Category Archives: Golden Rule

Maurie Backman| The Motley Fool

Fed's Powell: Inflation is a major threat to jobs

Chair Jerome Powell acknowledged Tuesday that high inflation has emerged as a serious threat to the Federal Reserve's goal of helping put more Americans back to work and that the Fed will raise rates more than it now plans if needed. (Jan. 11)

AP

Many Americans were disappointed to see 2021 come to an end without receiving a fourth stimulus check in their bank accounts. But will a new year mean a new windfall to look forward to?

Right now, there's no indication that lawmakers are looking to send out another stimulus check. But that doesn't mean we should definitively write one off. Here's why we may or may not see another stimulus payment come in.

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We're starting off 2022 with a surge of COVID-19 cases, fueled by the highly transmissible omicron variant. Health experts are saying that cases could peter off by late January. But if that doesn't happen, and the outbreak persists, we may be in for months of disruptions.

That scenario could force businesses to shut down and layoffs to ensue. If that were to happen, and the economy were to decline, then it could make the case for another stimulus payment.

Record inflation: Consumer prices jump 7% in 2021 to highest rate in 39 years

It's true that the U.S. is deep in the throes of a major COVID-19 outbreak one that threatens to overwhelm hospital systems, force schools into remote learning, and impact supply chains. But the silver lining is that omicron is said to result in milder illness than its predecessors, which means it may not be as disruptive.

Furthermore, the CDC recently updated its guidelines to shorten the length of quarantine for those diagnosed with COVID-19. That could mean fewer workplace disruptions and closures.

All of that would be a good thing for our economy. And speaking of the economy, it continues to improve. In December, the national jobless rate dropped to 3.9%, the lowest level since the start of the pandemic. Additionally, the labor market is loaded with jobs right now, so much so that many companies are raising wages in an effort to attract talent. This is a very different scenario than the one that presented in March 2021, when the most recent stimulus check was approved.

Finally, lawmakers aren't looking to impose massive shutdowns to combat the current COVID-19 surge like they did early on in the pandemic. That alone could prevent a massive wave of layoffs.

Powell says high inflation poses major threat to job market: Commentsraise possibility of faster rate increases

The idea of not getting another stimulus check may be disappointing, especially at a time when inflation is rampant and everything seems to cost more. But you can still take steps to boost your income.

First, research salary data to see if you're being paid a fair wage where you work. If not, you can either fight for a raise or dust off your resume and seek out a new employment opportunity. Or if you're looking for extra work, the gig economy is still very much alive, which means you have a chance to take on a side hustle for extra money.

You can also put yourself on a stricter budget if you're struggling to make ends meet. That could mean cutting back on some expenses temporarily until the cost of living dips back downward.

Of course, if the economic situation takes a drastic turn for the worse, then a follow-up stimulus round could be in the cards. But that's a scenario no one should hope for.

What is driving US inflation to a 39-year high? The reasons and solutions are complicated

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2022 is starting with a COVID surge and high inflation. Could that mean more stimulus checks? - USA TODAY

Data breaches have become an unfortunate fact of life. But just because data breaches happen every day doesnt mean your own enterprises incident isnt big news that should be handled with great care. During cyber incident response, one public relations misstep can multiply the damage significantly.

Heres a look at some bad behaviors youre going to want to avoid:

Some companies try to keep a data breach relatively quiet by following only the minimum legal requirements and hoping it will blow over. In reality, its much more likely to blow up than blow over.

Oftentimes, breach notifications are only done as a result of mandatory statutory reporting requirements and these requirements can vary widely depending on jurisdiction, says Ryan R. Johnson, data privacy attorney and chief privacy officer at Savvas.

Johnson says that some US states data breach notification laws set very narrow reporting parameters such as mandatory notification triggered when specific types of personal data have been accessed by unauthorized parties. By comparison, other states give organizations broad latitude in a risk of harm approach, which allows the breached organization to decide whether it is necessary to notify customers.

