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As overdose deaths fall, Trump administration proposes cuts to lifesaving Narcan program As overdose deaths fall, Trump administration proposes cuts to lifesaving Narcan program The Trump administration has proposed cutting a $56 million grant that teaches first responders how to use the lifesaving overdose reversal drug naloxone, which experts say could reverse progress the United States has made in lowering opioid overdose deaths. A recent dip in overdose deaths has been credited in part to wider naloxone access. The medication was made available for over-the-counter purchase in 2023 and is standard for first responders to carry. It’s even popped up in some classrooms. Naloxone, also sold under the brand name Narcan, is available in injectable and nasal spray form. It is an opioid antagonist that attaches to receptors in the brain, reversing and blocking the effects of other opioids, including fentanyl. The grant money can be used by state and local organizations for training people on how to use naloxone, as well as administering and distributing the medication. Grantees are expected to establish protocols to refer patients to treatment or support services and provide other safety information about illicit drugs and overdoses. The grant is administered by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. “While some skeptics may think that naloxone – and harm reduction more generally – enable people, there is decades of research that show giving people the information and tools they need helps keep people safe,” medical anthropologist Jennifer Syvertsen said in an emailed statement. “Naloxone simply enables people to breathe.” Wider cuts could “dismantle essential services” The proposed cut comes as the Trump administration proposes cutting $33.3 billion from the Health and Human Services budget in 2026, according to the Associated Press. The cuts would eliminate SAMHSA, the AP reported in March. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who referenced his history of heroin addiction during his confirmation hearings, has proposed that the administration be absorbed into a new office. HHS has also faced mass layoffs. These combined cuts could “dismantle essential services,” Hanna Sharif-Kazemi, the federal policy manager for the Drug Policy Alliance, told CBS News. The DPA is a non-profit agency based in New York City that seeks to reduce overdose deaths with harm reduction and evidence-based methodology. “We believe it’s going to exacerbate the overdose crisis at a time when nearly 90,000 people died from overdoses last year,” Sharif-Kazemi said. The loss of federal funding, Sharif-Kazemi said, can exacerbate the budget issues that state and local agencies already face. “Without federal funding, states may be forced to reduce essential services in other sectors, like health care, education and public safety, or they would fail to compensate for the loss in overdose prevention funding, which would put more lives at risk,” Sharif-Kazemi said. “Those cuts to overdose prevention programs are going to undermine proven strategies that we know save lives.” How can the federal government support overdose prevention efforts? During his second term, Mr. Trump has focused on fentanyl entering the United States. He has enacted tariffs on China, Canada and Mexico with the goal of making the countries fight fentanyl trafficking. Little fentanyl enters the U.S. over the northern border. Precursor chemicals, or the ingredients for fentanyl and other illicit drugs, are largely manufactured in China and shipped overseas, usually to Mexico. The fentanyl is then produced, typically in Mexico, and brought to the United States for distribution. Sharif-Kazemi said the best way to build on the progress made in reducing overdose deaths is to continue and even expand federal funding for overdose prevention efforts. That could include expanded access to naloxone, she said, as well as better access to medication-assisted treatment, which Trump has previously pushed for, and the expansion of rehabilitation facilities. It could also include more funding for harm reduction strategies, like testing strips that allow people to check if drugs are contaminated with fentanyl. Recent years have also seen a push for overdose prevention centers, where people who use drugs can do so under the supervision of trained medical professionals. Those medical professionals can then monitor the drug users, and administer naloxone or other medications if necessary. OnPoint NYC operates two such sites in New York City. The organization said in January that its staff have reversed over 1,700 opioid overdoses since November 2021. “We know the 90,000 people that we lost to overdose last year were denied the care and support they needed,” Sharif-Kazemi said. “These are all tools that we know actually can save people’s lives. Ultimately, if the Trump administration was really worried about making sure that people entered recovery, we need to make sure they stay alive and are able to actually enter recovery.” Kerry Breen Kerry Breen is a news editor at CBSNews.com. A graduate of New York University’s Arthur L. Carter School of Journalism, she previously worked at NBC News’ TODAY Digital. She covers current events, breaking news and issues including substance use. Source link #overdose #deaths #fall #Trump #administration #proposes #cuts #lifesaving #Narcan #program Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

I’ve Built the Cheapest NVIDIA 5070 PC That Doesn’t Sacrifice Graphics or Make You Homeless I’ve Built the Cheapest NVIDIA 5070 PC That Doesn’t Sacrifice Graphics or Make You Homeless Love it or hate it, Nvidia’s RTX 5000 series is the new hot piece of tech in town, with most gamers buying the card over other competitors such as AMD or even Intel. The RTX 5070, in particular, represents the most popular offering by Nvidia. It’s still an expensive card, with a price tag of $549 to go along with it, which leaves little room for scalability. What if I told you that you could build your very own RTX 5070-based PC with a minimal hit to performance, and at an affordable price? Read on to know more. Building a reasonably affordable RTX 5070 PC Before we begin, there’s one thing to keep in mind here—the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 isn’t exactly the most affordable or even the best-performing option out there. This is especially true if we consider that it is practically impossible to nab the card at its $549 MSRP. The affordable RTX 5070 PC | Image Credits: Nvidia AMD’s newly launched RX 9070 is a much better option here, both in terms of performance and pricing (although you really can’t nab one at MSRP either). Therefore, unless you have a predisposition toward Team Green, it might be better to try your luck with Team Red, which seems to have an actually competitive product this time around. With that in mind, let’s look at what we need to compromise on first. Laying out the plan and the compromises Our build will revolve around the RTX 5070, instead of the other way around. Given that this is a budget setup, there will be a fair number of compromises here. However, these compromises will be kept limited to non-essential things, such as RGB-enabled RAM sticks, instead of, say, the PSU. The RTX 5070 is one pricey GPU | Image Credits: Nvidia As such, expect a no-frills setup with no fancy custom water cooling blocks or the like. The same applies to storage and memory—we just pick what works best at a reasonable price. After all, the goal is not to throw you into debt, and to be quite frank, these components should be plenty for most people. We will also be going for a relatively minimal setup here. Specific components will be picked with upgradability in mind as well. PCs are designed to be modular, and readers can choose to upgrade components in this build to their tastes later down the road. Adding in more memory, storage, and a beefier CPU down the line is most certainly possible and encouraged. With that in mind, it’s time for the build skeleton. Basic build skeleton A basic build skeleton will be detailed below, taking into account the major parts of a system: PC Component Name Price GPU ASUS Prime $609.99 CPU AMD Ryzen 5 7600 $198.97 Motherboard Asus TUF GAMING B650M-E WIFI 129.99 RAM Crucial CT8G48C40U5 8 GB (DDR5-4800) x2 $41.98 Storage Crucial P3 Plus 1 TB $61.99 PSU ADATA XPG Core Reactor II 650 W 80+ Gold Modular ATX $79.98 Case PC Cooler CPS C3D310 ARGB MicroATX Mid Tower Case $50.99 Total: $1173.79 You can find a price tracker here, built with PCPartPicker. More on these components below: CPU: The Ryzen 5 7600 offers the best bang for your buck here. While the move to AM5 is expensive, it is a more modern platform that will receive support for far longer, making it a more appealing option. The X variant has been intentionally skipped, since it does not come with a stock cooler. GPU: As far as RTX 5070 GPUs go, the ASUS Prime is a fantastic cheaper offering. While the Gigabyte Windforce is technically cheaper, ASUS’s cards tend to be a lot more thermally superior. Motherboard: The ASUS TUF Gaming B650M-E WiFi is a great motherboard for its price, and comes equipped with ample connectivity options while not being absolutely barebones at the same time. It also has built-in Wi-Fi. RAM: Given the budget nature of this build, we opted to take a very basic, but functional two sticks of RAM for a total of 16 gigabytes in dual-channel mode. While it is true that 16 GB is finally starting to not be enough, it still is plenty for most gaming and productivity related workloads. Plus, you can always upgrade to 32 GB down the line. Storage: The Crucial P3 Plus 1 TB will be used, a fast, NVMe-based SSD. This is a Gen 3 drive, and it won’t be as fast as current Gen 4 drives. However, for gaming, it is more than plenty and quite affordable. Case: The PC Cooler CPS C3D310 ARGB is a small but well ventilated ARGB MicroATX case. It has ample expandability, and even comes with mesh filters (along with two pre-installed fans) and a transparent panel. PSU: The ADATA XPG Core Reactor II is a fantastic budget power supply that is both fully modular (thus eliminating a large portion of cable management) as well as Gold rated (80+). It’s 650 W rating should be enough for this system. The total stands at $1173.79, a bit lower than our $1200 target. This is one of the better PC builds you can create with an RTX 5070, and it has just about enough room for upgradability. While you can build an ever cheaper PC by using AM4-specific parts (and a cheaper PSU), it is generally not recommended at all, given that it has little room for upgrades and still loses out to the 7600. Keep in mind that this build takes into account pricing today. As such, the value of certain products may increase or decrease over time (especially for the US market, given the tumultuous state of affairs the world is in right now). Expected performance and limitations With the build mentioned above, expect to be able to play modern AAA releases at 1440p resolutions, at upwards of 60 frames per second. Game settings should be at a mixture of Very High and High, with textures dropped down to High or Medium (on account of the RTX 5070’s 12 GB of VRAM). There do remain a few notable gotchas though. The most glaring of which being the 16 GB of RAM. 16 GB is functional, but do not expect to be able to multitask a whole lot, or stream while playing a game. You can always upgrade it to 32 GB later though. As far as gaming goes, the ‘Project Don’t Go Homeless RTX 5070 PC’ is a champ and can handle anything you throw at it. For media creation and other intensive tasks (such as virtualization), investing in a Ryzen 7 system with 8 cores and 16 threads might be better. The stock cooler should be sufficient for a while, if not a bit less efficient. Don’t try to heavily OC your CPU with this cooler. Closing thoughts Admittedly, $1200 can be a lot of money for many people. That is why it is also recommended to grab second-hand parts if you can. Make sure to look into your local marketplace for discounts and deals. This should help you save a lot of money in the process. As always, keep an eye out for components, and make sure to test them before buying. AMD’s RX 7800 XT and Nvidia RTX 4070 are still great options today and should also be considered. These GPUs pop up frequently on the second-hand market, and it might be worth trying to snag one. As far as new alternative GPUs go, try getting an RX 9070, unless you’re heavily dependent on the Nvidia ecosystem. Source link #Ive #Built #Cheapest #NVIDIA #Doesnt #Sacrifice #Graphics #Homeless Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Joy for