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EuroMillions £65m jackpot claimed by *** ticket-holder EuroMillions £65m jackpot claimed by *** ticket-holder A claim has been made by a *** ticket-holder for the Valentine’s Day’s £65m EuroMillions jackpot. National Lottery operator Allwyn said the lucky ticket-holder came forward over the weekend to claim their prize of £65,341,620.50. The operator added that Saturday’s £7.4 million Lotto jackpot had also been claimed by a single ticket-holder. Andy Carter, senior winners’ adviser at Allwyn, said: “It’s been an astonishing weekend of millionaire-making, which promises to keep me and my team very busy.” The EuroMillions winner matched all seven numbers on Friday’s draw – 04, 14, 31, 36 and 38 with Lucky Stars 03 and 10. Fourteen *** players also netted £1 million each in Friday evening’s EuroMillions *** Millionaire Maker draw. Mr Carter said on Monday that seven of those winners are still yet to claim their prize. “We’re asking everyone to check their tickets and we’re very much looking forward to meeting all the lucky winners soon,” he added. Friday’s ticket-holder is the second *** EuroMillions jackpot winner of 2025. Earlier this month, one anonymous ticket-holder scooped a prize of more than £83.4m after it was left unclaimed for 13 days. Winners must claim their prize within 180 days of the draw. Successful players can decide whether they want to be named or remain anonymous upon claiming the prize. The ***’s biggest EuroMillions jackpot, worth £195m, was claimed by an unnamed winner in July 2022. That same year, a then record-breaking £184m was won by Joe and Jess Thwaite from Gloucester, with a Lucky Dip ticket for the draw on 10 May. There are nine EuroMillions prizes yet to be claimed by *** ticket-holders, according to the National Lottery’s website, with the largest standing at £1m. Source link #EuroMillions #65m #jackpot #claimed #ticketholder Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Interactive e-book brings choose your own adventure books to the 21st century Interactive e-book brings choose your own adventure books to the 21st century Handheld gaming consoles often come with high-refresh-rate color screens to give gamers an immersive experience. However, the new ‘Ink Console,’ currently getting ready to launch on Crowd Supply, is taking a different approach to immersion. Instead of offering high FPS numbers and an OLED screen, the specifications include a 7.5-inch e-ink screen with an 800 x 480 resolution. The Ink Console company says was inspired by classic games and choose-your-own-adventure books to create this device. The Ink Console is technically an e-reader that comes with an analog joystick, making it easier to navigate within the gamebook. Aside from that, it also comes with an easy-to-use development kit, making it easy to create your own adventures for personal use or for sharing with others. In line with that, the handheld has a built-in SD card reader which allows you to add more Gamebooks that are still in development. (Image credit: Ink Console / Crowd Supply) One more feature that you’ll find with the Ink Console is its inventory system built into the operating system. This would allow you to collect and manage several items, which you can use throughout your journey with the game world. There’s even a health status system, making it perfect for text-based role-playing and adventure games. The developer said that the idea behind this e-ink gaming console came from text adventure books popular in the 1980s and 1990s, like Zork I and R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps series, wherein the outcome of the story depends on the choices you make as a reader. This e-ink device is designed to put these classics in digital interactive formats, introducing them to younger generations and helping them build a love for reading. Image 1 of 4 (Image credit: Ink Console / Crowd Supply) (Image credit: Ink Console / Crowd Supply) (Image credit: Ink Console / Crowd Supply) (Image credit: Ink Console / Crowd Supply) Aside from that, its digital features, like the aforementioned health status and inventory systems, could add a layer of complexity to the book. This would make these adventure books far more immersive, and could hopefully catch the attention of everyone, young and old alike. The Ink Console would never be able to compete with the latest handheld gaming consoles, like the Lenovo Legion Go S, or tablets, like the iPad. However, since it’s purpose-built for adventure reading, you’ll likely won’t be distracted by notifications and other apps from what you’re doing. This is perfect for kids and adults who love reading and text-based fun — as long as it sells for the right price. Get Tom’s Hardware’s best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox. Source link #Interactive #ebook #brings #choose #adventure #books #21st #century Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Salford face RFL probe after 82-0 Super League defeat Salford face RFL probe after 82-0 Super League defeat The Rugby Football League have launched a compliance investigation into Salford’s decision to field a reserve squad in Saturday’s English Super League opener at St Helens, which they lost by a competition record 82-0. The investigation could result in Salford being charged with a breach operational rules, which if proven would expose the club to a range of potential sanctions. A statement read: “The RFL have today contacted Salford Red Devils to confirm that a compliance investigation will be launched to consider the circumstances around their squad selection for Saturday’s Betfred Super League fixture at St Helens, and whether they have brought the sport into disrepute.” Due to salary cap restrictions, the Red Devils were denied the use of a number of senior players for the match, but head coach Paul Rowley still chose not to start with other, more experienced squad members who were available. Saints’ 15-try romp was the biggest winning margin in Super League history and drew criticism from rivals including Warrington head coach Sam Burgess, who said that it had compromised the integrity of the competition. RFL chiefs met on Monday morning and determined the club could have a case to answer over a potential breach of competition rules, which require that each club “has at all times a squad of players sufficient to meet its obligations in all competitions”. Salford announced the completion of a takeover on Friday, but it is understood that the details are still to be sufficiently finalised for the RFL to lift their current restrictions. Barring further developments, they could find themselves under the same restrictions for their next match, against Leeds on Saturday. Salford boss Rowley said after the Saints defeat that he had been told he could not use any of the players who had featured in the Challenge Cup victory over Midlands Hurricanes the previous Sunday, and that he chose not to name a mixture of youth and experience. “I don’t think it’s the right thing to do,” he said. Salford’s team selection was widely criticised, with Burgess describing the situation as “a ****** mark on the competition” after his own side’s win at Huddersfield on Sunday. Salford, who have seven days to respond, were not immediately available for comment. Source link #Salford #face #RFL #probe #Super #League #defeat Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Trump administration fires and then tries to rehire nuclear weapons workers in DOGE reversal Trump administration fires and then tries to rehire nuclear weapons workers in DOGE reversal The Trump administration has paused the firings of hundreds of federal employees working on the nation’s nuclear weapons programs, in a reversal that has left workers confused and experts cautioning that DOGE’s blind cost cutting will put communities at risk. Late Thursday afternoon, a number probationary employees of the National Nuclear Security Administration were fired, a source in the Energy Department confirmed. This is the entity within the department that manages the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile, among other responsibilities. Three U.S. officials told The Associated Press up to 350 employees at the NNSA were abruptly laid off, with some losing access to email even before they’d learned they were fired, only to try to enter their offices on Friday morning to find they had been locked out. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. One of the hardest hit offices was the Pantex Plant near Amarillo, Texas, which saw about 30% of the cuts. Those employees work on reassembling warheads, one of the most sensitive jobs across the nuclear weapons enterprise, with the highest levels of clearance. The hundreds let go at NNSA were part of a DOGE purge across the Department of Energy that targeted about 2,000 employees. “The DOGE people are coming in with absolutely no knowledge of what these departments are responsible for,” said Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association, referencing Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency team. “They don’t seem to realize that it’s actually the department of nuclear weapons more than it is the Department of Energy.” By late Friday night, the agency’s acting director, Teresa Robbins, issued a memo rescinding the firings for all but 28 of those hundreds of fired staff members. “This letter serves as formal notification that the termination decision issued to you on Feb. 13, 2025 has been rescinded, effective immediately,” said the memo, which was obtained by the AP. The accounts from the three officials contradict an official statement from the Department of Energy, which said fewer than 50 National Nuclear Security Administration staffers had been let go, referring to them as “probationary employees” who “held primarily administrative and clerical roles.” But that wasn’t the case. The firings prompted one NNSA senior staffer to post a warning and call to action. “This is a pivotal moment. We must decide whether we are truly committed to leading on the world stage or if we are content with undermining the very systems that secure our nation’s future,” deputy division director Rob Plonski posted to LinkedIn. “Cutting the federal workforce responsible for these functions may be seen as reckless at best and adversarily opportunistic at worst.” While some of the Energy Department employees who were fired dealt with energy efficiency and the effects of climate change, issues not seen as priorities by the Trump administration, many others dealt with nuclear issues, even if they didn’t directly work on weapons programs. This included managing massive radioactive waste sites and ensuring the material there doesn’t further contaminate nearby communities. That incudes the Savannah River National Laboratory in Jackson, South Carolina; the Hanford Nuclear Site in Washington state, where workers secure 177 high-level waste tanks from the site’s previous work producing plutonium for the atomic bomb; and the Oak Ridge Reservation in Tennessee, a Superfund contamination site where much of the early work on the Manhattan Project was done, among others. Rep. Marcy Kaptur of Ohio and Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, both Democrats, called the firings last week “utterly callous and dangerous.” Not all of the NNSA staff who had been reinstated could be reached after they were fired, and some were reconsidering whether to return to work, given the uncertainty created by DOGE. Many federal employees who had worked on the nation’s nuclear programs had spent their entire careers there, and there was a wave of retirements in recent years that cost the agency years of institutional knowledge. But it’s now in the midst of a major $750 billion nuclear weapons modernization effort — including new land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles, new stealth bombers and new submarine-launched warheads. In response, the labs have aggressively hired over the past few years: In 2023, 60% of the workforce had been there five years or less. Edwin Lyman, director of nuclear power safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said the firings could disrupt the day-to-day workings of the agency and create a sense of instability over the nuclear program both at home and abroad. “I think the signal to U.S. adversaries is pretty clear: throw a monkey wrench in the whole national security apparatus and cause disarray,” he said. “That can only benefit the adversaries of this country.” Source link #Trump #administration #fires #rehire #nuclear #weapons #workers #DOGE #reversal Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Dallas