Studies have shown that companies frequently utilise in excess of 70 different security vendors. Not only does this create massively complex IT environments, but it is expensive and very difficult to manage.
Last year at the Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholders meeting, the Oracle of Omaha, Warren Buffet, proclaimed, “I don’t know that much about cyber, but I do think that’s the number one problem with mankind.” He ranked cyberattacks above the threat of nuclear and biological warfare. The admission endures at a time when cyberattacks continue to spike. Cyberattacks are projected to cost companies $6 trillion annually by 2021, according to Cybersecurity Ventures, and the market to defend systems, software, and applications is expected to reach $1 trillion within the next three years.
Plenty of vendors have risen up to take advantage. Estimates on the number of companies offering cybersecurity solutions range from 1,500 to well over 2,000. This makes the sea of options very difficult to wade through and differentiate at a time when cyber challenges grow increasingly complex. It also results in companies cobbling together a huge number of products and services that don’t necessarily integrate in a desperate bid to protect their networks.
Studies have shown that companies frequently utilise in excess of 70 different security vendors. Not only does this create massively complex IT environments, but it is expensive and very difficult to manage. This leads to problems like the Ponemon Institute found in its 2017 Cost of Data Breach Study in which companies reported that it took an average of 191 days for them to identify a data breach and another 66 days to contain a breach. These delays underscore how IT departments not only struggle to find problems but also have difficulty containing and fixing them once they are detected. Let’s reflect for just a minute on all the damage that could occur during those months while an attack goes unrecognised. The costs to companies could easily exceed millions of dollars.
This leaves us with thousands of vendors selling security solutions and companies spending record amounts on cybersecurity initiatives yet still grappling with identification and remediation of threats and attacks. This would be easier to wave off if attacks were slowing down, but they are not. This year, 46 per cent of U.S. organisations have already experienced a data breach, which is nearly double (24 per cent) what it was in 2017. Attacks continue to accelerate at an unprecedented rate. In fact, Cybersecurity Ventures predicts that by the end of 2019, a ransomware attack will occur every 14 seconds, which is staggering when you consider that in 2016, the average was every two minutes (still pretty bad).
I could throw scary stats out all day long to demonstrate the gravity of the situation, but one fact is clear: What we are currently doing is not working—despite all of the money and technology being thrown at cyberattack problems. Instead of slapping on a Band-Aid, we need to change the entire way we think about cybersecurity. The fact of the matter is that threats are changing so fast in form and function that companies can’t keep up today. Not only are the nature of attacks persistently evolving faster than enterprises can adjust, but the sheer volume of attacks leaves companies panicked and underprepared.
The ever-changing security threat landscape has become the number one concern for endpoint security buyers according to Gartner. In this year’s Third Annual Study on the Cyber Resilient Organisation, 77 per cent of IT professionals reported that their companies do not have a formal cybersecurity response plan. This must change.
Organisations have to accept that attacks will happen, that despite all of their great defences, issues are bound to slip through. The expectation that something will infiltrate the network, infrastructure, or an employee device must become the norm, and they need to train for what happens when it does. Think of your SecOps team as your very own special forces of sorts, constantly vigilant, set to defend, and ready to respond creatively and rapidly in the event of an attack.
Peer deep: Get visibility of all endpoints—and do so at scale. You have to be able to see what’s happening all across the network. And, here’s the kicker: It needs to be in real time. If data is not current, the potential remains for a system, machine, network, or device to be compromised, and you will lose time fixing it. You also need to view and analyse historical data to identify when issues occurred and how long they impacted your organisation.
Act fast: There must be a plan in place to address an issue at the moment it arises—not days, weeks, or months down the line. Quarantine systems. Shut them down. Contain, contain, contain. Be sure there is a process to take care of any vulnerabilities in real time—one that can instantly scale across all your organisation’s endpoints if needed without negatively impacting the network or end users.
Adapt easily: Today’s environment requires the flexibility to rapidly respond to security issues in seconds. The security products you choose to help you respond shouldn’t require time-consuming coding and testing every time you need a new containment or remediation workflow created. They should easily and intuitively enable you to take action against new threats and unexpected attacks. With so many different security solutions at work in your environment, it is also important to identify platforms that are adaptable and that can integrate easily with the security products you already have in place.
These are strange and dangerous times, but they are not insurmountable. As Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson likes to say: “The separation is in the preparation.” By evaluating and adopting endpoint visibility and control solutions, organisations can discover new ways to mitigate and respond to cyberattacks. Once companies switch from an “if” to a “when” mindset, they can finally mount meaningful defences that will rip off the Band-Aids and enable them to tackle future security issues head-on.


Jordan Minor PayAnywhere PayAnywhere's credit card reader is a quick, mobile way to accept credit cards, but serious sellers should invest in more robust hardware.
Cheap, reliable credit card reader. Solid app. Test Drive preview mode.
Unattractive, awkward dongle. Inconvenient setup for individual sellers. Modern features reserved for more-expensive devices.
PayAnywhere's credit card reader is a quick, mobile way to accept credit cards, but serious sellers should invest in more robust hardware.
Add cash registers to the list of tech being swallowed by mobile devices. Now that your cell phone is essentially a computer (and a pretty powerful one, at that), it's possible to do things in the palm of your hand that once required full-sized computers. If you're a small business, one of those things is accepting credit card payments. Using PayAnywhere, businesses and individuals can easily accept payments from most major credit and debit cards with just a dongle and a mobile device. PayAnywhere's service works well enough, but unless you spring for pricier hardware, it doesn't offer some of the most useful features of devices such as Square, PCMag's Editors' Choice for mobile credit card readers.
To use PayAnywhere, you need two things: a PayAnywhere account and a credit card reader, which PayAnywhere ships you for free when you set up an account. Both are simple for businesses to get, though registering for an account online or over the phone requires a fair amount of personal or business information, such as your social security number. That's standard for this type of service.
However, the process is more protracted for individual sellers without established business credentials. I was initially rejected several times while trying to create a test account, an annoyance I didn't encounter with Square. The app includes a Test Drive mode that lets anyone immediately preview PayAnywhere's functions, but actually getting paid requires some patience.
The reader itself is a black semicircle with a lip that limits its range of movement. It's certainly slimmer than previous bulky PayAnywhere phone cases, but still not as attractive as Square's device. On a phone with a headphone jack positioned in the center, like the Moto X I used for testing, PayAnywhere adds unwanted asymmetry. But, honestly I was thankful the device works with a broad range of iOS and Android phones and tablets, since older PayAnywhere readers were much more limited in terms of compatibility.
Once you've got everything installed and running, using the system is easy. You enter a total, or create an itemized list of charges, and then proceed to checkout. The cart total shows up, including tax, on a screen that you can customize with your company's information and logo. Then you're prompted to hand the device to the customer, who is walked through adding an optional tip. They give it back to you, and you swipe their card or key the number in. Then you give it back, and they sign with their finger and enter an email address or phone number for the receipt. You can also accept cash and split payments. PayAnywhere does a good job of guiding you through the process.
PayAnywhere's app also includes other standard, merchant-friendly features. You can review recent transactions and sales trends on the app or online, set defaults for tax and tip, add discounts, and create a list of items you sell (including express items) to make itemizing receipts even faster and more useful. You can also link your bank account to PayAnywhere, and whatever money you make will be sent to your account within three business days of the transaction.
The only cost associated with PayAnywhere comes when you actually make a sale. The account and reader are both free, and there are no monthly fees. When you make a transaction, PayAnywhere takes a small percentage of the transaction plus a small fixed fee: 2.69 percent plus $0.19 for swiped cards, or 3.49 percent plus $0.19 if you type the card number manually. (The fee hike is because keyed-in cards are inherently less secure, since you're not swiping an actual card.) Those fees mean if you're collecting a few dollars at a time, you'll feel a hit, but they aren't much different than those charged by credit card companies, PayPal, or PayAnywhere's competitors like Square and QuickBooks GoPayment. QuickBooks also offers cheaper rates for subscribers. Keep in mind that none of these readers accepts payments under $1. And if you're an individual looking to exchange money with friends, not as a business, Venmo is the app you want.
If all you want to do is swipe credit and debit cards, PayAnywhere covers all your needs. But the number of new payment options is increasing, leaving businesses reliant on cash registers and basic card readers at a growing disadvantage. Unlike Square, the off-the-self PayAnywhere reader I tested doesn't support EMV chips, which will soon be the new credit card security standard. It also doesn't feature NFC technology (the system that powers services like Apple Pay and Android Pay) like the PayPal Chip Card Reader. PayAnywhere LLC recently released a slate of new hardware, from bulkier dongles to full-on independent payment terminals, that include some or all of this missing functionality. But those devices are pricier and more difficult for individual sellers to acquire.
PayAnywhere is a good option for accepting mobile payments on a variety of mobile devices. It reads cards reliably and has an app that works as intuitively as anyone else's, as long as your account gets approved, which can be unfortunately require more work than it should. It's not as sleek or attractive as Square, though, and the pricing doesn't scale as well as QuickBooks' offering. And if you really want to future-proof your business, you'll want the extra hardware features of PayAnywhere's premium devices, or PCMag's Editors' Choice for mobile credit card readers, Square.
Bottom Line: PayAnywhere's credit card reader is a quick, mobile way to accept credit cards, but serious sellers should invest in more robust hardware.


TOTTENHAM could be about to see another defender leave the club.
Vlad Chiriches is edging closer to a switch to Italian giants Roma.
According to reports in Gazzetta dello Sport, the player's agent has met with Roma officials to discuss a six month loan deal, with an option to buy at the end of the season.
While talks are still ongoing, the two clubs are said to be close to agreeing the move.
His exit would follow on from fellow defender Kyle Naughton, who completed his £5m switch to Swansea earlier this month.
While Spurs have brought DeAndre Yedlin in from Seattle Sounders, he is yet to fully acclimatize to England.
Chiriches has featured in just six league games for Spurs this season.
The 25-year-old was signed from Steaua Bucharest in 2013 for 9.5m euros.


