Category Archives: Evolution

This past weekend, Evolution opened a lovely production of Neil Bartram (music and lyrics) and Brian Hills (book) Broadway musicalTheStory of My Life, directed by Mark Phillips Schwamberger.

This production finds Joe Bishara returning to the role he crafted for the regional premiere in 2012: Thomas Weaver, best-sellingwriterand escapee of the unnamedlittle townhe grew up in. It also reunites him with longtime friend and collaborator, Matt Clemens, as Alvin Kelby, Weavers childhood best friend and the manhesreturned home with the uncomfortable writing assignment of eulogizing.

Early on, in one of the most infectious songs of the piece, Bishara while trying to sift through moments in their lives together, and as they diverged sings, Those arent the story, theyre just facts. The finest parts ofTheStory of My Lifecome as the character tries to tease out what incidents matter and what will communicate his love of this friend. Inevitably, that means coming to terms with the way Weaver, like most of us, let Kelby down when he was needed.

The book is a little thin, thereisntquite enough tension, blunting the true pain of loss. Butitsa testament to this production that for most of its 90-minute run time, Ididntnotice. And I did notice those times my heart leapt into my throat.

The obvious affection and camaraderie between Bishara and Clemens give their characters a real,lived-inchemistry that recalls those early, forged-in-awkwardness friendships. And their voices blend beautifully on crystalline songs like the paean to reading and stories The Greatest Gift and a series of reprises of Saying Goodbye.

Schwambergers direction keeps the focus on these two characters and lets the relationship shine, without needing to add gimmicks or flash. The simple set, designed and constructed by Katherine Wexler and Michael Bynes around a series of projections (with David Crone as audio and video engineer), helps set the tone of the world.

The sparkling melodies of these songs are the shining jewel ofThe Story of My Lifeand not only do Bishara and Clemens knock them out of the park, but Jonathan Colluras musical direction and leading of a sparkling trio from the piano, with Robin Coolidge on cello and Jeff Rolland on reeds,provideslush beds for the songs to reallylive, like everything else in this delicate, carefully-honed production, using minimal materials for maximum effect.

The Story of My Liferuns through October 16 with performances at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday and 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday. For tickets and more information, visitevolutiontheatre.org.

Read the original:

Theater Review: Evolution Theatre's Sweet and Charming 'Story of My Life' - columbusunderground

KANSAS CITY Food Business News declared plant-based eating the Trend of the Year in 2019. That designation has held up well as category demand, innovation and investment all have accelerated. Now suppliers and manufacturers are working to add ingredient technologies and capacity to meet rising consumer expectations for these products and growing demand. Large consumer packaged foods companies as well as startups are forging new ground to bring plant-based innovations to market.

Plant-based eating was defined in the 2019 Trend of the Year report as alternatives to products made from or containing ingredients sourced from animals. In 2021, Innova Market Insights identified plant forward as one of its top trends and said it signaled the progressive nature of the category as manufacturers push plant-based alternatives into the mainstream and expand into new categories and regions.

Plant-based descriptors are now being carried by many diverse products, well beyond the core meat- and dairy-alternative categories, said Lu Ann Williams, global insights director at Innova Market Insights. The Innova Database shows particularly good growth for plant-based claims in categories such as sauces and dressings, prepared meals, spreads and snacks.

This expansion in demand across food and beverage categories has created a need for ingredient systems and technologies to simplify formulation and improve the quality of new plant-based finished products. There also has been a surge in demand for the raw materials necessary to supply such ingredient systems. New capacity to meet the additional demand is coming online or is in development.

In September, Ingredion, Inc. added new production capabilities for flours and concentrates at its pulse-based protein facility in Vanscoy, Sask. The added capacity will enable manufacturers to use plant-based proteins across a broader range of food and pet food applications, according to the company.

Innovas plant forward trend also has caught the attention of large companies as well as startups. During a virtual session at the Future Food-Tech conference, held Sept. 29-30, Nick Suffredin, head of research and development for Wells Enterprises, Le Mars, Iowa, identified dairy alternatives as a key source of future growth.

The non-dairy space offers exponential growth and is critical to our innovation, he said.

Investors also are putting millions of dollars behind promising plant-based startups. Dairy alternative manufacturer Ripple Foods, Berkeley, Calif., received an additional $60 million in Series E funding on Sept. 22, bringing its investment total to $246 million. On Sept. 8 CHKN Not Chicken, Portland, Ore., raised $4.5 million in Series A funding to develop its plant-based chicken, and Mishas Kind Foods raised $3 million in a seed funding round in late August to bring its plant-based cheese to market.

Five years ago, the primary question about the plant-based space was not around viability. Dairy- and meat-alternative manufacturers like Silk, which is now owned by Danone, Kraft Heinzs Boca Burger and Kelloggs Morningstar Farms all had demonstrated consumer demand.