Mavericks assistant coach assaulted girlfriend after she read his texts, police say Dallas Mavericks assistant coach assaulted girlfriend after she read his texts, police say A Dallas Mavericks assistant coach is in custody and is facing charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon following an incident with his girlfriend, say officials. Darrell Armstrong, 56, was arrested in the early hours of Saturday after he allegedly struck his girlfriend on the right side of her face with a gun, according to an arrest affidavit seen by The Dallas Morning News. Dallas cops were called to Armstrong’s home after receiving a distress call just before 4am Saturday. When police arrived, they found the victim standing in a nearby parking lot beside her father, according to the affidavit. Armstrong and the woman are believed to have been dating since September 2024. The incident is said to have unfolded after Armstrong’s girlfriend read a text from another woman on his phone. This prompted the former point guard turned coach to blow up in a rage, striking his partner in the face with his gun and threatening to shoot her with it, according to the affidavit. “Armstrong then loaded a full magazine into the pistol and said ‘I’m going to shoot you’”, the affidavit read. Armstrong is thought to have been drunk when the violence unfolded and was heard on the phone with another person around the time he struck his girlfriend. He also demanded that she hand over the apartment keys, the documents state. Darrell Armstrong was booked into jail before 7:30 a.m. Saturday morning but has since posted bond (Dallas County Jail) Upon finding the distressed woman in the street with her family, officers confirmed a mark on the victim’s right cheek, as per the affidavit. A witness is also said to have witnessed the Mavericks coach drinking and swearing at the victim. Officers knocked on the apartment door and detained Armstrong without incident. A pistol was then found in the home with Armstrong claiming that he had been sleeping with a loaded magazine that had no bullet in the chamber, according to the arrest document. He has since posted bond and been released. Armstrong is also accused of strangling the victim during a previous incident. The woman, too fearful of how the accusations could get him “into any trouble or cause him to lose his job,” did not report the previous instances of alleged violence. Public records seen by The Independent revealed that Armstrong was involved with a criminal case in May 2023 but it did not state the specific offenses. Other criminal records state that he faced property, fraud, and traffic-related charges years before the alleged incident. Armstrong is in his 10th season with the 2011 NBA champions having joined the franchise’s staff in 2009. He played with the Mavericks from 2004 to 2006. The team has confirmed that an employee had been placed on administrative leave but refused to name Armstrong in the statement. “The Dallas Mavericks are aware of an incident involving a member of our staff and are gathering all relevant information surrounding the incident. “We take this matter seriously. The employee has been placed on administrative suspension pending the outcome of legal proceedings. This matter is currently under review by the appropriate legal authorities. Due to this fact, we will allow the legal process to run its course and we will refrain from further comment while proceedings are ongoing”, as per The New York Post. The Dallas Mavericks have an ongoing fundraiser devoted to supporting the loved ones of people who have died from gun violence. Armstrong’s attorney, Larry Taylor, a managing partner with the Cochran Firm, is reportedly conducting an independent investigation into the incident. The Independent contacted Dallas Police, the Mavericks, Armstrong, and his attorney for comment. Source link #Dallas #Mavericks #assistant #coach #assaulted #girlfriend #read #texts #police Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

NBA All-Star Sunday was slightly better than last year, but biggest issues remain NBA All-Star Sunday was slightly better than last year, but biggest issues remain SAN FRANCISCO – This is the NBA’s problem. But it is not the NBA’s fault. Well, it is, but not entirely. Well, the league is responsible, but I’m not sure how it could be avoided. Money, for which we all make compromises, both cosmetic and soul-destroying, is the lifeblood of the league. No one is a volunteer player, coach, general manager or owner. And the NBA’s new media rights deal, for $77 billion over 11 years starting next season, trumps all talk of the supposed corrosive impact of low ratings and the like on the game. GO DEEPER Steph Curry, Jayson Tatum lead team to win in first-ever All-Star tourney But there are, nonetheless, costs to having so much money flowing through the system. Players, an easy and public target, have pulled back dramatically from the effort level requisite of their status as the best in the game in All-Star competition. It’s been hard to watch their displays in the last few All-Star Games and think they still care. But it’s too easy to say it’s because they’re cynical or lazy. Most of today’s players feel as much obligation as their ancestors to leave the game in better shape than they found it. I also think, though, that it’s hard to get a man who’s making $40 million a year to see why he should bust his hump in a game that doesn’t mean anything in the standings. Which leads to the question of why we still go through the trouble of having an All-Star Game. Maybe it’s just an anachronism in this day and age. Yet there was Stephen Curry, from the host Warriors, pulling up and shooting from all over, getting the otherwise sleepy crowd at Chase Center out of their seats, and winning the game’s MVP award. The Bucks’ Damian Lillard pointed out after his Shaquille O’Neal “OGs” team won the championship game Sunday that the All-Star break now comes incredibly late in the NBA regular-season calendar. When play resumes this week, every team in the league will have already played between 52 and 56 games of their 82-game regular schedules. The post-All-Star landscape is an all-out sprint to the playoffs, pedal to the metal. And with the Play-In tournament, more teams still have a shot at the postseason than ever. “It has a little bit to do with the way the game is,” Lillard said. “The game is faster. I think that’s why we’re seeing more injuries happening. The game is faster. It’s more up and down, and the pace is up higher than it’s ever been. The style of play, I think, is just wearing on guys’ bodies. The break is so deep into the season. We’ve only got less than 30 games left. So our bodies are constantly breaking down over the course of a long season. At this point, you’re coming to the break, you’re like, we’re trying to get to the playoffs healthy, you know? “I don’t think it’s a matter of guys not caring. It’s just so much pressure on ‘this guy didn’t win (a championship),’ and they need to do this and do that. So we want to be our best for that. You don’t want to go out there and get hurt when there’s just really nothing on the line.” Sunday’s latest innovation, coming after the innovation of the Elam Ending, having superstar-chosen teams and the return of East versus West in the past few years, was having four teams, each “run” by a **** personality. This cleaved, by amazing coincidence, into a close approximation of what most everyone thinks is the only format left to try — the U.S. versus The World. This included the Candace Parker-GMed team of young stars who made their way to Sunday’s festivities by winning the Rising Stars competition Friday night. (Draymond Green? Not a fan.) “I think I understand this format, why it’s the way it is,” the Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo said before the game. “We see the Rising Stars be a part of it, to hopefully push the All-Stars to play harder during the game. But I’ll be honest with you. I feel like these are grown men. You can’t force anybody to play hard if he doesn’t want to. For me, when I come to this weekend, I come to compete against the best. I take my pregame nap. I get my treatment the night before. I don’t go out. I have my pregame meal. I treat it like a game, because I want to give my A-game against the best players in the world. Some other players — don’t get me wrong — you can go about your day, your routine, any way you want. Some people just want to get out of here.” The All-Star tsuris is only one money issue facing the league. Teams now pay hundreds of millions of dollars to keep the league’s premier players. As the players have absolutely earned. Let me repeat that, for those with poor reading comprehension: as the players have absolutely earned. Dallas general manager Nico Harrison will take all the heat for trading Luka Dončić to the Lakers because it’s his job to do so. And he can be fairly scrutinized both for how the trade of Dončić went down, and how much Harrison got back for his team in return. But I don’t know of any pro team in any sport whose owners don’t make the ultimate decision on what to do about a franchise’s foundational player. It does not matter if Mavs owners Patrick Dumont and Miriam Adelson didn’t draft Dončić, or don’t know him from a can of tuna. They own the Mavericks. It is their decision as to whether the team trades him, not Harrison’s. General managers recommend. Owners decide. And in this case, they decided they weren’t going to give one of the five best players in the world $345 million — which, for a third time, Dončić had absolutely earned – in a supermax extension next year. Instead, they green-lit his dispatch to L.A. We just saw an unprecedented amount of deals at the trade deadline, many of which were done for teams to wiggle beneath the new second apron of the salary cap, with its monster financial penalties, and potential freezing of future draft picks. Teams, even good ones, are not trying to have to make nine-figure luxury tax payments if they hit the repeater tax level. And we are now nearing the point where a team will have to commit close to half a billion dollars for its franchise-level players. Were the Mavericks, then, an ill-fated one-off, or a canary in the coal mine — Kevin Garnett 2.0 — a sign that even today’s billionaires will have limits on what they’ll pay their best players? Other issues are harder to fix. The All-Star Game has been bereft of energy inside arenas around the country for close to a decade now. The people who get or buy tickets for the game are not, for the most part, die-hard fans. They like the game enough, but they’re almost always among the NBA’s myriad corporate sponsor class, not the people who paint their faces or agonize over, say, Luka Dončić being traded. The Basketball 100 The story of the greatest players in NBA history. In 100 riveting profiles, top basketball writers justify their selections and uncover the history of the NBA in the process. The story of the greatest plays in NBA history. Buy (This is why I continue to advocate that a good chunk — could we say, a third of the available seats in a given building — be given out to actual fans of the team in the host city. You can give them out to school kids, season-ticket holders, or whoever you like, as long as they are people who’ll bother to make some noise during the game.) The poor PA guy at Chase (average 2023 price for four tickets to a Warriors game at the $2 billion arena: $608.39) implored fans to make the building louder, but they were content displaying all the enthusiasm of a middle school assembly having to sit through a speech by the class salutatorian on the history of smelting. It did not get loud until a shooting contest, during one of the night’s many loooong delays, from the logo near midcourt between Lillard and a kid plucked from the crowd, for $100,000. If the kid made one logo shot before Lillard made three, the kid would get the hundred large. If Lillard made three, the hundred grand would go to one of his charities. (This was “hosted” by MrBeast, he of the 66 million Instagram followers, and of the 32 million followers on Twitter. I, for one, welcome MrBeast and his BeastMode legion, whom I can only hope has the best interests of mankind at heart as they contemplate world domination.) Lillard knocked down two before the kid, who said he could use the $100K to help his family and “for college,” banked in a logo triple to get the six figures. The crowd did, for a moment, go wild. Congrats, kid. Enjoy your four or five semesters of higher education. Two, if you go private. (Perhaps, I’m being too cynical.) Was Sunday’s product better than last year’s embarrassing