Simply put, it's up to a company to make the determination on whether customers would be adversely affected by data compromised in a breach, says Johnson.

And dont forget: Some data breaches dont include personal information at all. Breaches of intellectual property, for example, could impact entire supply chains.

Its rare to know the full extent of the harm during or immediately after a data breach. But hopes often run high that the breach isnt as bad as it seems. Dont start off downplaying the damage in your initial disclosure to affected customers. If you do, you may face a worst situation later.

The TJX management in the US would probably admit that their response to the [breach of 45.6 million credit card numbers] back in 2007 did not go well, says JD Sherman, CEO of password manager Dashlane. While they communicated on a timely basis, they underestimated the impact in their initial communications, making the news that the breach was much larger even harder to swallow.

One terrible way to handle a breach situation, is to not handle it at all, warns Cassandra Morton, senior vice president of customer success and service delivery at NTT Application Security. Even worse is to use the event as an opportunity to sell a series of new tools and services in an attempt to course correct the situation.

Dont dangle free services as a way to get out of the situation either. After its 2017 breach that exposed Social Security Numbers, birth dates, and addresses belonging to what amounted to more than 40% of the US population, they took their time disclosing that Equifax offered victims complimentary credit monitoring (provided, ironically, by Equifax themselves), but only if the victim first provided their credit card number and waived any rights to take legal action against the company. After public pressure from regulators and advocacy groups, Equifax later removed the arbitration clause.

After a data breach, time is of the essence. If notification -- to regulators, law enforcement, media outlets, and/or impacted customers -- is mandated by regulators, your penalties can increase substantially as time drags by. (The European Unions General Data Protection Regulation may require you to break the news to authorities within 72 hours of discovery.)

Sometimes law enforcement investigations will prohibit you from informing affected customers right away, but dont unduly delay. More damage can result from the use or sale of that data elsewhere. If you delay warning your customers, third-party vendors, or others affected by the data breach, you are setting the scene for increasing harm.

The worst way to handle notification is not sending at all or exceptionally late. This approach will immediately raise a level of mistrust by the consumers, says Ron Tosto, CEO and Founder of Servadus, a cybersecurity and compliance consulting firm. The message in the notice is that your organization is hiding something, and the information may have false statements within it.

There have been examples of notifications two years after the fact and only after an investigation revealed an omission of the exact details, Tosto says.

The other approach is to avoid is placing blame or giving false credit for sophisticated hacker methods. Statistics show breaches are common with unpatched vulnerabilities for six months or more, Tosto adds.

When credit bureau Equifax discovered a breach in 2017 that exposed Social Security Numbers, birth dates, and addresses belonging to what amounted to more than 40% of the US population, they took their time disclosing it. They waited 40 days

However, if your company stays quiet about a data breach unless and until the news media gets wind of it and publicly announces, or if news breaks and you still take your time getting those notification letters out, youve likely created a public relations nightmare.

The worst way to handle customer notification is for customers to hear about it in the news first, then get a notification -- weeks, or even months later, says Johnson.

Fortunately, all these bad moves can be circumvented by simply relying on the Golden Rule.

Customers often become angry with and lose trust in organizations that are not transparent, communicate no action or play a victim, says Megan Paquin, APR, CPRC, leader of the firms crisis management team and vice president of Poston Communications, a PR and crisis communications firm. They understand that criminals are behind these attacks, but they need to feel confident that businesses have their backs when it comes to their data privacy and security.

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Data Breach Customer Relations: What NOT To Do - InformationWeek

Many folks, who grew up in the 30's and 40's, have experienced the spirit of "neighborliness" in our lifetime.

This is especially true in my little neighborhood, Evergreen Park, where I grew up and later returned to spend the rest of my "senior" years. Our ages range from the late 70s to the late 80s, and we are all active with our families, churches, communities, and "neighbors.

Some recent events give readers a glimpse into the regular life and times here. Christmas goodies were delivered: plates of homemade candies, cookies, rolls, festively wrapped, from Elaine, Fran, and Faye.