Notorious anti-Semitic comic Dieudonne is being investigated for a Facebook comment poking fun at last week's terror attacks.
French prosecutors said Monday they were investigating notorious anti-Semitic comedian Dieudonne M'bala M'bala for "inciting terrorism" with a Facebook comment that could be interpreted as sympathizing with one of the terrorists who attacked France last week.
"Tonight, as far as I'm concerned, I feel like Charlie Coulibaly", the comedian wrote, playing the expression "Je suis Charlie" ("I am Charlie") off a reference to Friday's kosher supermarket attacker Amedy Coulibaly.
"Je suis Charlie" was adopted as the rallying cry following shootings at satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in which 12 people were killed.
Coulibaly killed four Jewish hostages in the kosher supermarket siege, after murdering a police officer Thursday.
Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve described Dieudonne's remark as "contemptible" as he visited the heart of Paris' Jewish community on Monday.
The comedian made international headlines in 2013 when French footballer Nicolas Anelka was banned for five matches by English football authorities for using the anti-Semitic quenelle gesture - a reverse Nazi salute created by Dieudonne.
He made the controversial Facebook post after attending Sunday's unity march against extremism and terrorism that brought more than 1.5 million people, as well as global leaders, on to the streets of Paris in the wake of the attacks.
Dieudonne described the march - considered the biggest rally in modern French history - as "a magical moment comparable to the big-bang."
The French government has in the past banned Dieudonne's shows because of it's anti-Semitic, and oftentimes inappropriate, content.
He has also been convicted multiple times for inciting racial hatred against Jews. Public authorities say he owes more than 65,000 euros ($84,000) in fines related to past convictions.
In response to the Interior Minister's comment, the comedian said the government was trying to "ruin my life" when "I am only trying to make people laugh."
He has removed the offending remark from his Facebook page - a possible sign of a continued attempt to "reach an accord" with the Jewish community of France.


From left are club members Esther Bornert, Jan Cleveland (club president), Liz Garrett, Lennie Upchurch and Donna Hearn.
Teresa Pankey entertains members of the Eldorado Garden Study Club.
EQUALITY -- On Aug. 16, members of the Eldorado Garden Study Club honored their husbands and guests with a delicious meal at the Red Onion Restaurant in Equality.
The club's theme for the year is "Honoring our Heritage", and was carried out with table decorations of antiques, plants and more, also serving to remind us of the 200th birthday of Illinois.
In line with that theme, the group was entertained by Teresa Pankey (Mama T) with a medley of patriotic songs. The Eldorado club is affiliated with the National Garden Clubs and the Garden Clubs of Illinois.


Blake Shelton had the crew in stiches on the southern California set of his latest round of Pizza Hut ads. The irreverent spots hawking the brand’s new bacon and cheese-stuffed crust pizza are Pure BS — to nick the title of the singer’s 2007 album.
When we caught up with Shelton, he’d had only one day off in the last 10 days. He admits to spending it on the couch. The commercial shoot was shoehorned into an already-packed late summer schedule that includes his current Ten Times Crazier Tour 2014, and taping the seventh season of The Voice.
His autumn calendar doesn’t look any easier. The Voice debuts September 22nd, and his 11th studio album, Bringing Back the Sunshine, streets September 30th. And after a string of dates that included Madison Square Garden and Wrigley Field — where he played to 40,000 fans — his tour wraps up at the iconic Hollywood Bowl on October 4th.
But Shelton isn’t looking this gift-horse in the mouth. He’d just rather it have antlers.
The conversation was interrupted when someone on the set yelled, “Rolling!” People started tip-toeing around the stage, but that didn’t necessarily mean we needed to be quiet.


1. Combine the chicken, 1 tablespoon of the oil, lemon zest, oregano, 1/2 teaspoon of the salt and the pepper in a medium bowl; let stand 15 minutes at room temperature.
2. Meanwhile, combine the yogurt, cucumber, garlic, 1 tablespoon of the oil and 1/4 teaspoon of the salt in a bowl.
3. Brush the tomatoes and onion with the remaining 1 tablespoon oil and season with the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt. Coat a grill pan with cooking spray and heat over medium heat until very hot. Add the onion wedges and cook, turning once, until nicely marked and tender, 8 to 10 minutes; transfer to a plate. Add the tomatoes to the grill pan and grill until starting to wilt, about 3 minutes, turning every minute; transfer to the plate with the onions.
4. Meanwhile, slide 4 pieces of the chicken onto each of 8 skewers. Recoat the grill pan with cooking spray and add the skewers. Cook, turning the skewers every 2 minutes, until browned and cooked through, 8 to 10 minutes. Makes 4 servings.
1. Coat a large baking sheet pan with cooking spray.
2. Combine the olive oil, rosemary, fennel seeds, garlic powder and coriander in a large bowl and mix well. Add the lamb chops and toss thoroughly. Allow to stand at room temperature 10 to 15 minutes.
3. Heat the broiler and place the chops on the sheet pan. Season the lamb on both sides with the salt and pepper. Place 4 inches from the heat under the broiler and cook, turning after 2 to 3 minutes. Cook to desired degree of doneness, about another 3 minutes for medium-rare. Makes 4 servings.
TIP: To crush fennel seeds, use a mortar and pestle or place them in a plastic bag and roll over with a heavy can or rolling pin.
1. Combine 1/4 teaspoon of the oregano, 1/4 teaspoon of the salt, 1/8 teaspoon of the black pepper and the shrimp in a bowl and toss thoroughly.
2. Combine the vinegar, lemon juice, mustard, remaining 1/4 teaspoon oregano, 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon black pepper in a large bowl. Whisk in 3 tablespoons of the olive oil in a slow, steady stream.
3. Add the romaine, cucumbers, tomatoes, bell peppers, and feta and toss thoroughly.
Marge Perry, Newsday's weekly 3 Simple columnist, also writes, broadcasts, teaches and speaks about cooking, food and nutrition. In her long-standing capacity as a Newsday columnist, Contributing Editor for Cooking Light, author of the blog A Sweet and Savory Life, restaurant critic, recent columnist for several leading magazines (Better Homes & Gardens, Prevention); regular contributor to many magazines, (including Self, More, Coastal Living, and Relish) and frequent guest on television and radio, Perry is an accessible and authoritative guide for anyone who cooks, eats and travels.
In addition to Dinner Tonight, the cookbook based on her daily Newsday column, Ms. Perry has contributed recipes and text to nearly 20 other food and nutrition books. Her articles have been syndicated internationally in magazines and books, and her recipes have appeared on the Television Food Network and numerous television news segments.
Perry teaches cooking and food writing at the Institute of Culinary Education in New York City, food writing at mediabistro.com, and is a guest lecturer at the culinary management graduate school at New York University. Her extensive involvement with the food industry ranges from writing and reporting about cooking and nutrition, chefs, restaurants, growers, producers and manufacturers; restaurant reviewing; menu consulting; consumer trend analysis; and volunteering to bring food and cooking/nutrition know-how to those in need. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Libby Hillman Award for Culinary Excellence and the Food Writers’ Symposium scholarship and the Association of Food Journalists Award for Best Food Essay for an ode to her mother and strawberry-frosted cupcakes.


As of 1 p.m. Monday (Feb 29) the Department of Health reported no additional confirmed cases since yesterday and the total number of confirmed cases since the beginning of the outbreak is at 260. These cases include 235 residents and 25 visitors.
Hawaiʻi Island police have located 47-year-old Ken Starr of Kona, who was wanted for sexual assault and other offenses. Starr, who is also known as Stephen Reiling, was arrested March 5 in Hilo and charged with abuse of a family/household member and fourth-degree sexual assault. His bail was set at $1,500.


The talks, dubbed the Ministerial Conference on International Support for the Lebanese Armed Forces, were held under the auspices of U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon.
“The United States intends to provide increased assistance, including on counterterrorism, border security and on other relevant fields,” said the statement.
“The EU will step up its support to LAF civilian-military cooperation tasks and its engagement in the areas of institutional capacity building, integrated border management, CBRN (chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear) threat and demining,” the statement said.
“Participants reiterated their strong support to Lebanon’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, unity and independence, noting the critical role played by the Lebanese Armed Forces in this context,” said the statement.
Lebanon was represented at the conference by Deputy Premier and Defense Minister Samir Moqbel and Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil.
“The Lebanese Army is confronting increasing local and external security challenges in order to protect Lebanon's stability and preserve it, and it is in a dire need for arming and training,” Moqbel told the conference.
And this right here is evidence enough why aoun cannot be a credible option for the presidency. International support comes on the condition that Lebanon meets certain hurdles or " must be paralleled " by the politicians actions. Somthing aoun has proven a failure at time and time again. His MOU is 9 years old yet has not taken action on it. He is a stubborn old man still living in his prime years of 40 somthing and cannot implement policies as he continuously changes his mind to suite his mood. Time for this old cow to be put out to pasture and elect a " strong Christian leader" with conviction character courage and a vision for our country.
The Lebanese Army must be equipped to take down Hezbollah if need be.
In fact, I still believe Hezbollah's armed "Wing" (although Nasrallah rejects this notion of armed wing and considers the entire party to be a single terrorist entity) should be dismantled and merged into the Lebanese Army.
It's the safest and quickest path for the LAF to defend Lebanon from Zombie Cannibal Takfiri Zionist Boogy men !


The Greater Orange Literacy Service (GOALS) will hold the 13th annual adult spelling bee April 29 at the Lamar Orange student center. The event, which includes a box lunch will be from 11:30 AM until 1:30 PM. Kevin Steele, news anchor with channel 12 news, will be master of ceremonies for the event.
The bee will consist of teams of three spellers per team, which are sponsored by local clubs, organizations and local school districts. Each sponsor pays the $250 entry fee. Teams who have already entered include Lamar State College Orange, Lions Club, and the United Methodist women.
Teams can still register for the bee by calling the GOALS office at 886-4311 or by emailing goalsliteracy@sbcglobal.com. Team members will receive a book to study and will include “bee rules”. Words that are used come from the National Spelling Bee.
GOALS is a non-profit , tax exempt organization, and donations to the spelling bee can be made in several categories, including, ABC letters, $25 each; Queen Bee, $500; Pollen Provider, $400; Bumble Bee, $200, and Honey Comb,$100. The audience can also participate in the bee by spelling words on the “audience spell sheet” for $5 each.
GOALS was established in Orange 18 years ago, and offers free tutoring from trained volunteers. for adults 16 years and older. Students learn basic reading GED preparation and English as a second language.