effort in Indianapolis, a 211-186 debacle that was so bad even NBA commissioner Adam Silver didn’t try to sell it afterward? Well, let’s say slightly better. Maybe 8 percent better. It’s a start. (Photo of Stephen Curry: Ezra Shaw / Getty Images) Source link #NBA #AllStar #Sunday #slightly #year #biggest #issues #remain Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Why GTA 6’s Online Mode Would Be Wise to Wait a While to Release Why GTA 6’s Online Mode Would Be Wise to Wait a While to Release Abear2125m ago(Edited 21m ago) Of course it will! Like back when Sonic and Mario were bundled with a Genesis and NES, this is what some companies don’t understand, software can move hardware, it just takes amazing software. Now if the game runs better on Pro, I expect Pro’s to move. If Series S is struggling, I still expect Series S to get an uptick in sales bc it’s the cheapest way to play the game. PS5 and Series X will be interesting because they should run about the same. How Rockstar has optimized for Pro and S will be interesting. Devs are releasing their game around this release and not competing with it. Subscribers beware, you gotta buy this game and yes, people will buy a console once they see it in action and the reviews. Next Gen starts when Rockstar drops 6. *******. Source link #GTA #Online #Mode #Wise #Wait #Release Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Trump administration begins firings of FAA staff just weeks after fatal D.C. plane ****** Trump administration begins firings of FAA staff just weeks after fatal D.C. plane ****** Washington — The Trump administration has begun firing several hundred Federal Aviation Administration employees, upending staff on a busy air travel weekend just weeks after a fatal mid-air collision at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in January. Probationary workers were targeted in late night emails on Friday notifying them they had been fired, David Spero, president of the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists union, said in a statement. “It is shameful to toss aside dedicated public servants who have chosen to work on behalf of their fellow Americans,” Spero said. “These employees were devoted to their jobs and the safety critical mission of the FAA. This draconian action will increase the workload and place new responsibilities on a workforce that is already stretched thin.” The impacted workers include systems specialists, safety inspectors, maintenance mechanics, administrative staff and more, the union said. Spero said messages began arriving after 7 p.m. on Friday and continued late into the night. More might be notified over the long weekend or barred from entering FAA buildings on Tuesday, he said. The employees were fired “without cause nor based on performance or conduct,” Spero said, and the emails were “from an ‘exec order’ Microsoft email address” — not a government email address. The firings hit the FAA when it faces a shortfall in controllers. Federal officials have been raising concerns about an overtaxed and understaffed air traffic control system for years, especially after a series of close calls between planes at U.S. airports. Among the reasons they have cited for staffing shortages are noncompetitive pay, long shifts, intensive training and mandatory retirements. In the Jan. 29 fatal ****** between a U.S. Army ****** Hawk helicopter and American Airlines passenger jet, which is still under investigation, one controller was handing both commercial airline and helicopter traffic at the busy airport. Just days before the collision, President Trump had already fired all the members of the Aviation Security Advisory Committee, a panel mandated by Congress after the 1988 PanAm 103 bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland. The committee is charged with examining safety issues at airlines and airports. One FAA employee who was fired over the weekend suggested he was targeted for his views on Tesla and X, formerly Twitter, not as part of a general probationary-level sweep. Both are owned by Elon Musk, who is leading the president’s effort to cut the federal government. Charles Spitzer-Stadtlander posted on LinkedIn that he was fired just after midnight Saturday, days after he started getting harassing messages on Facebook. “The official DOGE Facebook page started harassing me on my personal Facebook account after I criticized Tesla and Twitter,” Spitzer-Stadtlander wrote. “Less than a week later, I was fired, despite my position allegedly being exempted due to national security.” He added: “When DOGE fired me, they turned off my computer and wiped all of my files without warning.” Spitzer-Stadtlander said he was supposed to be exempted from the probationary firings because the FAA office he worked in focused on national security threats such as attacks on the national airspace by drones. The Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency did not immediately respond to the AP’s request for comment. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy wrote on X on Sunday that a team from Musk’s SpaceX will visit the FAA’s command center in Virginia on Tuesday to get a first-hand look at the current system. Duffy also said he would be traveling to Oklahoma later in the week to visit the FAA’s air traffic control training center “to learn more about their education and how we can ensure that only the very best guide our aircrafts.” Kathryn Krupnik and Kris Van Cleave contributed to this report. Source link #Trump #administration #begins #firings #FAA #staff #weeks #fatal #D.C #plane #****** Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

X is blocking links to Signal – The Verge X is blocking links to Signal – The Verge X is blocking links to Signal The Verge Source link #blocking #links #Signal #Verge Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Grading all 26 college football coach hires, from Bill Belichick to Scott Frost Grading all 26 college football coach hires, from Bill Belichick to Scott Frost Five former Power 5 schools made coaching changes in the 2024-25 hiring cycle, down from 14 a year ago, but they involved some big names (most notably: a six-time Super Bowl champion). Group of 5 schools, however, had a staggering 21 coaching changes. One trend this year: 12 of the new FBS coaches were recently FCS (or lower) head coaches. I call it the Curt Cignetti Effect. Here are my grades for the 2024-25 coaching hires. Power conference grades West Virginia (A): Jacksonville State head coach Rich Rodriguez I’m not always a fan of school-coach reunions (see below), but this one is a no-brainer. Rich Rod led the Mountaineers to three consecutive double-digit seasons from 2005-07, a level the program has not achieved since. Yes, he ignited a bitter divorce when he left for Michigan, but that was 17 years ago. More recently, he led Arizona to a Pac-12 title game and FBS newbie Jacksonville State to a Conference USA championship last season. Wake Forest (B+): Washington State head coach Jake Dickert Wake is a tough job for many reasons, but not more so than the one Dickert left behind. After taking over in mid-2021 following Nick Rolovich’s ouster, he led Wazzu to three bowls in four seasons and weathered the Pac-12 bomb that went off two years into his tenure. At Wake, he has the unenviable challenge of succeeding the retired Dave Clawson, who went to seven consecutive bowls. Dickert will need to stamp his own identity on the program. Washington State (B): South Dakota State head coach Jimmy Rogers I’m a big believer that proven FCS coaches are better prepared for an FBS head-coaching job than a hot coordinator or position coach. Rogers, 37, spent the past 12 seasons helping build SDSU into a powerhouse, first as an assistant and then as head coach, winning the 2023 national championship in his first year at the helm. He takes over at a crossroads moment for Wazzu, which is still figuring out its place post-Pac-12 breakup. North Carolina (C): Former New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick I’ve been emphatic that the splashiest hire of the year was a bad idea. Rarely has an NFL hire found success in college, and six rings or not, Belichick is the most extreme example yet. “We consider ourselves the 33rd (NFL) team because everybody involved with our program has had some form or aspect in pro football,” GM Mike Lombardi said recently. I’m sure he’ll be phenomenal at the Xs and Os. But that’s such a small part of a college coach’s job. GO DEEPER Mandel: North Carolina is going to regret hiring Bill Belichick GO DEEPER What’s it like to get recruited by Bill Belichick? ‘It’s pandemonium’ UCF (D): Former UCF and Nebraska head coach Scott Frost This was so weird! Yes, Frost led the Knights to one amazing season in 2017, but that was before he went to Nebraska and, with significantly more resources and recruiting cachet, went 16-31 and was fired three games into his fifth season. UCF was also in the AAC when Frost last coached there; now it’s a Power 4 program. You’d think his 10-26 Big Ten record would raise flags. (That and the fact he was not in much demand in the two years since his firing.) Scott Frost returns to UCF this cycle. Will he find the same success he did before his tough tenure at Nebraska? (Derik Hamilton / Imagn Images) Group of 5 grades Temple (A+): Sam Houston State coach K.C. Keeler This call should have come a long time ago. Keeler, 65, won FCS national championships at Delaware (2003) and Sam Houston (2021) and led the Bearkats’ recent transition to FBS, going 9-3 last season. The guy wins. Utah State (A+): New Mexico head coach Bronco Mendenhall This is an ideal fit for Mendenhall, a Utah native who coached at BYU for 13 seasons (11 as head coach) before leaving for Virginia. He’s well-suited to lead the program into the rebuilt Pac-12 next year. Southern Miss (A): Marshall head coach Charles Huff Marshall and Huff did not see eye-to-eye on a contract extension, so Huff, who upset Notre Dame in 2022, bolted immediately after winning a Sun Belt title. What a coup for Southern Miss, coming off of a 1-11 season. GO DEEPER The football coach who won his conference, then left for its last-place team Charlotte (A): Ohio head coach Tim Albin What a great get. Albin spent 16 seasons on Frank Solich’s Ohio staff before moving up to the head job in 2021. He soon produced three consecutive 10-win seasons and led that program to its first MAC title since 1968. Fresno State (A-): USC linebackers coach Matt Entz Before spending one season at USC, Entz succeeded Chris Klieman (now at Kansas State) as head coach of North Dakota State and led the Bison to three national championships in five years. He’ll thrive at Fresno. FIU (A-): Duke running backs coach ******* Simmons Before joining Duke last season, the Florida native was an accomplished head coach. He took over a downtrodden Florida A&M program in 2018 and led it to four Top 25 seasons in five years, winning the 2023 ****** College Football National Championship. Kennesaw State (B+): Jacksonville Jaguars running backs coach Jerry Mack The 44-year-old took a brief NFL detour after 20 years in college, most recently at Tennessee. Before that, from 2014-17, he was 31-15 as the head coach at North Carolina Central, where he won three MEAC titles. Marshall (B+): NC State defensive coordinator Tony Gibson This is a smart hire by Marshall, given the longtime former Rich Rodriguez assistant spent 13 seasons over two stints at in-state rival West Virginia. At NC State he developed All-Americans Alim McNeill and Payton Wilson. Rice (B+): Davidson head coach Scott Abell While Abell had no prior connection to Rice, he oversaw a remarkable transformation at Davidson, which had won a total of nine games in seven seasons before his 2018 arrival. Abell led the Wildcats to three consecutive FCS playoffs. Appalachian State (B): South Carolina offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains App State has been at its best over the years with dynamic quarterbacks. Loggains coached that position in the NFL for 11 seasons, and over the past two at South Carolina did an impressive job developing Spencer Rattler and LaNorris Sellers. Central Michigan (B): Army offensive line coach Matt Drinkall The former Iowa receiver has some Kalen DeBoer parallels, going 42-17 as an NAIA coach at Kansas Wesleyan from 2014-18. More recently he spent six seasons absorbing Jeff Monken’s winning culture at Army. New Mexico (B): Idaho head coach Jason Eck While he’s never coached in the Mountain West, Eck knows how to build a program. Idaho had endured five consecutive losing seasons before he led the Vandals to three straight FCS playoff berths. Ball