Larry D. delivered his hot, tasty Christmas eve meal (with grandson, Nick). Many times, I have been the recipient of Bonnie and Larry's cooking and fishing expertise. (And Larry N.'s fishing trips).

Not to forget the home grown produce from our/their gardens and Willards' farm.

Good neighbor, Larry Nelson, is vigilant about clearing the snow from our driveways and sidewalks, so we can all get out for appointments and shopping. Sometimes he even beats the snowplows, then has to clean out the ends of the driveways.

This is only a tiny glimpse into one neighborhood, where folks are living the Golden Rule: Love your neighbor as yourself; a message we need to remember in these continuously stressful times. Thanks and blessings for all the good neighbors everywhere, and God bless us everyone.

Senior resident of Evergreen Park, Litchfield

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LETTER: A neighborhood that lives the Golden Rule - Crow River Media

SAN FRANCISCO -- Golden State Warriors guard Klay Thompson announced Saturday he will make his long-anticipated return on Sunday against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Posting a clip from the movie "Space Jam" on his Instagram page, Thompson said, "How I'm pulling up to chase [Center] tomorrow."

"IM SO EXCITED TO SEE YALL DUBNATION! LETS GET IT," Thompson wrote.

Thompson later said in a statement posted by the Warriors: "I hate to use the phrase 'can't wait' because I love to be present in my life. But I cannot wait to play in front of our fans again. I really, really enjoy being a Warrior."

Thompson participated in a light scrimmage with the team on Saturday before announcing his return. The Warriors star shooter has not played since tearing his left ACL in Game 6 of the 2019 NBA Finals against the Toronto Raptors on June 13. Thompson then tore his right Achilles in November of 2020.

"Really, really good," Warriors forward Draymond Green told Marc Spears of The Undefeated, regarding how Thompson looked in a Saturday scrimmage. Green said it was his first scrimmage with Thompson since Green was recently in health and safety protocols.

"Just playing with him in practice today, which was my first time really scrimmaging with him, it just felt right," Green told Spears. "Last night I couldn't sleep. I literally had like electrical currents just flowing through my body like I'm sitting on a wire, and when we lined up for the jump ball today and I'm just sitting there looking at him. Wow, I have not lined up next to this man in two and a half years."

For Golden State, the anticipation of Thompson's return has been building for weeks. Head coach Steve Kerr and the players have said they can feel "a jolt of energy coming our way right now" with Thompson returning and center James Wiseman nearing a return and on schedule to participate in contact practice on the Warriors' upcoming road trip.

Thompson is one of the most beloved Warriors and teammates are giddy about his return.

2 Related

"I've been lucky enough to probably have played in 1,000 games and coached in 500-something," Kerr said on Saturday. "There's a few games that you just always remember. Certain moments you always remember. I have no doubt that when Klay walks onto the floor for the first time, I will never forget that particular game.

"It will stand out as one of the highlights of my entire basketball existence just because of who Klay is and how much he has meant to our franchise and the Bay Area, to me personally, to his teammates. He is kind of everybody's favorite guy and we have all seen him suffer for two and a half years. It will be very emotional."

Thompson will have his minutes increase gradually. But by several accounts, the shooter still has his touch. When the Warriors had their game at Denver postponed on Dec. 30, Kerr had his team scrimmage instead. The head coach called the scrimmage a "really crucial" and "important emotional event" to have the group with Thompson back together again.

"He's a bucket," forward Juan Toscano-Anderson said of how Thompson looked in a recent scrimmage. "I mean, he's buckets. He had 12 points in 43 seconds. ... I said, 'Damn! We got two guys that can do this?'"

And if there was any doubt as to whether or not Thompson will regain his starting spot, Kerr told a story about when Michael Jordan returned and came back out of retirement.

