LAUSANNE, Switzerland, Oct. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne and IBM (NYSE: IBM) announced a major research initiative, with several leading academic and corporate research organizations across Europe, to address the alarming growth of energy consumption by electronic devices, ranging from mobile phones to laptops to televisions to supercomputers. The research project, called Steeper, aims to increase the energy efficiency of these devices, when active, by 10 times and virtually eliminate power consumption when they are in passive or standby mode.
Coordinated by Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL), Project Steeper includes leading corporate research organizations IBM Research - Zurich, Infineon and GLOBALFOUNDRIES*, large research institutes CEA-LETI and Forschungszentrum Julich, academic partners, University of Bologna, University of Dortmund, University of Udine and the University of Pisa and the managerial support of SCIPROM.
Scientists collaborating on the project will apply their expertise and research to tunnel field effect transistors (TFETs) and semiconducting nanowires to improve the efficient use of energy in electronics. To explain the challenge, consider a leaky water faucet -- even after closing the valve as far as possible water continues to drip -- this is similar to today's transistor, in that energy is constantly "leaking" or being lost or wasted in the off-state. In Steeper, scientists not only hope to contain the leak by using a new method to close the valve or gate of the transistor more tightly, but also open and close the gate for maximum current flow with less turns, i.e. less voltage for maximum efficiency.
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), electronic devices currently account for 15 percent of household electricity consumption, and energy consumed by information and communications technologies as well as consumer electronics will double by 2022 and triple by 2030 to 1,700 Terawatt hours -- this is equal to entire total residential electricity consumption of the United States and Japan in 2009(1).
Particularly wasteful is the enormous amount of standby consumption. In the European Union it is estimated that standby power already accounts for about 10 percent of the electricity use in homes and offices of the member States(2). By 2020 it is expected that electricity consumption in standby/off-mode will rise to 49 terrawatt hours per year - nearly equivalent to the annual electricity consumption for Austria, Czech Republic and Portugal combined(3).
"Our vision is to share this research to enable manufacturers to build the Holy Grail in electronics, a computer that utilizes negligible energy when it's in sleep mode, which we call the zero-watt PC," said Prof. Adrian M. Ionescu, Nanolab, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, who is coordinating the project. With the support of the European Commission's 7th Framework Program (FP7), project Steeper scientists will explore novel nanoscale building blocks for computer chips that aim to reduce the operating voltage to less than 0.5 Volt, thus reducing their power consumption by one order of magnitude.
"Power dissipation has become one of the major challenges for today's electronics, particularly as the number of devices used by businesses and consumers multiplies globally," said Dr. Heike Riel, who leads the nanoscale electronics group at IBM Research - Zurich. "By applying our collective research in TFETs with semiconducting nanowires we aim to significantly reduce the power consumption of the basic building blocks of integrated circuits affecting the smallest consumer electronics to massive, supercomputers."
The development of novel devices, such as the steep slope transistors, from which the project gets its name, can provide a much more abrupt transition between the off and on states when compared with the current 60mV/decade limit of metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) at room temperature.
This simultaneously allows for reducing the sub-threshold leakage and lowering the voltage operation. The development of energy-efficient steep sub-threshold slope transistors that can operate at sub-0.5V operation domain will be a critical factor in the success of the project.
To achieve this, scientists will study the development of so-called TFETs based on silicon (Si), silicon-germanium (SiGe) and III-V semiconducting nanowires. Nanowires are cylindrical structures measuring only a few nanometers (nm) in diameter, which allow optimum electrostatic control of the transistor channel. In a TFET, quantum mechanical band-to-band tunneling is exploited to switch on the device and thus achieve a steeper turn-on characteristics compared to conventional MOSFETs.
Project Steeper will evaluate the physical and practical limits of boosting the performance of TFETs with III-V nanowires, and the resulting advantages for future energy efficient digital circuits.
The project started in June 2010 and will continue for 36 months.


Palestinian militants killed six Israelis and seriously injured five others in an attack on a key border crossing in central Gaza late Thursday night. The assault is seen as a direct challenge to the newly elected Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas.
Mahmoud Abbas has repeatedly called for an end to violence and says he wants Palestinian militants to support political dialogue with Israel.
But the militants appeared to press forward with their own agenda Thursday night following a deadly attack on an Israeli outpost in Central Gaza.
The Israeli Army says gunmen stormed the terminal at the Karni crossing point after militants used a truck bomb to blow a hole in the building's perimeter.
Captain Yael Hartmann says the men opened fire as soon as they passed through the entrance.
"Three Palestinians crammed through the hole and walked to the Israeli side of the crossing," she explained. "When they opened fire there were guards there that fired back but by then it had too late."
Captain Hartmann says the militants were killed during the ensuing gun fight but not until after a number of Israeli civilians were shot.
Three militant groups Hamas, al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and the Popular Resistance Committee claimed responsibility for the assault.
Shortly after the attack Israeli helicopters fired missiles at a clinic in Gaza with ties to Palestinian militants.
Political analysts say the Palestinian attack, the largest since Mahmoud Abbas was elected last Sunday, is a direct rebuke to the moderate president's calls for peace.
But Mahdi Abdel Hadi, head of the Palestinian research group PASIA, says the new president still enjoys significant popular support in Gaza.
"The majority of the people, especially in Gaza, they don't want to continue bleeding and they are looking for this small window of fresh air and warm sun to come through the Palestinian election," he said.
Mr. Abdel Hadi says the greatest challenge facing Mr. Abbas will be convincing the Israelis to maintain dialogue with the moderates despite new attacks from the militants.
Mr. Abbas will be formally sworn in as president Saturday during a ceremony in Ramallah.


WestJet says it is reviewing its baggage policy after a customer complained that it discriminated against travellers from certain countries.
WestJet says it is reviewing its baggage policy after the son of a Toronto customer complained that the airline discriminated against travellers from certain countries.
The airline currently has a policy that prevents travellers to Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago from checking in more than two bags, unless the extra luggage is "a golf bag containing golf clubs."
Jared Walker tweeted about the policy after his 62-year-old mother was prevented from bringing an oversized bag on a trip to Jamaica to attend a funeral.
Walker, 30, said the policy is "absurd" and shows preferential treatment to tourists, as opposed to travellers returning to their country of origin.
WestJet told The Canadian Press in a statement that the baggage policy was in place for Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago "due to the amount of excess checked baggage brought by guests travelling to these particular destinations."
The company said it's reviewing the aspect of the baggage policy related to golf bags, recognizing "the optics are poor."
It further said that travellers who want to bring more than two bags to Jamaica or Trinidad and Tobago can do so through WestJet Cargo, its air shipping service. Walker says his initial call with WestJet's customer service had no mention of WestJet Cargo.
The airline said it apologized to Walker and reached out to him in an attempt to resolve the issue. "It was never our intention to be discriminatory in this specific baggage policy," said Lauren Stewart, a spokeswoman for WestJet.
Walker said he received an apology and other messages from the company Wednesday afternoon but it was too late to help his mother, who was already in Jamaica.
He said he booked tickets for his mother, Nellrene Walker, so she could attend her sister's funeral in Jamaica. After paying for the tickets, he saw WestJet's baggage policy, and called customer service, he said.
"They let me know that no exceptions were allowed," said Walker, who wanted to pay for his mother to bring a third oversized bag.
"It seems really ridiculous that this policy ... only applies to two countries which happens to be tourist destinations, and that there's a golf club exemption."
In immigrant communities, it's common to take goods back to their country of origin, especially when a family member has died, he said.
His mother is originally from Jamaica, and Walker was born in the United States after she moved to Florida. They both came to Canada in 1995.
He said when he originally asked why golf clubs are allowed, WestJet told him it was due to "weight distribution" and "baggage trends".
Walker tweeted about the policy Tuesday night and said he received a message from the company around 1 a.m. saying it would allow his mother to pay to take the oversized bag.
But he said he saw the messages too late, and his mother flew out Wednesday morning.


Matt Weber's runner-up finish is believed to be the best by a high school player in the tournament’s 99-year history.
This time, experience triumphed over youth.
Brandon Aydlett had the experience. The Metairie native had been trying to win the State Amateur Golf Championship since he was 18, just before he began a four-year playing career at LSU.
That was one year before Matt Weber was born.
But there they were, the 36-year-old Aydlett, a veteran of Louisiana Golf Association events and with experience on professional mini-tours before regaining his amateur status in 2012 … and Weber, who just finished his junior year at St. Thomas More High and had never teed it up in any LGA championship event.
The original 144-player field in the 99th edition of the state’s premier amateur golf event had been whittled down to a two-player race entering Sunday’s final round at Oakbourne Country Club, with former LSU golfer Aydlett and Weber tied for the lead through 54 holes. The two were still tied through nine holes Sunday, and again were deadlocked with five holes to go.
It was Aydlett who did the finishing Sunday, stringing together nine straight pars on that back nine and finishing with a two-under 70 final round and a six-under-par 282 to win by four shots.
Weber struggled to find greens in the closing stages, and a putter that had been solid through three rounds deserted him, finishing with four bogeys on the final five holes and taking runner-up honors at two-under 286.
Aydlett made it happen with a series of two-putt pars on each of the last eight holes, after seeing his second multi-stroke lead evaporate at the turn Sunday. One of those pars came at the par-four 14th where Weber was not able to get up-and-down from under trees on the left side of the fairway. That became a disappointing refrain for the reigning Acadiana Area High School Golf League medalist and a two-time top-five finisher in the LHSAA state championship.
UL sophomore Jack Tolson of Opelousas finished off a 69-71 weekend for third place, five strokes back at one-under 287, and former State Amateur champion Greg Berthelot was three more strokes back at 290. Berthelot won the state’s top amateur event in 2011, the last time it was held at Oakbourne.
Weber was the only player in the field to record three sub-par rounds (71-70-71) Thursday through Saturday before finishing with a 40 on Sunday’s back nine and a closing two-over 74.
Aydlett knows the heartbreak of close calls. He finished second behind Patrick Christovich in 2012 at TPC Louisiana and was third at Monroe’s Bayou de Siard in 2015 despite a final round 68. He also was second in the Mid-Amateur (age 25 and over) in 2014 before finally breaking through in an LGA event when he won the 2015 Mid-Amateur.
He did that in quite different fashion than his second-round 67, a bogey-free trip that could have been even better when more makeable birdie putts didn’t’ fall. On Sunday, he wasn’t as accurate with approach shots, but made a series of solid lag putts and a couple of clutch par saves over the final nine holes.
The pivotal hole was Oakbourne’s treacherous par-three ninth, where Aydlett held a one-shot lead but dumped his tee shot in the front water of the 140-yard hole. Weber, playing in the final group with Aydlett and Berthelot and coming off a birdie at the par-four eighth that pulled him within one shot, hit his tee ball within 10 feet.
Aydlett went to the drop area and calmly hit a wedge six feet past the hole, making the downhill putt, and only dropped one shot when Weber missed the birdie putt.