Used to be, morning sports radio in Springfield was only Ned and Scott. Reynolds and Puryear. Five days a week. All you could stand.
Now tune in to "Sports Reporters" on KWTO 98.7 FM in the mornings, and who knows who you'll hear. Reynolds is still the staple as the show nears its 14th anniversary. However, since Puryear peeled off three years ago, it's been a rotating lineup of daily co-hosts.
Tuesdays, a financial planner researched Kansas City Royals batting averages. Twenty-four hours earlier, the co-host was the former director of the Springfield Symphony Orchestra.
Seems as if the show has gone off on a tangent, if not off the rails.
"It did. I don't think there's any question it did," said Reynolds, the longtime face of KYTV sports who's called Springfield home since 1967. "We had to do it when Scott left — and he and I were together for 10 years — we had to change the direction. I could do it myself. But who the hell wants to listen to me for two hours?"
Reynolds offered those words Tuesday at the East Chestnut studio of Meyer Communications.
The show still covers two hours, only now with a shotgun start of 8 a.m., an hour earlier, and it gets quality guests such as USA TODAY baseball writer Bob Nightengale and, on Tuesday, Gabe DeArmond, the publisher of PowerMizzou.com.
However, the must-listen, good cop-bad cop banter between Reynolds and Puryear airs now only on Fridays, leaving for a much more toned-down version of "Sports Reporters" than in its first decade.
That's not to say guests don't know their sports.
Bill Rowe, the former Missouri State athletic director, is Wednesday's co-host.
On Thursdays, it's Kirk Elmquist, a former Liberty University quarterback who has previously worked for the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame, the Springfield Cardinals, Morelock-Ross and more recently, Top of the Rock Golf Course.
The financial planner on Tuesdays is Dennis Heim, a former Missouri State football player.
But the week begins with Ron Spigelman, the former Springfield Symphony conductor and now with Springfield Little Theater.
"To his credit," Puryear said of Spigelman, "he does his research."
Spigelman is on for another reason, however. Reynolds and Ken Meyer, station owner, are fans of classical music. He's known as "Maestro."
"When Scott left, yes, I did think, 'Maybe we've outlasted our welcome here. But when we started punting around the idea of having different co-hosts and doing things a little differently, I decided, 'Heck, let's give this a try and see what happens,' " Reynolds said. "Yeah, sports is my life. That's what I talk about, but it's not all I do.
"Classical musical, for instance, is one of my great passions. And having 'Maestro' on is fine with me. Having anybody else on is fine. I love to visit with people."
"Sports Reporters" isn't the only sport-talk radio on in Springfield. Art Hains, the voice of the MSU Bears, hosts a 4-6 p.m. show called "Sports Talk" on 98.7 FM.
However, the only day to get your fix of the Ned-and-Scott duo is Fridays.
The duo teamed first in January 2001, combining the Ozarks' biggest sports personalities — Reynolds from the local NBC TV affiliate, Puryear then as the News-Leader's sports columnist.
But Puryear, who became the Drury University sports information director in 2005, bowed out in 2011 as his day job tugged at his mic.
In between, however, they created memories. In the early years, Ken Strode, known as "Iggy," worked at the station and worked his connections from St. Louis.
"I remember when Albert Pujols was on when he got called up to the Cardinals," Puryear said. "Iggy tracked Pujols down in the team hotel in Denver. Looking back, that was quite an accomplishment. And Iggy wouldn't take no for an answer."
Puryear wouldn't let Reynolds off the hook on anything. Or callers, for that matter.
"Off the air, people grew to believe we always disagreed," Puryear said. "This year, he picked the Houston Texans to win the Super Bowl. Most co-hosts might have let it go. Of course, I wouldn't let it go."
On Tuesday, Reynolds fielded calls about a lightning-rod topic in sports — the designated hitter in baseball — and advertised a local business with a trivia contest.
Like Hains, his memory and knowledge are impeccable.
The show, he said, is in his wheelhouse. That's why he's kept it alive.
"My roots — this is almost 60 years in this business — and when I got into it, it was radio. I never gave TV a consideration. It's not where my training was. And the TV job happened to come open," Reynolds said. "The TV aspect of things, sure, it's been my career. But by the same token, it isn't the same as radio.
"Radio allows one to be much more creative because you're ad-libbing for the most part. You're going from knowledge. You're not reading everything in sight. Your level of thinking and ability to communicate, that's where my roots are. And it's fun."


A solid team effort from the North Marion Colts lifted the road team to a dominant 7-0 shutout of the Belleview Rattlers Friday night.
Jake Blair stood tall on the mound, pitching six innings and striking out 10 batters, while giving up only one hit and no runs. At the plate the team stayed hot. Noah Lukas (2 hits, 2 doubles, 2 RBIs), Brad Radomski (2 hits, double), Nolan Louis (2 hits, 2 RBIs, double) and Gavin Olson (2 hits) were all leaders offensively for the Rattlers.
The Colts (9-6, 5-1) will be back in action on Tuesday, hosting Leesburg at 6:30 p.m.
Lake Minneola 6, Forest 0: It was a rough night for the Forest Wildcats Friday, getting blanked 6-0 at home to the Lake Minneola Hawks. J.J. Finn (5 IP, 4 Ks) and Harrison Pesola (2 IP, 3 Ks, 0 runs allowed) stood on the mound for the Wildcats in the effort. Offensively, Tyler Fletcher (1 hit), Tyler Thomas (double) and Grant Saucer (stolen base) were top contributors. Forest (5-10, 1-3) plays again Tuesday at East Ridge at 6:30 p.m.


Everton manager David Moyes believes Everton are a big enough club to keep hold of 18-year-old midfielder Jack Rodwell.
Rodwell has attracted strong attention from Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester City and there are fears Everton could lose another starlet the way they did Wayne Rooney to United in 2004.
But Moyes said: ‘We weren’t ready when Wayne came on the scene. We’re ready for Jack Rodwell and our team is good enough to carry a Jack Rodwell and keep bigger suitors away.
‘There’s been quite a lot of attention towards Jack Rodwell for a while. But strangely enough, it was Wayne that worried me a lot more.
'It doesn’t worry me quite so much with Jack because we’ve been through it before.
‘If Wayne was at Everton now I think it would be completely different. We’re competing within Europe, we’re trying to beat the top teams, we’re at that end of the league.


Plenty of sector and industry exchange traded funds have been adversely affected by presidential election year rhetoric. Biotechnology ETFs have, until recently, been hampered by harsh commentary on drug prices from Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
Conversely, it is believed aerospace and defense stocks and ETFs can continue climbing regardless of a Clinton or Donald Trump victory. Both Democratic and Republic presidential front runners may disagree on many hot-button subjects but the two agree on the need to upgrade the our country’s aging infrastructure. Investors can capitalize on the potential increased government backing in the sector with infrastructure-related exchange traded funds.
The Guggenheim High Income Infrastructure ETF (NYSEArca: GHII), which is composed of the 50 highest-dividend-paying global infrastructure companies, has been outperforming other infrastructure sector-related ETFs. GHII’s recent outperformance may be attributed to its asset category allocations. Specifically, the infrastructure ETF is the only one of six ETFs in Morningstar’s Infrastructure category that has a mid-cap value tilt.
“As a country, we get a D on the American Society of Civil Engineers’ broad score card for infrastructure, across roads, bridges, airports, waste water, parks. We would have to spend well north of a trillion dollars just to get us to a B. U.S. infrastructure was installed between the 1950s and the 1970s; we’ve underinvested as a country since then. Public investment is 20% below its 60-year trend,” said CSFB analyst Jamie Cook in an interview with Barron’s.
The American Society of Civil Engineers estimated that $3.32 trillion in infrastructure investments will be required between 2016 and 2025. Infrastructure financing is among the major issues for current presidential candidates. Clinton has proposed $275 billion in infrastructure spending while Trump’s proposal is even larger.
Other infrastructure ETFs include the ProShares DJ Brookfield Global Infrastructure ETF (NYSEArca: TOLZ), FlexShares STOXX Global Broad Infrastructure Index Fund (NYSEArca: NFRA) and the SPDR FTSE/Macquarie Global Infrastructure (NYSEArca: GII).
For more information on the infrastructure sector, visit our infrastructure category.