The question was whether plant-based foods would ever achieve breakout success. Whether a plant-based alternative business could become a major standalone food business rather than a modest niche within a large CPG business. The potential for positive answers appears increasingly bright as manufacturers and suppliers strive to capture share in a market that continues to grow.

Read the original:

Evolution of plant-based eating rippling through supply chain - Food Business News

Things are rarely easy for first-time head coaches in the NFL, and things were no different for Atlanta Falcons head coach Arthur Smith during the first few weeks of his tenure.

However, despite the early growing pains brought on by a combination of factors, including reduced preseason play, league-minimum roster construction and installing a new system entirely, the Falcons offense has taken two steps in the right direction over the past two weeks.

This growth has helped the team win two of three games (nearly all three) after an 0-2 start to the season. Smith stated that the teams natural evolution has begun to pay off.

Weve evolved, said Smith. Were a lot different than we were in Tennessee. Week over week, as we get a feel for this team and they get a feel for us, I think theres been a natural evolution and its starting to pay off.

There are a lot of intricacies involved in understanding an NFL offense. The good ones spread the ball around and rely on more than just one or two players offensively.

I think all of our guys know they get the ball at any time, Smith explained. I said were not an isolation basketball team, so its not like you can just go down there and say hey, lets double the stars. I think naturally, theres a natural progression that happens for guys, usually your better players emerge and theyll end up getting more touchdowns but we really feel like all our guys know theyre viable options.

The Falcons expect to have wide receiver Russell Gage back for their Week 7 game against Miami and hope to have Ridley (personal) back as well. Watch the full interview with Smith, via the Falcons YouTube channel below.

Read the rest here:

Arthur Smith on Falcons' evolution: 'It's starting to pay off' - Falcons Wire

Over the past decade, there has been an unmistakable evolution in the role of the CFO, a shift that has only intensified with the adoption of new data-centric business technologies and practices.

In the past, organizations searching for a new CFO typically had a choice to make. Did they want a traditional, accounting-focused CFO, or did they prefer one more skilled in Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A)? If they were fortunate, they might find a unicorn who was experienced in both.

Regardless of which career path they traveled, the CFO was expected to perform several critical roles for the organization: Report on the companys financial present and predict its financial future along with providing intelligence to leadership that would guide topline growth and bottom-line profitability.

In the past, that meant that the best CFOs analyzed the numbers and delivered reports to the business on what the numbers meant.

Today, that is no longer enough.

A new requirement has emerged for CFOs data analytics. Todays CFO must be facile with data, comfortable with powerful computing, and able to harness business intelligence to drive sound decision-making at their organization.

Technology Revolution = CFO Evolution

Four technology-driven factors have dramatically changed the role of the CFO.

This has accelerated the speed with which business decisions are being made. Everything is happening faster transactions, communications, and year-over-year growth. Todays CFO must be creative, tech-savvy, and capable of acting swiftly on emerging business intelligence.

Todays CFO must identify KPIs that matter most across all areas of the business and give true insight into how the business is tracking in achieving those Objectives and Key Results.

Significantly, this enhanced FP&A group reports directly to the CFO. As a result, CFOs now play a central leadership role in shaping their companys digital strategy.

Data Scientists Join Finance Teams

Together, these four forces have led to a dramatic shift in the makeup of corporate finance departments the increasingly common expansion of the FP&A role to include Business Intelligence.

Today, FP&A teams are commonly populated with professionals who have a deep understanding of data science principles, tools and platforms. Savvy CFOs many who arrived to their roles from a traditional accounting or FP&A path know they need business intelligence tools and staff who are experienced in using them.

If an organization hopes to assume full ownership of the data, its finance function needs a team of data scientists along with a powerful self-service platform to enable that. The CFO role has the potential to become the single greatest resource of data and intelligence within a company.

The ideal profile for CFOs and their direct reports is evolving to include this new reality. Going forward, the successful CFO will use data, powerful computing, and business intelligence as the foundation for decision-making. To remain relevant and valuable, CFOs must be masters of both financial and digital strategy.

Written by Greg Selker.

See original here:

The Evolution of the CFO Role: Why Accounting and Financial Planning & Analysis Are No Longer Enough - CEOWORLD magazine

A study published in the journal Public Understanding of Science suggests that celebrity scientists tend to foster greater acceptance of evolution among the public. However, when scientists are perceived as a threat to religious identity, they may end up lowering acceptance of evolution among religious audiences.

Most scientists are in agreement that humans evolved millions of years ago from primate ancestors. But not all members of the public accept this theory. Study authors Amy Unsworth and David Voas wanted to explore factors that might be associated with changes in public attitudes toward evolution. Given the influence of mass media, the researchers proposed that celebrity scientists likely play a key role in shaping public attitudes about evolution.