State (B): Butler head coach Mike Uremovich This was not an obvious name, but the 48-year-old has both Group of 5 experience as an OC at NIU and Temple and head-coaching experience at Butler, where the program produced three consecutive winning seasons for the first time since 1982-84. Ohio (B): Offensive coordinator Brian Smith Ohio promoted Smith, who served under the departed Albin for three seasons. Before that, he was with Nick Rolovich at Hawaii and Washington State. He’s not as entrenched in Athens as Albin was for so long under Solich. UMass (B): Rutgers defensive coordinator Joe Harasymiak The 38-year-old New Jersey native has spent most of his career in the Northeast, including three seasons (2016-18) as the head coach at Maine, which he took the FCS semifinals. He’s walking into a tough job as UMass joins the MAC. East Carolina (B-): Interim coach Blake Harrell You don’t often see a school retain a guy from the fired coach’s staff, but Harrell impressed the brass by taking over a 3-4 team and winning five of the last six. Now comes the challenge of building his own program. Jacksonville State (B-): Auburn co-DC Charles Kelly The former Jimbo Fisher, Nick Saban and Deion Sanders assistant is back at the school where he landed his first FBS assistant job in 1994. But the FBS newbie may be a tough job for a first-time head coach. Tulsa (B-): East Tennessee State head coach Tre Lamb Tulsa hopes it landed a rising star with the 35-year-old Lamb, a head coach of five seasons, who in 2022, took Gardner-Webb to its first FCS playoffs in 30 years. Of possible concern: He’s yet to notch more than seven wins in a season. UNLV (C+): Former Florida head coach Dan Mullen UNLV hit the jackpot with former Missouri coach Barry Odom, so it’s going back to the SEC well. But while Mullen brings considerable experience, he’s been out of coaching since 2021. The sport has changed drastically in the interim. FAU (C): Texas Tech OC Zach Kittley The youngest FBS head coach, 33, became a hot name when he developed Bailey Zappe into a record-setting passer at Houston ******** and Western Kentucky. But none of his three Texas Tech offenses cracked the top 50 nationally. Sam Houston (C-): Wisconsin OC Phil Longo It’s not every day you see a guy get fired as a coordinator on Nov. 17, turn around and land a head-coaching job. It’s because Longo had a highly successful run as OC at Sam Houston, then in FCS, from 2014-16. Still, weird timing. (Top photos of Dan Mullen and Bill Belichick: Ethan Miller, Peyton Williams / Getty Images) Source link #Grading #college #football #coach #hires #Bill #Belichick #Scott #Frost Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 Has Sold 2 Million Units in 2 Weeks Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 Has Sold 2 Million Units in 2 Weeks Warhorse Studios has announced that Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 has sold two million units in its first two weeks. The announcement was made on the developers X (formerly Twitter) page, where the developers said “A toast to you all for making #KCD2 a triumph!” Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 hit its highest concurrent player count on Steam last week at 256,206 players, far surpassing the original game that released in 2018. On its success, Embracer CEO Lars Wingefors praised the games success and said its a “reminder” to the company about creating “great products”. “When you have right teams, this trust benefits everyone, including gamers, employees and shareholders. I am convinced that we will remain among the industry leaders in our core business verticals in the future.” In Insider Gaming’s official review, Grant Taylor-Hill called Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 a “masterpiece” that was tough to “find one major fault” with. “Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is beautiful in every aspect,” he wrote. “It’s deeply authentic and riddled with emotion and catharsis, and the way the story comes together is just perfection.” Last week, it was announced that Warhorse Studios will be bringing mod support to Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2. “Bohemia is about to get even more exciting,” they said. “Official modding support is coming to [Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2] on Steamworks.” But as for when mod support will be released, remains to be seen. Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 launched on February 4, 2025 for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S|X, and PC. Have you give Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 a go? Let us know in the comments or on our new community forum! For more information from Insider Gaming, read about the Goku SSJ4 mod for Dragon Ball Sparking Zero. Don’t forget to sign up for our weekly newsletter. SUBSCRIBE to our newsletter to receive the latest news and exclusive leaks every week! No Spam. Source link #Kingdom #Deliverance #Sold #Million #Units #Weeks Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

ChatGPT has helped me reorganize my life – here are 6 ways it can help you out too ChatGPT has helped me reorganize my life – here are 6 ways it can help you out too AI is certainly here to stay, and while we’re in a sort of ‘Arms Race’ as different companies put forward their models, ChatGPT is arguably the most prevalent thanks to its open-source nature and the way it’s now tied into pretty much everything — including Apple Intelligence. As a result of it being dumped onto my iPhone, iPad, and Mac, I’ve been trying to use it to, well, get things done. ChatGPT makes AI less of an abstract concept, and more useful in many ways, but it can be tricky at first to get one’s head around plugging it into your daily workflow. That’s why I’ve put together a list of ways to do just that, which should help you get to grips with it. These won’t work for everyone, but I’ve certainly found these tips particularly useful in my day-to-day. Here are some ways to get ChatGPT to help in your daily life. Get organized (Image credit: Future) If you’re anything like me and spend your days working through tasks, having a sort of digital assistant to compile them into a neat list is certainly useful. Ask ChatGPT to make a to-do list for your tasks, or organize them in any way, and it’s happy to do so, and you can set reminders for key tasks throughout the day. ChatGPT can’t send notifications on the free tier at the moment, but in terms of keeping your brain free of clutter, its minimalist app design can lay out your tasks with ease so you can get more done. I’ll occasionally do that and then drop those tasks in a more dedicated task management app, like Things 3. Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more. Shortening and Summarizing Drop a complex email into ChatGPT, and it’ll give you an easier-to-digest summary that’s much simpler, or you can ask it to shorten your meeting presentation to ensure it takes less time to work through. As with anything that involves changing content or creating fresh pieces, you’ll want to read through and check everything is accurate (I’d never trust potentially getting a deadline wrong in an email to a freelance client, of course!), but if you need to ensure your presentation is, say, no more than 10 minutes long without losing key points, ChatGPT can make that happen. Sticking with meetings, you can put a series of topics into ChatGPT and have it create a neat, simple itinerary. My favorite use of this so far was with my wedding speech. I dropped the text into ChatGPT and asked how long it would take to read it on average, then trimmed bits down and expanded others. Research (Image credit: OpenAI) While ChatGPT has always done a pretty good job of researching tasks, it’s not always given proper credit in terms of sourcing and telling you where the information is from. That has improved in recent years, potentially tied to OpenAI’s model being used as an alternative to Google Search, but it’s now much better at informing users where it’s been looking for answers to questions. Deep Research is a new function for paid plan users that can be used for anything from complex, multi-stage queries to comparing a few different products for savvy shoppers, and while it takes longer than standard tasks (up to around half an hour), it could be the best way to go if you need to run detailed comparisons of just about anything. As a big fan of the card game Magic The Gathering, I’ve asked ChatGPT to produce me a deck with certain parameters (playstyle, format, rarity) and it’s done a pretty fantastic job. I’m almost scared about how powerful it’ll be when it comes to using Deep Research for the same goal. Brainstorming and learning (Image credit: Future) ChatGPT does a great job of responding to prompts for small hits of information, making it an ideal mind-mapping partner. You can start with one query, like “What horror movie should I watch today?” and work your way outward until a decision can be made. Naturally, it works great for more important matters, too, but the same can also be said of working in reverse. Throw in a complex topic or idea that you’re trying to understand, and ChatGPT can walk you through step by step, prompting as it goes to help you understand it more clearly. I’ve had Stoicism referenced a few times recently, and so I asked ChatGPT for a quick rundown of its core concepts and principles, as well as key features associated with it. Writing Depending on your daily role, ChatGPT can be a huge help for writing or a tool to avoid. For me, as a writer, it’s the cardinal sin — plagiarism, pulling ideas from elsewhere in the absence of any from the writers themselves. For others, ChatGPT is an easy way to send an email, customizable in terms of tone and length, and can ensure a professional output every time. Your usage will be down to you, but it could prove particularly useful for quickfire responses in busy offices. A workout for break time (Image credit: Future) Finally, something a little different. ChatGPT can be used to provide a quick workout plan for your lunch break so you can target specific areas of your body at the gym, or use a cardio plan to stay in shape even on busy days. It’s relatively specialized knowledge that’s handy to have, it won’t take into account muscle fatigue or anything else like a more bespoke workout app, but if you’re looking to build your biceps or strengthen your core, ChatGPT likely has the answers. I use Fitbod regularly, so I’m covered there, but I can see how ChatGPT could make an ideal ‘pocket personal trainer’ for a gym newcomer, making more complex exercises manageable. How do you use ChatGPT to organize your day? Be sure to let us know in the comments below! Source link #ChatGPT #helped #reorganize #life #ways Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Charities urge ******* clubs to drop live animal mascots Charities urge ******* clubs to drop live animal mascots ******* soccer clubs Eintracht Frankfurt and Cologne have been urged by animal charities to drop their live eagle and goat mascots from matches. Second-tier Cologne, nicknamed the Billygoats, are on to their ninth iteration of Hennes the goat. The animal is paraded around the edge of the pitch before games. Hennes I, who arrived in 1950, has even been included in the club’s Hall of Fame. Bundesliga side Frankfurt, nicknamed the Eagles, let Attila fly around their stadium before games just like eagle mascots at Portugal’s Benfica and Italy’s Lazio. He makes a circuit before landing back on his falconer’s glove. “Whether eagle or goat, for both animals, being in the noisy stadium, the many people and the hectic environment means massive stress,” animal rights organisation PETA said in a statement, adding that transport to the games also causes stress. The ******* Animal ******** Association agrees, stating: “The animal has no place to retreat and cannot escape the hustle and bustle in the stadium.” Cologne deny the goat is mistreated. “Hennes IX belongs to the club like the cathedral belongs to Cologne,” they say. Like his predecessor, he lives in Cologne Zoo. On match days, carer Ingo Reipka drives the goat to the stadium in the special “Hennes-mobile”. “Hennes is so well trained by the keepers at the zoo that he often jumps into the car almost by himself when I arrive,” Reipka said. In 2015, Cologne striker Anthony Ujah grabbed the then Hennes VIII by the horns and pulled the goat towards him during a goal celebraton. The outrage was huge and Ujah apologised publicly. Attila’s handler Norbert Lawitschka said of the 20-year-old bird: “Attila used to take part in shows. He has no stress at Eintracht.” Source link #Charities #urge #******* #clubs #drop #live #animal #mascots Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Why the Iga Swiatek vs. Jelena Ostapenko head to head is not like the other tennis pigeons Why the Iga Swiatek vs. Jelena Ostapenko head to head is not like the other tennis pigeons Welcome back to the Monday Tennis Briefing, where The Athletic will explain the stories behind the stories from the past week on court. This week, one of the strangest head-to-heads in tennis got stranger still; Amanda Anisimova and Joao Fonseca achieved tennis milestones; Diego Schwartzman retired from the sport and Chile’s tennis federation challenged the ITF over the Zizou Bergs vs. Cristian Garin incident at the Davis Cup. If you’d like to follow our fantastic tennis coverage, click here. Is there anything for Iga Swiatek to do in her Jelena Ostapenko matchup? One of the strangest head-to-heads in tennis got a little bit stranger last week. Jelena Ostapenko extended her record against the five-time Grand Slam champion and current world No. 2 Iga Swiatek to 5-0, with a 6-3, 6-1 win in the Qatar Open semifinals. In four of their five meetings, Ostapenko has been the lower-ranked player by a distance. It is the heaviest defeat Swiatek has suffered in any match since a 6-2, 6-0 defeat to the same player in 2019, at a grass-court event in Birmingham, England. Swiatek, 18 then, was a qualifier at the tournament and ranked No. 65. This latest win for Ostapenko, the 2017 French Open champion, was all the more extraordinary given that Swiatek was going for a fourth straight title in Doha. She hadn’t lost there since 2020. Ostapenko, ranked no. 37 when the match took place, needed just 71 minutes to thrash her much higher-ranked opponent before somewhat inevitably losing the final in straight sets to the lower-ranked Amanda Anisimova. This is not like most tennis pigeon matchups — “pigeon” being tennis-speak for when one player becomes easy prey for the stronger predator. Swiatek should be nobody’s pigeon; Ostapenko — her nightmare opponent — is the only active WTA player with a positive record against her. Swiatek’s elite defense and heavy groundstrokes have allowed her to improve against other flat-hitting blasters, but on Friday Ostapenko found the lines time and time again. If there is a weak point in the matchup, it’s the Swiatek serve, which often ends up in Ostapenko’s strike zone, but for nearly the entire match there was just nothing to be done. Tennis is a sport of matchups, and there is no doubt that the uneven record between these two has gotten into both players’ heads. Midway through the second set, Swiatek, normally so calm on court, smashed her racket at a change of ends. Ostapenko laughed to herself in response, in what felt like a microcosm of their rivalry: Ostapenko the antagonist gleeful as Swiatek once again walked into the trap she had laid for her. “I was pretty confident I would beat her, because we played a lot of matches and I know how to play against her. I just was more focusing on myself and knew what I have to do,” Ostapenko said in her on-court interview, adding later that she was pleased with how she read Swiatek’s serve during the match. When The Athletic asked about her extraordinary record against Swiatek in an interview last year, Ostapenko grinned: “That’s my top secret. I’m not going to say anything.” For Swiatek, the only positive is that the Latvian is rarely present at the sharp end of Grand Slams these days — only one of their five meetings has taken place at a major. Despite lots of improvements in other areas from this time last year, Swiatek is no closer to solving her Ostapenko conundrum. GO DEEPER How to be a tennis pigeon: The worst matchups and how players prepare for them Charlie Eccleshare What now for Bergs’ and Garin’s ‘international incident?’ Chile’s tennis federation lost its appeal to tennis authorities over its recent Davis Cup tie with Belgium, issuing a statement in which it decried the “apathy and indifference” of the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and said that Belgian player Zizou Bergs showed “a lack of respect towards his opponent lacking the most basic sporting values”. A spokesperson for Bergs declined to comment; the ITF told The Athletic the appeal process was confidential. The tie had ended acrimoniously when Bergs crashed into Cristian Garin at a changeover during their singles rubber, after breaking the Chilean’s serve. Garin went to the ground. Bergs got a warning for unsportsmanlike conduct. Chile’s team physio assessed Garin. Then, with the area near his right eye swelling and, according to him, his head cloudy, Garin refused to play on. But the Davis Cup’s neutral doctor cleared him to return to the court, so when he did not resume, the umpire issued a series of time violation penalties. Because it was 6-5 to Bergs in the deciding set, the game penalty Garin conceded lost him the match. Chile’s tennis federation argued that the umpire erred when he only issued Garin a warning, saying that an aggression like the one their player experienced, even when unintentional, requires an immediate default. The default rules do not ascribe any outcome or impact of an action when considering whether or not a player should be defaulted, nor do they consider intent — that the collision was accidental should not matter in the final decision. Speaking in a news conference after the match, ITF match referee Carlos Ramos said: “I consider it was a very unfortunate accident between two players — caused unfortunately by a player without any intention.” Cristian Garin fell to the ground after Zizou Bergs ran into him. (Benoit Doppagne / Belga via Sipa USA) Following Chile’s appeal, ITF president David Haggerty sent a letter to Sergio Elias Aboid, president of the Chilean tennis federation. In the confidential letter, which The Athletic has reviewed, Haggerty writes: “There is no ‘mandate’ in the code as to exactly what should happen in the unfortunate and unique circumstances that arose in this match. The referee applied the code in the manner he considered appropriate and whilst not everyone will agree with every decision reached by a Referee, the ITF does not consider that the referee acted outside of his powers. The Davis Cup regulations are clear that such decisions are reserved to the referee.” Haggerty also said the ITF code states a referee’s decisions are final and cannot be overturned, so Chile had no grounds for appeal. Separately, the Chileans argued that the tournament doctor who examined Garin and decided he was fit to play did not ask the proper questions about his symptoms. Haggerty responded: “Although the independent doctor’s opinion did not align with that of the Chilean team doctor, that does not mean that the opinion of the independent doctor was incorrect. The ITF has no reason to believe that the independent doctor did anything other than undertake an appropriate assessment of Mr Garin in order to reach an objective and informed view on whether or not he was fit to continue playing. “Independent doctors are appointed to all Davis Cup ties in order to provide their opinions in circumstances such as these. It was entirely appropriate for the referee to rely upon the determination of the independent doctor in directing that play should resume.” GO DEEPER ‘A shameful international incident’: How Cristian Garin and Zizou Bergs created tennis farce Matt Futterman For Anisimova, a first WTA 1000 title that doesn’t need to be more It’s happened again: A big-hitting American woman touted as the next big thing doesn’t conform to the expectations set for them, enters a lull, then storms back to win a big title. Three weeks after Madison Keys’ *********** Open triumph, Amanda Anisimova delivered the latest don’t-forget-about-me performance, winning Doha for her first title at the 1,000 level — the one just below the Grand Slams. She beat Jelena Ostapenko 6-4, 6-3 for her first title in three years, when she won the Melbourne Summer Set 2, which replaced the usual *********** Open tuneup tournaments during the Covid-19 pandemic. Anisimova barely played in 2023, taking an extended break from tennis starting in the May to address some burnout and her mental health. She had described simply being at tournaments as “unbearable” before beginning her hiatus. Returning to the tour in earnest last spring, she had her best result in Montreal in August, where she made the final before losing to Jessica Pegula. “Super-proud of myself,” she said in comments after the Doha win that the WTA Tour distributed. “Just the way I was able to stay mentally tough in a lot of difficult matches against some amazing players.” In the final against Ostapenko, Anisimova came on court aware she was going to have to find a way to go on the attack, easier said than done against the free-swinging Latvian, who had just dispatched tournament favorite Iga Swiatek in the semifinals. “I knew I was going to step it up and play the most aggressive tennis of the week,” she said. The title puts Anisimova into the world top 20 for the first time, meaning that as well as there being four Americans in the top 10, there are six in the top 20. The Qatar Open title is the biggest of Anisimova’s career to date. (Mohamed Farag / Getty Images) Matt Futterman For Fonseca, a first ATP Tour title built on solidity rather than spectacle Before the latter stages of the Argentina Open in Buenos Aires, Joao Fonseca’s introduction to the tennis world had been all sparkle. Crushed forehands, delivered with a liquid uncoiling of his relatively modest frame. Winners that scud through the court from all directions. The fervor of Brazilian fans, who took over the *********** Open as he knocked out No. 9 seed Andrey Rublev before falling to Lorenzo Sonego, on a court harder to get into than the most exclusive nightclub in Rio de Janeiro. Whatever word comes to mind — aura, presence, stature, charisma — Fonseca, 18, exudes it. In Argentina, he faced a different kind of challenge. In the third of three matches against players from the event’s host nation, always a huge sporting rival to Brazil, he went down two match points to Mariano Navone in the quarterfinals. After saving one in a long rally, he rescued the second with a backhand lasered up the line. Saving match point – Joao Fonseca style @ArgentinaOpen pic.twitter.com/upiImxnR3D — Tennis TV (@TennisTV) February 14, 2025 He blocked out the noise of the crowd by playing to his usual rhythm. After being broken twice — once when serving for the match — against Serbia’s Laslo Djere in the semifinals, he won a third set he shouldn’t have had to play 6-1. In the final, another home hope, Francisco Cerundolo, served for the title twice in the third set. But he was broken each time and it went to a deciding tiebreak. All match long, the crowd jeered and whistled to distraction between Fonseca’s serves. It was the kind of barracking that had rattled world No. 2 Alexander Zverev into losing to Cerundolo from a set up earlier in the tournament. Fonseca, however, the first man born in 2006 to reach an ATP Tour final, won the tiebreak 7-1. There were plenty of winners from the teenager all week long, but his path to victory in Buenos Aires was paved with grit. GO DEEPER The seven points that prove Joao Fonseca is set for tennis stardom James Hansen And adios, El Peque… Last week reminded tennis that nobody does goodbyes like Argentina. A couple of months after Juan Martin del Potro’s emotional farewell in Buenos Aires, one-time world No. 8 Diego Schwartzman said his farewell to the sport at the Argentina Open in the same city. In his final match, in round two against Pedro Martinez, which came after a heroic opening win over Chile’s Nicolas Jarry, Schwartzman wiped tears from his eyes as his opponent went to serve match point. The match paused briefly as the whole stadium chanted his name in appreciation of an extraordinary career. A fitting finale Pure goosebumps as the cathedral of Argentinian tennis hails “Diegooo”@dieschwartzman | @ArgentinaOpen | #ArgOpen2025 pic.twitter.com/0Zf6QrD4wH — ATP Tour (@atptour) February 13, 2025 Standing at just 5 feet 7 inches (170cm) in a sport of giants, Schwartzman was a natural underdog. He punched way above his weight, reaching the world’s top 10 and making Rafael Nadal as uncomfortable as anyone else could manage at the French Open. In 2018, Schwartzman briefly looked like he might do the unthinkable and beat Nadal there in Paris, when he led their quarterfinal by a set and 3-2 with a break of serve. Nadal came back to win after rain forced the match to be suspended until the next day, but it was a demonstration of the phenomenal power Schwartzman could generate despite his stature. His affectionate nickname, “El Peque”, translates to “Shorty”. Schwartzman went one better at Roland Garros two years later by reaching the semifinals, where Nadal beat him again. He qualified for the ATP Tour Finals, for the world’s eight best players, that year, and also made the U.S. Open quarterfinals twice. Only 32, Schwartzman began having physical issues in 2022. He recently got engaged and wants to start a family in retirement. Reflecting on his career, Schwartzman told the ATP last week: “While it has been a little bit sad watching tennis lately, knowing this moment was coming, it was in a good way. I have a lot of amazing memories to think about and achievements to celebrate. I had the opportunity to check off many dreams and do more than people thought was possible for me. “I have a small body, but it gave the biggest players in our history bad moments.” Tennis players seem to be getting taller and taller and more homogenized. An always-popular figure, Schwartzman will be much missed. Charlie Eccleshare Shot of the week Yep, Joao Fonseca hit some winners, didn’t he? Recommended reading: The winners of the week ATP: Joao Fonseca def. Francisco Cerundolo (5) 6-4, 7-6(1) to win the Argentina Open (250) in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is the Brazilian’s first ATP Tour title. Ugo Humbert (2) def. Hamad Medjedovic 7-6(4), 6-4 to win the Open 13 Provence (250) in Marseille, France. It is his second consecutive title at the tournament. Miomir Kecmanovic (7) def. Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (8) 3-6, 6-1, 7-5 to win the Delray Beach Open (250) in Delray Beach, Florida. It is his second ATP Tour title. WTA: Amanda Anisimova def. Jelena Ostapenko 6-4, 6-3 to win the Qatar Open (1,000) in Doha, Qatar. It is the American’s first WTA 1,000 title. On the rise / Down the line Amanda Anisimova ascends 23 spots from No. 41 to No. 18 after her win in Doha. It is a new career high for the American. Joao Fonseca moves up 31 places from No. 99 to No. 68 after his win in Buenos Aires. It is a new career high for the Brazilian. Jelena Ostapenko gains 11 places after her run to the Doha final, returning to the seeded positions for Grand Slams by moving from No. 37 to No. 26. Hamad Medjedovic rises 23 places from No. 96 to No. 73 after his run to the Marseille final. Coming up ATP Doha, Qatar: Qatar Open (500) featuring Carlos Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic, Alex De Minaur, Abdullah Shelbayh. Rio de Janeiro: Rio Open (500) featuring Alexander Zverev, Joao Fonseca, Francisco Cerundolo, Yunchaokete Bu. ***: Sky Sports; U.S.: Tennis Channel Tennis TV WTA Dubai, United Arab Emirates: Dubai Tennis Championships (1,000) featuring Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff, Elena Rybakina. ***: Sky Sports; U.S.: Tennis Channel Tell us what you noticed this week in the comments below as the men’s and women’s tours continue. (Top photo: Getty Images; design: Eamonn Dalton) Source link #Iga #Swiatek #Jelena #Ostapenko #tennis #pigeons Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Days Gone Remastered Upgrade Not Applicable for PS Plus Owners Days Gone Remastered Upgrade Not Applicable for PS Plus Owners · · February 17, 2025 Days Gone Remastered can be grabbed through a $10 upgrade if you already own the game digitally or physically; however, if you own the game from PlayStation Plus, you are not eligible for this offer. Spotted on the r/PlayStationPlus subreddit, the Days Gone Remastered’s fine print clearly states that “Game redemptions via PlayStation Plus are not eligible for upgrade”. PS Plus players must pay $49.99 to play the Days Gone Remastered, whereas digital or disc copy owners can upgrade for only $10. Many players in the subreddit have stated that they would happily upgrade for the earlier price, but now that they have to buy the whole game, they aren’t interested. During PlayStation’s State of Play event, Bend Studio announced that Days Gone Remastered will be released on April 25, 2025. The remastered version has been built for the PS5 and supports Tempest 3D Audio, VRR, DualSense’s haptic feedback, and adaptive triggers. The game also features improved graphical fidelity and better frame rates for the quality and performance modes. Days Gone Remastered includes new modes and features: Horde Assault, a survival arcade mode; Permadeath mode; Speedrun mode; enhanced Photo mode; and new accessibility features. The new features can also be accessed on PC by purchasing the Broken Road DLC, which costs $10. In other news, the director of Days Gone slammed Bend Studio for not protecting the game’s legacy in Astro Bot ads. Also, check out whether the game will receive a sequel. What are your thoughts on PS Plus owners not being eligible for the Days Gone Remastered upgrade? Let us know in the comments or on our new community forum! For more information from Insider Gaming, read about the Goku SSJ4 mod for Dragon Ball Sparking Zero. Don’t forget to sign up for our weekly newsletter. SUBSCRIBE to our newsletter to receive the latest news and exclusive leaks every week! No Spam. Source link #Days #Remastered #Upgrade #Applicable #Owners Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

FAST Telescope Reveals Emission Properties of Three Long-******* Pulsars in New Study FAST Telescope Reveals Emission Properties of Three Long-******* Pulsars in New Study The emission properties of three long-******* pulsars have been observed through the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST). Detailed findings of the study highlight various pulsar emission behaviours, including null phases, asymmetric emissions, and microstructure pulses. The research, conducted as part of the Commensal Radio Astronomy FAST Survey (CRAFTS), aimed to deepen the understanding of pulsar magnetospheric activity and emission mechanisms. The pulsars under examination—PSR J1945+1211, PSR J2323+1214, and PSR J1900−0134—were observed across a frequency range of 1.05 to 1.45 GHz using FAST’s 19-beam receiver. These observations provided crucial insights into the nature of their radio pulses and periodicity. Observations of Pulsar Null Phases According to the study published on the arXiv preprint server, quasi-periodic nulling phenomena were detected in all three pulsars, with durations varying from 57 to 71.44 seconds. The null fractions for PSR J1945+1211, PSR J2323+1214, and PSR J1900−0134 were determined to be 52.46 percent, 48.48 percent, and 27.51 percent, respectively. Nulling, which refers to temporary reductions or cessations in emission, is a key characteristic observed in pulsars and is essential for understanding their emission dynamics. Microstructure and Emission Patterns The study identified complex emission structures in PSR J1900−0134, revealing microstructure pulses as short as 2.05 milliseconds. Asymmetry in pulse emissions was observed in PSR J1945+1211 and PSR J2323+1214, with brighter pulses appearing predominantly in the leading component of their profiles. These findings suggest that pulsar emission is not uniform and that variations occur based on intrinsic factors within the pulsar magnetosphere. Impact on Pulsar Emission Research As reported by phys.org, researchers noted that bright pulses among the three pulsars were observed at different frequencies and intensities. Variations in pulse profiles were evident, with burst states showing increased peak intensities and broader pulse widths. The findings offer a deeper insight into how different pulsar emission phenomena may be interconnected and shaped by multiple factors. The study’s authors highlighted that these observations contribute to a more detailed understanding of pulsar behaviour, particularly regarding emission variability and magnetospheric processes. FAST continues to be a critical tool in exploring such astrophysical phenomena, helping to expand knowledge on neutron stars and their radio emissions. Source link #FAST #Telescope #Reveals #Emission #Properties #LongPeriod #Pulsars #Study Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

ATN International: A Deep Value Play With a High-Powered Dividend ATN International: A Deep Value Play With a High-Powered Dividend ATN International (NASDAQ:) owns and operates communications infrastructure in remote and underserved regions in the western U.S., Alaska, and internationally. The firm operates through a number of subsidiary companies, including Alaska Communications, Choice Wireless, Sacred Wind, and Viya. Investors know ATN for its history of impressive dividend yields and as a value play. The firm offers a dividend yield of 5.66% as of February 13, 2025, an impressive prospect, alongside annualized three-year dividend growth of more than 12%. While this may entice some investors, it’s important to keep an eye out for potential risks this niche telecom company poses for investors as well. ATN’s Dividend and Value Characteristics ATN has increased its quarterly dividend twice in the last three years; the firm paid 17 cents per share for about five years starting in 2017, then bumped up the payment to 21 cents per share in 2022 and 24 cents per share in 2023. Its most recent dividend payment was made in January 2025. The company’s solid dividend history is noteworthy. However, investors might take caution given that ATN currently has a negative dividend payout ratio, meaning that it is continuing to pay dividends despite having taken losses in some recent quarters. This is generally considered to be an unsustainable model, although ATN’s long history of dividend payments has so far been unbroken. ATN is also increasingly flashing value metrics. Its price-to-sales ratio, for example, is a competitive 0.33, while its price-to-cash flow ratio is 1.61. Like ATN’s dividend profile, though, its status as a value pick is complicated by the fact that shares of ATNI have fallen by more than 51% in the year leading to February 14, 2025. The company experienced a 52-week low earlier this year. However, it has more recently been trending upward; the year-to-date performance of ATNI shares as of the date above is 7.0%. By comparison, the S&P 500 has climbed by 4.3% over the same *******. A Closer Look at Performance As of February 14, 2025, the most recent quarter that ATN has reported is Q3 of 2024. For that *******, the company noted a net loss attributable to shareholders of nearly $33 million, wider than losses of $3.6 million in the prior-year *******. However, the latest quarter included a one-time $35.3 million non-cash goodwill impairment charge on some of ATN’s US Telecom segment assets. This segment also faced the conclusion of two government subsidy programs and an expected reduction in construction revenues, compounding the underwhelming performance. Despite these headwinds, ATN’s fundamental customer demand remains strong. The company’s “Glass & Steel” strategy favors faster and more reliable fiber optic infrastructure over wireless, and its “First-to-Fiber” goal drives it to aggressively pursue projects in underserved areas without prior fiber infrastructure. The combination of these two strategies seems to have paid off—ATN reported a 6% year-over-year increase in total high-speed broadband subscribers last quarter, as well as an impressive 20% expansion of broadband homes passed by high-speed data services. At the same time, the company has been able to increase its operational efficiency by reducing capital expenditures to under $86 million for the first nine months of 2024, down from nearly $130 million for the first three quarters of 2023. Potential for Growth, But Risks Remain ATNI shares currently have a rating of Strong Buy based on two analyst recommendations, as well as a consensus price target of $31 per share, which is more than 75% above current price levels. However, the most recent of the two analyst ratings—a reiterated Buy rating by BWS Financial—is from back in November 2024, when shares were trading several dollars above their level on February 14, 2025. ATN may be a case of a company that offers compelling dividend and value prospects on paper—a strong dividend yield and competitive P/S ratio, among other metrics—as well as some potential for growth based on an attractive product offering. However, the challenges to its fundamental operations remain. With a new set of earnings results expected to post on February 19, analysts are predicting another quarter of net losses alongside revenue of more than $179 million. If ATN outperforms—and particularly if it can return to profitability—it may entice more investor interest in this telecom stock. Original Post Source link #ATN #International #Deep #Play #HighPowered #Dividend Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Here’s