Tom Stoppard breezes into the hotel room that is crammed with telephones and fax machines. His Canadian publicist is urging the world-renowned British playwright to try to squeeze in "just one more interview." Stoppard falls theatrically into a heap at a visitor's feet. "Oh, God, no, not at all," he shouts sarcastically, grabbing the visitor's legs.
The long campaign to launch the film adaptation of his play "Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead" began for Stoppard at last year's Venice Film Festival, where he won the top prize, and was still going on last week when he wrapped up a round of interviews in New York and headed west for a blitz of interviews in Los Angeles.
The intercontinental commuting is obviously getting to him, but since he has a lot invested in "Rosencrantz," which marks his debut as a film director, he is more forthcoming than he might otherwise be.
The film is, strictly speaking, more a massive revision of the postmodernist play first performed in 1967 than it is an adaptation. Taking two minor characters from Shakespeare's "Hamlet" and thrusting them onto center stage, the play structured itself around some 250 lines liberally borrowed from the Bard. Clearly influenced by Samuel Beckett's earlier "Waiting for Godot" and other self-conscious absurdist drama popular at the time, its irreverent rewriting of a sacrosanct classic made it an instant hit in London and New York, where it won many awards.
Filmed in Yugoslavia, the movie preserves the play's emphasis on language, jokes, and double-talking but, having rewritten Shakespeare, Stoppard has not been shy about rewriting his own play, adding a lot of new and even zanier stage business.
"I didn't feel protective toward the play at all," says Stoppard. "I mean, the play's still there anyway. And there were one or two things that I was quite glad to lose. Also, I've been engaged with the play intermittently in various productions throughout that time. Mainly, it was just an old friend that I could abuse a little bit."
Stoppard, 53, came to direct the film somewhat by chance. After writing the adaptation, he joined producers Michael Brandman and Emanuel Azenberg in interviewing about 20 director candidates.
"I couldn't see why any of them shouldn't do it," he says. "I knew half of them, and some of them were my friends. And somehow, almost in conversation, it began to become clear that it might be a good idea if I did it myself--at least the director wouldn't have to keep wondering what the author meant. It just seemed that I'd be the only person who could treat the play with the necessary disrespect."
Stoppard says surrounding himself with experienced people kept him from feeling too insecure. "The one thing I had sense enough to know was not to try to bluff my way through anything. I wasn't the least bit concerned about my credibility as a director because I had none to lose . . . . It was a small film with big film people working on it. I was in a 'Hamlet' really."
Still, Stoppard found himself relaxing a little too much at times.
"About three weeks into the filming, someone said to me, 'The camera doesn't move a lot in this movie, does it?' And I said, 'Oh my God, that's right, it doesn't!' and I started moving the camera all the time from then on to make up. But then in post-production I realized that when it wasn't supposed to move, it didn't, and when it was supposed to, it sort of did. Once or twice it could have been done differently, but that's true of all films."
In the transposition to the screen, Stoppard has eliminated a lot of dialogue that he felt had lost its zip over the years. In fact, he says that about half the original play is not in the film.
"I think that I was much stricter (this time) about trying to produce things that were engaged with narrative, rather than showing that I could write, which young writers tend to do, bless their little hearts," he says. "And, like any other writer, there are things written 25 years ago that I now find embarrassing."
Interestingly, there's a great deal more Shakespeare in the film than in the original play. "I needed it to provide more continuity to the story. And I perhaps I was braver this time. Perhaps I was more nervous back in 1967 about the conjunction of these two very different languages, I'm not sure. If I had thought about using Shakespeare the way I did (in 1967), I probably would never have written the play. It seems extraordinarily pushy now."
As the original author, he also felt at liberty to add a great deal of material to fit the new medium.
"Let's face it, for better or worse, plays are events in which people are almost continually speaking to each other," Stoppard says. "You speak to the audience through characters. And a film doesn't have to do that. But that doesn't mean it mustn't. People sometimes forget that the old movies they love are called 'talkies.' Because 'Rosencrantz' comes from the stage, and because I've got a notoriety as someone who uses a lot of words . . . there's supposed to be some sort of challenge in making a film of this. I don't think there is. I mean, 'Rosencrantz' ran on Broadway for a year, it's not some esoteric piece, so why wouldn't a cinema audience find it accessible too? So I never had that fear--oh, my God, how do we crack the cinema with this incredibly arcane piece? It's nonsense."
Critics have praised Stoppard's choices for the cast, which features Tim Roth and Gary Oldman in the title roles and Richard Dreyfuss as the enigmatic "Player," the leader of the group of tragedians Hamlet employs for the play-within-the-play. Asked whether Dreyfuss agreed to less than his usual fee, Stoppard bursts out laughing.
"Are you kidding? His usual fee is more than our entire budget!"
The tight budget was apparently felt throughout the production. "I wasn't allowed a lot of takes," Stoppard says. "We only had 38 shooting days, so I was a bit strict with them. I had no experience so I didn't know how long things took myself. Most often, though, we did things in no more than four or five takes."
Perhaps as much for budgetary reasons as for aesthetic ones, the look of the film is severely minimalist.
"I didn't theorize a lot about how it ought to be," Stoppard says. "We just looked around, and liked this and didn't like that. For example, the screenplay opens by the seashore, but we went up and down the bloody Adriatic looking for something as interesting as the bluffs around Lake Ontario in Canada, where we had originally planned on shooting it, and couldn't find anything.
"In the event, that scene took place in a cement quarry in Zagreb. I was quite pleased by the cement quarry, but in the end we don't get to see the seaside. So you start off with some kind of notion about the waves, and the ocean, and the cliffs, and it makes sense, and then you can't get there, so suddenly the cement quarry makes good sense too."
The experience of adapting "Rosencrantz" hasn't convinced Stoppard to change careers, but he doesn't rule out directing another movie.
"Well, I don't want to be a director or anything, but I'd like to write something for cinema instead of for the theater. And if I were to succeed in that, I'd probably like to direct it myself, yes."


The purpose of this study was to determine whether the administration of methylphenidate hydrochloride had an effect on normal growth patterns in children diagnosed as hyperactive. Subjects were assigned to one of three methylphenidate treatment groups by the amount of time (in years) they received medication. Length of treatment ranged from up to one year through three years. Using NCHS growth charts, measurement percentiles (height and weight) were compared to pre-treatment percentiles to determine effect of medication. Results indicated that the administration of methylphenidate had a significant growth suppressing effect on children, the effect was proportional across measurements i.e., height and weight, and pre-treatment height percentiles were lower than national averages. Further analysis of the data suggest a transient effect of growth suppression during long term administration of methylphenidate.
Hibbard, Teri Mitchel, "The Relationship between Methylphenidate (Ritalin) and Growth Patterns in Children Diagnosed as Hyperactive" (1983). Master's Theses. 1594.


RIL was choppy in the previous week. After making a blip above key resistance at Rs 800 it fell steeply 3 per cent on Friday. The stock is trending sideways at a key trend-deciding area; therefore, short-term traders should tread with caution in the ensuing week also. The stock needs to conclusively rally above Rs 800 and also above its 200-day moving average poised at Rs 812 to display initial signs of trend reversal. Subsequent resistances are positioned at Rs 840 and Rs 860. As long as the stock trades below Rs 880 level, its short-term trend will remain down. An emphatic up move above this level will accelerate it northwards to Rs 900-920 levels.
On the downside, a plunge below Rs 760 will pull the stock down to Rs 740 in the short-term.
The stock was volatile and ended on an almost flat note the past week. It is testing key resistance at Rs 2,300 and its daily indicator is displaying negative divergence. A strong decline below its immediate support at Rs 2,260 will be a cue for initiating short position with stop-loss at the same level. In that case, the stock can decline to Rs 2,200 and to Rs 2,100 in the near-term.
On the other hand, strong breakthrough of the above mentioned key resistance will mitigate the negative divergence and take the stock higher to Rs 2,400 in the short-term. Significant resistances beyond Rs 2,400 are at Rs 2,450 and Rs 2,550.
Last week, Infosys fell 3.6 per cent conclusively breaching its key support at Rs 2,300. Medium as well as short-term trends for the stock are down. Both its daily and weekly indicators are featuring in the bearish zone. Short-term traders can initiate fresh short position with stop-loss at Rs 2,260. Downside targets are Rs 2,150 and Rs 2,100.
However, strong rally above its immediate resistance at Rs 2,300 will reinforce near-term bullish momentum and push the stock higher to Rs 2,350 or to Rs 2,400 in the near future. Hence, traders with short-term perspective should tread with caution in the truncated week ahead. Next key resistance above Rs 2,400 is at Rs 2,500.
In the previous week, the stock moved slightly higher and retreated to test its key support at Rs 300. We restate that though the stock’s short-term trend is down, daily indicators are displaying positive divergence signalling that a potential trend reversal is in the offing. Nevertheless, the stock needs to emphatically move above Rs 320 to alter this downtrend. We notice that there is an increase in daily volumes in the past three weeks. A decisive rally above Rs 320 can push the stock higher to Rs 335 or to Rs 345 in the upcoming weeks. The next important resistance is at Rs 365.
An emphatic rally beyond Rs 390 will alter the stock’s medium-term downtrend and take it northwards to Rs 420 levels. On the contrary, decisive decline below Rs 300 can pull the stock down to Rs 270 in the medium-term.