Google’s long talked-about ebook store, Google Editions, is set to debut by the end of the year, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The store was initially supposed to launch this past summer, but sources close to the company say that it only recently cleared some legal and technical hurdles. Now Google is gearing up to launch Editions by the end of the year in the US and by first quarter 2011 worldwide, according to Google product management director Scott Dougall.
So what is Google offering that Amazon isn’t? Just as with its open-source mobile operating system Android, it appears that Google is aiming to establish a more open ebook ecosystem. You’ll be able to purchase ebooks from Google, or other online retailers, and tie them to an ebook library with your Google account. The Google Editions library will be easily accessible online from any web-enabled device, including smartphones, tablets, and PCs.
This is in contrast to Amazon’s Kindle ecosystem, in which you order books from Amazon’s store, and they’re subsequently delivered to your Kindle. Kindle books are also available on computers and smartphones via Amazon’s Kindle apps, but Google is avoiding that intermediary step altogether by letting you access your library on the web.
Google is working on an affiliate program that will let website owners earn revenue by recommending ebooks on Editions, and it’s also partnering with independent booksellers to share revenue from their websites. It’s unclear how much revenue Google will share with affiliates or booksellers, but I suspect it will have to be more than the 10 percent Amazon offers its affiliates for Kindle ebook sales.
The WSJ reports that Google has already signed deals with major book publishers. Google will offer hundreds of thousands of books for purchase, as well as millions that will be available for free — figures that should put it in line with the ebook libraries Amazon and Barnes & Noble offer. Prices are expected to be similar to the competition as well.
While Google’s ebook venture sounds ambitious, I don’t suspect that it will play nicely with existing e-readers. Amazon’s Kindle and Barnes & Noble’s Nook devices offer web browser access, but it’s fairly primitive. It wouldn’t support some of the features users get on the devices, like highlighting, or typography tweaks. I also don’t think that either Amazon or Barnes & Noble will go out of their way to support Google Editions. Tablets, which have access to more fully featured web browsers, are better off.
Google is positioning the ebook store as an extension of Google Books, its plan to scan the roughly 150 million books ever published worldwide. The book scanning project is currently about 10 percent complete, according to Google executives.
I suspect that we’ll see Google Editions very soon — perhaps within a week or two. Google, like many other software companies, imposes a code freeze towards the middle of December, which would delay any uncompleted projects into the next year. After so many delays, I don’t think Google can afford to have Editions miss out on this holiday season.


REMY CABELLA has denied Newcastle are already thinking about spending time on the beach after slumping to a fifth straight defeat at Liverpool.
The midfielder insisted he and his team-mates were as “hurt” as the long-suffering Newcastle supporters, who once again sang in protest at owner Mike Ashley’s reign during Monday’s 2-0 reverse.
Interim coach John Carver has seen his hopes of landing the job permanently nosedive, but Cabella maintains the players having not pulled up stumps for the season.
“On holiday already? No, no, we are professional,” he said. “We don’t think about our holidays. It’s impossible. We have six matches left. We need to concentrate on Tottenham.
“We need to win that game by working hard in training. In our minds, we are not on holiday. That’s not professional. We need to concentrate on playing.
Newcastle’s problems were compounded by the dismissal of Moussa Sissoko for two bookings late on at Anfield and Cabella added: “Everybody is disappointed. Five matches without a win, five matches we have lost – that’s difficult for us.
Midfielder Jack Colback understands why fans threatening a boycott of Sunday’s clash with Spurs at St James’ Park are in despair over the team’s slump.
The only consolation for United in their latest setback at Anfield was a slight improvement on their dismal show in the derby at Sunderland in their previous game.
“The minimum we could do was to be better than our last game,” he said. “We had to show a reaction.
United winger Rolando Aarons, who was close to a comeback after being out for five months with hamstring and thigh injuries, has suffered a setback and is unlikely to play again this season.


Approximate location, shown in black, where a boy was injured after a bottle of dry ice exploded.
A 4-year-old Downey boy was injured Thursday after a two-liter bottle of dry ice he found on a soccer field exploded, authorities said.
The boy was found lying on the ground with non-life-threatening injuries to his chest at about 7:50 p.m. by deputies responding to a report of a child injured by fireworks in the 14700 block of Paramount Boulevard, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
The child and his family were at the Paramount High School-West campus for recreational soccer when he found the bottle. It exploded as he ran with it, causing minor abrasions to his chest and left forearm, the department said.
He was transported to a hospital where he was treated and released. Authorities were investigating who left the bottle on the field.


Sphere Conferences, the conference arm of media group Singapore Press Holdings, and SingHealth will be organising Singapore's first global health care event.
The inaugural, Singapore International Healthcare Week will be a learning and networking platform for health care leaders and administrators to exchange ideas, innovations and best practices.
The three-day event which will be held at Marina Bay Sands from Aug 19 to 21 , will showcase more than 200 health care innovations and services ranging from medical equipment and supplies to information technology such as biometrics and data storage.
Industry experts such as associate professor Low Cheng Ooi, chief medical informatics officer from the Ministry of Health, and vice-president of supply chain, Kaiser Permanente, Ms Laurel Junk will speak at the congress.


The blog agrees with kindly Doc Maddow that, if you want to gauge the depth at which the lessons of the shellacking they took have sunk in to the Republican party, do not look at what they're saying in Washington, but look at what they're doing out in the states, where nobody's watching. We have been engaged in the ongoing shenanigans surrounding Scott Walker, the twice-elected goggle-eyed homunculus hired by Koch Industries to manage their midwest subsidiary formerly known as the state of Wisconsin, and the state Republican party that Walker leads. Today, we take a look at an ongoing lawsuit filed by Democrats against the Republicans in the state legislature as regards the process they used to gerrymande....er...redistrict the state's various political boundaries. So far, the lawsuit has revealed that the redistricting process was was a marvelous environment for, ah, unfortunate coincidence.
The move came a week after a panel of three federal judges ordered that two sides and the state quickly resolve their differences. The groups sued the state in 2011 over election maps drawn by Republicans, but for months the case has focused on documents that were improperly withheld from the plaintiffs. For five months, the plaintiffs have been seeking to forensically search computers used for redistricting to find out why they did not receive documents that were supposed to be turned over to them and to learn if any other records were improperly withheld. So far, they have not been able to learn where the state computers are located, let alone search them.
Must have been tough getting the computers to go through the shredders. Something like the disposition of Steve Buscemi in Fargo, I reckon.


Mexican president-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Thursday he will invite US President Donald Trump to his inauguration on December 1, the leftist leader's latest olive branch after two years of deeply strained ties.
"We are neighboring countries, we have economic and trade relationships, ties of friendship. It is very important to us to cooperate on development. We share 3,180 kilometers of border. So President Trump will be invited," Lopez Obrador told a press conference.
Whether he comes "will depend on his agenda and his decision," he said.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will also be invited, he added.
Lopez Obrador won a landslide election victory Sunday to become Mexico's first leftist leader in recent memory, in a resounding rejection of the two established parties that have ruled the country for nearly a century.
The politician known as "AMLO" had vowed during the campaign to "put (Trump) in his place," at a time when the Republican president's anti-trade, anti-immigration policies have infuriated Mexico.
But the two men appear to have hit it off Monday in their first phone call after the election.
Lopez Obrador said he had offered to help reduce US-bound migration -- an issue close to Trump's heart -- while Trump called it a "great talk" and said: "I think he is going to try and help us with the border."
Some commentators have drawn parallels between the two leaders: both are free-trade skeptics with populist tendencies who mobilized a disgruntled base with anti-establishment campaigns.
US-Mexican relations have been strained since Trump won the 2016 vote after a campaign laced with anti-Mexican insults, attacks on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and promises to build a wall on the two countries' border and make Mexico pay for it.
US tariffs on Mexican steel and aluminum, Trump's "zero-tolerance" policy on undocumented immigrants, separation of migrant families and two abruptly canceled visits to Washington by current Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto have only added to the tension.
Lopez Obrador also announced a reshuffle of his proposed cabinet, proposing former Mexico City mayor Marcelo Ebrard as his foreign minister in place of ex-ambassador Hector Vasconcelos, who will now head to the Senate instead.
Ebrard will be in charge of preparing Lopez Obrador's meeting on July 13 with visiting US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, he said.


Presbyterian Communities of South Carolina (PCSC) is a well-established and trusted organization enriching the lives of seniors and their loved ones for more than 58 years. As a non-profit, we live our mission and embrace our values of Relationships, Service, Teamwork, and Excellence in everything we do. At PCSC, we strive to provide retirement lifestyles which meet today’s expectations for high quality of living for each of our residents.


The City Council set aside another $50,000 last week to continue to pay a law firm to represent Burbank in ongoing labor negotiations between the city and two bargaining groups — the recently formed Burbank City Attorneys Assn. and the Burbank Management Assn.
However, negotiations with both groups have reached an impasse.
The appropriation is in addition to $50,000 the council set aside in March for the same purpose. The Los Angeles-based law firm Liebert Cassidy Whitmore will continue to represent the city in negotiations.
Talks between the city and the attorneys union reached a stalemate this summer when union members — having gone five years without a pay raise — continued to push for what city officials say would be a 13% salary increase retroactive to last November and an additional 2% salary increase each year for the next three years.
The attorneys union — formed in February — represents 10 city attorneys and a paralegal.
Last month, a fact-finding panel of three jurists heard arguments from the city and the city attorneys and is slated to make a settlement recommendation early next month. A public hearing will follow, after which the city can still impose its final offer, according to the union.
A fact-finding panel has not yet been scheduled between the city and the management union, according to Betsy Dolan, interim management services director. The union, which represents roughly 175 employees, and the city have been at an impasse since July.