Ange as Spurs book Europa League final place Joy for Ange as Spurs book Europa League final place Ange Postecoglou’s dream of ending a wretched season for Tottenham with a piece of silverware is still alive after Spurs put on a polished, professional performance in Norway to beat *****/Glimt 2-0 and book a place in an all-English Europa League final. Spurs’ 5-1 semi-final aggregate win has set them up with a mouth-watering finale to a troubled season as they’ll play Manchester United in the one-off decider after their fellow Premier League strugglers beat Athletic Bilbao 4-1 at Old Trafford for a 7-1 aggregate win. The final will be in Bilbao, Spain on May 21 with Postecoglou having a chance to maintain his proud assertion that he always wins a trophy in his second year in any managerial job. It looked a tough assignment in the Arctic Circle on Thursday for Spurs, who led 3-1 after the first home leg but had to contend with a team who’ve become one of the romantic favourites in the tournament and are awfully hard to beat on their own plastic pitch as many European luminaries have discovered. But two goals in six minutes just after the hour from Dominic Solanke and Pedro Porro were enough to underline Spurs’ superiority with Postecoglou’s job prospects at the club having been given a major boost. Source link #Joy #Ange #Spurs #book #Europa #League #final #place Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Grandmother in U.S. without documentation faces deportation after wrong turn in San Diego Grandmother in U.S. without documentation faces deportation after wrong turn in San Diego A 64-year-old grandmother in the U.S. without documentation is facing deportation after she mistakenly took the wrong exit on her way home from work. Ana Camero’s family says she’s currently being held at Otay Mesa Detention Center more than a month after she made the unexpected detour and ended up at the entrance to a U.S. Marines facility in San Diego. Camero was driving home from her job as a dishwasher at a La Jolla restaurant on April 7 when she stopped to get gas. She then drove into the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego by mistake. There, she was asked for proper identification and when she could not provide one, immigration enforcement was called, officials said. “It was just a wrong turn,” her daughter, Melissa Hernández, told news station Telemundo 20. Camero has lived in the United States for more than 20 years. Born in Mexico, she does not have a California driver’s license or any other form of identification, according to her family. A spokesperson for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed Camero is in custody and currently being processed for deportation back to Mexico. Hernández said her mother is diabetic and has a vascular condition, but is not receiving any medical care or medication while in the detention facility. “Her foot has already begun to swell again due to lack of circulation — something that, if untreated, could lead to severe consequences,” Hernández said in a GoFundMe campaign seeking to raise money to hire an immigration attorney. Read more: Wife of U.S. Coast Guard member arrested on base over expired visa A spokesperson for the Marine Corps Recruit Depot said in a statement that when someone tries to enter a federal installation without proper authorization they are required to provide a government-issued form of identification. “When an individual cannot or does not provide the required form of identification the appropriate federal authorities, including U.S. customs and border patrol are notified. This applies regardless of whether the individual claims the entry was by mistake,” the statement said. “As a federal installation, we are mandated to uphold all federal statutes [or laws].” Camero’s family said that officials at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot contacted U.S. Border Patrol after Camero could not present a valid form of identification. Hernández learned that her mother was in custody after she received a call from a Marine Corps spokesperson who told her that her mother’s car was at their base. As she waited outside the base for more information, she saw the Border Patrol vehicles arrive, Hernández told the Mercury News. Camero was provided an attorney during a recent court appearance at the Otay Mesa Detention Center. According to her family, she intends to fight the deportation order. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. Source link #Grandmother #U.S #documentation #faces #deportation #wrong #turn #San #Diego Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Joe Biden awkwardly corrects The View hosts about wife Jill’s religion Joe Biden awkwardly corrects The View hosts about wife Jill’s religion Former President Joe Biden has set the record straight on his wife, Dr. Jill Biden’s, religious affiliation. Appearing on Thursday’s episode of The View, which marked their first joint interview since leaving the white house, the pair fielded questions from the hosts about the legacy of Biden’s administration, the downfall of his 2024 presidential campaign, and concern about his alleged cognitive decline. At one point, while speaking about Pope Francis’s recent ******** that the couple attended, host Whoopi Goldberg accidentally referred to them both as “devout Catholics.” Joe then stepped in to correct Goldberg, saying that “by the way, Jill’s a Presbyterian,” before it was quickly noted that “the pope is the pope for all people.” Jill has previously spoken about the common misconception, telling ******** News Global in 2022: “People think I’m Catholic like Joe, but I grew up Presbyterian.” Though she identifies as Presbyterian — a branch of Reformed Christianity — Jill regularly attends mass with Joe. Former president Joe Biden was joined by his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, on ‘The View’ for his first TV interview since dropping out of the 2024 presidential race (ABC) Elsewhere during their appearance, Joe addressed reports that have questioned the “dramatic decline in [his] cognitive abilities” during the final year of his presidency, insisting: “They are wrong.” “The people who wrote those books were not in the White House with us. And they didn’t see how hard Joe worked every single day,” Jill added. “If you look at things today, give me Joe Biden any time.” Jill also responded to accusations that she built a “cocoon” around Joe, limiting his interactions with the media and others. “Do you think you could’ve been too close to the situation to objectively gauge whether he could handle a full four more years?” host Sara Haines wondered. “I was with Joe day and night. I saw him more than any other person. I woke up with him, I went to bed at night with him, so I saw him all throughout the day,” Jill said. “And I did not create a cocoon around him. I mean, you saw him in the Oval Office, you saw him making speeches. He wasn’t hiding somewhere, I didn’t have him sequestered in some place. I mean that’s ridiculous!” “I wish she had,” Joe interjected, causing the hosts and audience to laugh. Host Ana Navarro went on to ask Jill about the earlier comparisons made about her and Lady Macbeth that the conservative media ran wild with before the election, to which the former First Lady said that those descriptions were indeed “hurtful.” “It was very hurtful, especially from some of our so-called friends,” she said. Source link #Joe #Biden #awkwardly #corrects #View #hosts #wife #Jills #religion Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Trump administration unveils a modernization plan for air traffic control system – NPR Trump administration unveils a modernization plan for air traffic control system – NPR Trump administration unveils a modernization plan for air traffic control system NPRICYMI: Trump Administration’s Plan to Modernize Air Traffic Control System The White House (.gov)FAA announces new air traffic control system in hopes of taming busy skies NBC NewsPlans for new air traffic control system unveiled by transportation secretary ABC NewsTrump touts ‘rebuilding and modernization’ of US air traffic control, blasts Buttigieg for having ‘no clue’ Fox News Source link #Trump #administration #unveils #modernization #plan #air #traffic #control #system #NPR Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Ponting’s Punjab left in dark in uncertain IPL times Ponting’s Punjab left in dark in uncertain IPL times Ricky Ponting’s soaring Punjab Kings have been left in the dark about what happens next in their IPL adventure after a floodlight failure rudely interrupted their fine day’s work in Dharamsala. On a day when the League cited logistical challenges amid increasing tensions between neighbouring India and Pakistan, coach Ponting was left frustrated on Thursday when a power failure stopped the Kings’ batters just when they were fully charged against Mitch Starc and the rest of Delhi Capitals’ ragged attack. Punjab had cruised ominously to 1-122 in just 10.1 overs when one of the light towers at the picturesque stadium malfunctioned during the outage and the game had to be called off, with both sides getting a point each. Delhi were happy about that – but it was a frustration for Ponting, who had felt his side could amass something in the region of 240 after a dazzling start from his two openers. Priyansh Arya cracked 70 and Prabhsimran Singh was 50 not out after a rocky opening for Starc, who had been hit for five boundaries in two wicketless overs (0-23). The ‘no result’ left the Kings, whose side had featured two of their five Aussies, Josh Inglis and Marcus Stoinis, still handily placed in third place on 15 points, with only four teams to qualify. But what happens next for the Kings and the rest of the IPL programme remains up in the air with the news from the Indian cricket board (BCCI) that the next match planned to be played in Dharamsala on Sunday had been moved to Ahmedabad because of the India-Pakistan conflict. Asked about the Kings’ plans during the match on Thursday, the former Australia captain Ponting shrugged: “We’re not sure where we’re going at the moment … there’s been some talk about Ahmedabad and some talk about Jaipur, but we’re only really worried about tonight’s match. “You know, there’s been a fair bit happening the last few days and we’re just trying to make sure we focus on our performance here.” Airports in Dharamsala and Chandigarh — where the Kings are based — have been closed for civilian and commercial use since Wednesday, while others across India’s north-western corridor are also out of bounds to the cricketers. Despite the volatility of the situation, BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia said the foreign players in the 10-team league had no worries about continuing to play. “They are quite comfortable. Everyone in the league is comfortable,” Saikia said. “The safety and security of every player — be it a local player or a foreigner — every match official and every fan is important for us. “We have the clearance of every single authority.” Meanwhile, across the border, a Pakistan Super League match in Rawalpindi was postponed hours before the start, with the country’s cricket board saying more PSL matches were likely to be rescheduled. With agencies Source link #Pontings #Punjab #left #dark #uncertain #IPL #times Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Trump’s acting FEMA chief fired a day after breaking from the administration Trump’s acting FEMA chief fired a day after breaking from the administration The acting administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency has been fired one day after he broke with fellow members of the administration when he told lawmakers he does not support dismantling the agency, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson confirmed to CNN. Cameron Hamilton, who was appointed by President Donald Trump, was escorted out of FEMA’s headquarters on Thursday, according to multiple sources familiar with the situation. “It’s at the discretion of (Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem) to have the personnel she prefers,” DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told CNN, confirming that DHS official David Richardson will take over for Hamilton effective immediately. McLaughlin declined to explain why Hamilton was removed from the post. The move comes one day after Hamilton defended FEMA during testimony in front of the House Appropriations Committee. “As the senior advisor to the President on disasters and emergency management, and to the Secretary of Homeland Security, I do not believe it is in the best interest the American people to eliminate the Federal Emergency Management Agency,” Hamilton told