With runners throughout the Victoria Racing Club's spring carnival at Flemington - including Requiem in the Melbourne Cup and Milanova in the VRC Oaks - multi- millionaire racehorse owner Robert Sangster was not exactly under-represented during Australian racing's greatest week.
But the English bloodstock magnate, who first came into Australian racing nearly 25 years ago, could well be a more visible figure than ever on the turf next year if he reverses a long established policy of "selling everything" and opts to race more of his own stock.
"Normally our policy has been to sell, but whether we keep doing that ...," he said, his voice trailing off.
"I am not getting any younger and I probably need a bit of fun. It's all right getting the bank balance in the black all the time but it's not much fun looking at a bank balance.
"I probably will race after this year a lot more. I am selling again nearly everything this year, but I think my policy is going to change and have the colours race again. I don't mind the bank balance, I would rather have a bit of fun."
Fun, on and off the track, and success are two things the 66-year-old Sangster, who parlayed his wealth into a huge bloodstock empire throughout the northern and southern hemispheres, has enjoyed all through an eventful life.
Always an innovator and a man with a shrewd appreciation of value, price and market conditions, Sangster (valued this year by Britain's Sunday Times Rich List as being worth $236 million) has owned some of the most successful racehorses in Europe and Australia in the past 30 years and been a catalyst for some of the most sweeping changes in the international bloodstock sector.
He was one of the first to realise how much money could be made out of shuttling stallions through two hemispheres and pioneered the travel between Europe and Australia of some of the world's leading sires (such as present champion Danehill), enabling them to cover twice as many mares - thus generating twice as much revenue.
It was Sangster who was, throughout the 1970s and 1980s, a member of British racing's "Holy Trinity" (along with master trainer Vincent O'Brien and legendary jockey Lester Piggot).
This trio adopted a revolutionary approach to buying yearlings, racing them and turning them into highly successful and fashionable sires, reckoning that the big money in racing - in Britain at least - was to be had in generating income from stallion fees rather than earning prizemoney.
Thus Sangster's chequebook bankrolled swashbuckling raids on the biggest yearling sales in America and Europe to buy some of the best bred, most blue-blooded yearlings available.
Their rationale was simple, as they knew that should a handful of these gallopers win the hallowed classic races in England, France or Ireland (the 2000 Guineas, English Derby, Irish Derby, Prix du Jockey Club and St Leger for three-year-olds, the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, the Eclipse Stakes or the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe for older horses), they would be worth many times their multi-million-dollar purchase price as yearlings.
"That's why we started to own our own stallions. We bought Deep Diver, a champion sprinter, and Green God, then we bought Sun Prince from Arnold Weinstock and then we thought why are we buying these off other people and letting them make money. We have got the best trainer in the world right on our doorstep - why don't we go to Vincent."
And so they did. As Sangster explains, O'Brien had to put up 15 per cent of the purchase price of the yearling "but he got a free 10 per cent, so he owned 25 per cent of every yearling that we bought. I owned 40 per cent John (Magnier, of Coolmore Stud) took 15 per cent, and then we would look at outside investors".
It was a strategy that enabled the triumvirate to dominate for a 15-year period before the even wealthier Maktoum family became serious horse players and began a spending spree that shows little sign of stopping.
Sangster has, in the past decade, scaled back his interests and has not hesitated to sell any horse - including classic winners - if the price is right, often to Arab interests.
But before the Maktoum's ascendancy, ruthlessly exploiting the efficacy of the fabled Northern Dancer bloodline, he raced gallopers in Britain of the calibre of dual derby winner The Minstrel (1977), Assert (French and Irish derbies, 1982), Golden Fleece (English Derby, 1982), Alleged (Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, 1978-79), Detroit (Arc, 1981) and the horse who is regarded as the best stallion in the world, Sadlers Wells, successful in the Irish 2000 Guineas in 1984.
But his innovation was not confined to the breeding shed and sale ring. He broke new ground in Britain when he imported American legend Willy Shoemaker to England in 1978 to ride his horse Hawaiian Sound in the English Derby.
Although many of the experts scoffed, Shoemaker rated the horse in front perfectly only to be caught right on the line by the favourite, Shirley Heights.
Sangster then brought the teenage prodigy from America, Steve Cauthen, to be his stable rider in 1979 and later brought another leading American to Europe in Cash Asmussen, who successfully based himself in France for many years.
Sangster is credited by many as being the figure most responsible for selling Australian racing to overseas owners after teaming with Colin Hayes in the late 1970s, the pair enjoying a near immediate dividend with Beldale Ball, winner of the 1980 Melbourne Cup.
Sangster has won most of the great races here; in addition to a Melbourne Cup he has won Sydney, Perth and Adelaide cups (Our Paddy Boy and Marooned, whom he declared a certainty, gave him victories at Randwick), as well as Golden Slippers and Newmarket Handicaps with the likes of Marauding, Special and Isca, and the Victoria Derby three years ago with Blackfriars.
Looking back over a lifetime in the sport, he said that the best horse he was associated with was El Gran Senor, a three-year-old who won the English 2000 Guineas in 1984 and was just touched off by Secreto in the English Derby before winning the Irish equivalent, and The Minstrel, a tough-as-teak chestnut, who won at both Epsom and the Curragh in 1977.
Alleged winning the Arc both times, and Detroit also winning the Arc are other victories he highlights.
Sangster agrees that the Melbourne Cup is now the pre-eminent stayers race in the world and, although a citizen and resident of Barbados, he loves being in Australia at this time of the year.
"I don't think there's anywhere in the world where you get three big race days in the week where you get more than 100,000 people at the races. I believe in open competition and it's (the cup) the No.1 stayers' race in the world.
"When I first came out, it was just like a jumps race at Cheltenham (the major British jumping race carnival), but now the standard has improved, the prizemoney has improved, it's great.
"So many people at the Breeders' Cup in America were very jealous that I was having a lot of fun at the Melbourne Cup this week," he said with a smile.


Earlier this week, Sacha Baron Cohen courted a little Hollywood controversy when news broke that he had been reportedly "banned" from the Oscar red carpet if he was going to attend in character as The Dictator.
Now, Admiral General Aladeen himself is speaking out directly to the "Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Zionists" with an amusing public address to the "Great Satan of America." Watch the video!
"On behalf of the nation of Wadiya, I am outraged at being banned from the Oscars by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Zionists," says Aladeen from the confines of his palace. He warns the Academy that if they do not lift their "sanctions" and give him his tickets back by 12 p.m. on Sunday, they will face "unimaginable consequences."
"On top of all of this, I paid Hilary Swank two million dollars to be my date and she will not refund a penny," he continues. "My Sunday calendar is as empty as a North Korean grocery store."
On Thursday, the Academy tried to set the record straight, with a spokesperson telling The Hollywood Reporter, "We don't think it's appropriate. But his tickets haven't been pulled. We're waiting to hear back. … We haven't banned him. We're just waiting to hear what he's going to do."
Now, apparently, the ball is back in the Academy's court with The Dictator's direct "threat."


SIMON MIGNOLET reckons becoming more aggressive is the key behind his return to form Liverpool this season.
The Belgian was dropped during the first-half of the season after a series of blunders during the Reds' slow start to the campaign.
Brad Jones came in for Mignolet after the ex-Sunderland man was axed for the crunch clash with Manchester United in mid-December.
However since coming back into the side for the Boxing Day clash with Burnley, Mignolet has turned his poor form around.
And the player has put it down to a change in mindset.
“We spoke about being more aggressive when I was out of the team, to be predominantly more dominant and demanding and commanding,” he said.
“That is something we analysed.
“I have always been one who tries to speak as much and give as much information to defenders as I can when they are in front of me, to organise at set pieces. It’s more the body language and the commanding voice to get the message over to the players which has changed.
Liverpool take on Aston Villa in the FA Cup semi-finals at Wembley on Sunday.
And Mignolet admits he's desperate to claim a win and grab some silverware this season.
“Hopefully we can create some history for ourselves. Liverpool has not won it since 2006 and we don’t want to wait for a ten year anniversary,” he added.


PowerColor PCS+ HD6950 2GB GDDR5 (Vortex II Edition) is a graphics card with one really efficient and stylish dual-fan cooling system.
The Vortex II cooler has two moveable fans which can be moved away from the fins, they’re quiet even during intensive gaming, and the card is factory overclocked from reference 800MHz to 850MHz which gives extra performance punch on the card.
The only downside to this dual slot cooler is that the card with two raised fans (Vortex position) will take up three slots. However, Vortex position results in only minimal cooling improvements over the default fans position (two slots) so the GPU will cooled just fine either way. The temperatures were around 78°C during gaming tasks, whereas idle mode resulted in temperatures around 37°C.
The results show about 6% performance increase compared to reference HD 6950, but you can always overclock it further because this PowerColor card has a Vortex II cooler that lets you do it.
The downside is that this card is priced at about €240, here, which is more than €40 higher than the reference version. Of course, that sort of cash can get you a reference HD 6970. On the other hand, this is an overclocked card with a specially designed silent cooler that will definitely be bragging material. Furthermore, we effectively managed to turn it into a HD 6970 with Vortex II cooling by unlocking all 1536 shaders.


WHAT would you do if you came upon a fight between a violent attacker and a weaker victim? Would you intervene? Go for help? Or merely join the crowd of onlookers? Now that you’ve determined your answer, think a bit deeper. Is that really what you would do, or is it only what you think you would do? It’s a question that plagues morality research: how do we differentiate moral behaviour from moral judgement when the hypothetical dilemma cannot be replicated without risk of harm to the participants?
Enter immersive virtual reality (IVR). Though you might think people would act differently in virtual situations, studies consistently show that they react just as they would in real life, as long as the environments seem realistic enough.
For example, Mel Slater of the University of Barcelona, Spain, and University College London, has used IVR to recreate some of psychology’s most controversial experiments, including the 1960s obedience experiments by Stanley Milgram in which participants were instructed by an authority to administer what they believed were real electric shocks to other study participants.
Slater’s virtualised experiments got similar results to the originals, strongly suggesting that people’s brains react to virtual situations in analogous ways to real ones. After all, even though participants know that they are not actually harming anyone in the virtual experiment, when they hear the shouts of pain and protest from a scared avatar, they find themselves reluctant to administer virtual electric shocks.
For instance, take the classic dilemma, in which a runaway trolley is about to kill five people unless you throw a switch and divert it to another track, where it will kill just one (discussed by Peter Singer on page 41). Most people agree that sacrificing one life for five is the right thing to do – but would you actually throw the switch when it came down to it or would emotions stop you? This is what Pan aims to find out.
Meanwhile, Kathryn Segovia, a researcher at the Virtual Human Interaction Lab at Stanford University in California, has been using IVR to study moral identity. The importance an individual places on morality was thought to be unchanged by their experiences, but IVR studies are showing otherwise. In Segovia’s study, participants watched their virtual characters perform immoral actions, such as punching other avatars. Afterwards, they no longer judged morality to be as important as before.
With its ability to remove the risk while maintaining scientific integrity, IVR opens the door to exploring some of the darker questions in morality research. At the same time, it allows researchers to put their understanding of morality to the test.
Still, if virtual reality is so realistic, aren’t there real ethical implications to be considered when subjecting people to virtually traumatic situations? “Sure,” says Segovia, “but people are exposed to similar or worse scenarios in TV and video games all the time” – only in those cases, there is no review board to weigh the benefits against the risks.


Move over, Samoa. There’s a new Girl Scout cookie in town.
Girl Scouts of the USA have announced a new cookie, Caramel Chocolate Chip, will join the 2019 lineup.
According to a release, the cookie is gluten-free and will be offered in select areas.
For a list of all cookie flavors, click here.


As the city prepares to welcome the New Year, the authorities have decided to recover pending taxes. Acting in this direction, about six pubs were sealed by government authorities in Navi Mumbai on Thursday, due to non-payment of entertainment tax.
The pub owners claimed that the amount to be paid is very high, and this move will affect their businesses, with just few days left for the yearend. They also claimed that they do not fall under the purview of entertainment tax, as there is no live performance held on the premises. The penalty amount runs into lakhs of rupees.
Harpreet Singh Ahluwalia of the Rude Lounge, which was sealed, said, "We are trying to convey to the authorities that we do not hold live performances, and so entertainment tax should not be taken from us. It is an important time of the year for us and due to this action our business will be affected."
The issue of non-payment of taxes has been going on for more than a year, and the first notice was sent to these pubs and lounges last year, after which a reminder notice was sent in March. The last reminder was sent in November by the authorities. Despite this, the payment is still due.
Anjali Pawar, tehsildar of the Thane Collectorate, said, "We are in the midst of taking action against all those who have defaulted on paying payments. Before taking action we have issued them notices. If they had issues, they should have gone into an appeal. If the government receives its dues, then there is no question of sealing any place."