EXCLUSIVE: Sony won an auction for screen rights to My Favorite Thing Is Monsters, a graphic novel by Emil Ferris that scared up a four studio bidding battle today. Amasia Entertainment’s Bradley Gallo and Michael Helfant will produce. Palak Patel is overseeing for Columbia Pictures. The graphic novel is already getting critical raves for its originality and artistic flourishes.
Set against the tumultuous political backdrop of late ’60s Chicago, My Favorite Thing Is Monsters is the fictional graphic diary of 10-year-old Karen Reyes. It is infused with B-movie horror and pulp monster magazine iconography. Karen tries to solve the murder of her enigmatic upstairs neighbor, Anka Silverberg, a holocaust survivor, while the interconnected stories of those around her unfold. When Karen’s investigation takes us back to Anka’s life in Nazi Germany, where the reader discovers how the personal, the political, the past, and the present converge. Present throughout are monsters, real and imagined. It is the latest buy for Sony, which under president Sanford Panitch has been very aggressive in the material marketplace.
The author, who grew up in the turbulence of ’60s Chicago, has been an illustrator and toy sculptor, with an MFA from the Art Institute of Chicago. This is her first graphic novel and she is repped by APA and Holly Bemis.


On Monday, the Supreme Court issued a stay of the Maryland federal district court’s injunction against the Sept. 24 immigration order (EO-3) in International Refugee Assistance Program v. Trump and an the identical stay of the injunction in Hawaii v. Trump. Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor would have denied the government’s request for a stay. The court’s order allows the latest iteration of the travel ban to go into effect, pending further proceedings in the courts of appeals and, if relevant, the Supreme Court. However, this latest stay signifies little or nothing regarding the court’s view of the merits in the challenges to EO-3.
In marked contrast to the temporary nature of earlier iterations of the travel ban, EO-3 indefinitely suspends entry of both immigrants and some or all classes of nonimmigrants from Chad, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Syria and Yemen (see my earlier post). In addition, the new ban bars entry of immigrants from Somalia, subjects Iraqi nationals to heightened screening, and bars certain Venezuelan government officials from entering as nonimmigrants.
EO-3’s indefinite ban effectively reprises the national-origin quota system that Congress decisively rejected in the landmark 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) amendments of 1965. In the groundbreaking 1965 legislation, Congress sought to ease the pain of separation for close family members separated from U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents (LPR) by national borders. (See pp. 297-98 of Jack Chin’s excellent article.) In contrast, EO-3 indefinitely prolongs that separation for nationals of the listed countries. EO-3 targets countries in the Middle East and Africa (North Korea is a red herring in EO-3, since its nationals aren’t free to leave, and EO-3 only affects a few Venezuelans related to government officials there). Singling out the listed countries echoes the Asia-Pacific triangle quota that the 1965 legislation rejected.
The Supreme Court’s Monday order does not telegraph a view of the merits of the case, but instead stems from precedent regarding provisional relief. Under Nken v. Holder (2009), the court’s issuance of a stay entails sliding-scale consideration of the likelihood of prevailing on the merits, irreparable harm and the balance of equities. Both the Fourth and Ninth Circuits will hear arguments on the travel ban this week. In urging that the Fourth and Ninth Circuits decide these cases with “appropriate dispatch,” the court’s stay addresses the irreparable harm prong of the stay test.
Balancing the equities, the court may have realized the following: The pre-stay relief imposed in both the Fourth and Ninth Circuits echoed the Supreme Court’s Solomonic test from its summer stay of relief regarding EO-2’s temporary ban. That stay exempted from the ban’s operation foreign nationals with a “bona fide relationship” with U.S. persons. Last summer, the court interpreted that test as including those with an offer of employment or a speaking engagement in the U.S., along with a range of relatives, from spouses and children to grandparents and cousins. However, EO-3 largely blocks family- and employment-based immigration from the listed countries. Under the court’s “bona fide relationship” test, virtually all family- or employment-based immigrants would have qualified for relief. Under the circumstances, applying that test would have enjoined virtually all of EO-3 pending resolution of the merits. To avoid that imbalance, the court allowed EO-3 to go into effect pending further proceedings. The court may have also decided to give the government the benefit of the doubt on the merits at the stay stage, as it often has in the past.
Given the strength of these stay factors, there is no reason to think that a majority of the court reached the merits. That crucial adjudication will occur first in the Fourth and Ninth Circuits and then quite possibly in the Supreme Court by early 2018.


After a less-than-stellar reception at TIFF, director David Mackenzie decided to go back and cut close to 20 minutes out of his historical epic Outlaw King. Now at 137 minutes long, the film arrives on Netflix today in all its gory glory. How does this new cut hold up compared to the TIFF cut? Is an improvement at all? And does the infamous Pine peen remain?
If you’ve ever watched Braveheart and thought, “What happened after all that?”, have I got a film for you! It’s called Outlaw King, and it’s an unrelentingly brutal, often funny, haphazardly edited affair. Outlaw King had its big debut at the Toronto International Film Festival, and will debut on Netflix on November 9, 2018.
Chris Pine is keeping the wiry beard that he grew for A Wrinkle in Time, and taking it back to the 14th century for a reunion with his Hell Or High Water director David Mackenzie.
Pine stars as legendary Scottish outlaw and leader Robert the Bruce in Outlaw King, a Netflix film following the Wars of Scottish Independence in the 14th century. Though there’s little resemblance to the sun-bleached neo-Western that was Hell Or High Water, Mackenzie is in his element as a proudly Scottish director, and will surely bring out another great performance from Pine.


An early morning storm left a trail of havoc in this state today.
A four-year-old boy who was reported missing while in the custody of a nursery in Precinct 3 here was found safe on a school bus in Cheras this afternoon.
The Sabah government is planning to set up a relocation centre for conflict refugees on a remote island located far from the mainland.
The amendments to the Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994 will also involve higher penalties for employers who fail to ensure safety, health and welfare at the workplace.
The Malaysia Homestay Experience Programme organised by the Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry (MOTAC) gives tourists the opportunity to interact and participate in the daily activities of the village community, said its minister Datuk Mohamaddin Ketapi.
Three Malaysians are still receiving treatment at the Hatyai Hospital following a fire incident at a hotel in Sadao, Songkhla, on Friday (April 12).
It has been over three months since they last saw their 88-year-old mother but that hasn’t stopped her five children from doing all they can in searching for her.


I love Google Translate for Android. It’s already made my 3-year-old more fluent in Russian than myself (admittedly, I’m not fluent in Russian at all). But it just got better, and I can’t wait to show her.
Now it has a new input feature for handwriting. With the latest Android update, you can use your touchscreen to write characters. You’ll see a pen icon next to the mic icon for speaking.
The latest version of the app is currently available in the Android Market, and works on tablets and phones running Android 1.5 and up.


SARATOGA SPRINGS — The first equine death of the season at Saratoga Race Course occurred on Wednesday, according to the state Gaming Commission.
The commission's website said thoroughbred, Heartspoke, collapsed on the race track and may have died from a cardiovascular-related issue.
An investigation into the thoroughbred's death is continuing.
Last season at Saratoga Race Course, 18 thoroughbreds died — surpassing the 2016 toll of 16.
As a result in the uptick of equine deaths, the state Gaming Commission, the New York Racing Association and the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association announced new safety measures last season.
According to the state Gaming Commission, the measures included increased regulatory veterinary presence at the track during training, “state-of-the-art” monitoring of horses and a more comprehensive education for trainers about common horse injuries at the state’s thoroughbred racetracks and prevention methods.
Heartspoke's trainer was Larry Rivelli and jockey was Javier Castellano.