How Much Cash You Should Have Available When You Retire Here’s How Much Cash You Should Have Available When You Retire / SplashNews.com / / SplashNews.com It’s hard to predict just how much money retirees will need to thrive in the golden years. There are health costs, housing costs and groceries to consider — and that’s without budgeting for any vacations or other discretionary expenses. Each person is a little different when it comes to what exactly they’ll need during the retirement years. Trending Now: The New Retirement Problem Boomers Are Facing Consider This: 4 Things You Must Do When Your Savings Reach $50,000 Renowned financial expert Suze Orman has a recommendation that can help guide retirees when calculating the needs for the future. Here’s the advice she gave on a recent Women & Money episode about how much to save for retirement. Before many people retire, they assess what’s in their retirement accounts to get an idea of how much they have to spend in the coming years. Orman highlighted that these accounts are subject to the health of the stock market, so they could significantly drop at any moment. “It’s not always that stocks go down and bonds go up, or bonds go down and therefore stocks go up. Sometimes everything can go down,” Orman said on the podcast. Read Next: I’m a Retired Boomer — 3 Things I Wish I Had Done Differently To Better Prepare for Retirement Longevity To protect oneself against the volatility of the stock market, Orman recommended having at least three to five years of living expenses in an account that can be easily cashed out without having to sell any stocks or bonds. This can be a retirement account, a checking account or a high yield savings account. The important factor is that its amount is not influenced by the stock market. This way, if the market crashes, you still have a chunk of money that’s not affected and accessible for living expenses. She recommends this because if the stock market took a huge dip, it could take three to five years for it to recover. “If you really wanna be on the safe side, it’s five years,” Orman said. “If you wanna just play it so that you have at least three years, okay, you can do that, as well. Maybe you split it and you do four years.” For those who are planning to retire in the near future and are trying to build that cash reserve, Orman recommended looking at one’s portfolio and seeing which stocks are not doing well. “The markets are quite high right now. If you know you’re going to be retiring shortly, then you would take it from the stocks that either have not performed, or are not going to perform in your opinion… and just do it from there,” she suggested. Story Continues Source link #Heres #Cash #Retire Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

William Byron avoids final-lap ****** to take second straight Daytona 500 William Byron avoids final-lap ****** to take second straight Daytona 500 DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — William Byron became the first back-to-back Daytona 500 winner in five years after sneaking by a huge ****** on the final lap of the race. Byron was in seventh place with a half-lap to go, but all of the cars in front of him suddenly wrecked and Byron sailed through when the seas parted. The Hendrick Motorsports driver became the first to win consecutive 500s since Denny Hamlin — who had been leading when the ****** took place — did it in 2019-20. “Some good fortune, but just trusted my instinct on the last lap there,” Byron said. “That worked out in our favor. … I can’t honestly believe that, but we’re here.” Tyler Reddick finished in second place after following Byron through the ******, and seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson came in third, his best result since retiring from full-time racing. On the white flag lap in overtime, Cole Custer got into Hamlin and triggered his second multi-car “Big One” within the span of 10 laps. Earlier, with five laps to go, a violent ****** sent the race into overtime. Custer turned Christopher Bell, who had been vying for the lead, and sent him into the pack. Several cars slammed into each other and Ryan Preece, who had a terrifying airborne wreck at Daytona in 2023, flipped again after doing a wheelie and went upside down into the wall. He was OK. Another look at the incident. #DAYTONA500 pic.twitter.com/6Y2nK1gYhj — NASCAR (@NASCAR) February 17, 2025 “When the car took off like that and it got real quiet, all I thought about was my daughter,” Preece said. “I was lucky to walk away, but we were getting real close to somebody not being able to.” Other cars involved included Brad Keselowski and Kyle Larson, both of whom only need the Daytona 500 to complete their collection of NASCAR crown jewels. Bubba Wallace, who had a strong car, also was involved. The final half of the race had been mostly clean until the pack began battling hard with 30 laps to go. The pot simmered and then boiled over with 15 laps remaining when Joey Logano tried to make a third lane and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. slid down late to cover the attempt — but it left Logano in no man’s land. It appeared neither Stenhouse nor Logano were willing to give an inch at that point, and it cost them both, as Logano ended up wrecking with Stenhouse. Ryan Blaney, Kyle Busch and several other drivers who had been strong contenders to win just moments before also were involved. The race had yet another weather-plagued start, which has become an unfortunate trend this decade. Reminiscent of the 2020 race, President Donald Trump visited the track only to see the rain hit shortly thereafter. There were only nine green-flag laps before a cold front moved through and caused more than four hours of delays. Finally, after two separate red-flag periods and hours of track drying, the field returned to racing. AJ Allmendinger became the first retirement of the race on Lap 42 when he suddenly slowed with an engine issue. Allmendinger is returning to full-time racing in the Cup Series after spending last year in the Xfinity Series. The first multi-car incident occurred on Lap 63 when Ross Chastain suddenly slowed and Hamlin hit the brakes to avoid him. But Zane Smith ran into the back of Hamlin, who did a half-spin but saved his car while Smith lost control and slammed into Josh Berry — in his first race driving the Wood Brothers’ No. 21 car. Logano won the first stage under caution as a result of that incident. But on the restart of Stage 2, it was Logano who triggered the first major ******. As the cars took the green flag for Stage 2, Logano’s engine suddenly lagged and caused the entire top line to stack up in an accordion effect. Chastain was shot out of line and the ensuing ****** collected a dozen cars — including knocking four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves and former NASCAR champion Martin Truex Jr. out of the race. Chastain also was done for the race with ****** damage. Logano, who had led 43 of the first 71 laps with perhaps the fastest car, finally diagnosed his engine issue: Part of a plastic bag came into the No. 22 car’s throttle body. The team fixed it well enough for him to drive back to a top-10 finish in Stage 2. Logano’s Team Penske teammate Blaney then won Stage 2 after he shoved another Penske teammate, Austin Cindric, out to the lead on the final lap — and then used a push from close friend Chase Elliott to **** Cindric at the line. Overall, Penske swept the first two stages and led 142 of the opening 186 laps until the Stenhouse/Logano big wreck. Required reading (Photo: Mike Ehrmann / Getty Images) Source link #William #Byron #avoids #finallap #****** #straight #Daytona Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Baldur's Gate 3: Why You Should Start Over in 2025 Baldur's Gate 3: Why You Should Start Over in 2025 Baldurs Gate 3 Patch 8 adds 12 new subclasses, cross-play, and Photo Mode, making 2025 the perfect time to restart and explore fresh builds. Source link #Baldur039s #Gate #Start Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Which Interest Rate Should You Care About? Which Interest Rate Should You Care About? Watch out for interest rates. Not the short-term rates controlled by the Federal Reserve. Barring an unforeseen financial crisis, they’re not going anywhere, especially not after the jump in inflation reported by the government on Wednesday. Instead, pay attention to the 10-year Treasury yield, which has been bouncing around since the election from about 4.8 to 4.2 percent. That’s not an unreasonable level over the last century or so. But it’s much higher than the 2.9 percent average of the last 20 years, according to FactSet data. At its upper range, that 10-year yield may be high enough to dampen the enthusiasm of many entrepreneurs and stock investors and to restrain the stock market and the economy. That’s a problem for the Trump administration. So the new Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, has stated outright what is becoming an increasingly evident reality. “The president wants lower rates,” Mr. Bessent said in an interview with Fox Business. “He and I are focused on the 10-year Treasury.” Treasuries are the safe and steady core of many investment portfolios. They influence mortgages, credit cards, corporate debt and the exchange rate for the dollar. They are also the standard by which commercial, municipal and sovereign bonds around the world are priced. What’s moving those Treasury rates now is bond traders’ assessments of the economy — including the Trump administration’s on-again, off-again policies on tariffs, as well as its actions on immigration, taxes, spending and much more. Mr. Bessent, and President Trump, would like those rates to be substantially lower, and they’re trying to talk them down. But many of the president’s policies are having the opposite effect. The president needs the bond market on his side. If it comes to disapprove of his policies, rates will rise and the economy — along with the fortunes of the Trump administration — will surely suffer. Treasuries, not Fed Rates Mr. Bessent may be focusing on Treasury rates, or yields, partly to relieve pressure on the Federal Reserve, which President Trump frequently berated in his first term and on the campaign trail. The Fed’s independence is sacrosanct among most economists and many investors. During the campaign, Mr. Trump repeatedly called on the Fed to lower rates. Yet any threat to the Fed’s ability to operate freely could panic the markets, which, clearly, is not what Mr. Trump wants. To the contrary, when the markets are strong, he frequently cites them as a barometer of his popularity. In 2017, he boasted about the performance of the stock market an average of once every 35 hours, Politico calculated. Shortly after the November election, I wrote that the markets might restrain some of Mr. Trump’s actions. But I wouldn’t go too far with this now. Few government departments or traditions seem to be off limits for the administration’s aggressive changes in policy or reductions in work force, masterminded by Mr. Trump’s sidekick, the billionaire disrupter-in-chief, Elon Musk. Just look at The Times’s running tabulation of the actions taken since Jan. 21. It’s dizzying. Still, so far, at least, the administration has been remarkably circumspect when it comes to the Fed. That doesn’t mean President Trump has entirely constrained himself: He has continued to mock the Fed, saying in a social media post that it has “failed to stop the problem they created with Inflation” and has wasted its time on issues like “DEI, gender ideology, ‘green’ energy, and fake climate change.” Nonetheless, Mr. Bessent said specifically that Mr. Trump “is not calling for the Fed to lower rates.” Instead, the Treasury secretary said, “If we deregulate the economy, if we get this tax bill done, if we get energy down, then rates will take care of themselves and the dollar will take care of itself.” The president has not contradicted him. So far, trying to control the Fed is a line that Mr. Trump hasn’t yet crossed. The bond market is another matter. Longer-Term Rates Treasury rates haven’t usually garnered the big headlines frequently devoted to the Federal Reserve. The Fed is easier to explain. When it raises or lowers short-term rates, it’s clear that somebody took action and caused a measurable change. In reality, when we report that the Fed is cutting or increasing rates, we mean that it is shifting its key policy rate, the federal funds rate. That’s what banks charge one another for borrowing and lending money overnight. It’s important as a signal — a red or green light for stock traders — and “it influences