To explore this, the researchers recruited a nationally representative sample of the British public and additionally pooled five religious samples Anglicans, Catholics, Muslims, Pentecostal Christians, and Independent Evangelical Christians. All participants completed a survey that assessed their belief in evolution and asked them whether their views on evolution have changed over time.

The questionnaire also assessed familiarity with four celebrity scientists and two celebrity creationists and asked respondents to indicate whether each celebritys attitudes toward religion were very positive, positive, neutral, negative, very negative or whether they did not know.

In general, respondents who were more familiar with celebrity scientists were more likely to say that their attitudes toward evolution had changed to becoming more accepting of evolution. However, familiarity with the scientists had different effects depending on a persons religious background.

This was particularly true when it came to familiarity with Richard Dawkins, an evolutionary biologist and atheist who proclaims that religion and science are incompatible. Among non-religious respondents and Catholics, familiarity with Dawkins was associated with an increased likelihood of becoming more accepting of evolution. But among certain religious respondents (Pentecostals and Muslims), familiarity with Dawkins was instead tied to becoming less accepting of evolution. Importantly, this was only true among respondents who reported that Dawkins had a negative view of religion.

This finding supports the idea that some religious believers views of evolutionary biology may be affected when they perceive Dawkins as identity-threatening, Unsworth and Voas say, adding that, celebrity scientists affirm or threaten peoples non-religious or religious identities may be very much more persuasive with regard to evolution acceptance than whether people understand and are convinced by the scientific evidence the celebrities present.

The findings were not always straightforward. For example, familiarity with David Attenborough, a well-known producer and presenter of natural history documentaries, was linked to becoming more accepting of evolution among Anglicans, Independent Evangelicals, and Pentecostals. But among Muslims who were educated outside the UK, familiarity with Attenborough was tied to becoming both more and less accepting of evolution. The study authors propose that this may be because the topic of evolution was not a salient topic for Muslims who were educated outside the UK and are likely migrants. Both coming to Britain and exposure to Attenborough documentaries likely increased their awareness of evolution and led them to choose a stance on evolution, either rejecting or accepting it.

Overall, the researchers conclude that their findings demonstrate that peoples views on evolution do change. Bringing evolutionary science to religious audiences may be most impactful if threats to religious identity are avoided.

The study, The Dawkins effect? Celebrity scientists, (non)religious publics and changed attitudes to evolution, was authored by Amy Unsworth and David Voas.

Read the original post:

Celebrity scientists tend to sway the public toward greater acceptance of evolution, but not when religious identity is threatened - PsyPost

Artificial intelligence is often thought of as disembodied: a mind like a program, floating in a digital void. But human minds are deeply intertwined with our bodies and an experiment with virtual creatures performing tasks in simulated environments suggests that AI may benefit from having a mind-body setup.

Stanford scientists were curious about the physical-mental interplay in our own evolution from blobs to tool-using apes. Could it be that the brain is influenced by the capabilities of the body and vice versa? It has been suggested before over a century ago, in fact and certainly its obvious that with a grasping hand one learns more quickly to manipulate objects than with a less differentiated appendage.

Its hard to know whether the same could be said for an AI, since their development is more structured. Yet the questions such a concept brings up are compelling: Could an AI better learn and adapt to the world if it has evolved to do so from the start?

The experiment they designed is similar in some ways to simulated environments that have been used for decades to test evolutionary algorithms. You set up a virtual space and drop simple simulated creatures into it, just a few connected geometric shapes that move in random ways. Out of a thousand such writhing shapes, you pick the 10 that writhed the farthest and make a thousand variations on those, and repeat over and over. Pretty soon you have a handful of polygons doing a pretty passable walk across the virtual surface.

Thats all old hat, though: As the researchers explain, they needed to make their simulation more robust and variable. They werent simply trying to make virtual creatures that walk around, but to investigate how those creatures learned to do what they do, and whether some learn better or faster than others.

To find out, the team created a similar simulation to the old ones, dropping their sims, which they called unimals (for universal animals well see if this terminology takes off), into it at first just to learn to walk. The simple shapes had a spherical head and a few branchlike jointed limbs, with which they developed a number of interesting walks. Some stumbled forward, some developed a lizard-like articulated walk and others a flailing but effective style reminiscent of an octopus on land.

Look at them go!. Image Credits: Stanford

So far, so similar to older experiments, but there the similarities more or less end.

Some of these unimals grew up on different home planets, as it were, with undulating hills or low barriers for them to clamber over. And in the next phase unimals from these different terrains competed on more complex tasks to see whether, as is often held, adversity is the mother of adaptability.