Adam Cohen’s editorial diatribe in the NYT (January 27) against Tom Woods and his scholarship shows the degree to which the relation between facts and historical narrative has dissolved. Cohen does not seem to know, or perhaps want us to know, that segregation began as a Northern institution that, after Reconstruction, Southern states adapted to their use. A once widely quoted study, The Strange Career of Jim Crow, written by the then impeccably leftist Southern historian C. Van Woodward, was on reading lists in American history when I began teaching in the late sixties. This book has not been superseded by recent, exhaustive research. It has been put aside because it contradicts the now established version of PC, just like Tom DiLorenzo’s writings about Lincoln’s attitudes toward blacks or the economic causes of the (misnamed) American Civil War. The chastising of Woods in the NYT, for challenging the "Columbia University historian Eric Foner," typifies the new approach to history. Foner’s tendentious work on Reconstruction, which Cohen treats as a Fundamentalist would the Bible, is certainly open to multiple critical objections. Some of these objections have been in print in professional journals and some of the more obvious ones got into a review that I wrote at the time of its publication. It is doubtful that someone with Foner’s personal and familial connections would have gotten so far academically, were his ancestral and youthful connections with the moderate Right instead of the Stalinist Left. And even more worrisome than Cohen’s lack of factual proofs is his effort to discredit Tom Woods for being politically incorrect. We are led to believe that Tom has broken some moral code by telling us what should be self-evident, about FDR’s boondoggles, Woodrow Wilson’s duplicity, or Lincoln’s less than benign views about blacks. Moreover, Cohen does not feel obliged to provide evidence for his own opinions. He merely declares Woods to be a living embodiment of the rightwing backlash against all good things.
Equally outrageous have been other recent attempts to shove the chunks of the past down a memory hole. For example, the neocon New York Post noted yesterday that it was high time Polish President Kwazniewski "beg forgiveness," as he just did, for Polish contributions to the Holocaust. Apparently Poles mistakenly viewed Auschwitz as a "place of Polish martyrdom" "and Polish schoolchildren were taught erroneously that a million Poles perished there too." Poles even now remain in denial about their critical role in the murder of European Jewry, for which the assaults on Jews in the Eastern Polish town of Jedwabne (by the Polish anti-German Home Front) is cited as proof. Unfortunately the apology offered by the clueless Kwazniewski did nothing to clarify a clouded event. According to historian Norman Davies, the event being lamented involved a shoot-out between Polish resistance forces and the Soviet secret police, members of which were then harbored by Polish Jewish collaborators. While no one is denying the presence of Polish anti-Semitism, which seems to linger on together with equally bitter anti-Polish Jewish feelings, the Poles and the Jews were both victims of Nazi persecution. The Polish underground, which included rightwing nationalists who clearly disliked Jews, fought the German invaders furiously, suffered hideous losses, including the destruction of Warsaw, and, yes, lost members in Auschwitz. Poles, including my late mother-in-law, saved over 40,000 Jews from the Nazis, although the punishment for being discovered was death. Treating this brutalized people as collaborators in the Holocaust is not misguided but utterly obscene, except in the world inhabited by liberals and neocons.
An even more manipulative use of the past is now occurring with the planned visit of German President Horst Köhler to Israel. This visit will feature an address to be given by the perpetually sorrowful Köhler to the Israeli Knesset, following the pattern set by German president Johannes Rau, who spoke before the Knesset in 2000. Rau spoke in English and petitioned the Jewish state for forgiveness on behalf of his shame-stained people. But this time there was reason to believe that the German president would speak in German rather than express his ritualized contrition in heavily accented English. This provided the usual suspects, in the Israeli nationalist Right, which bears an uncanny resemblance to the victimological Left in the U.S., to announce that they would boycott the impending address. "As long as one Holocaust-survivor is around," announced the Israeli Health Minister, "we shall never allow German to be heard in the Knesset." The Vice President of the Knesset, Hemi Doron, was quoted in Maariv as saying that it was essential not only to keep German out of his assembly. It was also important for Jews "not to touch German soil or to buy German products." A subsequent announcement that Köhler would express guilt without speaking German did not defuse the situation. Likud politicians warned that they would walk out as soon as he stepped into the Knesset building.
There are several aspects of this grotesque incident that merit attention. One, the sadomasochistic relation between Jewish nationalists and German public officials continues to prosper, in spite of the overly optimistic assurances from my German friends that it might be subject to change. Although Germans, according to their critics, are either at one’s throat or at one’s feet, the only Germans I now read about are human dishrags. And the degradation is self-afflicted, since if German leaders behaved with dignity, in this case cancelled the presidential trip to Israel and sent a stiff letter of reprimand to the offending government, it might prevent a recurrence of very deliberate insults.
Two, the remarks made by the Jewish nationalists ignore certain historical facts that must be noted to understand the absurdity of their outbursts. Jews have spoken for generations and continue to speak German; and arguably the best literature written by Jews, outside of what is found in biblical Hebrew, is in that particular tongue. It was also commonly heard in Israel, particularly in Tel Aviv, and there were Germanophone play ensembles and newspapers that one encountered in that country well into the sixties. When David Ben Gurion and his Labor Party were in power, the very conservative German Defense Minister Franz Josef Strauss came to Israel, as Ben Gurion’s guest. Strauss thereupon addressed everyone in sight in (Bavarian) German, without causing, to my knowledge, an outbreak of apoplexy.
Who Says Dishonesty Doesn't Pay?


People in South Korea are celebrating the traditional harvest festival known as Chuseok. The holiday is also being marked in the North, giving all Koreans a brief respite from escalating tensions.
People in South Korea are celebrating the traditional harvest festival known as Chuseok.
The holiday is also being marked in North Korea, giving all Koreans a brief respite from escalating tensions.


I’m packing my suitcase and printing out my boarding pass. Why? Because Maker Faire takes place this weekend at the San Mateo County Fairgrounds just south of San Francisco. According to the National Weather Service, it looks to be very nice with sunny skies and warm temperatures.
This will be my fifth Maker Faire and I’ve enjoyed participating in all of them. This time, I’ll be showing folks how to make smoke bombs and fire pistons, as well as expounding a bit upon the Art of Living Dangerously.
Saturday at 6:30 PM –I will be on the main stage, giving a talk based on material from my new book “Absinthe and Flamethrowers.” The presentation is called “The Art of Living Dangerously” and I think it’s quite an enjoyable talk and (I hope) thought provoking as well. And, the slides are pretty good.
Sunday at 2:00 PM – Do you know what a fire piston is? Well, come on by and I’ll show you how to make one. Fire pistons work as cool as they sound.
Do drop by to say hello!
Bill Gurstelle, author such books as Absinthe and Flamethrowers and Backyard Ballistics has been GeekDad's guest blogger for last couple of weeks.


Airtime may have launched with a bang, but its end was eerily quiet: Sean Parker’s video chat startup, which once aimed to become the next Chatroulette, shut down its web app some time during the last month, and no one even noticed, or bothered to complain.
The site was still up and running in mid-August, according to the Internet Archive, but has since been replaced by a placeholder site that asks us to “stay tuned,” and lists a number of jobs on both coasts. There’s no mention of the shut-down on Airtime’s blog, which was last updated two years ago, or its long-abandoned Facebook and Twitter accounts.
Even more striking: I couldn’t find a single mention of it on Twitter — it looks like users had given up on the site long ago, and no one even bothered to check if it’s still around. I sent Airtime an email, asking when exactly the web app was taken offline, but have yet to hear back, and will update this story once I do.
Airtime made a big splash when it launched two years ago, but for all the wrong reasons: The launch event featured tons of celebrities, but was plagued with technical problems, leading to a pretty substantial backlash from users and tech press alike. Airtime also could never really formulate why it was different or better than any of the other video chat services out there, and quickly became a prime example for failed startups from celebrity founders.
However, the company kept going, and quietly launched a mobile video chat service dubbed OkHello that seems to be doing a lot better than Airtime ever did — which makes you wonder why it took AirTime so long to pull the plug on its web app.


While Bill Mathesius is correct in supporting individual rights, he fails to consider how drug use violates the welfare of others. Has he thought about the children of drug-using parents? This would be a sizable population.
He could obtain information by visiting the psychiatric hospital programs for children (about 10 in New Jersey, and more are opening) or by looking at worker caseloads (abused and neglected children) at the Division of Youth and Family Services.
Has he considered drug-related accidents? Some substances can impair perception for days without apparent awareness on the part of the user. Were he to support drug testing of people responsible for accidents resulting in serious injury, especially auto- or work-related mishaps, we could better assess the problem of drug-involved injuries to others.
Is Mr. Mathesius going to provide free drugs to the using public, and who will pay for that? Certainly addicts will continue to steal to support drug habits regardless of whether purchases are made on the street or at the local pharmacy.
Also, what are his thoughts on drug-related medical problems? With health insurance and hospital costs going out of sight, who would purchase the necessary services for the physical illnesses secondary to the use of illicit drugs?
To judge from this interview, Mr. Mathesius has not done his homework. His comment about marijuana use at Princeton University while he was County Prosecutor, ''could have put to sleep the entire community,'' is likewise poorly formulated. Had he considered current attitudes and usage, he could have made a statement about the benefits of being fully informed. As Mercer County Executive, he will, I hope, make the effort to collect more information before he advocates for public policy changes.
Nevertheless, Mr. Mathesius is to be applauded for bringing the public's attention to the fact that simply jailing people for drug possession is no answer. Incarceration is costly and apparently accomplishing almost nothing in terms of rehabilitation.
However, he seems to suggest that drug use is simply a problem for the mental health community, not the criminal justice system. I believe the public would be better served if professionals in both disciplines were to establish a dialogue toward planning for the entire population of drug offenders.


On August 8, 2005, LILLIE L. HOY beloved wife of 68 years to William H. Hoy, loving mother of William Charles Hoy. Also survived by two grandchildren and five great-grandchildren, sister of Nelson, Donald and David Meekins. Predeceased by siblings, Evelyn Sibley, Grace Hastings, Lorraine Hudgins, Robert, Lawrence, Douglas and Irvin Meekins A funeral mass will be held on Thursday, August 11 from Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Glyndon at 10 A.M. Interment Lorraine Park Cemetery. Father Lloyd E. Aiken officiating. The family will receive friends from Eckhardt Funeral Chapel, 11605 Reisterstown Road, Owings Mills on Wednesday 3-5 and 7-9 P.M.


The longtime star of “Bonanza” and “All My Children” legend David Canary died of natural causes earlier this month, according to an obituary from his family.
Canary died at The Greens at Cannondale in Wilton, Connecticut, on November 16. He was 77 years old.
Canary’s life could have taken a far different path — the Denver Broncos gave him an offer that he turned down to pursue acting. He appeared in multiple Broadway productions before serving in the Army for two years. After his stint in the military, Canary headed west and landed a gig acting alongside Paul Newman in “Hombre” among others.
He won five Outstanding Actor Awards and 16 nominations before retiring from acting in 2010.
Canary is survived by his wife, Maureen, his son, Christopher, and his daughter, Kathryn.
Private funeral services have been arranged at the Bouton Funeral Home in Georgetown, Connecticut.