Poilane in london with dinesen douglas flooring and tables shop. Interior design london, bar design, restaurant design, chevron. Beast restaurant, london havwoods wood flooring. Beast restaurant london reclaimed wood flooring 900px 03 havwoods.


NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- General Electric Co. shook the U.S. stock market Friday, reporting a 6% drop in first-quarter net profit -- largely over trouble in its financial-services businesses -- and cutting its 2008 earnings outlook.
It was GE's first major downward earnings revision in memory, Oppenheimer analyst Christopher Glynn said in a note, and reflected mounting difficulties posed by a weakened U.S. economy.
For the first quarter, General Electric GE, +2.52% said net income dropped to $4.3 billion, or 43 cents a share, from profit generated during the first quarter of 2007, while revenue rose 8% to $42.24 billion.
From continuing operations, the Dow Jones Industrial Average component earned 44 cents a share, well short of the FactSet Research-compiled mean analyst estimate of 51 cents a share.
GE shares fell nearly 13% to close at $32.05 in heavy trading. The drop weighed heavily on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJII), dragging it 256 points lower to 12,325.
On a conference call with investors, Chief Executive Jeff Immelt put the blame for the miss squarely on Bear Stearns Cos. BSC, +2.95% which nearly went bankrupt last month before the Federal government and J.P. Morgan Chase Co. JPM, -0.73% stepped in to bail out the investment firm.
"We had planned for an environment that was going to be challenging...[but] after the Bear Stearns event, we experienced an extraordinary disruption in our ability to complete asset sales and incurred marks of impairments and this was something that we clearly didn't see until the end of the quarter," Immelt said.
GE said the inability to complete asset sales and higher mark-to-market losses accounted for a hit of fully 5 cents a share.
The company also saw a slowdown in its U.S. health-care and consumer and industrial markets, Immelt said, on the call.
"We did see a slowing U.S. economy in Q1," he said.
On the brighter side, infrastructure orders were 12% and added more than $3 billion to GE's backlog, the company said. Earnings for the business rose 17% to $2.59 billion, representing 41% of GE's total profit.
"Demand for our global infrastructure business remained strong, but our financial-services businesses were challenged by a slowing U.S. economy and difficult capital markets," said Immelt.
Overall, GE generated 8% more orders in the quarter, to $24 billion, and its equipment backlog climbed 41% to $52 billion, the Fairfield, Conn.-based company said.
At GE Money, quarterly earnings dropped 19% from the prior year to $995 million and its commercial finance profit dropped 20% to $1.16 billion.
GE operates one of the largest financial services businesses in the country.
Health-care and industrial earnings also registered double-digit profit falls, while infrastructure profit climbed 17% and NBC Universal's profit rose 3%.
GE also lowered its 2008 profit target to a range of $2.20 to $2.30 a share, with second-quarter earnings pegged at 53 cents to 55 cents a share. Analysts had expected annual earnings of $2.43 and second-quarter earnings of 58 cents a share, according to FactSet.
The revised outlook means that earnings from continuing operations will grow 5% at best this year and at worst, won't grow at all, GE said.
"We are not counting on the business getting any better, vis-à-vis...the U.S. consumer," Immelt said. "We have actually allowed for a worsening of the U.S. consumer in our GE Money business. So I think that is the way to think about the U.S. and the U.S. economy."
GE is the second Dow component to report full quarterly financial results so far this earnings season.
Alcoa Inc. AA, -3.82% was the first, posting a lower profit amid poor demand from top industrial customers, surging energy costs and a weak U.S. dollar. See full story.


Qiva automates suppliers' trading systems; Vigilance, Harmony team on business performance software.
Two sets of developers are merging their software to provide application suites that enable companies to gain better visibility into the supply chain and control over supply chain events.
Qiva Inc. last week announced an update to its GLCS (Global Logistics Control System) supply chain management suite that provides enterprise shippers with a dashboard for tracking multimode logistics execution and import and export activities, as well as for managing trade security.
Separately, Vigilance Inc. and Harmony Software Inc. also last week announced a merger that will integrate the formers namesake supply chain event management applications and the latters Symphonic business performance measurement software. The goal is to release software dashboards that include business performance measurement, automated execution and monitoring capabilities, and business intelligence for manufacturers, logistics providers and retailers.
The new company, which will retain the Vigilance moniker, will provide the capability to synchronize real-time data from multiple source systems, targeted key performance indicators and business alerts, said officials from Vigilance, of Sunnyvale, Calif., and Harmony, of San Mateo, Calif.
The combined software, which will be available in the first quarter of next year, also will offer customizable executive views and historical tracking of past action-to-outcome reports to help with decision making.
Meanwhile, Version 3.0 of Qivas GLCS is the culmination of Qivas July 2001 acquisition of Capstan Systems Inc., which developed import/ export supply chain software. GLCS 3.0 provides a platform for integration and collaboration across a users enterprise that can be extended out to participants in a companys business network.
Upgrades to the 3.0 suite include extended multimodal capabilities, including ocean, air and small- parcel delivery; expanded port management, including filing and license management; expanded import management; and enhanced document management capabilities, according to officials at San Francisco-based Qiva.
Finally, GLCS 3.0 integrates rules management, screening technologies and logistics tracking into a central trade security framework.
PGP Corp., an encryption software developer, is using GLCS exclusion detection software to monitor incoming customer orders and check against a federal list of excluded individuals, groups and countries.
"If theres any kind of objection, an e-mail alert goes to a Qiva administrator, and she looks up what caused it," said Michael Doherty, vice president of technical operations at PGP, of Palo Alto, Calif. "We expect to get a customer service call if a customer is denied, and [this allows the administrator] to go in, look at the Qiva database and be prepared."
Next Microsoft Buying Vicinity Corp.


Stretcher misplacement, a doctors order and an umpiring error were the three factors which resulted in ‘Stretchergate’ at the GABBA on Sunday afternoon.
When Sydney ruckman Callum Sinclair went down clutching his knee in the crucial stages of the final quarter against Brisbane on Sunday, the Swans doctor called for a stretcher to help him off the field.
Ground staff then ‘had trouble’ finding the stretcher and in that time Sinclair began to run off the field.
The incident left Justin Leppitsch ‘filthy’ after the game and has since been investigated by the AFL.
The investigation showed that the ground manager had received the request from the Swans doctor for the stretcher to be bought out onto the ground.
‘In the process, the 15 seconds or so that it took to get their hands on the stretcher, the player then jumped up,’ AFL Operations Manager Mark Evans told Sports Today.
At the time the whistle was blown to stop play, Pearce Hanley and Jarrad McVeigh were in a one on one duel in the Lions forward line, who trailed by just three points.
‘It’s hard to know what would have occurred from there,’ Evans said.
Sinclair has since a scan on his knee which revealed bone bruising but no ligament damage.
He remains a chance to play on Saturday against Essendon.


Two separate tragedies on opposite sides of the country resulted in one awful, violent day. Yesterday 11 people died in two car crashes involving drivers speeding the wrong way. In Florida, an SUV driving against traffic hit a Hyundai Sonata carrying four young men, fraternity brothers. And in California, a driver in a Camaro slammed into two cars, killing six people, including a family of four.
The driver in that second accident has been identified as Olivia Culdbreath (21), and she's been charged with six counts of vehicular manslaughter and felony driving under the influence. Culdbreath was traveling over 100 miles per hour. She's in custody but in the hospital recovering from a broken femur and a ruptured bladder. The driver of the SUV in Florida is also suspected of driving under the influence but perished when his car burst into flames.
So six people in California and five people in Florida died in horrific car crashes -- both drivers apparently under the influence, both driving the wrong way at high speeds. Because two people were foolish, 10 innocent people lost their lives -- people with friends and family, with people who loved them and will miss them.
It's awful that two individuals chose to drive when they were too intoxicated (allegedly). But were there others around them who noticed them getting into their cars -- but didn't try to stop them? I wonder if they now regret not intervening. They could have saved lives.
Have you ever stopped someone from driving when they were intoxicated?


How to cook a turkey, kid style.
How do you cook a turkey? The Mason Valley News turned to first-graders at Yerington Elementary School for instructions, and their answers just might make you smile.
First you buy a turkey from Raley’s. Next you put oil on top of the turkey and barbecue sauce inside it. Then you cook it in the oven for 22 minutes. You take it out of the oven. Last you let it cool down and you eat it. David Salazar.
First, you buy a turkey. Next you get a pan. Then you oil on the top of it. Then you put oil inside. Then you put pineapple in it. Last you put it in the oven for 20 minutes. You take it out and eat it. Taryn Killingsworth.


Carroll Shelby lost his bid to trademark the iconic design of the Cobra 427, the vehicle that made him famous and has been copied thousands of times. Why did he lose? Because it was copied thousands of times.
Shelby's trademark bid was opposed by kit builder Factory Five Racing, which was able to prevail in a ruling last month. U.S. trademark law has a strong "use it or lose it" approach, and while Cobra production began in 1965, Shelby didn't file his trademark application until 1998 - after decades of kit-built replicas. Even letters of support from Lee Iacocca and Sir Stirling Moss did not sway the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
"I'm tired of people who can't design their own cars and have copied my designs for years," Shelby added. "These copy-kit guys are like barnacles on the bottom of a beautiful boat...they've latched on for a free ride. But eventually they'll drop off and no one will know they were ever there."
Our position was that a Shelby trademark would have ignored the factual history of the car, which started life as an AC car with a Ford engine in it, as well as completely discounting the huge contributions that replica guys have made to the car's continuing legacy since the 1970's. We have never denied Shelby's part in history, but he has enjoyed huge popularity, in-part, due to replicas.