Almost all the prior work in this field has evolved agents on a simple flat terrain. Moreover, there is no learning in the sense that the controller and/or behavior of the agent is not learnt via direct sensorimotor interactions with the environment, explained co-author Agrim Gupta to TechCrunch in other words, they evolved by surviving but didnt really learn by doing. This work for the first time does simultaneous evolution and learning in complex environments like terrains with steps, hills, ridges and moves beyond to do manipulation in these complex environments.

The top 10 unimals from each environment were set loose on tasks ranging from new obstacles to moving a ball to a goal, pushing a box up a hill or patrolling between two points. Here it was where these gladiators really showed their virtual mettle. Unimals that had learned to walk on variable terrain learned their new tasks faster and performed them better than their flatlander cousins.

Image Credits: Stanford

In essence, we find that evolution rapidly selects morphologies that learn faster, thereby enabling behaviors learned late in the lifetime of early ancestors to be expressed early in the lifetime of their descendants, write the authors in the paper, published today in the journal Nature.

Its not just that they learned to learn faster; the evolutionary process selected body types that would allow them to adapt faster and apply lessons quicker. On flat terrain, an octopus flop might get you to the finish line just as fast, but hills and ridges selected for a body configuration that was fast, stable and adaptable. Bringing this body into the gladiatorial arena gave those unimals coming from the school of hard knocks a leg up on the competition. Their versatile bodies were better able to apply the lessons their minds were putting to the test and soon they left their floppier competition in the dust.

What does this all signify, besides providing a few entertaining GIFs of 3D stick figures galloping over virtual terrain? As the paper puts it, the experiment opens the door to performing large-scale in silico experiments to yield scientific insights into how learning and evolution cooperatively create sophisticated relationships between environmental complexity, morphological intelligence, and the learnability of control tasks.

Say you have a relatively complicated task youd like to automate climbing stairs with a four-legged robot, for instance. You could design the movements manually, or combine custom ones with AI-generated ones, but perhaps the best solution would be to have an agent evolve its own movement from scratch. The experiment shows that there is potentially a real benefit to having the body and the mind controlling it evolve in tandem.

If youre code-savvy, you can get the whole operation up and running on your own hardware: The research group has made all the code and data freely available on GitHub. And make sure youve got your high-end computing cluster or cloud container ready to go, too: The default parameters assume that you are running the code on 16 machines. Please ensure that each machine has a minimum of 72 CPUs.

See the original post:

Simulated AI creatures demonstrate how mind and body evolve and succeed together - TechCrunch

STOCKHOLM, Oct. 6, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Evolution has announced that it has signed an agreement with Super Group owned Betway for the provision of Evolution's online Live Casino and `First Person' RNG-based casino games in the US states of New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Betway is a globally recognised online betting and gaming brand and is a long-standing Evolution customer. Betway has entered the US market through an exclusive brand licensing agreement with Digital Gaming Corporation (DGC).

The Evolution-Betway deal will see Evolution online Live Casino games and 'First Person' RNG-casino games made available to Betway players on desktop, tablet and smartphone in the two states. A wide range of classic casino games will be offered live and online, including Roulette, Blackjack, Baccarat and numerous Poker variants.

Betway is already live with Evolution brand NetEnt in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, offering a selection of leading slots titles.

Jeff Millar, Evolution's Commercial Director for North America, said: "Our US rollout continues at pace and, once again, we are delighted to be working with a brand with which we have already built an extremely strong and close relationship in other markets. We very much look forward to helping Betway achieve major success in these first two states, and in other states in the future."

Betway CEO, Anthony Werkman commented: "Through our new US sports sponsorship deals the Betway brand will be seen courtside and rinkside in some of the biggest arenas in North America. Betway customers in New Jersey and Pennsylvania will be able to enjoy playing our world-class, Evolution-powered online casino games in their homes and while on the move. Having worked with Evolution for many years, we are confident that players in New Jersey and Pennsylvania will be very excited indeed by our US-focused online games offered in a fair, safe, secure and responsible environment."

For media enquiries, please contact:Amy Riches, Head of Marketing, [emailprotected]

For investor enquiries, please contact:Jacob Kaplan, CFO, [emailprotected]

About Betway Group

Betway Group, owned by Super Group, is a leading provider of innovative, entertaining and exciting entertainment across sports betting, casino and esports betting. Launched in 2006, the company operates across a number of regulated online markets and holds licences in the UK, Malta, Italy, Denmark, Spain, Belgium, Germany and Ireland. Based in Malta and Guernsey, with support from London, Isle of Man and Cape Town, the Betway team comprises over 1,500 people.

Betway prides itself on providing its customers with a bespoke, fun and informed betting experience, supported by a fair, safe and responsible environment. Betway is a member of several prominent industry-related bodies, including International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA), iGaming European Network (iGEN), the Independent Betting Adjudication Service (IBAS), and the Betting and Gaming Council (BGC), and is ISO 27001 certified through the trusted international testing agency eCOGRA. It is also a partner of the Professional Players Federation (PPF) and is a donor to many responsible gambling charities, including GambleAware.