"I was thinking about that game the other day and I was driving to the airport to go to Indianapolis with Jud Buechler, my teammate," Kerr said of his former Bulls teammate Jordan. "Michael had come back for the final 16 games for that season and practiced maybe twice and I turned to Jud and said, 'Jud, what is Phil Jackson going to do? Do you bring him off the bench? Do you start him?' And Jud goes, 'Steve. Steve. As a general rule, when you have your own statue outside the stadium, you're in the starting lineup.'

"A few people ask me what are you going to do with Klay? He's Klay Thompson, you know? When you can score 60 points in 29 minutes, generally your coach should start you. So Klay is going to start."

The excitement for Thompson's return isn't restricted to the Warriors' locker room. San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said it will be a win for the entire league.

"It's another big thrill for the fans. I don't mean just Golden State," Popovich said Sunday. "The league is about players, it's about talent, it's about show. And him being one of the best shooters in the world, and also a hell of a defender, just adds to the aura of their team and to the NBA. Just like when Kevin [Durant] was hurt. It's the same thing. You want as many of those guys in the league as possible so they can be seen, because it's good for everybody."

Durant said he's looking forward to seeing his former teammate get back on the court.

"I'm excited for him," Durant said after Brooklyn's Sunday afternoon win. "I know it's a huge, huge day out there in the Bay Area. It's going to be electric in there today. Talking to Klay over the last couple years, you can just feel it through text messages how excited he is to get back on the floor. I know every basketball fan is going to be tuned in, so I'm looking forward to his return and a healthy rest of the season and the rest of his career as well. I'm glad he's back."

ESPN's Nick Friedell contributed to this report.

Read more here:

Golden State Warriors star Klay Thompson will return to rotation Sunday vs. Cleveland Cavaliers - ESPN

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Letter: Message of the letter was the teaching of Golden Rule - Daily Record-News

Perhaps the golden rule is not to read too much into whats happening on the regional scene when assessing the prospects of the Wales national team.

After all, Welsh rugby has been here before.

In 2019, not one region made the Heineken Champions Cup knockout stage or the PRO14 play- offs, but Wales won a Six Nations Grand Slam under Warren Gatland.

Last year was a predictably barren season in Europe, with the Welsh professional teams failing to reach the knockout games, while they werent involved in the Guinness PRO14 final, either, or the Rainbow Cup showpiece game.

But Wales won the Six Nations under Wayne Pivac.

Its going to be a bigger achievement if Pivacs team can repeat the trick in the months ahead, though, and successfully defend their title.

Saturdays evidence in Scotland didnt bode well for the side in red exactly four weeks out from the start of the Six Nations.

Cardiff were spanked 34-10 by Edinburgh, while the Ospreys crashed 38-19 against Glasgow Warriors, their defence undermined by glaring individual errors and their attack as non-existent as Novak Djokovics membership of the Boosters for All Society.

Lets get certain things out of the way.

The Welsh regions all have holes in their squads because of the financial situation in Wales relative to their rivals.

It is debatable, too, how much the four teams are helped by loading their line-ups with Wales internationals.

Those involved play fewer games for their regional sides and it can be challenging to re-integrate Test players, a point made by Scarlets chairman Simon Muderack last term when he claimed some of the regions internationals were making Wales team calls rather than Scarlets calls after returning from the Six Nations and playing a Heineken Champions Cup match against Sale.

Evidently, the west Walians are learning their lesson with the signing of All Black Vaea Fifita from Wasps. He will add to a stable of quality imports in Llanelli who could be there for much of each season, with the list including Sione Kalamafoni, Sam Lousi, Tomas Lezana and, depending on whether Scotland pick him or not, Blade Thomson.

Having that lot around week-in, week-out offers a level of stability which should benefit the Scarlets no end.

Consider the value for money Kalamafoni has already given them already, with the Tongan displaying the kind of consistency and impact Filo Tiatia once contributed to the Ospreys and Xavier Rush supplied to Cardiff.

