fame Network.

Back in 1985, only 12 of the 28 NFL teams employed coaches whose exclusive responsibility was special teams. Ten other teams had coaches who split their duties between special teams and a position group tight ends, linebackers or offensive line. Six teams didnt even have a coach on staff assigned to special teams.

Ive watched the growth of the kicking game in the three-plus decades since then:

--The increased emphasis on the special teams. Football is a game of field position. The NFL finally realized that the biggest chunks of yardage are exchanged on the kicking downs. So teams are now treating special teams like they are a third of the game equal partners of the offense and defense. The first special-teams coach to receive a "coordinator" designation was Paul Lanham at Cleveland in 1989. Now all 32 teams have a special-teams coordinator. Nine of the teams now devote three coaches to the kicking game. The Eagles have their third coach assigned to quality control for special teams and the Buccaneers have assigned theirs strictly to the kickers. Better coaching translates into better results.

--The arrival of deep snappers. The days of Minnesotas Hall of Fame center Mick Tingelhoff spending 14 seasons snapping on placements and punts for the Vikings are over. There are no longer any four-down centers. The offensive "centers" leave the field after three downs and the deep snappers take over. Patrick Mannelly played more games than any player in the illustrious history of the Chicago Bears and he was a deep snapper. He played 245 career games without a single start. There are three NFL deep-snappers who played even more games than Mannelly Trey Junkin (281), Don Muhlbach (260) and L.P. Ladouceur (253). Reliable deep snappers can play for decades.

--The emergence of coverage aces. Once upon a time NFL special-team units were comprised of backups players not good enough to start. But Bill Bates, Reyna Thompson and Steve Tasker showed the NFL the value of players dedicated to covering kicks and doing the dirty work on the downs that have the greatest impact on field position. Now every team has an ace or two. In 2019, the Patriots suited up four of them Matthew Slater, Justin Bethel, Nate Ebner and Brandon Bolden and finished third in the NFL in special teams.

--The sophistication of the kickers. In 1985, Dale Hatcher of the Rams led the NFL with a net punting overage of 38.0 yards per kick. In 2020, Jake Bailey of the Patriots led the league with a net average of 45.6 yards. The league average in 1985 was 34.5 net yards. The league average in 2020 was 40.5. In 1985, Nick Lowery converted a league-best 88.9 percent of his field goals for the Kansas City Chiefs. In 2020, there were nine kickers who converted better than 90 percent of their field-goal tries. Graham Gano of the Giants led the way with a 96.9 percent conversion rate (31 of 32).

--The impact of return specialists. In 1986, Mel Gray came to the NFL from the USFL, signing with the New Orleans Saints. He was listed as a running back/wide receiver and touched the ball only six times from scrimmage that season. But he returned 31 kickoffs and averaged 27.1 yards per return. Gray then led the NFL in punt returns in 1987. Dave Meggett came along in 1989, Brian Mitchell in 1990 and Tyrone Hughes in 1993. They paved the way for Dante Hall, Josh Cribbs and Devin Hester of the 2000 decade as teams realized the value of an impact return specialist. Hester set the NFL record with 20 career touchdowns returning kicks.

The Cleveland Browns finished first in 1985 in my first published rankings. Their special-teams coach? Bill Cowher. Hall of Famer Bill Cowher. Hes one of two coaches to finish first in my rankings and also win a Super Bowl as a head coach. John Harbaugh is the other.

Ive tracked special-teams coaches over the years more than 100 of them since I started the rankings 36 years ago. Some coached as few as one season, others as many as three decades. There have been 71 who have coached special teams for at least five NFL seasons.