Super Group http://www.sghc.com

Betway Group http://www.betwaygroup.com

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

https://news.cision.com/evolution/r/evolution-and-betway-strengthen-partnership-in-the-us,c3427848

The following files are available for download:

SOURCE Evolution

Visit link:

Evolution and Betway strengthen partnership in the US - PRNewswire

DEONTAY WILDER PULLED up to Cosmo & Donato on Melrose Avenue in West Hollywood, California, in a custom-made black-and-bronze Rolls Royce. It was late summer, about six weeks before his highly anticipated trilogy boxing match with Tyson Fury.

The former WBC heavyweight champion stepped out of the lavish vehicle as shoppers on one of Los Angeles' most iconic streets gathered around. Wilder greeted fans, signed autographs and held babies before heading inside the store. There, he tried on some new clothes and did faux runway modeling for the owners, Cosmo Lombino and Donato Crowley.

After about an hour, it was time for Wilder to do what he came for: see for the first time and try on the walkout gear he will be wearing for the third Fury fight.

"We go in the back, open the door and we reveal the costume," Lombino said. "And he's like, 'Oh my god.' He was so grateful. ... He was so happy. He was like the kid in the candy store again."

Wilder is known almost as much for his fashion as he is for being one of the biggest knockout punchers in boxing history. His $40,000, over-the-top entrance outfit for the second Fury fight in February 2020 is the most talked about -- and controversial -- piece of clothing ever worn by a boxer, in part because Wilder blamed the weight of it for his loss.

But "The Bronze Bomber" is undeterred. Lombino and Crowley will dress him for a fight for the fifth straight time Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Wilder wants to continue pushing the boundaries of fashion in boxing.

"Nobody comes out with a better uniform than I," Wilder said last month during a virtual news conference. "We're gonna continue with that. We'll just have to see what I put on. It's gonna be something special."

Wilder's not the only one pushing the boundaries of fashion in boxing. In August, YouTuber-turned-prizefighter Jake Paul wore a scrolling LED screen on the waistband of his boxing shorts for his fight against Tyron Woodley.

Following in the swagger-filled footsteps of boxing fashion icons such as "Prince" Naseem Hamed and Hector "Macho" Camacho, Wilder and Paul are part of a new wave that has created a ton of buzz but also has onlookers questioning if fashion could be detrimental to the main objective of the sport: winning fights.

Lombino and Crowley, who have dressed the likes of Shaquille O'Neal, Claressa Shields and Shawn Porter, created a trilogy fight costume for Wilder that is partly inspired by the fighter's roots, which he says go back to Nigeria's Edo tribe.

"Fashion is how you express yourself," Wilder told ESPN. "That's everyday life. Certain people look at your shoes and they say they can tell everything about you. If you got dirty shoes, they know what type of person you are.

"When I come out, I express myself with certain uniforms and things that I wear. I think I've been the best in the history of boxing to do it."

PAULIE MALIGNAGGI WAS 17 years old in 1997 when he went to see Hamed fight Kevin Kelley at New York's Madison Square Garden. On the undercard that night were two neophyte pro boxers who would go on to become world champions: Ricky Hatton and Joan Guzman.

Years later, Malignaggi vividly recalls watching Guzman fight but cannot remember seeing Hatton at all. The reason? Guzman had bleach blonde hair and wore a flashy outfit.

Top Rank Boxing is on ESPN and ESPN+. Subscribe to ESPN+ to get exclusive boxing events, weigh-ins and more.

ESPN App, Saturday, Oct. 9, 4:30 p.m. ET: Tyson Fury-Deontay Wilder 3 early undercard fights

ESPN2, ESPN+, Saturday, Oct. 9, 7 p.m. ET: Tyson Fury-Deontay Wilder 3 prelim fights

ESPN+ PPV, Saturday, Oct. 9, 9 p.m. ET: Tyson Fury-Deontay Wilder 3 main card

"It's ironic," said Malignaggi, who went on to headline at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas against Hatton in 2008. "But it still stood out to me that I did not remember Ricky, because he probably didn't stand out in as many ways. ... But Guzman, I paid attention because I remember he had a silly style, really [memorable]. He had this yellow hair. It just stuck out to me."

Inspired by the likes of Hamed, Camacho and even Guzman, Malignaggi was once one of the most flamboyant stars in boxing. He wore leopard print and sequined robes to the ring, and even once wore a lucha libre mask. Before a 2011 fight with Jose Cotto, he wore a black-and-gold painted mask over his eyes and had paints of the same colors on his chest and arms during the weigh-in. He looked like what the WWF's Ultimate Warrior might have looked like if he were born in Brooklyn.