There will be those wholl doubt whether such players help the Wales team, but Tiatia had a hugely positive effect on local talent coming through, with those involved having a close-quarters opportunity to see what excellence looked like day-in, day-out.

Also, rugby in this corner of the world shouldnt just be about Team Wales. It's my belief the balance has been lost over the past decade and I feel thats been to the detriment of the sport this side of the River Severn.

That said, of course, quality imports cost, and money continues to be a problem throughout Welsh professional rugby.

How to solve that problem remains an issue few will agree on.

But the regions having to carry the burden of the 20million loan the Welsh Rugby Union took on to keep the game here afloat will not help Cardiff, Dragons, Ospreys and Scarlets.

Radically, after the losing efforts in Scotland over the weekend, former Wales international Lee Jarvis proposed rejigging the regional system so that just two Welsh sides compete in Europe.

Without sounding disrespectful to anyone but there are quite a few regional players that are (Welsh) Premiership players at best and thats not their fault its the system's fault IMO, wrote Jarvis on Twitter.

Strength in depth in Wales at the moment is NOT good.

Games today a hard watch. For us to compete at the TOP of European rugby again and reach semi finals + finals then they have to look at two regions.

East + West Best of the best in 2 Regions."

The suspicion is the view will find sympathy with plenty, but there will be many who will be opposed, doubtless arguing in favour of their teams right to vie for a place at the top table.

There is an argument that shedding one team would go some way to improving finances of the other three, though income from TV might be affected with fewer teams and matches and young players might head over the border in search of rugby, tightening the Welsh talent pool further.

Whatever, Pivac will have watched the matches on Saturday with concern.

Cardiff have had a nightmare time with their United Rugby Championship misadventure in South Africa leaving some players quarantined for 20 days. However you look at it, thats not perfect for professional athletes.

A number of their players looked off the pace physically in the first half, in particular, excellent though Edinburgh were with their accuracy, power and ability to play the game at pace.

Matters did improve after Tomos Williams came on for the second period, with the Wales international coming up with a performance that would have heartened Dai Young and Pivac. James Botham also showed up well before being the victim of what Young described as a head-on-head knock.

But Cardiff were poor, missing a gruesome 41 tackles as the Scots poured forward.

The Ospreys weren't much better over in Glasgow.

There were shocking individual errors in defence that led to tries and undermined the team performance, but the Ospreys were also blunt in attack and missed the leadership from scrum-half of Rhys Webb.

They look in desperate need of their injured players returning, though the likes of Jac Morgan and Will Griffiths fronted up, along with Morgan Morgan, their best player on the night, Luke Morgan and replacement Dewi Lake a force of nature in the loose, but his lineout throwing continues to be a concern.

Pivac needs to see evidence of more players showing form.

The Scarlets have played just one game since October 22 while the Dragons are stuck in a losing spiral.

Pivac, meantime, has to fashion a Six Nations challenge out of all this and multiple injuries.

Wales have shown many times over the past 14 years they can cope with adversity.

Track back to how they beat Scotland at Murrayfield in 2019, just days after the chaos of the Scarlets-Ospreys proposed merger plans became public. Warren Gatlands players not only handled the fall-out but went on to win a Grand Slam.

But to say that the omens are not great this time is to submit an early entry for the 2022 understatement of the year.

Pivac will know he has a huge challenge on his hands.

Success over the coming few months would be an achievement as good as any from Wales in recent times.

Want the latest Welsh rugby news sent straight to you? Look no further.

Originally posted here:

The 72-29 pounding Scottish rugby just handed Wales ahead of 6 Nations - Wales Online

If I were a historian, I would try to compare American behavior during other lengthy crises in history. Since Im not, I am left trying to understand the world I suddenly live in.

I didnt know Americans hated each other so much. I really didnt. Were all these angry people being polite for years? Or did we just get mad recently? I dont know.

The other thing that astounds me is people just stand up in public and lie without cringing. They dont say I think or in my opinion. Their lies are dressed up like truth. I have an opinion about who is lying; but other Americans believe the lies. What are we to do about a country in which we cant agree about reality?