FOX has to be relieved that the "Empire" is back and "Shots Fired" will live to fight another day benefitting from the "Empire" draft.
Saw the 16 series renewal story this morning. CBS' success is all about consistency and stability, so props to them for knowing that most of the time, replacing what they have will result in lower ratings.
When I entered the business, network television had only one revenue stream: advertising. In addition the network would pay affiliated stations to carry their programming.
Over the years affiliate compensations went away, affiliates started paying the networks and now stations get paid by cable and satellite providers to carry the channel. The networks share in that, giving them a second revenue stream. This dual revenue stream was an advantage that basic cable channels had through subscriber fees.
One of the drivers of retrans is professional sports, especially the NFL, so the networks are willing to pay a fortune to the NFL to keep football "over the air."
Back in the 1980s, the networks were limited in what programming they could own. This was intended to insure competition and protect independent studios.
Over the next couple decades those rules went away, and every network was affiliated with a studio, which provided programming to both their sibling network as well as to other networks and cable channels. For example, the most successful network show of the season, "This Is Us," is on NBC but comes out of the 20th Century Fox TV Studio. NBC pays a fee to air the show and the studio can distribute the show on other platforms.
The line between running the studio and the network has started to vanish. For me a network's role in the TV ecosystem is changing and becoming more of a vehicle for creating assets for the larger corporation. Although a network on its own might not be profitable, if it is successful in producing hits coming from its studio, the network is accomplishing its goal.
Finally the Holy Grail for shows used to be 100 episodes and syndication, but that is no longer the case. We'll pick up on that tomorrow.
Questions or comments? Go to @maskedscheduler on Twitter and masked.scheduler@gmail.com via email.
- "Fleabag" episodes 1-3 (Amazon) I had heard so much about it, so I took a chance. It was worth it. May offend some but I would recommend checking it out.
We also deleted the final four episodes of "Star" … spring cleaning has begun.
“Empire” easily reclaimed its spot as Wednesday’s No. 1 show with its return. The FOX series came back from a three-month hiatus with a 2.8 rating among adults 18-49, a tenth of a point better than its last episode in December. “Shots Fired” had a more modest start, drawing a 1.1, a few tenths below “Lethal Weapon’s” average in the 8 p.m. timeslot earlier this season.
Elsewhere, “Law & Order: SVU” hit a season low on NBC with a 1.1, and “Chicago PD” (1.2) tied its season low. “Blindspot” (0.9) improved a tenth on its last episode. “Survivor” (1.7) and “Criminal Minds” (1.3) both held steady for CBS, while “Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders” (0.8) slipped a tenth.
ABC’s “Designated Survivor” fell 0.2 vs. last week to 1.1 following a block of comedy reruns. “Arrow” and “The 100” were both even with last week for The CW.


One-time Insight Communications Co. Inc. executive Kim Kelly is leaving her current post as CEO of technology start-up Arroyo Video Solutions Inc., citing the grind of a New York-to-California commute.
“I’m going to stay [at Arroyo] as a director,” she said Tuesday, adding, “I would have had to move,” and she didn’t want to leave New York. Kelly said she was typically spending three or four days per week at Arroyo’s location in Pleasanton in the EastSan FranciscoBay area.
Kelly landed at Arroyo last July, about 11 months after leaving Insight. She had been chief financial officer and, later, chief operating officer at the New York-based MSO.
Arroyo is pitching a video-on-demand solution to cable companies, and it has received investment support from Comcast Corp.’s and Time Warner Inc.’s venture-capital units, among other sources. The company has said that it has three North American cable deployments so far, but it has not identified the cable companies.
Kelly said she was pleased with Arroyo’s progress, but she wanted to lose the travel grind. She added that she will be in San Francisco for the National Show next month.


IBM will roll out its first new Netezza appliance since acquiring the data warehousing player late last year.
IBM on Wednesday will roll out its first new Netezza appliance since acquiring the data warehousing player late last year.
The IBM Netezza High Capacity Appliance is designed to allow companies to analyze up to 10 petabytes in a few minutes. With the new appliance, IBM is looking to make analysis of so-called big data sets more affordable, said Steve Mills, senior vice president and group executive of software and systems at IBM.
Mills noted that the latest Netezza appliance is optimized for IBM's BladeCenter technology and is part of a broader portfolio focused on big data projects. IBM also has its BigInsights software, based on Hadoop, and its Streams application. The software is designed to analyze unstructured data on the fly.
The big pitch for Netezza is the price per user per terabyte. Mills said the Netezza appliance will run about $2,500 per user per terabye compared to an average of $10,000. "This has an attractive price point when compared to other options," said Mills.
The Netezza appliance is clearly aimed at Oracle's Exadata appliances and other data warehousing systems from the likes of Teradata.
Since closing the Netezza deal last November, IBM has focused on expanding the company's footprint abroad. Before the IBM acquisition, Netezza was primarily focused on North America. Now Netezza is being exposed into 100 new countries.


Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) slipped 13 percent off Monday’s highs after the automaker released second-quarter production figures and weathered unflattering press tied to the departure of its chief engineer and the pains taken to achieve its quarterly rollout rate.
CEO Elon Musk responded to the catalytic reports early Thursday by questioning the integrity of the journalists behind them and the outlets printing damaging analysis.
Musk began by condemning Reuters as “relentlessly negative” about Tesla and accused the wire service of running a “bogus” piece claiming low Model S production.
The article in question ran July 3 and said Tesla’s Model S line was about 800 vehicles behind schedule. It also portrayed a chaotic factory scene and an anxious CEO leading up to the second-quarter deadline.
.@Reuters, why did you mislead the people public about this number?
Musk then directed shots toward Business Insider, which first reported that Tesla cancelled a “critical” braking test in order to meet Model 3 targets. The company said the test was redundant to double-check results of a similar exam.
The CEO accused BI’s Linette Lopez of publishing “several false articles” and posited that she may have bribed Tesla insiders for information and conspired with a famed short seller.
@lopezlinette has published several false articles about Tesla, including a doozy where she claimed Tesla scrapped more batteries than our total S,X &3 production number, which is physically impossible.
Sounds very sketchy if true. @lopezlinette, is it possible you’re serving as an inside trading source for one of Tesla’s biggest short-sellers? An ex-Tesla employee just went on record formally claiming you bribed him & he sent you valuable Tesla IP in exchange. Is this true?
Soon after, Musk targeted CNBC, which he suggested publicizes the ideas of unreliable experts.
Strange. @cnbc, is it true that you are putting on analysts with such low ratings & extremely bad prediction records? Are your viewers informed about an analyst’s track record before hearing their opinion.
In its own article recapping the tweet series, CNBC declined to comment. Musk’s distaste for traditional media is not new. In May, he offered to establish a crowdsourced media rating agency to help readers evaluate the credibility of sources.


A village primary school with approximately 100 pupils has bucked the national trend and come out tops for its SATS results.
Year 6 pupils at Longnor School, near Shrewsbury achieved a higher standard of 44 per cent for reading, writing and mathematics combined. The national for the higher standard is just nine per cent.
And part of their success can be put down to the yoga sessions the school organised for the children.
Longnor School headteacher Lucy Adams, said: "As SATS results week dawned upon us, we were confident that our Year 6 children had all tried their hardest and given it their very best. However, even we were not prepared for the amazing set of results that our pupils achieved.
"We are a small school which means that even one child's marks can sway our overall percentages. But we are proud to announce that out of 16 Year 6 children, 94 per cent achieved the expected standard in reading with 56 per cent achieving the higher standard.
"In mathematics, 94 per cent of children achieved the expected standard and 50 per cent the higher standard. In writing 100 per cent of children achieved the expected standard and 50 per cent the higher standard and in reading, writing and mathematics combined 94 per cent achieved the expected standard and 44 per cent the higher standard –the national for the higher standard was nine per cent.
"We are absolutely over the moon with these results, which shows the hard work and effort put in by all the teaching staff to ensure that the children tackled the SATS with determination, but also that they were relaxed and happy, the latter being achieved partly by morning yoga sessions."


SIOUX FALLS The Center for Equality sent an email to Governor Daugaard on February 12th, in response to his press conference stating that he cannot recall meeting a transgender person.
In light of the proposed anti-transgender legislation, The Center for Equality invited the Governor to meet them in Pierre to learn more about the transgender community and to meet a few transgender Dakotans.
The South Dakota Senate approved on Tuesday a bill that would keep transgender students from using restrooms, locker rooms and showers of the gender with which they identify.
The bill now moves to the Governor's desk for his approval.


DALEY BLIND’s proposed move from Manchester United to Roma collapsed because of the Red Devils’ demands, claims his agent.
Blind was expected to join Roma in a deadline day deal today.
However, the Dutchman saw his hopes of leaving Old Trafford ended when Roma withdrew their interest.
The Rome club have instead moved on to Jonathan Silva from Sporting Lisbon in the hope of completing some deals before 11pm.
And Daley Blind’s agent and father, Danny, has explained how United tried to push through a permanent deal on the reluctant Roma.
“Time is running out because it’s the last day of the transfer window,” for Netherlands manager Danny Blind told Roma 24.
"Yes, I can confirm that Roma want him but Manchester United don’t want to let him go on loan, only on a permanent basis.
“They don’t want to sell him now, only in the summer. The price is good, but the operation is difficult.
Blind, 27, has played just 15 games for United this season.
The former Ajax star cost United £13.8million back in September 2014, having joined on the first deadline day under Louis van Gaal’s regime.
He boasts just one goal for the season.
United, meanwhile, have completed two deals on deadline day.
Czech goalkeeper Matej Kovar has arrived, while Charlie Scott has headed on loan to Hamilton.


Michelle Obama wears a red, velvet and chiffon gown designed by Jason Wu to the Inaugural Ball on Jan. 21, 2013. The designer also created her white Inaugural Ball dress in 2009.
Four years later, Wu, whom the First Lady wore again to the Inaugural Ball Monday evening, has reached mass recognition, having launched a diffusion line with Target in early 2012. The young designer has also partnered with St. Regis hotels on a luggage line and with faucet company Brizo on a bathroom collection, in addition to dressing celebrities such as Diane Kruger, Zoe Saldana and Michelle Williams for red carpet appearances.
The red, chiffon and velvet dress he designed for Obama on Monday night will only raise Wu’s growing profile. The sleeveless gown showed off Obama’s famously toned arms, and she accessorized it with a handmade diamond embellished ring by jewelry designer Kimberly McDonald, and shoes by Jimmy Choo.
Obama’s pick surprised many fashion critics, who thought she would give the honor to another designer this time around. But in one way, the First Lady’s decision to repeat the designer was a perfectly fitting end to a campaign season defined by her recycled outfits, most notably the magenta Michael Kors dress she wore on Election Night.