the committee Wednesday. “Having said that, I am not in a position to make decisions and impact outcomes on whether or not a determination as consequential as that should be made. That is a conversation that should be had between the President of the United States and this governing body.” For months, both Trump and Noem, whose Department of Homeland Security oversees FEMA, have called for the agency to be “eliminated.” On Tuesday, Noem reaffirmed that stance when she took questions from the same House committee. “President Trump has been very clear since the beginning that he believes that FEMA and its response in many, many circumstances has failed the American people, and that FEMA, as it exists today, should be eliminated in empowering states to respond to disasters with federal government support.” Noem told the committee. Hamilton struck a starkly different tone in his testimony. He repeatedly praised FEMA’s staff – calling them “one of the greatest workforces in the entire federal government” – stressing that his goal is to cut bureaucratic red tape and refocus the agency and its budget on its core mission of delivering assistance to survivors after only the most devastating natural disasters, shifting responsibility for smaller disasters onto the states. “The (FEMA) workforce is tremendous and amazing, and they do a lot of great work, but there’s also systems and processes that are completely antiquated and have to be improved.” Hamilton said. “FEMA is all too often used by states and public officials as a financial backstop for routine issues that frankly should be handled locally. This misalignment has fostered a culture of dependency, waste, inefficiency, while also delaying crucial aid to Americans who are in genuine need.” Trump and Noem have repeatedly criticized FEMA as partisan, inefficient, and unnecessary. The administration has claimed FEMA uses “woke” ideologies to appropriate funds. As CNN previously reported, the Trump administration is considering raising the threshold to qualify for federal disaster assistance, which could drastically reduce the number of major disaster declarations that the president approves. Top officials from DHS have also discussed dismantling FEMA in the months ahead. But Hamilton told lawmakers the reforms underway at FEMA should be done slowly and carefully. “This will not be a radical transition in an instant,” Hamilton said. “This has to occur in a phased approach, where we mentor states and locals on building capacity and capability.” CNN previously reported that Hamilton was given a lie detector test just days after taking part in a meeting with top DHS officials for a policy discussion on the future of FEMA and how to potentially dismantle the agency. That closed-door meeting was reported by CNN and other media outlets. At least a dozen other FEMA officials have also been polygraphed by DHS in recent weeks, primarily for alleged media leaks. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com Source link #Trumps #acting #FEMA #chief #fired #day #breaking #administration Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Confidence around tariffs is improving with key China talks on deck Confidence around tariffs is improving with key China talks on deck Wall Street cheered on Thursday as the first green shoots from President Donald Trump’s trade negotiations emerged, one day before the one-month anniversary of the April 9 tariff pause and just ahead of key talks with China . Officials from the U.S. and United Kingdom announced that the countries have agreed to the outline of a trade deal . The news helped fuel a broad rally for stocks, with the small-cap Russell 2000 — a barometer for confidence about the economy — outperforming its large-cap counterparts in the session. .RUT 1D mountain Small cap stocks outperformed on Thursday. The U.K. agreement was not at the top of the priority list for investors worried about the global economy, but any progress is positive right now. “The US-U.K. trade deal is ultimately a positive development and a sign that after months of turmoil, we may be incrementally moving towards de-escalation of the global trade war,” Martin Frandsen, equities portfolio manager at Principal Asset Management, said in a statement. The bullish hope is that incremental progress can build into something more substantial and certain. In particular, traders who bought stocks Thursday are implicitly betting that something positive will come from talks with China. Trump said Thursday he expects the scheduled discussions with ******** officials this weekend to be “substantive.” U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said on ” Power Lunch ” said that lowering tariffs on China as a result of those talks is “on the table.” “We think this is an opportunity to find some stability with these folks. China’s market and economy is so different from our own. It’s so hard to fit a square into a circle in a way that’s fair. So that’s a much longer conversation. This talk is about can we get to a stable place, and maybe that’s a foundation for something more,” Greer said. Source link #Confidence #tariffs #improving #key #China #talks #deck Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Differences between Green Globes vs. LEED for data centers Differences between Green Globes vs. LEED for data centers Facility owners and data center operators who seek to make their data centers more sustainable and energy-efficient have multiple green standards to consider. Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design and Green Globes are two certification options for data centers. Both certifications use green data center standards to assess facilities. While they both examine energy efficiencies in facilities, the two differ in how they score facilities and how they obtain certification. What is LEED certification? Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a green building rating system used worldwide and developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). It provides a framework for buildings and communities to create “healthy, highly efficient and cost-saving green buildings,” according to USGBC. There are two main LEED certifications for data centers: LEED v4.1 Operations + Maintenance (O+M): Data Centers in mixed-use buildings; and LEED v4.1 Building Design and Construction (BD+C): Data Centers. What is Green Globes certification? Green Globes building certification was first developed in Canada before the Green Building Initiative was founded in 2004. GBI administers Green Globes certifications in the U.S. Green Globes for New Construction (NC) and Green Globes for Existing Buildings (EB) are implementations of American National Standards Institute standards. Green Globes evaluates the environmental sustainability, resilience and effects on the health and wellness of occupants for commercial and multifamily real estate. The program offers four tiers of certification through a points-based system for any real estate project, including data centers. Differences between Green Globes vs. LEED Both certification programs are concerned with sustainability and green building practices and are voluntary, but there are some differences. LEED has tech-specific certifications that encompass the building, its operation and the technology that might be housed within. Regular LEED certifications apply to the heating and cooling needs for occupant comfort and other energy efficiencies, while LEED O+M: Data Centers addresses the unique needs of the energy-intensive buildings to cool the tech housed within. The most notable difference is in the certification process. For the LEED program, data center admins and operators submit documentation through the LEED online portal for review and adjudication by LEED experts and panels. For the Green Globes program, applicants manage adherence to the requirements throughout a project lifecycle, which involves an online questionnaire, supporting documents, a preliminary assessment from a Green Globes assessor and an on-site assessment of the data center. How to get certified To get Green Globes certification, data centers must pay $1,500 to register the project and fill out the online questionnaire. Assessment fees are based on the size of the facility and the type of assessment: NC, Sustainable Interior, EB or Core & Shell. Once the project is complete and the data center has met all the outlined requirements, a Green Globes assessor awards points based on compliance with the criteria. A maximum of 1,000 points are awarded under six areas: project management, site, energy, water efficiency, materials and indoor environment. Green Globes ratings are based on the number of achieved points out of the number of applicable points based on the following ratings: One Green Globes, where applicants achieve 35%-54% of applicable points. Two Green Globes, where applicants achieve 55%-69% of applicable points. Three Green Globes, where applicants achieve 70%-84% of applicable points. Four Green Globes, where applicants achieve 85%-100% of applicable points. To get a LEED certification, data center admins and operators must pay a flat registration fee calculated on a per-project (building) basis, the size of the project and the rating system/program. Organizations must pay a separate fee when they submit all the documentation and data necessary for certification. Information needed to apply usually covers the various requirements of the program, such as location and transportation, sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources, and indoor environmental quality. The next step is to upload all the necessary documents to the Green Business Certification Inc. online portal for a technical review. The GBCI panel offers a preliminary review based on the scores achieved at one of four levels: Certified: 40-49 points. Silver: 50-59. Gold: 60-79. Platinum: 80+. Applicants can accept the preliminary review as final and receive the certification or move on to a final evaluation. They can also appeal any review for an optional fee if they disagree with the assessment and rating. Uses for LEED and Green Globes certification The uses for both generally follow the type of certification data centers are looking to apply for and achieve. The Green Globes NC certification evaluates new construction, additions and major renovation projects, while the EB certification is used on individual buildings or an entire real estate portfolio that’s already built. For example, CyrusOne has two data centers certified for Three Green Globes EB for 2021 in Illinois and one at One Green Globes EB for 2022 in Arizona. The Equinix DC15 data center, built in 2020, received Three Green Globes NC certification that year in Virginia. The GBI directory provides a list of completed assessments and certifications. Meanwhile, the Microsoft DM4 data center in Iowa was built toward earning a LEED BD+C: Data Centers Gold certification; the Verizon Colorado NEC was converted from a semiconductor plant into a data center and earned the LEED O+M: Data Centers Gold certification; and the Equinix DA11 in Texas has a LEED BD+C: Data Centers Silver certification. Equinix’s achievement of both LEED and Green Globes certifications proves that a single company can obtain multiple sustainability certifications for its facilities. Julia Borgini is a freelance technical copywriter, content marketer, content strategist and geek. She writes about B2B tech, SaaS, DevOps, the cloud and other tech topics. Source link #Differences #Green #Globes #LEED #data #centers Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Trump eying Fox News host Jeanine Pirro for top prosecutor in DC – ABC News Trump eying Fox News host Jeanine Pirro for top prosecutor in DC – ABC News Trump eying Fox News host Jeanine Pirro for top prosecutor in DC ABC NewsTrump weighs naming Fox News host Jeanine Pirro as top DC prosecutor NBC NewsNC Sen. Thom Tillis delivered final blow to Trump DC attorney pick AxiosAs D.C. U.S. attorney nomination falters, Ed Martin’s past feeds doubts The Washington PostNot only a no to Trump, but a gift to president’s judicial adversary The Center Square Source link #Trump #eying #Fox #News #host #Jeanine #Pirro #top #prosecutor #ABC #News Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