Sometime in June, I heard one rebellious American say, A Civil War is coming. It hit me like a bowling ball to the head. The person who uttered that had a flippancy about the remark she made on national television. Any fool with eyes could see a civil war was the next thing to happen. Thats how she said it.

Have we always believed in poppycock? Have Americans been prone to hysterical rhetoric more so than other cultures or nations? Our national conversation seems like the ones my mother and I used to scream at each other when I was 15. Thats about the level were at these days. Oh, the things we said to each other. How did our relationship survive? Can we step back from hateful rhetoric? Can we apologize and forgive? Have we waited too long? Have things gone too far?

Has the liberty provided to us by our Constitution caused us to go crazy? Must liberty come before common good in an emergency? Must the quest for personal liberty cancel the need for honesty? Shall we forget the Golden Rule? So many questions without answers.

So, happy new year? Im skeptical. Can we be happy when we are covered in hate? Because thats how it feels to me: Covered in hate and lies.

Ive had enough. But I dont know what to do about it.

Victoria Crain lives in Rutland.

Read the rest here:

Crain: Happy New Year? | Perspective | rutlandherald.com - Rutland Herald

If you have a cold, dont ask your doctor for antibiotics thats the golden rule. Theyre for bacterial infections, not viral ones. Were told not only that they wont work, but that by using antibiotics when they arent needed, were helping bacteria become resistant to them.

Yet in a recent study conducted in an Egyptian hospital, we showed that treating moderate-to-severe COVID patients with either one of two antibiotics (ceftazidime or cefepime, in combination with a steroid) resulted in similar recovery times compared to patients given standard treatment.

This standard treatment, authorised by the Egyptian government and approved by the World Health Organization, was made up of at least seven different medications, suggesting that treating COVID with antibiotics could be a much simpler way of making people better.

Yet by doing this, we went against the established medical convention that antibiotics arent for viruses. So why did we break this rule?

Traditionally, creating new drugs to treat diseases takes a long time. Trying to develop a new treatment can take years, costs a lot of money, and has a very low success rate. Nevertheless, this process is generally acceptable when targeting common diseases.

However, this time-consuming process is not viable when there is a high threat posed by an emerging infectious disease, such as Zika, Ebola, Mers and now COVID. Without quick action or effective treatments that are ready to go, emerging diseases can evolve into pandemics that take a lot of lives. There have been hundreds of millions of confirmed cases of COVID, for example, and over 5.4 million deaths globally.

Because of this, when faced with a new threat, drug developers and major pharmaceutical companies look for quicker alternatives to the typical drug-development process. One practical strategy is drug repurposing. This is where drugs already created and approved for one use are tested to see if they can also help treat the new disease.

As the drugs have already been shown to be safe, and plenty is known about how they work, this is potentially a much less risky and time-consuming way of coming up with a treatment for the new disease. Its a strategy thats been used often in the past and one my colleagues and I wanted to try to use it during COVID because of the pressing need.

Drug repurposing begins by using computer-based techniques to model how existing drugs and the new disease-causing agent in this case the coronavirus might interact. Drugs that show promise are then tested in real-life lab studies to validate the computers findings and confirm that they could be of clinical use.

With a viral disease like COVID, a drug considered for repurposing should show one of these three qualities: it should either be able to inhibit one or more stages of the coronaviruss replication cycle; relieve the bad effects of the virus; or manipulate the immune system so that the body can deal with the virus.

And surprisingly, antibiotics are often the substances that show potential. Although viruses are different to bacteria, they are sometimes also susceptible to antibiotics. The statement that antibiotics dont work against viruses doesnt apply 100% of the time.

For example, in response to the Zika crisis five or so years ago, an American study evaluated more than 2,000 drugs already approved by the US Food and Drug Administration to see if they could potentially be safely used in pregnancy against the virus. The study found that the antibiotic azithromycin could reduce the proliferation of the virus in the brains of unborn children, thus potentially protecting against microcephaly, a condition caused by the virus in newborns.