Today in Iowa, Rick Perry was asked about the Federal Reserve and, in a halting 45-second answer, went off on chairman Ben Bernanke: “If this guy prints more money between now and the election, I dunno what y’all would do to him in Iowa but we would treat him pretty ugly down in Texas. Printing more money to play politics at this particular time in American history is almost teacherous…treasonous in my opinion.” The clip is here. Liberals on Twitter exploded immediately in outrage after Think Progress posted it, with the economist Nouriel Roubini actually comparing Perry to the Norwegian mass murderer and saying he should be put in a mental institution.
I think it’s pretty clear from the clip that Perry was trying to play folksy straight-talkin’ populist guy while taking up a complicated issue, using colorful dirt-kicker language to connect to his al-fresco audience as he might in his home town of Paint Creek. And in the early going on Twitter, I suggested the harrumphers were knowingly making a mountain out of a molehill to bring him down a notch. I was wrong.
He’s trying to be the next president, and he needs to be judged on that standard. What Perry did was make a thoughtless blunder, an unforced error; we’re now going to spend a couple of days discussing whether he was summoning violence on Ben Bernanke’s head or not, which is of absolutely no use to Perry. He is, or was, moments away from becoming the race’s frontrunner, and what is in his interest is to harness the excitement of his late entry with qualities of leadership and control that will rally the majority of Republicans unhappy with the choices facing them to his side. Rick Perry made that more difficult today; this was a serious rookie mistake on the national stage.
Taking up the issue of the Fed’s behavior is entirely legitimate. Many think the Fed’s loose-money policy has been, at worst, ineffectual; others are more worried about it and fearful of a third round of money printing. And it’s not an outre wild-man idea at all; Bill Kristol and I share a friend, a prominent businessman and investor of unimpeachable reputation, whose eloquent thoughts about what he believes to be Bernanke’s gross irresponsibility can be read here. But if Perry is going to talk about these things, he needs to do it with care and not like a caller to a radio show.


For 11 local high school girls basketball teams, the road to a state championship starts this week.
The Louisiana High School Athletic Association released its girls basketball state playoff brackets for all classifications and divisions on Monday.
There were 11 local teams that made the cut – Thibodaux and H.L. Bourgeois in Class 5A, Assumption, Ellender, South Terrebonne and South Lafourche in Class 4A, St. James in Class 3A, Vandebilt Catholic and E.D. White Catholic in Division II and Houma Christian School and Covenant Christian Academy in Division IV.
Note: No. 2 Houma Christian School will have a first-round bye and will host either No. 15 St. John of Plaquemine or No. 10 St. Martin’s Episcopal in the second-round.
Three local girls basketball teams won district championships this season.
Thibodaux shared the District 7-5A championship with Hahnville. Ellender won the District 7-4A title with a perfect record, and Houma Christian School was District 8-1A champions with a perfect record.
“We won district again and we did a good job. We just want to now get ready to extend our play into the playoffs. We’re going to come in and work on some things we need to improve and get us all on the same page. Once again, it’s been a great season for us. It’s great for our program. I have six seniors. I’m glad they are going out on a bang with another district championship. That’s the most important thing,” – Ellender head coach Kenneth Dixon after the Lady Patriots wrapped up a perfect season in District 7-4A play following a 66-29 win over Morgan City on Friday.


Rare diseases present a unique challenge to Cure Hunters. Lack of awareness amongst physicians can mean an accurate diagnosis is difficult to obtain, and that’s only the beginning.
Rare diseases are challenging. Because there are fewer diagnosed cases, patients willing to share their experiences become essential to the scientists developing drugs. Pfizer’s Brenda Cooperstone rely on these patients, as their willingness to share helps people like her develop cures that could transform these peoples’ lives.
Check out the above video to learn more about the unique hurdles of solving rare diseases and watch all the episodes of Cure Hunters.


A JEALOUS woman who posed as fake police officers to control her ex-boyfriend and to even stop him from seeing other women has been jailed.
Lauren Adderley, 21, used "sophisticated catfish style behaviour" to convince her former partner Mitchell Lloyd, 22, he was part of a police investigation.
She even made the young man believe he was subject to police curfews, creating email accounts to pose as cops and threaten him with fines if he did not obey the orders.
Using fake names including Darren Clarke, Elaine Thomas and Robert Hay, the young woman jealously told him to end relationships he had started, and even that he was not allowed to speak to specific people - particularly other women.
In the elaborate scheme, she also pretended to be her own friends on Facebook to send messages to Lloyd, criticising him for going out with other girls.
Sentencing, Recorder Peter Rouch QC, said: "I do not know what was going through your mind in December 2014 but at that time you decided to deliberately adopt the persona of a police officer to contact Mitchell Lloyd.
"At that time, he did not want a relationship with you.
"For two years you controlled Mitchell Lloyd's life, to the extent that you told him where he could go and who he could go out with."
The threats even included fines of about £3,000 if he did not obey.
The couple had met through mutual friends during a night out, with their brief sexual relationship ending after two months in 2014.
But in a victim impact statement, the young man said that he had felt pressurised and blackmailed for two years after the relationship.
At one point, Shrewsbury Crown Court heard the young woman had even threatened to kill herself with a pair of scissors, later telling him "No one can ever love you like I love you x."
Recorder Rouch told her: "These are serious crimes, as he could not live his life properly during the two years that you committed these offences.
"You did that for your own benefit, whatever that may have been."
It wasn't until the young man told colleagues at work about the curfews - including one that told he was no longer able to go to a public house he had taken his mother and sister to - that he alerted police.
Genuine officers were immediately able to deduce that the emails were fake, and traced them back to Adderley.
Paul Smith, defending, added: "Perhaps the key point in mitigation other than the early plea is her age. She was 18 when the offences began back in 2014.
"She has no previous convictions and has taken full responsibility for what she did."
Jason Corden-Bowen, District Crown Prosecutor and Domestic Abuse Lead with West Midlands Crown Prosecution Service, said:"Lauren Adderley created a complicated fiction of multiple fake profiles interacting with each other to her own satisfaction and reason.
"She used this sophisticated catfish-style behaviour to completely manipulate the victim's life, dictating when he could go out, where he could go and controlled his social interaction with other people for over two years.
"The impact her actions had on the victim's life cannot be understated and I would like to pay tribute to him for helping bring Adderley to justice."


Tom Wade has led Spartans to the third round for the first time since 2008-09.
Coverage: Live commentary on BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC Newcastle and BBC WM.
Manager Tom Wade says Blyth Spartans have an "outside chance" of continuing their giant-killing run against Championship side Birmingham.
Wade's side, who play in the Northern Premier League, have home advantage against Gary Rowett's team on Saturday.
Spartans have beaten Conference side Altrincham and League Two Hartlepool en route to round three.
"We need Birmingham to have a bad day and us to be absolutely superb," Wade told BBC Newcastle.
"We played Altrincham at home, I know they're not a Championship side but they're a good Conference side, nobody gave us any chance at all and we battered them.
"If we can put that kind of game on this Saturday, Birmingham have a bit of an off day, we carry a bit of luck and get the right refereeing decisions, we've got an outside chance."
Spartans - who play in the seventh tier of the football pyramid, three divisions below the Football League - came back from a goal down to earn a second-round win at Hartlepool in injury time.
However, Wade said that an early goal for Birmingham would create a far more difficult task.
"If we concede early, people will start to worry a bit," he added.
"We've done it before but not against Championship sides obviously, so we've got to keep in the game as long as we can.
"We've got to try to play when we can, get on the ball, don't freeze and to enjoy the day, express ourselves and work hard."
Wade is hopeful that Spartans can make it a day to remember in front of a capacity crowd at Croft Park.
"It's for the town and the supporters," Wade said.
"This is our chance to say thank you and put on a performance that makes them feel proud of us."


Nagoya (Japan), Apr 11 (ANI): Rinnai Corporation will mark its 100th anniversary next year. Since its establishment in 1920, Rinnai has developed various products that help enrich people's lifestyle.
These include water heaters, kitchen appliances and air conditioners. In the process, Rinnai has evolved into a prominent corporate group.Today, with the decreasing birth rate and ageing population in Japan, there is a growing awareness about improving health across the nation.
Given such conditions, Rinnai makes its first entry to Health Future Expo 2019 in Nagoya to exhibit its latest products for health-conscious consumers. The exhibition was led by its Business Planning Department which was recently established in the company.


This crook had great taste, but terrible business sense.
A laborer stole about 40 paintings valued at $550,000 from posh Hamptons homes during a two-month spree that ended after he tried to sell some to a Long Island dealer, who called police, cops revealed yesterday.
Angel Palencia’s victims included lawyer and socialite Joanne “Jo” Hallingby, the widow of a Bear Stearns billionaire, whose Southampton house was looted of a dozen paintings worth $250,000 in early February, cops said.
The priciest single painting stolen in January and February was titled “In the Vineyard,” by 19th-century artist Daniel Ridgway Knight. It was valued at $140,000.
Palencia, 24, of Medford, LI, allegedly heisted that piece from a $25.5 million East Hampton home on Lily Pond Lane owned by real-estate honcho Richard Parkoff, and then sold it for just $1,500 to a Mineola antiques store, police said.
Palencia, who may have gotten tipped to the artwork by people with knowledge of the homes, was charged with burglary and grand larceny, and held on $500,000 bail yesterday.