HELENDALE — Hesperia’s Isaiah Wilson shot a 74 to pace all golfers at the Academy of Careers and Exploration Invitational on Monday.
Wilson had a one-stroke advantage over teammate Damien Aranda and University Prep’s Andrew Acosta at Silver Lakes Country Club.
Aranda and Acosta each shot 75, but Aranda had a birdie on the playoff hole to edge Acosta for second place.
Excelsior’s Wesley Wang shot 77, which helped lift the Eagles to the team title. Excelsior shot 359 as a team, besting Hesperia by four strokes. Oak Hills finished third, shooting 387. Eleven teams competed in the event including, Sultana, Serrano, Barstow CIMS and Riverside Prep.
Three teams were ranked in the latest CIF-Southern Section Division 6 poll released Monday.
Sultana is down a spot to No. 4 in the division, with Adelanto moving up two at No. 6, and Excelsior finally cracking the top-10, coming in at No. 10.
University Prep is up two spots at No. 3 in Div. 7.
In Div. 3, Oak Hills fell from the top 10 and was among teams receiving votes.
At Apple Valley, the Jackrabbits won their second Desert Sky League match of the season on April 4th, besting the Aztecs by 34 strokes and closing the gap for first place.
Victor Valley beat first-place Barstow 533-567 in the fifth DSL match of the season at Apple Valley Golf Course. Victor Valley’s Harrison Hill shot a 92 to take medalist honors. He bested Granite Hills’ Sebastian Barajas by seven strokes. Victor Valley’s Alex Castro shot 106 to take third place.
Barstow leads the standings with 23 points but Victor Valley is just one point behind the Aztecs.
Barstow won the fourth DSL match 545-575 over Victor Valley on March 28. Barstow’s Blaine Schiele took medalist honors, shooting 100.
The DSL tees off again Thursday at Green Tree Golf Course.
1. Barstow 545; 2. Victor Valley 575.
1. Schiele (B) 100; 2. Paolini (B) 101; 3. Hill (V) 102; 4. Padilla (V) 107; T5. Castro (V) 110; T5. Morris (B) 110; 7. Richardson (B) 113.
1. Victorville 533; 2. Barstow 567; 3. Adelanto 645.
1. Hill (V) 92; 2. Barajas (G) 99; 3. Castro (V) 106; 4. Paolini (B) 107; 5. Padilla (V) 108; 6. Peralta (A) 110; T7. McAllister (B) 111; T7. Sowards (V) 111; 9. Sedano (G) 113; 10. Morris (B) 114.
1. Barstow 23; 2. Victor Valley 22; T3. Adelanto 9; T3. Granite Hills 9.
At Oak Hills, the Diamondbacks held off the Bulldogs to remain in first place in the Mojave River League.
Nathan Patton helped led the way in singles, winning 7-6 (11), 6-1, 6-2.
Oak Hills led six of nine doubles matches, led by Tanveer Singh and Moises Cruz sweeping 6-3, 6-0, 6-4.
At 5-1, Serrano is tied with Sultana atop the MRL.
Serrano (8-3) is on the road against Burroughs on Wednesday.
Patton 7-6 (11), 6-1, 6-2; Seo 1-6, 6-4, 6-0; Garcia 1-6, Gonzalez 6-2, 6-2.
Macomber-Shihora 3-6, 3-6, 6-3; Yun-Kim 0-6, 2-6, 1-6; Ford-Patton 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.
Sanchez 6-7 (11), 6-1, 6-1; Gonzalez 1-6, 4-6, 2-6; Montalvo 2-6; Bronston 2-6; Mendoza 0-6.
Singh-Cruz 6-3, 6-0, 6-4; Ortiz-Thomas 6-3, 6-2, 4-6; Duque-Patty 3-6, 6-1, 3-6.
At Hesperia, Franciso Jaime and Chris Rivera each swept in singles as the Sultans beat the Scorpions.
Jamie and Rivera dropped just two games each.
Christian Salas and Nick Olea swept 6-0, 6-4, 6-1 for Hesperia in doubles.
Phung 0-6, 0-6, 3-6; Pineda 1-6, 2-6, 2-6; Gomez 1-6, 7-5; Rodriguez 0-6.
Cardenas-Stiber 4-6, 6-2, 6-4; Salas-Olea 6-0, 6-4, 6-1; (Zavala-Cruz)-Morales 0-6; Vinson-Morales 1-6; Lopez-Monroy 1-6.
Jaime 6-0, 6-1, 6-1; Rivera 6-0, 6-2, 6-0; Crandall 6-3, 6-2, 5-7.
Bertz-Antunez 6-4, 0-6, 6-1; Orduno-Goforth 2-6, 4-6, 6-1; Ward-Caspary 4-6, 1-6, 6-0.
A handful of Serrano athletes had a strong showing at the Arcadia Invitational over the weekend.
On Friday, Serrano’s team of Maribel Aguilar, Marisol Aguilar, Elizabeth Martin and Madison Elliott finished 11th in the 4x1600 relay with a time of 21:21.34. There were 22 teams in the race. The Diamondbacks are now ranked No. 13 in the nation in the event.
In individual races, a couple of Serrano runners broke their personal records.
Ian Crocker broke his personal record in the 3200, with a time of 9:25.82, which was good for 36th out of 78 participants. And in the girls 3200, Maribel Aguilar shaved nine seconds off her personal best with a time of 11:00.97. She finished 21st of out 46 runners.
On Saturday, Tiani Goeson also set a personal record in the mile run, with a time of 5:15.98.
The girls distance medley finished seventh out of 38 teams with a time of 12:39.34. Maribel Aguilar, Elise Howard, Elliott and Martin ran the race, and finished second in the first heat.
Natalie Lin took 12th in the triple jump (36-05), out of 21 participants.


The Los Angeles Dodgers are fuming over a man's scheme to try to catch Barry Bonds' 700th home run ball.
The investment banker, Michael Mahan, spent nearly $25,000 buying tickets for two games against the San Francisco Giants at Dodger Stadium next month.
He figured it was a worthwhile investment because the ball will fetch a much higher price.
But now he's reselling the tickets for a profit, since it appears the Giants slugger will reach the milestone earlier. He originally bought the right-field tickets at the group-discount rate of $3.50 — but he's selling them for $15 each.
He's also requiring the ticket buyers to sign a contract promising to hand over any Bonds home run ball they might catch, and split the money from selling it.
The Dodgers don't like it. They're threatening to let fans into the section for free if there are empty seats.


Not to be confused with a pimple or wart, skin tags are tiny bits of useless flesh that marr one's face and other parts of the body. The good news is, they can be removed.
These days, if someone mentions "tag", it's quite likely that they're talking about tagging someone on Facebook. For those unfamiliar with social network jargon, it means linking a friend to a picture, statement or a link.
But way before Facebook came to be, there were skin tags.
Senior consultant dermatologist Dr Steven Chow Kim Weng explains.
"Skin tags are redundant small growths of the skin, usually ranging from 1mm to 3mm. They are soft, and can be flattish (leaf-like) or nodular (like a pea or grain). They are normally brown or black, and found on the folded areas of the body like the neck, armpits or groin area. They are attached to the underlying skin by a thin neck of tissue (a stalk), and can bleed profusely when this tissue is torn or cut. Skin tags are non-cancereous," he says.
How are they different from warts or moles?
According to Dr Chow, a wart is a skin lesion caused by infection by the human papilloma virus. They commonly present as hard pea-size growths over the palms and soles. They are usually skin-coloured and firmly attached to the underlying skin.
Skin tags, which are harmless, are sometimes confused with warts, which can be mildly contagious. The medical name for skin tag is acrochordon.
A mole, on the other hand, is a brown or blackish pigmented growth consisting of a collection of pigment forming cell of the skin. They can be flat or lumpy, and can be found in any pigment bearing areas of the skin.
"There is a condition called acathosis nigricans whereby the fold areas of the skin is covered with thick velvety pigmented rows of folded redundant skin, very much like accumulated skin tags that have amalgamated together," adds Dr Chow.
Skin tags could also be confused with wart infections of the fold areas.
Why does one get skin tags?
More often than not, it's chronologically linked, but most people will have some skin tags by the time they reach late middle age, says Dr Chow. People who are overweight are also more prone to skin tags.
Consultant dermatologist Dr Ko Chung Beng says many people are predisposed to skin tags because their genetic make up. Skin tags can also develop due to friction, which stimulates the skin cells around the area to multiply, resulting in an "overgrowth" of skin.
"Pregnant women may develop skin tags because of hormonal changes that induce skin 'overgrowth'. After delivery, hormonal balance is slowly restored and quite often, some of the finer skin tags may disappear. However, the bigger ones never go away," explains Dr Ko.
Gender or racial make up are not consequential factors and Dr Ko says he does not know of any study that states these two reasons as the contributing cause of prevalence of skin tags. Most people choose to have them removed because they are unsightly. Treatment is mainly by surgical removal or destruction of the skin tag under local anaesthesia. This can be done using cautery, laser, radio-frequency ablation or simple scissor excision.
"This is usually an office procedure, normally over in less than an hour. There are usually no post-operative problems," says Dr Chow.
Some skin tags might bleed or get infected because of friction with other surfaces, and these, he says, should be removed. "It is highly unlikely for skin tags to turn cancerous. Signs to watch out for are unusual bleeding with contact and unusual progressive increase in size of the skin lesions."
Home remedies to remove skin tags include tying the tag with a fine thread and strangulating it until the dried up skin eventually drops off on its own, or using a caustic liquid to burn it.
Dr Chow cautions against such home remedies as they may cause undue irritation and inflammation.
Some tout that topical creams can be used to treat skin tags. He doesn't recommended these either as they are irritating and corrosive.


While most websites let you apply for jobs straight with your LinkedIn profile, it doesn’t hurt to keep a polished CV around in case you need to submit one for the vacancies you’re eyeing. But building up a sleek resume could be a hassle, especially if you struggle with designing stuff.
Available for free, Ceev is a nifty extension for Chrome that lets you effortlessly convert your LinkedIn profile into a printable resume. Once installed, all you need to do is pick one from the available templates and color schemes – and the tool will do the rest for you.
Currently Ceev has four templates to choose from, but there are other things you can adjust – including the accent color, the font style, as well as the page size.
Testing out the extension, I noticed that while it does work fairly well most of the times – it would sometimes miss printing out some of the relevant information. Fortunately, the app has a dedicated edit feature which lets you tweak the content of your resume before saving it as a PDF.
In all fairness, LinkedIn does have its own feature to download CVs, but it appears it is currently broken – for some reason the tool returns an error anytime we attempt saving our profile as a PDF.
Ceev might not be as impressive as turning your CV into a Super Mario knock-off game or loading up your resume as an actual operating system, but it will surely help you stand out in a sea of terribly overused templates. In any case, you should try it out if your current CV isn’t landing you the positions you want – you might be surprised.
Those interested in revamping their CV can download the Ceev extension from the Chrome web store here.