What is a capacitor (capacitance)? What is a capacitor (capacitance)? A capacitor is a passive electronic component that stores electrical charge. The amount of energy that a capacitor can store is called capacitance. Capacitance is measured in farads. Capacitors are used in almost every electronic circuit. Most capacitors are rated in microfarads, nanofarads or picofarads. Capacitors can store small amounts of electrical energy. In this way, they can be thought of as working like a rechargeable battery. However, they store much less energy by size and weight than a battery can. Supercapacitors can store much more energy than other capacitors, but still have less energy density than most rechargeable batteries, like lithium-ion batteries. Capacitors can be charged and discharged much faster than batteries, though, even up to millions of times a second. The unit of capacitance is the farad, abbreviated as F. A farad is a large unit, and most capacitors used in circuits only store microfarads, nanofarads or picofarads. Large supercapacitors are able to store tens of farads, however. How do capacitors work? The job of a capacitor is to store a small amount of electrical charge or energy. They consist of two conductors separated by an insulator. Imagine a sandwich consisting of a metal plate, the insulator and another plate. The insulator is called a dielectric. When a charge is applied to one conductor, the opposite charge is attracted to the other conductor. Electrons will be attracted to the negative side and repelled from the positive side, but the insulator stops them from directly going from one side to the other. The attractive force causes the charge differential to accumulate, storing electricity. Once the maximum capacity to store charge is reached, the capacitor is “full” and no more current flows. When a path allows the electricity to flow through another part of the circuit, the capacitor will discharge its stored energy. Dielectrics are often confused with insulators. There are differences between these types of materials, however. The amount of charge that a capacitor can store — its farad rating — is directly related to the surface area of the conductors, how close together the conductors are and the ability of the dielectric to resist electron flow. Early capacitors used metal foil separated by special paper, which could be rolled into cylinders. Ceramic, mica or polymer film capacitors use different dielectrics and are often used for small-value capacitors. Electrolytic capacitors use an insulating oxide layer on a metal sustained by an electrolyte solution. Capacitors can even be directly etched into the semiconductor of an integrated circuit. Capacitors are one of the most common failure points in electronics. They often contain a liquid electrolyte or other dielectric that can break down over time. Eventually, it can burn out or even explode, causing the entire circuit to fail. Swollen, bulging or popped electrolytic capacitors are a common sight in damaged power supplies. Often, these capacitors can be replaced, restoring the circuit’s functionality. What are capacitors used for? Capacitors are one of the most common electrical components and are used in almost every electronic device. They have many uses that affect every part of our lives. Smoothing capacitors regulate the flow of electricity and keep it consistent. They can be thought of as small reservoirs of electricity that can momentarily store extra electricity and release it when the flow starts to drop. For example, in an alternating current to direct current converter, a rectifier takes the AC power and turns it into pulsed DC. A capacitor can take the pulses of power and change them to a smooth flow. Nearly all electronic circuits include a capacitor. Even when power is removed from a circuit, capacitors can still have some stored electricity. So, care must always be taken before working on electronics. Coupling and decoupling capacitors can remove or filter unwanted noise or signals in a circuit. For example, a small capacitor can be put next to a sensitive integrated circuit (IC) to prevent small changes in power from affecting it. Or one part of a circuit might deal with high-power, low-frequency power smoothing, but another part deals with high-frequency radio transmission, so capacitors are used to make sure that these two parts of the circuit do not interfere with one another. Capacitors can also be used as part of a frequency filter. They resist low-frequency signals and pass high-frequency signals, as the capacitor has more time to charge and discharge when high frequency is applied. Inductors work the opposite way, resisting high frequency and passing low frequency. By pairing an inductor and a capacitor, a circuit can be created that only allows certain frequencies to pass and blocks all others. This is very useful in radio communication. For example, this can be used to select the channel on a radio, or filter unwanted noise from a Wi-Fi or 5G signal. Capacitors can also be used to store information. By pairing a capacitor with transistors on an IC, dynamic RAM or memory can be created. The capacitor can momentarily store a charge representing a bit of data, while the transistors constantly check and refresh the capacitor. If power is lost, the charge in the capacitor is quickly lost, causing the stored value to vanish. Charge-coupled devices (CCDs) use capacitors on an IC to measure light in a digital camera sensor. Each time a photon strikes a cell in the CCD, a small amount of charge is added to the capacitor for that cell. The charge on the capacitor can then be measured to give a raw value for how “bright” that cell was. These brightness values can then be combined and processed to create the image. Capacitive touchscreens and trackpads use the natural conductance of the human body as part of a simple capacitor. When a finger or other conductive object is placed on the touchpad, sensors measure the resulting capacitance and use that to determine where it was placed. These sensors can be extremely sensitive, leading to high accuracy and responsiveness. Microfarads and farads are a small part of data center efficiency. Find out more about building an efficient data center. Also, learn how generators, batteries and backup power options like uninterruptible power supplies work together to protect data centers against the effects of power outages. Source link #capacitor #capacitance Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

A new Tiger leads in Turkish Open as Aussie Gale shines A new Tiger leads in Turkish Open as Aussie Gale shines World number 1964 Tiger Christensen has capitalised on a back-nine hot streak of six birdies to earn a share of the lead in the first round of the Turkish Airlines Open in Antalya. The 22-year-old rookie, who qualified for the British Open in 2023 as an amateur, carded a six-under 65 to end the day one ahead in a three-way tie at Regnum Carya. Two shots behind was *********** Daniel Gale, who enjoyed his own hot streak, carding five successive birdies between the 11th and the 15th holes to finish with a four-under 67 in joint-sixth place. Christensen was not the only ‘Tiger’ in contention, however, as that is also the middle name of South African Robin Williams who joined the ******* youngster and France’s Martin Couvra on six under after he birdied five of his first 10 holes. Christensen, who turned professional in November after coming through Q-School, was making only his third start on the European Tour, having missed the cut and finished 71st in his previous two. “I stayed patient all day. The front nine I didn’t get it close enough to the hole and then made a good one from the fringe on 10 and hit it really close on 11,” Christensen said afterwards. “I definitely enjoy these tournaments a lot, I’m happy to be here and take advantage as best I can.” The other *********** in the field, Danny List, had a solid start, finishing on two under to lie in joint-24th position. Source link #Tiger #leads #Turkish #Open #Aussie #Gale #shines Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

A woman donated her brain so scientists could study a pioneering treatment. A laboratory accidentally threw it out A woman donated her brain so scientists could study a pioneering treatment. A laboratory accidentally threw it out A children’s hospital in Wisconsin said it accidentally disposed of the brain of a young woman that was donated for research. The woman had undergone pioneering gene treatments for a rare degenerative disease, and researchers hoped studying her brain would provide them with invaluable data. Ashtyn Fellenz died at age 24 on December 5, 2024. As a child, she was diagnosed with Canavan Disease, a rare genetic disorder that causes the degeneration of the coating that protects nerves and a loss of white matter in the brain, according to Fox 6. Typically, children suffering from the disease progressively lose the ability to move their muscles and effectively become locked in to their own bodies. Without treatment, most children with the disease die before the age of 10. In 2003, when she was three years old, Fellenz underwent experimental surgery that saw a functional gene injected into her brain, with the hopes that it would displace the defective one. While it didn’t cure her disease, it did buy her a decade’s worth of life. Dr Paola Leone, a professor of Cell Biology at Rowan University, requested that Fellenz’s brain be preserved after her death, hoping that it could provide priceless data about both the disease and the body’s response to her experimental treatment. Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin’s Milwaukee campus. The hospital accidentally discarded the brain of Ashtyn Fellenz, a 24-year-old woman who died from Canavan Diease. The brain was meant to be donated for scientific research that could have helped scientists better understand the illness and pioneering genetic treatments that woman had received when she was a child. (Google Maps) While 16 other children also received similar treatment, the circumstances of her death made her brain especially ideal for preservation. According to Leone, most Canavan patients die in their homes, and their brain tissues degrade by the time they can be properly autopsied. Fellenz, however, died at Children’s Hospital Wisconsin, where doctors could work quickly to save her brain. “The scenario was perfect,” Leone told Fox 6. “She was in the hospital. The dry ice was there, ready to go.” Donating the brain was always the plan following her death, according to her parents, Scott and Arlo Fellenz. “It was no question that we had to do that,” Scott said. “It was a big part of her legacy.” Unfortunately, the secrets of Fellenz’s brain will never be uncovered. When she died on December 5, officials at Children’s Wisconsin decided that a previous donation consent form signed by her parents was out of date and that they would need to fill out another before the brain could be shipped to Living BioBank at the Children’s Hospital in Dayton, Ohio. Despite Leone providing Children’s Wisconsin with the consent form, a month passed and the sample still hadn’t been sent. On January 13, more than a month after Fellenz’s death, Dr Lauren Parsons, Director of Pathology at Children’s Wisconsin, wrote an email to Leone thanking her for her “patience” and noting that “holidays and some leadership transitions” had kept the staff tied up, according to Fox 6. Two more months passed without the brain being sent, Leone said, adding that many of her emails questioning the hold up were left unanswered. Scott Fellenz told the broadcaster that Parsons “literally ghosted [Leone] for two months.” In March, Arlo Fellenz called the hospital demanding answers. Her call was returned from the hospital’s “grief services” workers, who wanted to set up a meeting. She waved off the meeting and demanded they tell her what they needed to say over the phone. The hospital then told the family they had accidentally “disposed” of Fellenz’s brain. “They tossed out her brain. How can you do that with a brain?” Arlo said during an interview with Fox 6. Half of Fellenz’s brain did eventually get shipped to Ohio, but Leone was most interested in the information that the other half — the half that had not received the experimental injection — could reveal. Fellenz’s father said it felt like he had lost his daughter again. For Leone, the loss also represents a loss of potential knowledge that could have helped people suffering from gene conditions. “This would have just led, just paved the way for any other application of gene therapy into the brain to let us know if gene therapy can persist,” she told the broadcaster. “It’s a loss of information that would have been precious and cited for the years to come, for the centuries to come, because this is the one and only specimen, not just for Canavan, for any other gene therapy,” A spokesperson for Children’s Wisconsin said they were “profoundly sorry” for the error. “We were honored to support Ashtyn’s family’s wish for her legacy to help others. As we communicated to the family when this error was