"I wanted to have this extra pizzazz to me and my style," Malignaggi said. "This sort of flair to me. Just become a bigger conversation point. I think knowing how to sell yourself and market yourself is very important."

Malignaggi's affinity for style is also a cautionary tale. In 2008, he wore Lennox Lewis-like braids in his hair, in a bout against Lovemore N'Dou in Manchester, England. The braids were not pulled back well. Malignaggi said they were in his face the entire fight and almost cost him the IBF junior welterweight title. He ended up winning a split decision.

AFTER FURY BEAT Wilder by TKO on Feb. 22, 2020, Wilder said in interviews that the weight of his walkout costume -- which he estimated was upwards of 40 pounds -- caused him fatigue that he never was able to recover from inside the ring. Wilder's costume, which was a tribute to Black History Month, featured a helmet with electronic red eyes, plus a crown and body armor. Lasers were built in to shoot from his hands.

1 Related

Malignaggi doesn't necessarily buy that Wilder lost to Fury due to the outfit. But he acknowledges, based on firsthand knowledge, that trying to make a big splash visually isn't always conducive to winning fights.

"Sometimes you can get carried away trying so hard and you lose focus on the main task at hand, which is you have to go in there and win the fight and perform," Malignaggi said. "You're not heading to a party. You're not heading to the Met Gala or a ball where you just get to make fashion statements and that's all that people talk about."

Lombino said he and Crowley were "mortified" by Wilder saying their costume affected his performance. But two days after he left the hospital postfight, Wilder did a FaceTime call with them and they talked it through. Wilder blamed his coach, Mark Breland, the designers said, for creating the heavy costume narrative. Wilder has since fired Breland, who threw in the towel to end the second fight against Fury, and replaced him with another boxer-turned-trainer, Malik Scott, for this third Fury fight.

Lombino said earlier this year they shipped Wilder his costume from Los Angeles and weighed it. The costume was not 40 pounds, he said, and in fact was not much heavier than the previous four costumes he and Crowley had made for Wilder.

"Maybe it was a bit heavier [than the others] because of the battery pack in the head frame and shoulder frame," Crowley said.

Lombino and Crowley had sketches ready for Wilder back in June 2020, for what was expected to be a third fight against Fury. The idea was going to be a USA vs. United Kingdom theme. But the COVID-19 pandemic and Fury moving away from a Wilder rematch and towards a plan to fight Anthony Joshua changed things.

After Wilder won arbitration to uphold the contract for a third Fury fight, the date of the rematch was set for July 2021. Lombino and Crowley said they were only in touch with Wilder and his girlfriend, Telli Swift, weeks before what would have been the July date. But after the fight was delayed again after Fury tested positive for COVID, the extra time allowed them to scramble and have a costume ready for Saturday.

This one, they said, will be considerably lighter. Not that they have any regrets about the last one.

"As many people that hated it loved it, but everybody is talking about it," Crowley said. "You're always going to have those people who are old-school and don't want anything to change, but why shouldn't it? Why can't a boxer walk out like that? They've always worn flags out there or the messages of what they have to say. Why can't they be whoever they want to be at that point? We basically created a new superhero. We brought 'The Bronze Bomber' to life in visual form."

PAUL'S ENTIRE BOXING career has been about pushing the envelope and disruption. He's only 4-0 as a pro, yet he's one of the most talked about fighters in the world, backed by tens of millions of followers on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. It only stands to reason that he would try to stand out from a fashion sense, as well.

For his November 2020 fight against former NBA veteran Nate Robinson, Paul wore shorts made by his designer, Che Young, which were supposed to glow in a certain light. But the lighting used at Staples Center in Los Angeles that night was too dim, and the effect was lost.

After Paul knocked out Ben Askren in April, he and Young sat down and came up with the idea of a different form of lighting: LED. Paul said he was partly inspired by the lights on his Problem Bot mascot and Young said he took his idea from the video billboards in Times Square in his native New York City.

Paul wore a paper-thin band of what is called LED Matrix screen sewn beneath the waistband of his shorts for the Aug. 29 fight with Woodley. There also was a small battery pack in the shorts, which had a kind of plastic, waterproof window that allowed for everyone to see what was scrolling on the LED screen. Paul said the shorts cost him about $15,000. He said the gear wasn't any heavier or warmer than his previous fight shorts, though he's not sure what would have happened if Woodley landed any blows to the LED area.

"It could potentially break the screen, for sure," Paul said with a laugh. "We actually didn't test that. Maybe for the next one, we should test that. .... I guess if I got hit there with a good punch, then yeah, it might have turned off or something. But it wouldn't hurt. It's literally like LED paper. It's honestly crazy technology. It's super light."