Separately, testing also showed that the antibiotic novobiocin had a strong antiviral effect against the Zika virus. And a 2016 drug-repurposing study conducted in Thailand identified minocycline as a promising antiviral drug against dengue virus, with this antibiotic inhibiting the viruss growth at various stages of its life cycle.

All of these studies gave us confidence that repurposing antibiotics as COVID treatments was a plausible idea.

Research had already shown that a number of antibiotics were good at stopping the coronavirus reproducing in lab tests including ceftazidime and others of the same class, which is known as beta-lactams. We therefore knew this drug class had potential.

And when we ran computer simulations of how ceftazidime and cefepime (another beta-lactam) would interact with the virus, they were both effective at disrupting its protease, a key enzyme the virus uses to reproduce.

Ceftazidime and cefepime are also broad-spectrum antibiotics that are widely used to treat critically ill patients who pick up infections in hospital. As COVID patients often end up with other infections at the same time, we also thought these drugs might help badly ill patients by clearing other infections they might have, helping prevent conditions such as pneumonia.

However, it isnt clear how much of the antibiotics effect in our Egyptian hospital study was down to clearing coinfections versus how much was due to them attacking the coronavirus directly. Indeed, the notion that beta-lactams have antiviral properties is based on computer simulations and lab experiments it hasnt been definitively proven.

Nevertheless, our work has made a good case that these drugs can fight the coronavirus. While we still need to use antibiotics carefully, they might therefore have a role to play against COVID in the future.

Read more here:

COVID is caused by a virus so why are researchers treating it with antibiotics? - The Conversation UK

Ever since the last movie in the sequel trilogy concluded the Skywalker Saga, Star Wars fans have been patiently waiting to see where the Mouse House will take the movie franchise next. What the company settled on instead is something that no one could have predicted back in 2015 when The Force Awakens originally came out.

Disney has realized the golden rule when it comes to the galaxy far, far away, something hidden in plain sight but quite effective once you figure it out. Its that the legacy of George Lucass film saga and its impact on cinema is simply too big to live up to, but that doesnt mean that other creators cant chime in with their own unique tapestries across different storytelling mediums.

Thats probably the reason why most Star Wars games, TV shows, and even books have enjoyed relative success over the past four decades, whereas the films always end up polarizing the audience and generating controversy. That has also been the case with The Mandalorian and the latest Book of Boba Fett by Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni.

The return of Boba Fett to live-action, and in his own series, no less, has hyped up a lot of fans again, though the process of producing stuff like that never gets any easier for Lucasfilm. Last night, the shows cinematographer Dave Klein appeared on Kevin Smiths YouTube channel and talked about the challenges of working on a Star Wars project.

The biggest challenge is getting jaded towards Star Wars, He revealed. It hasnt happened yet. Ive been here for two years Well, I got to tell you, the first time I was ever in a Star Destroyer hallway, shooting Stormtroopers, I was 12 years old again. I told this story on the set. Because I actually had that Boba Fett special edition. The one that is probably worth $20,000 now. I had that one, where I sent the General Mills boxtops in with a check for $3.35 or whatever it was. They promised it was going to have the rocket that shoots out of the back. It shows up, and that rocket is glued in. I blew it all to hell when I was making a 16 mm stop-animation film.

I guess when you really are a Star Wars fanboy and get to be hands-on with everything behind the scenes, the magic can lose its touch. Though fortunately for us, that hasnt been the case for Klein so far lets hope it stays that way!

See the article here:

The Book Of Boba Fett Cameraman On The Challenges Of Making The Show - We Got This Covered

By: Luke Kerr-Dineen January 7, 2022

Tinker as much as you want, but if the ball stops flying straight, start tinkering with something else.