discovered, and reiterate now, our team is profoundly sorry this happened, and we continue to take steps to reinforce our protocols to help ensure this does not occur again,” they said in a statement. “The availability of human tissue to support life-changing and lifesaving medical research is critical to offering hope to families. We take seriously our work to support research through proper tissue collection, storage and usage. We are deeply grateful for Ashtyn’s life and for her family’s advocacy and care, and again offer our most sincere regret and apology.” When questioned further by Fox 6, the hospital said they have a “comprehensive process” to manage donated tissue, aspects of which were “not followed,” leading to the error. The Fellenz family have now hired an attorney to represent them, and would use any money to help with Canavan research. Source link #woman #donated #brain #scientists #study #pioneering #treatment #laboratory #accidentally #threw Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Palantir joins top 10 most valuable tech companies, stock at premium Palantir joins top 10 most valuable tech companies, stock at premium Palantir Technologies CEO Alex Karp appears on a Bloomberg television interview during the FoundryCon event in Palo Alto, California, on March 7, 2024. David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images There’s a new member in the list of the top 10 U.S. technology companies by market cap. Data analytics software vendor Palantir jumped about 8% on Thursday, bringing its valuation to $281 billion. That puts it ahead of Salesforce, which closed at a $268 billion and had previously been ranked tenth. Palantir surpassed legacy tech giants Cisco and IBM earlier this year. Microsoft tops the market cap list at $3.3 trillion, followed by Apple and Nvidia. Palantir’s induction follows a dramatic rally in the stock price, which has more than quintupled in value over the last year. The shares have jumped 58% in 2025, positioning Palantir to be the top S&P 500 performer for a second year. The stock has been a major outlier in recent months, continuing to pop while its tech peers have been weighed down by tariff uncertainty and fears of an economic slowdown. The Nasdaq is down 7% this year even after bouncing back some over the past three weeks. Largest U.S. tech companies by market capName Market cap Forward price-to-earnings Microsoft$3.26 trillion30.3Apple$2.95 trillion27Nvidia$2.86 trillion27.1Amazon$2.04 trillion30.6Alphabet$1.87 trillion16.8Meta Platforms$1.5 trillion23.5Broadcom$976.9 billion30.5Tesla$917.4 billion137.4Oracle$421.5 billion23.5Palantir$281.2 billion196.9Salesorce$268.4 billion25.1 Source: CNBC Palantir, founded in 2003 by a group that included Peter Thiel, the company’s chairman, and CEO Alex Karp, has benefitted from a booming government business, which grew 45% to $373 million last quarter. That includes a $178 million contract to build artificial intelligence-enabled systems for the U.S. Army. In an aminated shareholder letter attached to the company’s earnings report, Karp applauded his company’s controversial defense business and suggested that some former critics in Silicon Valley have “turned a corner and begun following our lead.” “We note only that our commitment to building software for the U.S. military, those whom we have asked to step into harm’s way, remains steadfast, when such a commitment is fashionable and convenient and when it is not,” Karp wrote. But investors who want in on the action have to pay up, because while Palantir has joined the top tech ranks by market cap, it’s a far smaller company in terms of sales and profit. Salesforce, the cloud software company that it just leapfrogged, generated over 10 times more revenue than Palantir in the past year, and is expected to do so again over the next four quarters. That all means Palantir has multiples that are much higher than its large-cap tech peers. Palantir currently trades for 520 times trailing earnings, almost 200 times forward earnings, and 90 times revenue. Stock Chart IconStock chart icon Palantir vs. the Nasdaq this year “Fundamentals are clearly alive, but we think irrational valuation,” wrote Brent Thill, an analyst at Jefferies, in a note on May 6. He has the equivalent of a sell rating on the stock. Among the 10 other top tech names, including Salesforce, the average trailing price-to-earnings multiple is about 58, and it’s only that high because Broadcom and Tesla are both around 160. For forward earnings, the average multiple is roughly 37.5, inflated by Tesla’s 137 figure. And for revenue, the average multiple is 10.2, with Nvidia carrying the highest premium at 22. Palantir shares slumped more than 12% on Tuesday following first-quarter results. The company topped revenue estimates but showed a deceleration in international commercial sales that spooked some investors. Accelerating growth expectations have also left the company with a high bar to clear. “You don’t have to buy our shares,” Karp told CNBC’s Brian Sullivan on Wednesday. “We’re happy. We’re going to partner with the world’s best people and we’re going to dominate. You can be along for the ride or you don’t have to be.” WATCH: Palantir CEO: We’re bringing revenue growth at much lower costs to regional banks — CNBC’s Ari Levy contributed reporting Source link #Palantir #joins #top #valuable #tech #companies #stock #premium Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

The Pentagon’s Culture Wars Strike West Point The Pentagon’s Culture Wars Strike West Point Four days after he was sworn in as defense secretary, Pete Hegseth directed the military service academies to scrub their curriculum of ideologies President Trump had deemed “divisive,” “un-American” and “irrational.” Hours later, department heads at West Point sent civilian and military professors emails asking for their course syllabuses. Some professors said they assumed the school would defend its academic program. Instead, the U.S. Military Academy’s leaders initiated a schoolwide push to remove any readings that focused on race, gender or the darker moments of American history, according to interviews with more than a dozen West Point civilian and military staff. Most spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak with the media without the academy’s approval. Two classes — an English and a history course — were scrapped midsemester for noncompliance with the new policy. A history professor who leads a course on genocide was instructed not to mention atrocities committed against Native Americans, according to several academy officials. The English department purged works by well-known ****** authors, such as Toni Morrison, James Baldwin and Ta-Nehisi Coates, the officials said. Mr. Hegseth’s order, which was issued in January, and West Point’s response have shaken the academy and led many civilian and military professors to question the school’s commitment to academic freedom. At least two tenured professors have resigned in protest in recent days. The academy’s leaders have long had to balance conflicting demands. West Point is a degree-granting institution, and its commitment to academic freedom is codified both in law and its own regulations. It is also part of the Defense Department, and its leaders are obligated to follow legal orders from the president and the Pentagon. The bitter and partisan culture wars, which have divided the country in recent years, have put West Point, its military leaders and instructors in an increasingly difficult spot. Mr. Hegseth’s order has served to ratchet up the pressure. Since taking over the Pentagon, Mr. Hegseth has vowed to restore the “warrior ethos” to a force that he has said was infiltrated by “Marxist” professors, “social justice saboteurs” and “feckless generals.” A West Point spokesman said in a statement that the academy had reviewed its curriculum “in accordance with executive orders” and Pentagon guidance. “We are confident our rigorous academic program ensures cadets develop the intellectual agility needed to make critical decisions in the chaos of war,” the statement read. Mr. Hegseth’s order and the changes it triggered have forced West Point professors and administrators to wrestle with a series of difficult questions. Should they resist Mr. Hegseth’s order or resign in protest? Its language was confoundingly vague. Were there ways to work around it? What was best for the cadets, for the academy, for the Army? Some long-serving leaders at the academy have chosen to quit. In early March, Christopher Barth, West Point’s senior librarian, announced that he was leaving after 14 years for a job at another college. Mr. Barth’s counterpart at the U.S. Naval Academy had already been told to remove 381 books from the campus library that ran afoul of Mr. Hegseth’s order. Mr. Barth had also been told to identify titles that potentially violated the order, West Point officials said. He told his staff that he had been reading the American Library Association’s ethics guidelines. “I’ve already compromised them several times,” Mr. Barth said, according to three people who were at the meeting. “I can’t do it anymore.” Graham Parsons, a tenured philosophy professor, similarly wrote in a New York Times guest essay published on Thursday that Mr. Hegseth’s order and the changes that followed at West Point had politicized the academy and made it impossible for him to do his job. “I am ashamed to be associated with the academy in its current form,” he wrote. A tenured professor in the English department who had been at West Point for nearly a decade hit her breaking point in late April when a university administrator told her that she was no longer permitted to teach an essay by the novelist Alice Walker. In the essay, written in 1972, Ms. Walker describes the hardships that her mother — a sharecropper and seamstress in rural Georgia — faced, and encourages readers to consider the voices missing from the American story. The professor, citing privacy concerns, asked not to be named. She appealed the ban to her department head and dean, both of whom confirmed that she needed to cut or replace the text. In an interview, the professor said she was not given a clear reason for why she was no longer permitted to teach the essay. Mr. Hegseth’s order prohibits professors from providing “instruction” in “critical race theory” and “gender ideology.” It also requires the service academies to teach that “America and its founding documents remain the most powerful force for good in human history.” The professor said she knew her resignation was unlikely to make a difference at West Point. “I could set myself on fire in the middle of the parade grounds and it would be forgotten about tomorrow,” she recalled telling her bosses. But she decided she could not continue at the academy. She devoted a portion of her last class in late April to explaining to the cadets why she had refused to find a substitute for Ms. Walker’s essay, and why she was leaving West Point. A few days later, a cadet sent her an email thanking her for her courage. He wrote that it was first time he had ever seen someone stand up for something that directly cost them. West Point occupies a unique place in the Army. Inside the classroom, cadets can dissent and disagree as they would at any civilian university. But the academy is unmistakably part of the Army. Classes begin with a section marcher, chosen by the instructor, calling the class to attention, taking roll, performing a uniform inspection and saluting. Attendance is mandatory. Civilian and military professors at West Point have the freedom “to inquire, express professional views, teach and learn” in their classrooms and academic disciplines, according to Army regulations. But they are also “servants of the nation,” Army policy states, and subject to the president’s orders and the political pressures that come with being part of the vast federal bureaucracy. In interviews, West Point faculty members have expressed fear that any kind of public protest would lead to their dismissal. Some instructors replaced banned texts with works by lesser-known authors making similar arguments. Others searched for ways to register their concern. A West Point philosophy course, required of all the academy’s sophomores, until recently included a lesson on Immanuel Kant, a key figure in Western enlightenment philosophy. The lesson noted that Kant was also a proponent of racial hierarchies, and it encouraged cadets to wrestle with the contradiction. West Point administrators decided in early February that the lesson violated Mr. Hegseth’s order. Instead of teaching it, one philosophy instructor devoted the day’s class to Plato’s Apology, which chronicles Socrates’ defense at his trial for impiety and the corruption of Athenian youth. The students discussed the importance of speaking difficult truths, according to two professors familiar with the class. Several civilian and military professors expressed shock at the lack of debate over how to implement Mr. Hegseth’s order and how quickly it was enforced. Two ****** authors — Ms. Morrison and Mr. Coates — whose works were no longer permitted to be taught at West Point, had previously been welcomed as speakers on campus. In 2013, Ms. Morrison read passages from “Home,” her novel about a ****** Korean War veteran struggling with PTSD and his return to a segregated America. More than 1,500 cadets attended. Four years later, Mr. Coates urged an audience of 800 first-year cadets to examine the myths that the United States, and even West Point, had constructed after the Civil War. “What kind of truth will you uphold?” he asked them, according to a video of his speech that was recently removed from the internet. “Will you interrogate the narratives this country tells itself, or will you allow lies to persist?” Dr. Parsons, the philosophy professor who recently resigned in protest, said he spent February and March trying to figure out what he should do. On April 10, he accepted a one-year visiting professor job at nearby Vassar College. The move meant that he would lose the economic security that came with a tenured position. It also meant leaving West Point, a place that had been his professional home for 13 years. The next day he told his supervisors he was quitting. He expected a difficult conversation. “I was very tense,” he recalled. But his supervisors did not ask him why he was giving up his tenured position for a temporary job, he said, and he did not volunteer an explanation. “I think there’s just a lot of desire to avoid the reality of what’s happening here,” Dr. Parsons said. His experience had caused him to doubt the Army’s and West Point’s leaders. “I’ve lost faith that most people will do the right thing under pressure,” Dr. Parsons said. “That’s the really painful part of the last few months.” But he still believed in the cadets. “I trust them to succeed,” Dr. Parsons said. Julie Tate contributed research. Source link #Pentagons #Culture #Wars #Strike #West #Point Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

U.S.-U.K. Trade Deal Builds on Close Ties but Leaves Some Tariffs in Place U.S.-U.K. Trade Deal Builds on Close Ties but Leaves Some Tariffs in Place President Trump announced on Thursday that the United States intended to sign a trade deal with Britain that would bring the two nations closer and roll back some of the punishing tariffs he issued on that country’s products. Both sides consider a trade pact deeply beneficial, and a deal has been under discussion since Mr. Trump’s first term. But the announcement on Thursday was still short on details, reflecting the haste of the Trump administration’s efforts to negotiate with more than dozen nations and rework the global trading system in a matter of months. The agreement, which Mr. Trump said would be the first of many, would include Britain’s dropping its tariffs on U.S. beef, ethanol, sports equipment and other products, and buying $10 billion of Boeing airplanes. The United States in return said it would pare back tariffs that Mr. Trump has put on cars and steel, though it will leave a 10 percent levy in place for all British exports. Neither government has said when the agreement will go into effect. Officials from both governments will need to meet in the coming months to hammer out specific language, leaving open the potential for disagreements. The British government said it was still pushing to bring down the 10 percent tariff on most other goods. Nevertheless, the leaders of both nations hailed their cooperation in joint announcements on Thursday that invoked the deep relationship between their countries. Speaking from the Oval Office, with Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain on speakerphone, Mr. Trump called it a “great deal for both countries.” Mr. Starmer noted that it was the 80th anniversary of the Allies’ victory in Europe in World War II. “There are no two countries that are closer than our two countries,” Mr. Starmer said. “And now we take this into new and important territory by adding trade and the economy to the closeness of our relationship.” Both British and American businesses, including U.S. cattle ranchers and dairy farmers, also praised the arrangement, though some lamented that tariffs between the two countries would remain higher than they were when Mr. Trump came into office. The announcement comes as the United States races to finalize agreements with more than a dozen other countries eager to avoid Mr. Trump’s high tariffs. U.S. officials have been negotiating with India, Israel, Japan, South Korea and Vietnam, among other trading partners, for agreements that would drop tariffs between the countries. Trump officials are also headed to Geneva this weekend to discuss trade issues with ******** officials, amid an intense standoff that has shut off U.S. trade with China and is threatening to put many companies out of business. Amid the festering disputes with many countries, an agreement with Britain appeared to be low-hanging fruit for the Trump administration. British officials have eyed an agreement with the United States since leaving the European Union in 2020 as a way to offset reduced trade with Europe, and Mr. Trump has pushed for a deal with Britain since his first term. Mr. Trump, who is fixated on trade deficits, has also praised the country for having relatively balanced trade with the United States. Last month, the president imposed the same 10 percent global tariff on Britain that he put on other countries, but not the higher “reciprocal” tariffs that were applied to many countries that ship the United States more products. Officials said Thursday that the agreement would leave the 10 percent tariff on British exports in place but roll back others that Mr. Trump has put on cars and steel. In return, Britain would offer billions of dollars of market access for American beef and other exports. One of the most contentious issues for Britain in recent months has been the hefty tariffs Mr. Trump applied to automotive imports, which threatened British companies like Jaguar Land Rover and Aston Martin. Under the terms of the new arrangement, Britain will be allowed to send 100,000 vehicles to the United States under a tariff of 10 percent. The British government said that any cars shipped beyond that level would face a 27.5 percent tariff, and that U.S. tariffs on British steel would fall to zero. Britain sent 92,000 vehicles to the United States in 2024, according to data from Oxford Economics. U.S. firms in turn would gain more ability to sell to the British government, and streamlined customs procedures when selling into Britain, according to a White House fact sheet. In addition, the governments said they would cooperate on issues of economic security, like enacting global technology controls and setting up a secure supply chain for important products like steel and pharmaceuticals. U.S. officials hope the deal will send a message to other American trading partners that if they agree to open up their markets, they too could see some of the tariffs Mr. Trump has applied rolled back. Mr. Trump’s defenders have praised his deal-making ability and said that the global tariffs he has issued have given him extraordinary leverage over other countries. Critics have painted the president as increasingly desperate to solve a crisis of his own making, as tariffs begin to push up U.S. prices and dampen the economy. Wall Street welcomed news on Thursday, seeing it as a sign that the Trump administration might move to mend ties with other trade partners. The S&P 500 ended the day 0.6 percent higher after paring back some gains from earlier on Thursday. Rob Haworth, a senior investment strategy director at U.S. Bank Asset Management, said the market was “cheering progress on this deal.” But he added, “this is clearly a market on edge, and I think we’re not out of the woods yet.” The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, which represents ranchers, praised the deal for expanding U.S. access to the British market. “With this trade deal, President Trump has delivered a tremendous win for American family farmers and ranchers,” said Buck Wehrbein, a Nebraska cattleman who heads the group. Other analysts were less impressed. Paul Ashworth, the chief North America economist for Capital Economics, wrote in a note that “the ‘full and comprehensive’ trade deal between the U.S. and the U.K. announced in a rush today by President Donald Trump and PM Keir Starmer is no such thing.” “This rush to demonstrate progress on ‘deals’ reveals a rising desperation within the administration to rollback tariffs before they hit G.D.P. growth and inflation,” Mr. Ashworth added. Britain is the United States’ 11th-largest trading partner in goods, representing 2.9 percent of total U.S. trade in the first quarter of the year. The United States sent $80 billion of machinery, airplanes, natural gas, crude oil and other products to Britain in 2024, while it bought $68 billion of cars, pharmaceuticals and other goods in return. The United States is Britain’s largest single trading partner, though most of that trade relationship is in services, which are not affected by tariffs. The Trump administration notified Congress of its intent to negotiate a trade deal with Britain back in 2018. But the talks never got much traction in Mr. Trump’s first term because of British resistance to America’s chemically treated beef and chicken, as well as fears that the United States would push for American companies to gain deeper access to Britain’s National Health Service. During the Biden administration, British officials continued to advocate a trade deal but did not make much progress because of Democrats’ skepticism. In late February, at a party at the British ambassador’s residence in Washington, Mr. Starmer, who was visiting, told Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick of Britain’s interest in focusing on trade, according to a person with knowledge of the conversation. Mr. Lutnick, who oversees a portfolio that includes U.S. trade policy, connected with his counterpart in the U.K. government, Jonathan Reynolds. With Mr. Lutnick focusing on the big picture and Jamieson Greer, the U.S. trade representative, working through the details and execution, the governments hammered out a framework. Mr. Trump also engaged directly with Mr. Starmer, including putting in an 11th hour call to push for more in the agreement, the British prime minister said Thursday. Mr. Trump liked the idea of Britain being the partner for his first deal, given the country’s special relationship with the United States, and he thought the agreement would send a good signal to the world, according to a person with knowledge of his thinking. Britain is also not a major source of automobiles or steel for the United States, which helped persuade American officials to drop the tariffs on those products. The deal also provides Mr. Starmer a much-needed political victory, appearing to vindicate his strategy of cultivating a relationship with Mr. Trump. But some analysts have noted that the agreement left many tariffs in place and skipped over more contentious issues, like opening Britain’s health care market to U.S. companies, or the digital service tax that Britain has imposed on American tech firms. They suggested that trade talks with other governments that are less closely allied with the United States could be tougher to finalize. “If we’re 40 days out from Liberation Day, and the first deal and the only deal is with a country where we run a bilateral trade surplus that was not seen as a problem coming into Liberation Day, I take it as a kind of bearish signal about how difficult the next deals are going to be,” said Josh Lipsky, the chairman of international economics at the Atlantic Council, a think tank. Other industry executives expressed nervousness about the precedent that rolling back tariffs on foreign steel, aluminum and cars might set for other negotiations, or complained about the concessions being unfair for U.S. industry. Matt Blunt, the president of the American Automotive Policy Council, which represents Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, said his group was “very disappointed” that the administration had prioritized Britain over Canada and Mexico, which remain subject to 25 percent automotive tariffs and buy far more from U.S. factories. Mark Landler, Eshe Nelson and Danielle Kaye contributed