So I put together a list of those coaches who fared the best their average finish in my rankings. Only seven have an average finish in the Top 10. The list below includes the coach, his number of seasons as a special-teams coach, his average finish, the number of times his units finished first in my rankings and, if he's still active, his team in parenthesis:

Coach, Seasons, Average, Crowns

1. *-Dave Toub, 17, 6.3, 2 (Kansas City)

2. Joe Judge, 5, 6.6, 0

3. *-Darren Rizzi, 11, 8.5, 1 (New Orleans)

4. Pete Rodriguez, 19, 9.2, 2

5. Jerry Rosburg, 18, 9.7, 1

6. Frank Gansz, 12, 9.9, 1

7. Scott OBrien, 23, 10.0, 3

8. *-Dave Fipp, 8, 10.5, 2 (Detroit)

9. Larry Pasquale, 16, 10.8, 1

*-John Fassel, 13, 10.8, 1 (Dallas)

11. Brad Seely, 31, 11.1, 3

12. Joe Avezzano, 16, 11.3, 1

Kurt Schottenheimer, 9, 11.3, 0

14. Mike Westhoff, 29, 11.9, 1

15. Dante Scarnecchia, 8, 12.0, 0

16.Joe Marciano, 33, 12.2, 2

Danny Abramowicz, 5, 12.2, 0

18. Mike Sweatman, 17, 12.4, 0

19. Steve Ortmayer, 8, 12.5, 1

20.Brian Schneider, 12, 12.8, 0

21. Richard Smith, 9, 12.9, 0

22. Romeo Crennel, 5, 13.0, 0

23. Nolan Cromwell, 6, 13.5, 0

24. John Harbaugh, 9, 13.6, 2

25. Chuck Priefer, 15, 13.8, 0

*-Still active

In the 36 years there have been 25 different coaches who have finished first in the rankings. Three coaches became three-time winners Bobby April, OBrien and Seely. Five others became two-time winners -- Harbaugh, Toub, Rodriguez, Fipp and Joe Marciano.

If I were to build a Mount Rushmore of special-teams coaches...Id actually build two of them. One for the historic significance and the other for performance.

In terms of historical significance, Id include the first two coaches ever hired specifically to coach special teams, both in 1969 Marv Levy and Dick Vermeil. Both went on to become NFL head coaches who took teams to Super Bowls. Levy is now in the Hall of Fame and Vermeil is a front-burner candidate for Canton.

Id also include Gansz for putting special teams on the map in the 1980s with his work at the Chiefs. He showed the NFL you could actually win games on special teams. In the 1986 season finale a road game the Chiefs needed to win to clinch a playoff spot Kansas City beat Pittsburgh 24-21 with every point coming on special teams: a field goal plus touchdowns on a blocked punt, a blocked field goal and a kickoff return. Albert Lewis blocked four punts for the Chiefs that season and 11 in his career.

Id round out the historical Mount Rushmore with Harbaugh, who proved career special-teams coaches could become successful head coaches. Cowher spent the bulk of his career as a defensive assistant before becoming head coach of the Steelers. Harbaugh spent the bulk of his career as a special-teams coach before getting the opportunity to become a head coach with the Ravens. Any special-teams coach who becomes an NFL head coach going forward has Harbaugh to thank. His success opened the door for Judge, who went directly from special-teams coach of the Patriots to head coach of the Giants in 2020.

The first face on the Mount Rushmore of productivity would be Toub, who has served those 17 seasons as special-teams coach of the Bears and Chiefs. For 14 consecutive years, from 2006 through 2019, Toubs special teams finished in the Top 10 the longest stretch of excellence in the history of these rankings. The next longest streak was seven years by Jerry Rosburg with the Baltimore Ravens from 2012-18. Toubs teams finished in the Top 3 in seven of those 14 seasons.

The next two faces would be OBrien and Seely, who share the record with three first-place finishes apiece. Seely did it with three different franchises San Francisco, Cleveland and Indianapolis. OBrien did it with two, New England and Cleveland. OBrien set the record for these rankings with a low score of 129.5 in 1994 with the Browns. His head coach at both Cleveland and New England was Bill Belichick. Seely also coached special teams for Belichick for 10 seasons at New England, finishing second in the rankings in 2002.

(Belichick, by the way, started his own NFL career as a special-teams coach. And Harbaugh has his own coaching tree that includes Toub and Rosburg, who both rank in the Top 5 all-time.)

Id round out this Mount Rushmore with Rodriguez, who coached five different teams and finished first with two of them, Washington in 1995 and Seattle in 1999. He finished in the Top 5 in the rankings at each of his first four coaching stops and in the Top 10 in his fifth and final stop at Jacksonville. Rodriguez finished in the Top 10 in 11 of his 19 seasons.

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The evolution of NFL special teams -- and their rankings - Sports Illustrated