PIKETON — Attorneys for a woman facing charges in connection with an Ohio family massacre have filed a motion to have obstruction of justice and perjury charges against her dismissed.
Fredericka Wagner’s son, daughter-in-law and two grandsons are jailed in southern Ohio awaiting trial in the slayings of eight people in Pike County in April 2016. They have pleaded not guilty to aggravated murder charges and other counts that could lead to the death penalty if they are convicted.
The victims included seven adults and a teenager of the Rhoden family. One of Wagner’s grandsons shared a daughter with one of the victims, and authorities say a custody dispute was a possible motive. That child was not with the Rhodens the night of the slayings.
The Plain Dealer in Cleveland reported that Wagner’s attorneys filed a motion Friday in Pike County Pleas Court to dismiss the charges against her. Authorities have accused Wagner of covering up the homicides by lying about two bulletproof vests she bought online. Court documents and interviews show authorities suspected Wagner’s family members wore the vests during the slayings, the newspaper reported.
Angela Canepa, an attorney for the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, said Friday she couldn’t comment on the attorneys’ filing, but would file a response in the coming days. A message seeking comment was left this week at the Pike County Prosecutor’s Office.
Wagner’s attorneys say she was charged with obstruction and lying to the grand jury because of the vests they say she bought from eBay through her PayPal account.
“I made a mistake; I’m nearly 77 years old,” she said of citing Amazon.
Authorities have said Wagner’s son, George “Billy” Wagner III; her daughter-in-law, Angela Wagner; and grandsons George Wagner and Edward “Jake” Wagner planned the attacks for months.
Fredericka Wagner stressed to the newspaper her belief in her family’s innocence.
“I believe with all my heart and soul that they didn’t do it,” she said.


Lt. Saru is one of Star Trek: Discovery’s most fascinating characters—not just as a previously unseen species within the canon, but because he brings with him the question of how a member of his seemingly ever-fearful race ever got into boldly going. The latest Short Treks episode masterfully delivers on exploring both of those fascinations.
Star Trek: Discovery has spent so little time fleshing out characters beyond its main hub of Burnham, Lorca, and Georgiou (in both mirror and prime forms) that if “The Brightest Star” had simply been a basic origin story for Saru, played by the impeccable Doug Jones, it would’ve been more than enough opportunity to understand and appreciate his character more. But instead, it mixes an examination of Kelpian society with classically Trek themes while also strongly reframing everything we assumed about Saru as a character.
Saru, as we meet him in Discovery, is kind of a paradox. We’re constantly told that his race are fearful prey, biologically evolved to sense “the coming of death” and treat every threat as a potentially do or die situation. Saru is uneasy around conflict, both in Discovery’s wartime setting and in terms of interpersonal relationships, and any moment of defiance is usually presented as him being a stalwart upholder of rules and protocol more so than it is standing up for himself. It makes the idea that he’s the only of his kind in Starfleet understandable because, in a way, it almost seems like even Saru shouldn’t be there. If he is perpetually so terrified of impending doom, biologically evolved to so keenly sense it, how is he not constantly overwhelmed—not just by Starfleet being at war, but the necessary fear faced with exploring the unknowns of space?
Saru’s sense of wanderlust is a driving factor of the minisode.
Although Discovery tells us subtly that simply being there (and eventually helping take command in dire circumstances) should be a testament to Saru’s mettle—that just by existing in that scenario he’s overcoming everything the show reminds us about when it comes to his species—“The Brightest Star” really lays bare how Saru combats that ever-present fear: by making him a paragon of the franchise’s ideals of curiosity and wanderlust. It retroactively adds so much more nuance and understanding to the Saru we see in Discovery that it’s almost shocking, in a positive way, that this Short Treks story isn’t something fundamentally crucial to the larger text of Discovery itself. It’s here that I will hastily remind you that people outside of the U.S. and Canada still cannot legally watch these shorts, so they must be considered primarily as ancillary material of less importance than the main show (and that as one of those foreign viewers, a copy of this episode was provided by CBS for review).
To reduce it to the basest of levels, the story of “The Brightest Star” is a simple one. Saru, tired of a life of predictable safety, longs for the stars, and successfully manages to communicate with Starfleet (specifically, none other than a young Phillipa Georgiou, with a surprise guest appearance by Michelle Yeoh) and find a way off his homeworld. But what this episode weaves around this basic premise—the age-old Trek favorite, a conflict between religion and science through Saru’s curiosity and the Kelpian’s sacrificial, self-destructive devotion to an unseen species called the Ba’ul—reframes Saru as less of a perpetually terrified stick in the mud and instead as a curious romantic, brave enough to defy the established way of things to satiate his intellectual longings.
His decision to leave his planet isn’t one driven by fear, but his own bravery, his own desire to see what’s out there in the universe for himself. If Starfleet is ultimately a group about boldly going, the Saru of “Brightest Star” emphasizes the “boldly” part in ways we might never have assumed the Starfleet Lieutenant we see in Discovery could do.
Kelpians ritually sacrifice themselves to the mysterious Ba’ul.
But aside from re-invigorating our perception of Saru, the other shining context the minisode adds to its parent show comes in its use of Phillipa Georgiou as the point of contact Saru makes with Starfleet, after pilfering a “forbidden” piece of Ba’ul tech to reverse-engineer a communique with the outside world. At first it might seem like making Discovery’s world a little smaller than it should be—of course it’s a young Lt. Georgiou that finds the first Kelpian seen by Starfleet, her future science officer aboard the Shenzhou (which Gerogiou was serving on even as a Lieutenant) at that. But it’s a hugely important step in actually displaying the bond between Georgiou and Saru on a personal level, something alluded to in season one, but not really shown.
Critically, it retroactively makes the grief and anger he felt toward Burnham early on in Discovery’s first season in the wake of Georgiou’s death not only make more sense—beyond his disappointment that her actions got his commander killed—but infinitely more tragic. His initial cold attitude to Burnham as she re-integrates aboard the Discovery isn’t out of some high and mighty adherence to protocol—protocol that his friend defied at the Battle of the Binary Stars. It turns out, it’s because her actions cost the life of the woman who nurtured Saru’s curiosity and gave him his gateway to exploring the universe he dreamed of. He didn’t just lose a friend, but the most important figure in giving him the life he now has.
A young Georgiou makes first contact with a pre-warp civilization.
It’s a fascinating piece of retroactive context that speaks to the depth Discovery’s still mostly-unexplored cast is capable of. Saru, albeit painted in broad strokes, was already an intriguing character, but “The Brightest Star” adds so much nuance to the context we already had about him that it almost makes you want to go back and re-watch moments from Discovery’s first season to experience them in this new light. It’s fundamental, excellently told character work, and it bears repeating: It’s crazy that this isn’t actually happening within the confines of the main show itself. But at least it is happening.
Between fun spotlights on the old sort of B-plots past Trek shows had, to presenting beautiful vignettes with characters old and new, Short Treks is becoming one of the most pleasant TV surprises of the year. If Discovery could find the time among its bigger themes to devote to side stories like this within its usual format, the show would be even stronger than it has been at its very best (and it would certainly shore up the moments where it fell off the wagon).


Here are your athletes of the week candidates from Feb. 4-10.
Clark could be on here a lot of weeks, but her most recent showing stands out tremendously. Clark had 60 points and hit 13 treys in Dowling’s 90-78 win over Mason City on Feb. 4. She followed that up with 38 points — including 32 in the second half — in Friday’s 51-50 win over Ames.
The Iowa commit racked up a pair of double-doubles last week. Goodman had 23 points and 10 rebounds in Crestwood’s 45-31 win over New Hampton on Feb. 4. A few days later, Goodman came back with 23 points and 12 rebounds in Friday’s 47-17 win over Union.
Reid sent waves through the state and beyond, scoring 76 points on Feb. 4 in the 86-76 overtime win over East Buchannan. Reid’s effort was the highest scoring game in the state since 1927. Winter weather washed out a couple midweek games, but Reid came back Friday with 37 points in the Wildcats’ 63-37 victory over Starmont. Reid also had 27 points in Saturday’s loss to Springville.
The South Alabama signee can put up points in bunches, and last week was no different. Locure had 25 points, eight rebounds and five assists in the Feb. 4 win over Southeast Polk. He then had 34 points the next day in a loss to Dowling. Locure finished the week with 32 points on 13-for-29 shooting in Friday’s win over Des Moines Lincoln.
The state’s fourth-leading scorer had another really strong week. Coppock had 26 points and five rebounds in Newell-Fonda’s 68-64 loss to Sioux Central on Feb. 5. Three days later, Coppock poured in 26 points and hit six treys in a 71-39 win over Ridge View.
The Register is asking readers to help select a male and female athlete of the week every week. Voting begins on Mondays and ends on Friday mornings. Each week’s winners will appear online Friday and in Sunday’s register. To nominate a candidate, contact Cody Goodwin (cgoodwin2@dmreg.com), Matthew Bain (mbain@dmreg.com) or Dargan Southard (msouthard@gannett.com).


You could live like a president.
EVER WONDERED HOW the US President lives? Now you have the chance to experience it for yourself.
London agent Wetherell has announced the opportunity to buy the Little White House — a four-bedroom property in Mayfair protected by the US embassy.
It features white aesthetics and wood panelling fit for any leader — or family.
Peter Wetherell, CEO of Wetherell, said the house’s location makes it a great investment opportunity.
That’s just opposite the US embassy — and within its protective perimeter.
This means security around the house comes with 24-hour UK police and US Marine patrols, making it one of the most well-protected private properties in the city.
The US embassy will soon be moving to Battersea and the current building will be turned into a five-star luxury hotel, which is why the Little White House is up for sale.
It begins with a “grand 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue-style entrance hall and sweeping staircase”.
The floor consists of polished wood upstairs and maintains the white colour scheme of the exterior.
The main reception room has a marble fireplace and provides “great entertainment space and fantastic natural light”.
The kitchen goes for a more practical look, and is just next to a large family dining room.
There’s also a TV room upstairs for more chilled out affairs. The first US ambassador to the UK was appointed in 1893 and early embassy staff rented rooms in this house.
The house has four bedrooms which keep the wood panel aesthetic for a decidedly presidential feel. It gained its nickname, the Little White House, in the 1960s because of its white front, proximity to the embassy and presidential-style entry hall.
The presidential feel even extends to the bathroom, which has a beautiful-arched opening.
Here’s another bedroom, which is large enough to have multiple beds.
Each bedroom comes with wardrobe space and an ensuite bathroom. Notice the plated basin.
There’s also a small garden at the rear of the house, which is communal. The property has a garage too.
If residents find the communal garden too cramped, there’s always Grosvenor Square just next door.
All images via Wetherell, unless otherwise stated.
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