reporting. Source link #U.S.U.K #Trade #Deal #Builds #Close #Ties #Leaves #Tariffs #Place Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Celtics Remain Betting Favorites to Beat Knicks in NBA Playoffs Despite 0-2 Deficit – Bleacher Report Celtics Remain Betting Favorites to Beat Knicks in NBA Playoffs Despite 0-2 Deficit – Bleacher Report Celtics Remain Betting Favorites to Beat Knicks in NBA Playoffs Despite 0-2 Deficit Bleacher ReportKnicks 91-90 Celtics (May 7, 2025) Final Score ESPNHow the Celtics’ 3-point philosophy has failed them against the Knicks AxiosStarting 5, May 8: Knicks make another massive comeback, 2025 playoffs off to historic start NBABoston Celtics star slams ‘inexcusable’ defeat after team throws away another 20-point lead CNN Source link #Celtics #Remain #Betting #Favorites #Beat #Knicks #NBA #Playoffs #Deficit #Bleacher #Report Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Autographed Warren Buffett books fetch as much as $100,000 at auction Autographed Warren Buffett books fetch as much as $100,000 at auction The Berkshire Hathaway 60th Anniversary book seen at the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholders Meeting in Omaha, Nebraska on May 2, 2025. Alex Harring | CNBC OMAHA, Neb. — Transpacific wire transfers. Checks arriving unexpectedly in the mail. People standing at the ready, poised to shell out tens of thousands of dollars. Such was the scene in the months leading up to and during Berkshire Hathaway‘s annual meeting last weekend. The chance to obtain memorabilia signed by legendary CEO Warren Buffett sent shareholders on a mad dash to participate in a silent auction during what turned out to be a monumental gathering. In true Buffett fashion, it was all for a local charity serving his native Omaha. Attendees of the annual meeting could buy an exclusive anniversary book titled “60 Years of Berkshire Hathaway” on site. However, 18 copies signed by Buffett and author Carrie Sova, were only available via an auction to benefit Stephen Center, a shelter serving the Nebraska city where Berkshire is headquartered. Buffett pledged to match every dollar raised for the organization, which offers housing and addiction recovery programs. With the 94-year-old’s contribution, the event raised more than $1.3 million, according to Chris Knauf, CEO of the Stephen Center. “There are truly no words that can adequately express mine and our gratitude for this incredible generosity,” Knauf told CNBC in an interview. “It’s just phenomenal.” In the first phase, eight books were auctioned online ahead of the meeting, with the highest bid $100,000. Then, on Friday and Saturday, 10 books were auctioned during the “Berkshire Bazaar of Bargains” event. More than 50 bids came in, with some as high as $60,000. The book took on an unexpected significance after Buffett shocked the investing world during the event with a surprise announcement that he planned to step down from the CEO role at year-end. Warren Buffett does a walkthrough of the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholders Meeting in Omaha, Nebraska on May 3, 2025. David A. Grogen | CNBC Knauf said two additional signed books were set aside for donors who were friends with the late Charlie Munger. Buffett’s longtime business partner was featured prominently in the publication. That brought the total number of signed copies supporting the Stephen Center to 20. One of the winning bidders was Matthew Rodriguez, a 43-year-old real estate professional. Rodriguez said he monitored the online auction’s leaderboard, then pulled the trigger with a $50,000 bid about 15 minutes before it closed. “It’s going to be a pretty priceless artifact in my library,” Rodriguez said. As a self-proclaimed “fan boy” of Buffett, Rodriguez said he was excited to support an organization with the billionaire investor’s stamp of approval and liked that every dollar he could contribute would be matched. Because Rodriguez lives in Omaha, he was also familiar with the Stephen Center’s local impact. Wires from Singapore Rodriguez was one of several donors to quickly reached out to the center after Buffett first announced the initiative in the company’s annual shareholder letter released in February. The “Oracle of Omaha” shared details about the book and the plan to fundraise for the local group in the letter, but did not explicitly lay out the steps for obtaining a signed edition. Before shareholders realized there was an auction, some sent checks directly to the charity in case it ended up being first-come, first-serve, Knauf said. When Stephen Center representatives called to let them know the process, some who weren’t planning on coming to the meeting told them to keep the money as donations, citing their affection for Buffett, he said. “What Mr. Buffett has done for me, what Mr. Buffett has done for my family, is immeasurable,” Knauf recalled hearing in these conversations with shareholders. “If the least we can do is write a check for this charity, then we want to do it.” The Stephen Center ended up collecting more than $45,000 from donors tied to Buffett and the annual meeting outside of the auction. Beyond monetary support, Knauf said he expects Buffett’s selection of the center to help spread awareness of the role of shelters play in local communities. “We are a homeless shelter and addiction recovery campus in Omaha, Nebraska,” Knauf said. “Did I ever think that we would be doing wire transfers from Singapore? I did not.” Shareholders enter the venue on the day of the Berkshire Hathaway Inc annual shareholders’ meeting, in Omaha, Nebraska, U.S., May 3, 2025. Brendan McDermid | Reuters Helping the homeless A portion of the funds will help support a renovation of the space housing an addiction recovery program, Knauf said. Other donations will go toward construction of a women and children’s center, he said. These plans come as the organization tries to aid the growing community of unhoused people in Omaha, Knauf said. He pointed to data from an annual count showing the homeless population has grown nearly 10% from last year, with what he called a particularly substantial spike in families, children and senior citizens. For shareholder Jay Ji, this mission hit close to home after his family experienced economic troubles as a child. The investment manager placed a winning bid of around $20,150 and toured the Stephen Center to see first-hand where the money would go. “I want to just do my part,” the 43-year-old said. “I’m more determined to try to find ways to to make sure that … fewer families will experience those kind of hardships, and whenever possible, to deploy some resources to help.” In addition to the signed books, Buffett said during his famous annual question-and-answer session that Berkshire sold around 8,000 copies of the anniversary book at the meeting. A legacy of giving back Also new to this year’s gathering was a gigantic claw crane, which shareholders could pay $10 for a chance to win prizes tied to Berkshire’s holding companies. Proceeds from the crane benefit Hope Center for Kids, an Omaha-based organization providing after-school and summer care for children. Both efforts underscore Buffett’s decades-long emphasis on charitable giving. For more than two decades, Buffett had auctioned off a private lunch to benefit San Francisco-based nonprofit Glide. The final winner of this event in 2022 shelled out more than $19 million. Taken together, the Berkshire CEO’s 21 lunches collectively raised more than $53 million. The Pilot truck simulator seen at the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholders Meeting in Omaha, Nebraska on May 2, 2025. Alex Harring | CNBC Buffett has long pledged to give 99% of his personal fortune to charity. He argued against creating family wealth dynasties by leaving colossal inheritances in a letter last year. “I’ve never wished to create a dynasty or pursue any plan that extended beyond the children,” Buffett wrote in the letter. “I know the three well and trust them completely. Future generations are another matter. Who can foresee the priorities, intelligence and fidelity of successive generations to deal with the distribution of extraordinary wealth amid what may be a far different philanthropic landscape?” Don’t miss these insights from CNBC PRO Source link #Autographed #Warren #Buffett #books #fetch #auction Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Huge Homeless Ministry Opens Hearts, Following Christ’s Example: ‘We’re Going to Serve Everybody’ Huge Homeless Ministry Opens Hearts, Following Christ’s Example: ‘We’re Going to Serve Everybody’ Dallas, Texas. It’s a big city. They call it the big D. It’s an area that’s known for its affluence and its Dallas Cowboys and Dallas Mavericks. But beyond the sports and beyond those who are living well, there’s something going on in Dallas that’s problematic, not only for this city, but for every city in America – homelessness. But there’s a ministry in Dallas that is dedicated to helping to eradicate homelessness. Our Calling ministry follows one fundamental theme: Love your neighbor. Located on the edge of downtown Dallas, the group’s mission is to reach the homeless, teach them to walk with Jesus, and ultimately, get them off the streets. Wayne Walker is the founder and CEO. He says his call to help the unhoused began during his childhood. “So when I was a child, a small child, my parents became foster parents. So I’ve been around homelessness and brokenness my whole life. We had kids living in our home that had escaped all kinds of abuse, including child ************ and sex trafficking. We watched the parents commit crimes and many crimes committed on them,” he recalls. That gave Walker a heart for the lost. A graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary, he had plans of serving in the Middle East as a missionary along with his wife, Carolyn. Instead, they found their mission field to be in their own backyard. “And so really, initially we just wanted to provide a pastor, you know, just a bit of care and provide and support discipleship, one-on-one evangelism, for people under bridges and deep in the woods. I mean, in the early days, I was treating somebody with a gunshot wound, trying to get them to the hospital. And, you know, my office was a van,” he recalls. Now, 24 years later, Our Calling has grown to a staff of 60, more than 3,000 volunteers, and a massive outreach across Dallas County, to help get people off the streets and right with God. Walker explains, “Well, our facility is the only all-inclusive facility in Dallas County, meaning we take everybody. We’re not a shelter. And really, because we’re not a shelter, we have a lot more flexibility. But today, we’ll have a family with children. We’ll have domestic violence victims come in here, and we work with sex trafficking victims every day. We work with single adults. People with pets. We have senior citizens come in here, people dropped off from the hospitals. We have teenage runaways that come in here. You know, we have people of every gender and lifestyle. They’re all welcome here. This is a zero barrier, including those with criminal backgrounds, all are welcome here as we help them in those ways, you know, walk with Jesus and get off the streets.” Walker sees Our Calling as a one-stop shop for those with no place to call home. It provides a litany of important services offering medical care, housing assistance, veterans assistance, and even a women’s center that helps women who are encountering life in the streets. Walker says everyone, regardless of gender, needs to be loved and helped. “We’re going to serve everybody here,” he says. “Faith-based is voluntary. Jesus is not the chips and salsa in order to get the meal here. You know, you don’t have to participate in a ****** study or go to our church service or any of those things because we want to be invitational, right? Like Christ was, you know, when He fed the 5,000, He didn’t force-feed them the Word right. They came to Him because, like, read in the book of Amos, there’s a famine in the land for truth, God’s Word. And so they were coming to Him for truth, and they got hungry. And for us, we see the same opportunity here, to love our neighbors.” Source link #Huge #Homeless #Ministry #Opens #Hearts #Christs #Serve Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