Caleb Carr, who authored “The Alienist,” is joining TNT’s television adaptation of his best-selling novel as a consulting producer, Variety has learned exclusively.
Gina Gionfriddo (“House of Cards, “Law & Order”), E. Max Frye (“Band of Brothers”) and John Sayles (“Bass Reeves”) also join the Paramount Television and Anonymous Content project as writers. The trio, joining pilot and series writer Hossein Amini, will serve as consulting producers on the episodes they pen.
“After twenty years of tough struggle and countless failed attempts, I’m delighted that Paramount Television, Anonymous Content and TNT have decided to join forces and bring ‘The Alienist’ to life in what, based on the material I’ve read, has the potential to be a faithful and exciting TV series,” Carr commented.
Previously announced, “True Detective’s” Cary Fukunaga will direct the drama. He and Amini will exec produce with Eric Roth. Anonymous Content’s Steve Golin and Rosalie Swedlin also serve as exec producers and Amy Kaufman will co-exec produce.
Set in Gilded Age New York, “Alienist” follows Dr. Laszlo Kreizler who, with the help of newspaper reporter John Moore and police commissioner Theodore Roosevelt, uses the emerging discipline of psychology to track down one of New York City’s first serial killers.
“The Alienist” is a co-production of TNT Original Prods. and Paramount TV.
Carr is repped by APA for Film and television, and by WME for publishing.


Lance Cooley, an expert in applied superconductivity, who was recruited to Florida State University in 2017, has been named head of the MagLab’s Applied Superconductivity Center.
Cooley came to the MagLab from the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, or “Fermilab”, near Chicago. He also holds a faculty appointment in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering.
Cooley succeeds David Larbalestier, who will remain the chief scientist for materials at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory and a professor in the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering, according to FSU.
Cooley worked under Larbalestier as a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin. He later worked at National Institute of Standards and Technology, University of Wisconsin and Brookhaven National Lab, the university said.
“These are exciting times for the field of superconductivity, and Lance is the perfect person to take the helm and lead ASC as the MagLab realizes the next generation of superconducting magnets,” MagLab Director Greg Boebinger said in a release.
Cooley said he wants to advance research opportunities at FSU by working with the Center for Advanced Power Systems and the Florida Center for Advanced Aero-Propulsion to develop superconducting coils for wind turbines, ship propulsion and airplanes.
In a release, he said he also sees opportunities for superconductivity to create powerful electron beams that could aid in wastewater cleanup and help develop sensitive devices related to quantum information.
“We have an important role to make the world’s highest-field superconducting magnets at the MagLab, but we also want to consider opportunities to work with other partners that may benefit from using the same materials and conductors but at lower fields and warmer temperatures,” Cooley said.


Come celebrate Black History as the Appleton Area School District will have the 1st Annual Black History Program. The program will be held at Appleton West High School on Feb. 10th, 2019 3pm-6pm. Enjoy a night full of culture and food for the soul.


NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Social media vent sessions may give the impression that the state of customer service is suffering. Not so fast, according to the 2017 Customer Service Barometer. The study, fielded by American Express (NYSE: AXP), shows U.S. consumers are happier than ever with the service companies provide.
Eight in 10 Americans (81%) report that businesses are meeting or exceeding their expectations for service, compared to 67 percent in 2014. In fact, 40 percent of consumers say businesses have increased their focus and attention on service, a significant increase in just three years (up from 29% in 2014).
Digital servicing options are helping to drive this uptick in servicing satisfaction, as is improved person-to-person care. More than two thirds of those surveyed (68%) said that a pleasant representative was key to their recent positive service experiences, and 62 percent said that a representative’s knowledge or resourcefulness was key.
Americans continue to reward companies that get service right. US consumers say they’re willing to spend 17 percent more to do business with companies that deliver excellent service, up from 14 percent in 2014. As a group, Millennials are willing to spend the most for great care (21% additional), followed by men (19%).
But there’s another side to that coin, too: poor service is costing companies. More than half of Americans have scrapped a planned purchase or transaction because of bad service, and 33 percent say they’ll consider switching companies after just a single instance of poor service. The stakes remain high for getting service right.
Millennials are particularly happy with the service they’re receiving from businesses. Eighty-four percent say that businesses are meeting or exceeding their service expectations, significantly more than older Americans (79%).
Millennials are also the only generation that tells more friends and family about instances of good service than bad ones, bucking an established trend in how Americans talk about service. As in previous years, Americans across the board report telling more people about poor service (15 people on average) than about good experiences (11). Millennials, though, tell an average of 17 people when they get great care, compared to the 15 they tell about poor experiences.
Men are especially chatty when it comes to service, telling twice as many people as women both about their poor experiences (21 compared to 10) and good ones (15 compared to 7).
There is a growing preference for self-service and digital options on simpler inquiries, specifically for online chat and mobile apps.
More than six in 10 U.S. consumers say that their go-to channel for simple inquiries is a digital self-serve tool such as a website (24%), mobile app (14%), voice response system (13%) or online chat (12%). But, as the complexity of the issue increases, such as with payment disputes or complaints, customers are more likely to seek out a face-to-face interaction (23%) or a real person on the phone (40%).
More people than ever are also using social media to get help from businesses. In the past year, 35 percent reported reaching out in social channels, up significantly from the 2014 survey (23%) and double the percentage from 2012 (17%). Of those who have used social media for a customer service concern, 84 percent say they have received a response or resolution, up significantly from 65% in 2014.
Deliver service on the customer’s timeline. As companies improve the service they provide, customers want them to focus on taking care of their needs quickly (40%). The future of service belongs to those who deliver quick, convenient and personalized service in the customer’s channel of choice. This could mean enabling customers to find answers themselves through digital options as well as making it easier to connect with a knowledgeable professional.
Earn the advocacy of customers. Excellent service continues to be a way for businesses to unleash positive word of mouth. This is especially true for Millennials, so companies should make sure they can take care of younger Americans the way they want to be served. For example, Millennials are twice as likely as the general population to prefer self-service for simple inquiries.
Make the connection. While most Americans still prioritize service that gets the job done, the personal connection matters. Eighty-one percent say that getting a satisfactory answer is a very important part of servicing satisfaction, and 74 percent want a knowledgeable professional. But nearly half also say that personalized service (47%) and appreciation for them as a customer (45%) are very important in providing excellent care.
The American Express® Global Customer Service Barometer is a study conducted by American Express and Ebiquity, exploring customer attitudes and preferences around customer service. Research was completed online among a random sample of 1,000 U.S. consumers aged 18+. Interviews were conducted by Ebiquity, a team of independent marketing performance specialists. The overall results have a margin of error of +/- 3.1 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. The same survey methodology was used in Canada, Mexico, the U.K., Italy, India, Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan.
U.S. consumers – especially millennials – say businesses are meeting or exceeding their service expectations.


Money in the budget, $11 million over two years, helps 15 counties, including Marion, provide medication-assisted treatment to jail inmates involved in specialized drug courts. Another $3.3 million is available for mental health or drug addiction programs, which could include medication for treatment. That helps, but won’t make medicine accessible to all inmates.