The LED only scrolled the words "Jake Paul" throughout the fight, but that wasn't the plan. Young was controlling the LED with an app on his smartphone, but the phone lost Bluetooth connectivity with Paul's shorts because of all the people using the Wi-Fi inside Cleveland's Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse. The idea was to change what the shorts said throughout the fight. As to what they had planned for messaging, Young isn't saying.

"We have to keep that a secret for the next time," Young said.

For Paul's walkout gear, Young ordered about a dozen jerseys and gear from Ohio sports teams, cut them up and sewed them together -- "like a puzzle," he said -- into a robe.

"I truly want to be the future of boxing and I think I'm doing all of the things to line that up," Paul said. "My fight shorts just speak to that."

Regis Prograis, a former WBA junior welterweight champion, said he felt like Paul's shorts were very on-brand for what he is trying to accomplish. LED shorts made sense for a 24-year-old Paul the same way a ski mask made sense for Floyd Mayweather's walkout against Conor McGregor, a fight Mayweather described as a sanctioned bank robbery.

"[Paul] is in this new era right now -- the social media, YouTube era," Prograis said. "That's who he is; he's a part of that whole culture. For him to do that, it was kind of cool. I think if, like, me or another boxer did it, I think it would be kind of corny. But for him, it was kind of fire.

"You've got to be authentic. That's the main thing. You can't do what other people are doing. For him, that's authentic. That's his lane."

PROGRAIS' NICKNAME IS "Rougarou," the name of a werewolf-like creature from Creole myth. Prograis is from New Orleans and it was his team's idea after his fourth career fight to give him that nickname. Since his 10th fight, Prograis has walked out to the ring wearing a "Rougarou" mask, which he has since upgraded to a $1,000 custom piece. He has added Native American garb to honor his indigenous grandfather, who died last year.

Follow us on Instagram and Twitter to stay up to date with all of our latest boxing news.

Shields has walked out clad in themes of Beyonc and Kobe Bryant. Adrien Broner and Gervonta "Tank" Davis always have eye-catching walkout garb. Fury has been carried to the ring on a throne. Joshua's walkouts in the United Kingdom are particularly spectacular. The spectacle has become a big -- and, for some, necessary -- part of boxing.

"At the end of the day, boxing is a show," Prograis said. "It's a sport, but it's a show like anything on TV."

But no other boxers are known for their walkout gear quite like Wilder -- and that's the way he wants it. Wilder said in a TikTok video on the Cosmo and Donato account that his costume for Saturday will be "topping" everything else he has worn to this point.

Lombino and Crowley worked with an African studies specialist and had fabric shipped from Africa to make the outfit, which will heavily utilize the colors black and red. Wilder called the piece a "beautiful masterpiece."

"It runs through my bloodline," Wilder said. "I just want to bring that out more, the tribe I'm with and where I'm from. We're all a part of something, we're all from something."

On Saturday, Wilder will be looking to get back the WBC belt Fury took from him. And after more than a year of fashion statements from others in boxing, Wilder's designers are eager to make another statement of their own.

"We're coming back for our title, too," Crowley said.

Go here to read the rest:

Deontay Wilder, Jake Paul and the evolution of boxing fashion - ESPN

An average of 380 out of every 100,000 Black adults became new entrepreneurs during the 2020 pandemic, up from 240 in each of the prior two years, according to U.S. census data.

2020 was also the first year the Greater Los Angeles African American Chamber of Commerce (GLAAACC) increased the number of participants in its Business Evolution Program from one to 13 and held classes virtually. At 35, GLAAACCs 2021-22 BEP cohort is almost triple the number of participants from the previous year.

The newest cohort comes from a variety of industries: film production, trucking, retail, personal care, real estate management, marketing, janitorial, technology, psychology, environmental and construction. Their time in business also varies greatly: from a first year startup to a family-owned operation thats been in business for 71 years.

2020 was a game-changer in many ways, said GLAAACC Chairman Gene Hale, who launched G & C Corporation, a construction equipment leasing business in 1993. Many Black people lost their jobs and decided to go for it and become their own boss. Others decided now is the time to take their business to the next level.

Over the past decade, GLAAACCs BEP has evolved into a renowned boot camp for serious entrepreneurs. Over the course of nine months, business owners attend classes taught by subject matter experts on business assessment, back-office business set-up and management, business certification, access to capital and to other financial products, Branding & digital marketing, contracting with the government and e-marketing & technology.

At the second virtual meeting in September, the BEP cohort heard from speakers about the role of an entrepreneur, the impact businesses can have on the community and the three stages of business the early, growth and mature.