Foresight

Welcome to Play Smart, a game-improvement column that drops every Monday, Wednesday and Friday fromGame Improvement Editor Luke Kerr-Dineento help raise your golf IQ and play smarter, better golf.

When it comes to golf, Im a classic tinkerer. When something gets off in my game, my first instinct is to change it. When things are working well, its hard for me to leave it alone. I want to know why its working, and I want to make it ever better. Its hard for me to chalk off disappointing days as well, thats golf. Bad rounds demand enquiry.

Periodically throughout my life Ive been told I need to get out of my own way, but that advice never resonates or, frankly, seems to work whenever Ive tried it. When Im on the golf course, it feels like Im flying airplane. It requires constant steering, monitoring, adjusting. Theres no such thing as a pilot getting out of the way when the airplane is in mid-air, unless, of course, you want the airplane to crash.

Recently, at the GOLF Top 100 Teachers Summit, Collin Morikawas coach Rick Sessinghaus said something that did resonate: That every golfer, no matter how good or bad, has a different trigger, he said, something abstract that helps you focus at your best, in golf or life. Scrolling down the list of common triggers, there were a few that I thought could fit, and one that I was certain did: Immediate feedback.

Every golfer is different, which one is your trigger?

GOLF.com

Everybodys different, but for me, realizing how important feedback was for me started making everything make sense. Its why my best practice sessions involve some kind of ball-tracking device, and why I tend towards video cameras, or using the line on my golf ball to see if my ball is rolling end over end. Getting good feedback, leads to me perfecting; having no feedback leaves me feeling lost and aimlessly searching.

Which is why in 2022, Im not going to try to suppress my urge to tinker with my game. Instead, Im going to embrace it, and channel it in a more productive way. Heres how.

Left untouched, golfers fundamentals tend to move around. When I overlook my own setup, my ball position tends to creep forward, my feet start pointing out to the right, my posture gets sloppy, and my shoulders start pointing left to counteract.

The only way to prevent this from happening is by constantly making small adjustments to my setup to make sure it stays in a good spot.

To help with this, Ive resolved to use a mirror more when I practice, and two alignment sticks the way you see Ian Poulter using below: One pointing at the ball, and the other down his footline. Those will give me all the feedback I need to, and wont leave me guessing.

When I get to the range, and especially whenever Im using a launch monitor, Im going to take extra care to aim at a specific target. I know it sounds like a small thing, but slamming golf balls out into the distance is a really bad habit. If you dont know exactlywhere youre aiming, you have no reference point for what the golf ball is doing. If you know that youre aiming at a specific spot, and the ball is ending to the right of it, as least you know whats happening, and you can start tinkering your way back to straight.

Positions and moves in the golf swing are important, but the one golden rule in golf remains: The ball flight never lies. If Im tinkering and the ball isnt flying straight, thats a cue to start tinkering with something else. Tinkering for tinkerings sake isnt the goal. Ill tinker as much as I want as long as the ball goes straight.

Along those, well, lines, I invested in a few of these white-black golf balls, and those are what Im practicing my putting with. Similar to the full swing, my goal is to simply make sure the ball is rolling end-over-end. If I notice myself pulling putts (my common miss) my goal becomes tinkering with ways of how to keep the face more open.

It all goes back to feedback. If I give myself good feedback, I can channel my instinct to tinker in a productive way. At least in theory.

Luke Kerr-Dineen is the Director of Service Journalism at GOLF Magazine and GOLF.com. In his role he oversees the brands game improvement content spanning instruction, equipment, health and fitness, across all of GOLFs multimedia platforms.

An alumni of the International Junior Golf Academy and the University of South CarolinaBeaufort golf team, where he helped them to No. 1 in the national NAIA rankings, Luke moved to New York in 2012 to pursue his Masters degree in Journalism from Columbia University and in 2017 was named News Media Alliances Rising Star. His work has also appeared in USA Today, Golf Digest, Newsweek and The Daily Beast.

See more here:

Why Im going to embrace golf swing tinkering in 2022 - Golf.com