Pop quiz time! What is the probability that tonight’s episode of The Voice ended in a Steal?
c. Is Adam’s torso covered in tattoos?
No, you are not allowed to shake a fist at my spoiler-ization down in the comments section. The Voice‘s Battle Rounds always end in a Steal, sillies!
But as much as I try to keep NBC’s reality singing competition at an emotional arm’s length during its early rounds — at least three-quarters of the time, potential champions get pitted against each other in winner-take-all pairings, while subpar competitors somehow get salvaged from the scrap heap by sentimental coaches, after all — once in a while, something so spectacular happens that my Gospel hand goes up and those walls I built, baby, they come tumbling down.
Tonight, that rare double rainbow-striped pegasus-unicorn hybrid landed on NBC’s Monday-night schedule in the form of DaNica Shirey and Toia Jones’ duet on Beyoncé’s “Halo.” Sure, the holleration started at a 10 and got cranked up to “Michelle, can you handle this?” — but you won’t hear any complaining from me. In DaNica and Toia, The Voice has managed to shine a massive spotlight on two soulful, distinctive divas who have somehow failed to make a blip on the major-label heirarchy, toiling away in anonymity while Britney Spears makes seven figures for gasping to a backing track six nights a week in Vegas. Heck, more people have heard Kim Kardashian sing than both DaNica and Toia combined prior to The Voice‘s seventh season.
So, whether or not their big, belt-y styles suit your tastes, let’s be happy they’ve found a forum — however brief — along with the dozens of other wonderful talents who’ve graced the stage in Season 7. I might not understand every move Blake and Adam and Gwen and Pharrell make, but even when they reward lesser constellations and ignore the shining suns in front of ’em, The Voice is doing its part to right musical disparities in the universe. That it does it with a big dollop of predictability is the least of my worries.
On that note, let’s get to the very challenging business of ranking tonight’s Battles in order from least- to most-promising winner.
6. Team Gwen: Ryan Sill defeats Jessie Pitts on Ellie Goulding’s “I Need Your Love” (Jessie stolen by Blake) | “I’ll take ‘None of the Above’ for $100, Alex!” OK, sorry, I’m being mean, but while Ryan hits most of his notes, there’s a blandness to his tone and delivery that makes him as exciting as an unembellished slice of Wonder Bread. Jesslie’s precious affectations and wheezy phrasing, on the other hand, made Ryan the clear winner — which made Blake’s use of the Steal all the more vexing (’til I remembered how he often likes to steal cannon-fodder to fall at the feet of his Chosen Team Members).
4. Team Adam: Damien defeats Kelli Douglas on Eddie Floyd’s “Knock on Wood” | Kelli’s stage fright bubbled up from her core and right through her pores like air bubbles in a living-room fish tank — opening the door to an easy win by the explosive, emotive, though not entirely memorable Damien. If he can tap more into the stuttery “ah-ah” ad-libs that Pharrell so excitedly mimicked, he might stand a shot in the public voting rounds — but Adam will need to give him more current, relevant material if he opes to still be on TV screens come Thanksgiving time.
3. Team Adam: Matt McAndrew defeats Ethan Butler on Coldplay’s “Yellow” | I know folks seem to love the tone of Matt’s voice, but to my ears, he overplays the “sensitive” quaver of his voice to the point where it’s occasionally distracting. And while Matt’s willingness to stick to Coldplay’s outline made him an undeniable winner against Ethan’s rock-solid but with one-embellishment-too-many approach, I fear the coaches are pushing the bespectacled indie rocker so aggressively so early that he may find it impossible to match the hype.
2. Team Blake: Taylor Brashears defeats Bree Fondacaro on Linda Ronstadt’s “You’re No Good” | Poor Bree! She sounded pretty decent in rehearsal, but when she finally took to the stage, her attempt to take La Ronstadt’s melody a little off the beaten path resulted in her getting lost in the deep woods with no rescue party in sight. I mean, if it weren’t for the Voice band jamming out behind Bree, I’m not sure I’d have ever figured out what verse she was actually attempting (and I know my Ronsdadt catalogue, folks!). Taylor, meanwhile, wasn’t spotless, either, but she most definitely nailed the mix of smoky chanteuse and woman scorned that Blake asked for (and that the song requires). Not only that, but Taylor’s wicked upper register makes me wonder if there’s a lot more iceberg waiting to be uncovered in the coming weeks.
1. Team Pharrell: DaNica Shirey defeats Toia Jones on Beyoncé’s “Halo” (Toia stolen by Adam) | Like I said above, DaNica and Toia went at “Halo” like a pair of cheetahs attempting to abscond with the last impala leg. The sheer volume of the entire, epic Battle made my wine glass vibrate, and the emotional intensity behind the words came thisclose to making me Gwen’s misty-eyed double. Personally, I thought Toia’s gruff-belter style fit “Halo” a little more snugly than DaNica’s octave-scaling runs, but I can’t fault anybody who’d have voted DaNica over Toia, for that matter. I’m just glad that Pharrell’s silly decision to put two of his best singers in the ring together didn’t backfire in one of their hasty exits. Still, though, imagine how much less stressful the night would’ve been had DaNica gone against Katriz and Toia against Katriz?
Anyhow, on that note, it’s your turn. What did you think of Monday’s Battle Rounds? Take our poll below, then sound off in the comments!


This timely series from Ted Turner Documentaries explores the explosive intersection between terrorism and weapons of mass destruction. Viewers are taken to some of the most dangerous places in the world to see dramatic human stories that convey the threats from nuclear, biological and chemical weapons as well as the hope that the world can still choose to avoid Armageddon.
The Companion Book is available at the PBS Store or online at Amazon.com and BarnesAndNoble.com, as well as major retailers around the country.


Mike Doughty On Mountain Stage Hear the singer-songwriter perform his own tunes and some from his latest album of covers, The Flip Is Another Honey.
Singer-songwriter Mike Doughty makes his second appearance on Mountain Stage, recorded live on the campus of West Virginia University in Morgantown, W.Va. Doughty rose to prominence in the late '90s as the frontman for the experimental rock band Soul Coughing — a venture he now describes as a "dark, abusive, very turbulent, awful marriage." Now an established solo artist in his own right, his 2005 album Haughty Melodic spawned the hit song "Looking at the World Through the Bottom of a Well."
Doughty's latest project, The Flip Is Another Honey (a phrase from a Variety review of a Jerry Lee Lewis single), is a collection of covers. It includes two songs by Doughty's first favorite artist: the late John Denver, whom Doughty described to host Larry Groce as being ready for "his Karen Carpenter moment." Naturally, Doughty's set includes his reworking of "Take Me Home, Country Roads," a song near and dear to the audience.


Reviews were embargoed until 10pm London time last Tuesday (22 March) – after official premieres of the film had already occurred in Mexico City, Los Angeles and New York – but Warners could not indefinitely postpone the day of reckoning for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. The question was: would reviews, if largely negative, hamper the box-office?
The answer, so far, is not really. Critical adulation, had it occurred, may have pushed the numbers even higher, but nobody can fairly call the results disappointing. In the UK, the film opened with £14.62m over the three-day weekend, with Easter Monday pushing the four-day total to £17.96m.
For comparison, Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel began in June 2013 with £11.2m. As for Chris Nolan’s Batman trilogy, The Dark Knight kicked off in July 2008 with £11.19m including previews of £2.5m, and The Dark Knight Rises with £14.36m (and no previews). Comparing the three-day openings, Batman v Superman has debuted a tiny bit ahead of The Dark Knight Rises, but with the benefit of four years of ticket-price inflation.
For comparisons with the top Marvel titles, Avengers Assemble kicked off with £13.22m plus £2.55m in previews, while sequel Age of Ultron began with £14.42m plus £3.6m in previews. Again, ignoring previews, Batman v Superman has opened a tiny bit ahead of Age of Ultron, with the benefit this time of just one year’s ticket price inflation. In terms of pure box office, Warners and DC Comics can fairly claim bragging rights on the biggest ever opening weekend for a superhero movie at UK cinemas.
Opening just as the vast majority of UK schools broke up for the two-week Easter holiday, Disney Animation’s Zootropolis was nicely positioned to target the family audience. The animal animation debuted with £3.57m, with previews taking the tally to £5.31m. Add in a splendid £1.72m for Easter Monday and the total so far rises to £7.03m so far. The film should enjoy two weeks of further solid play before kids return to school on 11 April.
For comparison, Disney Animation’s Big Hero 6 kicked off in January 2015 with £3.81m plus previews of £480,000. Before that, Frozen began in December 2013 with £4.7m, and no previews. Wreck-It Ralph started its run in February 2013 with £4.63m, also with no previews.
Zootropolis faced significant competition for the family audience in the shape of Kung Fu Panda 3, which managed £1.2m over the weekend period, and £1.72m including Easter Monday. And of course families with slightly older kids would have been pulled to the 12A-rated Batman v Superman. Disney will be hoping that positive word of mouth on its film will see it win the war: the animal adventure has an 8.4/10 IMDb user rating and a 78/100 MetaCritic score. Kung Fu Panda 3 has been on release for two weeks longer than Zootropolis, achieving £9.47m so far.
With Grimsby now dropping out of the UK Top 10, there was a gap in the market for a non-animated comedy, one that Universal hoped to plug with My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2. A belated sequel to the Nia Vardalos-penned original, the film was not beloved by critics, earning a one-star rating in the Guardian, for example.
Debut takings of £984,000 compare with £1.5m for the original My Big Fat Greek Wedding back in September 2002. Easter Monday lifts the number to £1.3m. The original film maxed out at £13.56m – a target that is certain to elude the sequel, despite the advantage of significantly higher ticket prices. Still, with a production budget pegged at a relatively restrained $18m, this could end up being a profitable title for the film’s backers, especially with a rich afterlife on DVD and other platforms.
As new titles arrive each week, existing ones might get shoved into screens with smaller capacities, have their number of showtimes per day reduced, or they might lose purchase on a cinema altogether. But site counts can often remain surprisingly robust deep into a film’s run, as they cling on in some capacity at venues.
What was unusual about the Easter session, then, is the deep reduction in site counts for many films in the market. With Batman v Superman occupying multiple screens at multiplexes across the UK, and Zootropolis and My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 also arriving, it was more a case of tossing out product altogether, rather than mere reduction of showtimes.
London Has Fallen did better than most, losing only 124 of its 484 cinemas. The Divergent Series: Allegiant wasn’t so lucky, dropping from 532 sites to 338. Deadpool, which has been on release for six weeks, plunged from 404 venues to just 208. Hail, Caesar! crashed from 462 cinemas to just 140. In the circumstances, box-office drops for mature titles were not that calamitous – Hail, Caesar! fell 54% in revenue achieved from 70% fewer locations, for example, meaning its site average actually went up.
Ben Wheatley’s High-Rise fell a reasonable 38% at the box-office from its opening frame, on 8% fewer screens. Total including Easter Monday is a nice £1.21m, which compares with £662,000 for the lifetime of the director’s previous biggest hit, Sightseers. High-Rise arguably benefited from the lack of a major English-language title coming against it in its second week of release. Instead, it faced French thriller Disorder, Chilean arthouse drama The Club and other commercially modest challengers.
Disorder opened on 50 screens – relatively broad for a foreign-language film in the UK, and its wide reach reflects commercial elements including genre (home invasion thriller) and cast members (notably Matthias Schoenaerts). But it was beaten at the box-office by Marguerite in its second week of play – a rather more middlebrow-seeming offering with a clearly defined audience of older upscale cinema-goers. Disorder debuted with £49,400 including Easter Monday, with previews taking it to £86,400. Marguerite was a shade ahead with £53,300 from 42 cinemas, including Easter Monday, taking its total so far to £136,000.
Thanks to the arrival of Batman v Superman, takings are 195% up on the previous frame, and also 85% up on the equivalent weekend from 2015, when Cinderella was the top new release. Unsurprisingly, no big studio movie is going up against Batman v Superman in its second session, so expect takings to dip this weekend. Instead, Lionsgate is releasing its heartwarming British comedy Eddie the Eagle, which in fact arrived in cinemas on Easter Monday and continues to play all week. The film did well on Monday, so expect a healthy seven-day total when Eddie officially reports next week. Lionsgate also has Natural Born Pranksters, starring a trio of popular YouTube pranksters in cinemas on April Fool’s Day (ie Friday) only, with simultaneous release on DVD and VOD. The big arthouse challenger is the Berlin-set Victoria, an acclaimed title that pivots from slacker romance to heist thriller, played out in real time and shot in a single take. Audiences with an appetite for a film that offers something genuinely different might take note.