BEP Chairperson and Director for Supply Chain and Diverse Business Enterprises for Southern California Gas Lily Otieno, spoke about planning for future success in the early years of a business. Having a clear vision, developing a five-year roadmap and getting the proper financing is critical for any new business according to Otieno. Next, hiring staff that have diverse and complementary skill sets and building the appropriate company culture is important. Hiring people whose strengths are your weaknesses will give you the best team possible said. Otieno. She also listed process and operations, marketing and sales, networking and having an exit plan as necessary steps to ensure business owners stay on track during the early stages.

Hale recounted a business tip he received from former Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley to get there before the deal is made. Hale said in the competitive world of construction, he lives by that rule. You have to get out there and find the business deals before your competitor finds it.

Rambo House founder, business consultant, advisor and thought leader Dion Rambo spoke to the cohort about the importance of relationships and networking in the growth phase of a business. During the pandemic, Rambo spotted a niche market and opened a mobile telehealth van service. Putting this timely endeavor into operation enabled him to create a multi-million dollar company in less than a year.

Prior to the pandemic, Rambo organized thirty events per year for city officials through his public relations and marketing firm. He said developing key relationships with local officials is underrated, especially in the Black community. My relationships with public officials is definitely what made my companies grow, said Rambo.

The meetings final speaker was Walter Hill, founder of Icon Blue, a distribution company for branded merchandise and promotional products. Hill recently sold his company and wrote a book for entrepreneurs entitled, Think Red Flags: A Proactive and Profitable Approach for your Small Business. Hill cited the ability to mitigate or avoid business pitfalls as crucial to business success and profitability.

Whatever youre going to do for your community, you have to first develop a business that is profitable. That is the catalyst that allows you to move forward. Hill said. In order to do things for others, we first have to be in position ourselves where we are able to do it.GLAAACCs Business Evolution Program is made possible by T Mobile, Wells Fargo, Southern California Edison, Union Bank, Chase for Business and Southern California Gas.

See the original post:

GLAAACCS Business Evolution Program Takes Businesses to the Next Level - Lasentinel

Red River College is getting a facelift as the polytechnic institute the only one in Manitoba leans into its identity as a hub for education and applied research.

The school has unveiled its new name, Red River College Polytechnic. And from now on, its nickname will be RRC Polytech.

Change and evolution will continue to be reality for Manitobans. The age of disruption demands that we embrace it and thats exactly what RRC Polytech is designed to do: respond nimbly to the evolving, sometimes rapidly evolving needs of our students, partners and community, said Fred Meier, president and CEO, during an event on the downtown campus Tuesday to launch the institutes 2022-26 strategic plan.

More than that, we want to grow and we want students, industry and Manitoba to grow with us.

The polytechnic template emphasizes learning by doing and strategic workforce development by collaborating with business partners to offer work-integrated learning opportunities that benefit students and employers alike.

Polytechnics Canada describes the classification as a model for post-secondary institutes that provides advanced technical education that is both hands-on and industry-responsive.

There are 13 polytechnic institutes in Canada. RRC Polytech, the largest college in Manitoba, is the sole polytechnic in the province.

According to RRC Polytech, the move to redefine the institution will enable the school to modernize apprenticeship training and expand in areas that are hallmarks of polytechnic education, including applied research and work-integrated learning. In turn, students will be able to seamlessly transition from the classroom to their careers with resums that boast a mix of theoretical learning and hands-on experience.

Meier said the change will give students more choice, flexibility when it comes to course times, location and delivery methods and work experience options.

The new era will allow employers to access a pipeline of top talent and opportunities to participate in innovative research collaborations, he said.

Under a freshly minted banner, RRC Polytech will continue to provide everything from micro-credentials to bachelor degrees, diplomas to graduate certificates.

In line with the rebrand, the schools new strategic plan, titled In Front of Whats Ahead, commits to: transforming learning models to meet emerging needs; pursuing equity, diversity and inclusion in everything the college does; and deepening partnerships with industry and community.

We must be more deliberate about increasing diversity, creating an anti-racist culture, and one that is inclusive for our staff, students and our partners, Meier said.

The institution insists its new name and commitments are representative of its preparedness to meet ever-changing industry needs as the economy recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Advanced Education Minister Wayne Ewasko and Bram Strain, president and CEO of the Business Council of Manitoba, were among those who celebrated the colleges new name and direction at the event.

Earlier this year, Manitoba published its Skills, Talent and Knowledge Strategy, a document that calls on the post-secondary sector to strengthen its ties between immigration, training and employment services, and labour-market needs.

Applied research at the college currently focuses on areas including advanced design and manufacturing, clean technology, digital technology and health, and nutrition and social sciences.

Strain said he could not overstate the important role RRC Polytech will play in collaborating with businesses to build a talented, diverse and culturally aware workforce.

Being on the front line means what business needs, Red River can deliver, he said.

See the original post:

'Change and evolution': introducing RRC Polytech | The Star - Toronto Star