other interest rates such as the prime rate, which is the rate banks charge their customers with higher credit ratings,” according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. “Additionally, the federal funds rate indirectly influences longer- term interest rates.” What causes shifts in longer-term rates is much harder to pinpoint because they are set by an amorphous force: the market, with Treasuries at the core. Day to day, you won’t hear much about it unless you’re already a bond maven. How does any market set prices? Supply and demand, the preferences of buyers and sellers, trading rules — the textbooks say these and other factors determine market prices. That’s true for tangible things like milk, eggs, gasoline, a house or a car. Treasury prices — and those of other bonds, which use Treasuries as a reference — are more complicated. They include estimates of the future of interest rates, of inflation and of the Fed’s intentions. The Fed sets overnight rates, which are involved indirectly in bond rates for a simple reason. The interest rate for a 10-year Treasury reflects assumptions about many, many days of overnight rates, chained together until they span the life of whatever bond you buy. Inflation matters because when it rises more quickly than anticipated, it will reduce the real value of the stream of income you receive from standard bonds. That happened in 2022. Inflation soared and so did yields, while bond prices, which move in the opposite direction, fell — creating losses for bond funds and for individual bonds sold under those conditions. That’s why the increase in inflation in January, to an annual rate of 3 percent for the Consumer Price Index from 2.9 percent the previous month, immediately pushed up the 10-year Treasury yield, which stands near 4.5 percent. Trump administration policies are weighing on bond prices and yields, too. Mr. Bessent has pointed out that oil prices are a major ingredient in inflation and, therefore, bond yields. But whether Mr. Trump will be able to bring down oil prices by encouraging drilling — while eliminating subsidies and regulations that encourage the development of energy alternatives — is open to question. Some Trump policies being sold as promoters of economic growth — like cutting regulations and tax rates — could have that effect. But others, like reducing the size of the labor force — which his deportations of undocumented immigrants and restrictions on the arrival of new immigrants will do — could slow growth and increase inflation. So could the tariffs that he has been threatening, delaying and, in some cases, already imposing. Expectations for future inflation jumped in the University of Michigan’s monthly survey in January. Joanne Hsu, the survey’s director, said that reflects growing concerns about the Trump tariffs among consumers. “These consumers generally report that tariff hikes will pass through to consumers in the form of higher prices,” she wrote. She added that “recent data show an emergence of inflationary psychology — motives for buying-in-advance to avoid future price increases, the proliferation of which would generate further momentum for inflation.” None of that augurs well for the 10-year Treasury yield. Nor does a warning issued by five former Treasury secretaries — Robert E. Rubin, Lawrence H. Summers, Timothy F. Geithner, Jacob J. Lew and Janet L. Yellen — who served in Democratic administrations. They wrote in The New York Times that incursions of Mr. Musk’s cost-cutting team into the Treasury’s payment system threaten the country’s “commitment to make good on our financial obligations.” They applauded Mr. Bessent for assuring Congress in writing that the Treasury will safeguard the “integrity and security of the system, given the implications of any compromise or disruption to the U.S. economy.” But they decried the need for any Treasury secretary to have to make such promises in his first weeks in office. Other potential flash points for Treasury yields loom. The Fed has in the past manipulated the market bond supply by buying and selling securities. It’s reducing its holding now, which could put upward pressure on interest rates — and make the Fed an irresistible Trump target. At the same time, Secretary Bessent is financing the government debt mainly with shorter-term bills but may not be able to avoid increasing the supply of longer-term Treasuries indefinitely, as the federal deficit swells. Yet Congress is reluctant to raise the debt ceiling, which will bite later this year. These are difficult times. So far, the 10-year yield hasn’t shifted all that much. The markets, at least, have been holding steady. Source link #Interest #Rate #Care Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Trump Shocks Europe – The New York Times Trump Shocks Europe – The New York Times Trump Shocks Europe The New York TimesThe Transatlantic Alliance as We’ve Known It Is Dead BloombergPostcard from Munich: American carnage EURACTIVDonald Trump’s assault on Europe The Economist Source link #Trump #Shocks #Europe #York #Times Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

NYT Crossword: answers for Monday, February 17 NYT Crossword: answers for Monday, February 17 The New York Times crossword puzzle can be tough, even if it isn’t the Sunday issue! If you’re stuck, we’re here to help you out with today’s clues and answers. Source link #NYT #Crossword #answers #Monday #February Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Fujitsu celebrates 50 million laptops produced with one-off exquisite kumiko wooden lid model Fujitsu celebrates 50 million laptops produced with one-off exquisite kumiko wooden lid model The production arm of Fujitsu Client Computing recently celebrated its cumulative PC production total passing the 50 million units milestone, reports ITMedia, Japan. As is now customary for the manufacturing company, dubbed Shimane Fujitsu, a special one-off commemorative PC was produced to mark the milestone. In this case, it was an FMV Note C laptop with an exquisitely crafted kumiko wooden lid. The woodcraft here was undertaken by Japan’s Funaki Woodworks. According to the linked report (machine translation), the work took two to three months to complete. This is an example of kumiko craftsmanship, an art established in Japan about 1,500 years ago, during the Asuka *******. In the work you see, the pattern is made from 5,800 wooden pieces using four select wood species. The work was all the more difficult as the laptop lid couldn’t be too thick, meaning artisan Funaki Kiyoshi had to work with wood pieces just 4mm thick. Image 1 of 5 Funaki Kiyoshi(Image credit: ITMedia, Japan) As well as the kumiko work on the laptop lid, you can see some wooden keys on the keyboard deck in the gallery above. Rather than manufacture a full set, the laptop manufacturer selected the S, F, and J keys – an abbreviation of Shimane Fujitsu Japan – to be crafted from wood. 50 million units is an impressive manufacturing total but Shimane Fujitsu has been producing PCs for over 30 years and the total includes desktop PCs. In the video above (apologies for the quality) you can see the firm’s first commemorative PC was a boring-looking old desktop. However, the commemorative model was finished in gold with a shiny gold badge. 島根富士通における累計生産台数5000万台への道のり – YouTube Watch On Moving nearer to the present day, Shimane Fujitsu’s 40 million commemorative PC was more in the arts and crafts vein we see today. This 2019 unveiled one-off was based upon the Fujitsu Lifebook UH-X/C3 design, with a lid transformed by Yakumo lacquerware. The image lacquered here was inspired by a sunset over Lake Sinji near Shimane Fujitsu’s production facility. The last time Fujitsu laptops were in our news was just a month ago when it announced the new FMV Note U model with an Intel Core Ultra 7 chip, a 14-inch screen, and up to 36 hours of battery life. This device was also heralded by the company as the world’s lightest Copilot+ laptop at 1.87 lbs (848g). Get Tom’s Hardware’s best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox. Source link #Fujitsu #celebrates #million #laptops #produced #oneoff #exquisite #kumiko #wooden #lid #model Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Coinbase: Is the Stock a Buy After Earnings? Coinbase: Is the Stock a Buy After Earnings? Most investors avoid investing in stocks during – and after – their earnings results, and for good reason. Volatility is usually at its peak around those days as the market adjusts and digests the financial implications on a company’s stock and its valuation moving forward. However, with the first quarter of 2025 earnings season in full swing, some opportunities cannot be missed. For example, the recent price action in Coinbase Global (NASDAQ:) saw a spike right after the were released, only to see the stock come down by as much as 7.1% at the opening the next morning. With this in mind, investors now need to dig deeper into the implications of this wild swing and whether the downside is justified moving forward. Of course, beyond the fundamentals and key performance indicators (KPIs) in Coinbase, investors need to keep in mind that the price action in and other cryptocurrencies are also a major factor that influences most of the movements in Coinbase stock on any given day. Knowing this, there could be a potential buying opportunity due to this divergence between Coinbase and Bitcoin after the recent earnings. Coinbase is Firing on All Cylinders Looking at the most common financial performance metrics, such as revenue and operating earnings, it becomes clear that Coinbase is firing on all cylinders. Its 7% decline after earnings isn’t really justified today. What investors can blame this on, however, is the possibility that the stock had already priced in this financial growth. This is why looking at the $250 price level on the chart could be beneficial for a potential entry since it has acted as support in the past and would significantly reduce the valuation of the company to a level where today’s (and tomorrow’s) growth won’t be nearly as priced in as it is today. Back to financials, Coinbase reported up to $2.3 billion in total revenue for the fourth quarter of 2024, which translated to a net growth of 88% over the past quarter alone. Transaction revenue followed with a respective $1.6 billion, or 172% jump over the previous quarter as well. Driving these jumps is the fact that the Coinbase app, according to the Apple (NASDAQ:) App Store, went from being the nineteenth-most downloaded financial app six months ago to the seventh-most downloaded app as of February 2025. This means that millions and millions of people signed up for a Coinbase account during this *******. Why? Bitcoin’s bullish price action could be the culprit. As more retail investors got excited about the cryptocurrency market and the fear of missing out (FOMO) kicked in, they saw Coinbase as the most reliable solution to trading Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. With this in mind, investors can point to the impressive growth in some of Coinbase’s balance sheet items, such as dollar resources in custody. These items grew to $9.3 billion worth of cash in the fourth quarter of 2024, up $1.1 billion from the previous quarter, a testament to the vast number of new accounts and deposits from willing Bitcoin and cryptocurrency buyers during this *******. The Market’s Take on Coinbase Stock Moving Forward Here’s why investors should remain excited about Coinbase and its future, but only at the right entry of $250 per share. Some Wall Street analysts are just as bullish (if not more) today on Coinbase as ever. Particularly those from JMP Securities, who decided to reiterate their market outperform rating on Coinbase the morning after the company’s earnings announcement, and this time placing a $475 price target on the stock as well. This new view would call for Coinbase to make a new 52-week high and imply a net 72.2% upside from today’s prices. There is also a reason why the broader market is willing to pay up to 50.9x in a price-to-earnings ratio (P/E) for Coinbase stock, which is a steep premium compared to the rest of its financial sector peers. The sector’s average today stands at 22.5x P/E, so some investors might call Coinbase expensive. However, seasoned professionals would remind them that the market is always willing to pay a premium for the stocks it believes will outperform its peers and industry, as well as the market itself. Considering Coinbase’s double-digit growth rates across the board, this premium seems justified today. Original Post Source link #Coinbase #Stock #Buy #Earnings Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]