This financial stock is poised to make money, says Miller Tabak’s Maley This financial stock is poised to make money, says Miller Tabak’s Maley There is a lot more upside ahead for Blackstone , according to Matt Maley, Miller Tabak’s chief market strategist. The alternative asset manager moved higher Thursday but is still down about 18% year to date, underperforming the broader market. The S & P 500 has lost 3.5% so far this year. Blackstone was one of three stocks Maley called out as buys during CNBC’s ” Power Lunch .” Blackstone The firm is filled with “the smartest guys in the room,” Maley said. He’s expecting a rebound in Blackstone similar to what the stock saw in 2022, when it lost 40%. In comparison, the S & P 500 fell more than 19% that year. “When it bounced back, it outperformed back in a big way,” he said. These days, he thinks Blackstone is oversold. “When they come out of this downturn, they’re going to make a lot of money,” he said. “I think it’s a real good play down here.” Travelers This insurance play is more of a trade, with a time horizon of about six months, Maley said. Travelers ‘ underwriting was still pretty good when it announced quarterly earrings in April, although it has been dealing with catastrophic losses, he said. It is also a “long way from hurricane season,” Maley added. However, the main reason for his call is a technical one. The stock has been bumping up against the $270 level for about six months, he said. This is the fourth time it’s doing so — and is finally breaking above it, Maley said. “If it can push just a little bit higher and confirm that breakout, it is going to attract a lot of momentum money,” he said. “It should run quite a bit further.” Travelers hit a 52-week high on Thursday and closed at $270.82. It is up nearly 13% year to date. TRV YTD mountain Travelers General Dynamics The world is not becoming any safer — and defense contractor General Dynamics should benefit, Malek said. Global tensions remain high around the globe, witness the current conflict between India and Pakistan, he noted. “Defense spending around the world — Europe, U.S., everywhere — is going to be much better in the years ahead,” he said. General Dynamics is up about 3% year to date. Source link #financial #stock #poised #money #Miller #Tabaks #Maley Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Erin Patterson trial: Video evidence of mushroom cook’s daughter to continue Erin Patterson trial: Video evidence of mushroom cook’s daughter to continue Alleged mushroom poisoner Erin Patterson’s young daughter told police she went to the cinema while her mother hosted lunch to discuss “adult stuff”, her triple-******* trial has heard. Source link #Erin #Patterson #trial #Video #evidence #mushroom #cooks #daughter #continue Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

An underwater volcano off the coast of Oregon may be about to erupt An underwater volcano off the coast of Oregon may be about to erupt About 300 miles off the coast of Oregon, an underwater volcano appears to be rumbling to life. Scientists who have been monitoring the vast submarine volcano for decades say a flurry of recent activity — including an uptick in earthquakes in the vicinity, and swelling of the structure itself — signals that it’s ready to erupt. Current forecasts project that the volcano, known as Axial Seamount, could erupt anytime between now and the end of the year, according to Bill Chadwick, a volcanologist and research professor at Oregon State University. 3D image of Axial Seamount bathymetry. (Oregon State University) Chadwick and colleagues at the University of Washington and the University of North Carolina Wilmington have been using a network of sensors on the seafloor to eavesdrop on the volcano. Over the past few months, the instruments have picked up clues that Axial Seamount is stirring. In late March and early April, for instance, researchers were recording more than 1,000 earthquakes a day. The volcano has also been steadily swelling, a telltale sign that it’s filling with molten rock, Chadwick said. “This volcano is similar to the ones in Hawaii that erupt very fluid lavas,” he said. “They tend to inflate like a balloon in between eruptions. At Axial, the seafloor is actually rising, and that’s a big signal.” But unlike some of Hawaii’s volcanoes, there’s no real danger to humans if Axial Seamount does blow. In addition to being hundreds of miles offshore, the peak is submerged about a mile deep underwater. The volcano is remote enough that even a strong eruption would be undetectable on land. “There’s no explosion or anything, so it would really have no impact on people,” Chadwick said. “Even if you were out on a boat right over the seamount when it’s erupting, you probably would never know it.” But that doesn’t mean the eruption wouldn’t be a spectacular event. During Axial Seamount’s last eruption in 2015, an enormous amount of magma poured out of the volcano, including one lava flow that was about 450 feet thick, according to researchers. “For reference, that’s about two-thirds the height of the Space Needle in Seattle,” Chadwick said. “That’s a lot of lava.” Axial Seamount formed on what’s known as a hot spot, where plumes of molten rock rise from Earth’s mantle into the crust. This geological process is not uncommon: Hot spot volcanoes dot the seafloor, and some even create island chains like Hawaii and Samoa. But what does make Axial Seamount unusual is that it is located right at the boundary between the Pacific plate and the Juan de Fuca plate, two giant tectonic plates that are moving apart. The separation of the plates, and the resulting pressure beneath the seafloor, is constantly fueling volcanic activity and producing fresh ocean crust in the region. Map showing where Axial Seamount is located on the Juan de Fuca Ridge, with relation to the Cascadia Subduction Zone and the Mendocino Fracture Zone. (Susan Merle / Oregon State University) Chadwick has been tracking activity at Axial Seamount for the past 30 years. Over that *******, the volcano has erupted three times: in 1998, 2011 and 2015. As he and his colleagues wait for an impending eruption, they are testing whether repeating patterns of activity at Axial Seamount can produce reliable predictions of when the underwater volcano is ready to go off. But eruption forecasting is a notoriously tricky business. Volcanoes can behave in unpredictable ways, and depending on the type, they can exhibit very different warning signs. “It’s much harder than forecasting the weather, even though the weather is a very difficult thing to forecast already,” said Scott *******, a professor of geophysics at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. “There’s still so much that we don’t understand about what triggers eruptions and how magma moves around underneath the Earth’s surface.” Scientists have had some success with short-term forecasts — usually mere hours ahead of an eruption — that have helped local officials decide whether to evacuate areas or take other precautions. Longer-term forecasts, however, have remained challenging. That’s what makes Axial Seamount such a good natural laboratory for refining tools for eruption forecasting, according to *******. “On land, if you make a forecast that a volcano is going to erupt in a week or a month and you’re wrong, you’ve cost people a lot of money and time and worry,” he said. “But we don’t have to worry about that at Axial Seamount because these eruptions don’t impact anyone. So it’s a nice way to test our models, test our forecast and hold ourselves accountable, but without the same repercussions as with volcanoes on land.” This article was originally published on NBCNews.com Source link #underwater #volcano #coast #Oregon #erupt Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Lyft Q1 earnings report 2025 Lyft Q1 earnings report 2025 Lyft CEO David Risher poses for a portrait in New York City, U.S., April 16, 2025. Kylie Cooper | Reuters Lyft shares jumped 5% after the company lifted its share buyback plan to $750 million in its first quarter earnings report. Shares were as high as 10% post-earnings. Here’s how the ridesharing company did: Earnings: 1 cent per shareRevenue: $1.45 billion vs. $1.47 billion estimate from LSEG Revenues grew 14% from a year ago to $1.45 billion. The company reported net income of $2.57 million, or 1 cent per share. That’s up from a net loss of $31.54 million, or 8 cents per share. Rides jumped 16% during the ******* to 218.4 million, while active riders growth advanced 11% to 24.2 million. Gross bookings surged 13% to $4.16 billion and came in slightly ahead of a $4.15 billion estimate from StreetAccount. The company said the ******* marked the 16th straight ******* of double-digit year over year gross booking growth. “With our expansion into new demographics via Lyft Silver and into Europe with our planned FREENOW acquisition, we’re putting all the pieces in place for sustained, market-leading performance,” wrote CEO David Risher in a press release. For the second quarter, Lyft said it anticipates rides growth in the mid-teens from a year ago. Gross bookings are expected to range between $4.41 billion to $4.57 billion. Stock Chart IconStock chart icon Lyft shares over the last five years This is breaking news. Please refresh for updates. Source link #Lyft #earnings #report Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Even Hideo Kojima Wasn’t Sure That an Iconic Original Game Feature Would be Such a Hit Even Hideo Kojima Wasn’t Sure That an Iconic Original Game Feature Would be Such a Hit Death Stranding 2: On The Beach is undoubtedly one of the most anticipated games of the year, and fortunately, its release is right around the corner. From everything that’s been revealed so far, Hideo Kojima is planning to bring fans another intense adventure. As the gamers count down the release of Death Stranding 2, there’s plenty of speculation on what it might bring to the table when it comes to worldbuilding and narrative. This isn’t surprising considering the success of the original game. However, what might shock you is that the original Death Stranding had a special feature that even Kojima couldn’t dream of as a success story. Hideo Kojima’s riskiest innovation in Death Stranding In an interview with PlayStation Blog, Kojima opened up about the design philosophy and development of Death Stranding 2. The game director explained the various narratives players can expect to see in the sequel and what sort of improvement it will bring in terms of gameplay features. It’s fair to say that the Social Stranding System from the original Death Stranding is one of the most unique multiplayer features we’ve ever seen. When asked if Kojima was surprised by its unique implementations by players, and how it impacted Death Stranding 2, here’s what he had to say; We weren’t initially sure if players would use the SSS, but we found that many players actually enjoyed the feature. Kojima reveals that the development team wasn’t really sure about the Social Stranding System, as they thought players wouldn’t make use of it. However, the feature was surprisingly well-received by players, as they now consider it to be a core part of the experience. Death Stranding 2 will continue to build on this feature, add monorail construction for builders, and enhance rewards. The Social Standing System is marking a return in Death Stranding 2. (Image via Sony) Well, if you aren’t aware of what the Social Standing System is all about, it’s an online feature in the original game that allows gamers to leave behind signs and constructs to help other players. For instance, if you decide to build a bridge to cross a river, it can show up and be used in another player’s world as well. That player can send a “Like” on your bridge if it helped them in the game. Death Stranding 2 is getting its own DualSense Controller The special Death Stranding 2 DualSense controller is coming soon. (Image via PlayStation) It’s not every day that PlayStation decides to give its games a DualSense controller. That’s why it’s truly a special occasion when you get such controllers, and it seems like Death Stranding 2 has made the cut. On the PlayStation Blog, Kojima has unveiled a Death Stranding 2 DualSense controller. PlayStation has worked closely with the game director to make sure that the controller’s design language fits in with the sequel. The controller features a primarily ****** design, orange accents on the handles, and the touchpad. There’s even an engraved Drawbridge logo on the touchpad, and the handles have colored barcodes and numbers which can be seen at in-game terminals when Sam accepts orders. Turn the controller over, and you’ll also see Death Stranding 2: On The Beach engraved If you’d like to own this special DualSense controller, pre-orders will go live on May 22, 2025, at 10 AM EST in the USA and 10 AM local time for other regions. Death Stranding 2 is all set to release on June 26, 2025, on PlayStation 5. Source link #Hideo #Kojima #Wasnt #Iconic #Original #Game #Feature #Hit Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]