PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds‘ first large-scale LAN event of 2018 is just around the corner, as ESL and IEM have announced a $50,000 PUBG Invitational at IEM Katowice.
Sixteen teams will compete at the event on Feb. 24 and 25 at IEM Expo in Katowice, Poland. Nine of the sixteen teams will be invited, with three teams each from NA, EU, and Asia. The final seven teams will face off in qualifiers, with three teams from NA and EU and one team for South America making it through.
“The IEM World Championship Katowice 2017 was the world’s largest esports event in history, and with PUBG’s competitive debut at IEM Oakland, we are thrilled to feature it again at such a renowned IEM event,” ESL’s VP of Pro Gaming, Michal Blicharz, said. “Previously adding PUBG to the agenda brought a lot of excitement to the arena and we feel that it will be a great addition to the IEM Expo.”
This will be the third PUBG event by ESL, with the first being the gamescom Invitational last August. While the event was rough around the edges, it proved there was an audience and a want for PUBG esports, so the game was brought back for IEM Oakland, which offered a much more refined viewing experience—particularly in regards to the spectating.
Both of those events featured 20 teams facing off in Squads play, but this event will feature just 16, which should make for a less hectic spectator experience, and hopefully offer a change of pace as well.
The online qualifiers for IEM Katowice will begin Jan. 20 and 21, with 512 teams fighting for the seven remaining slots. No invited teams have been announced yet, but news should be coming in the next few weeks.
October 4, 2017__Even though Governor Hogan declined repeated requests to meet with us in a Town Hall, on October 4, Do The Most Good, Indivisible All In, Indivisible Cabin John, Indivisible Montgomery, Takoma Park Mobilization and Diversity Matters co-sponsored a major forum, “Marylanders Speak to Governor Hogan”. The stellar speakers and enthusiastic audience took on three major areas of concern to Marylanders: Health Care, Education, and the Environment, and attempted to prioritize actions that should be taken by the Governor. After each speaker, the audience voted in real time to set their priorities.
Charly Carter, Executive Director of Maryland Working Families, introduced the outstanding speakers and set the tone by reminding the audience we are all “citizen experts on living.” Our representatives need to hear from us about the “real problems” we face and our priorities for governmental action.
Leni Peston, Executive Director of Consumer Health First, posed this challenge to the Governor: “Governor Hogan, how do you propose to ensure that Marylanders continue to have access to high-quality, comprehensive and affordable health care?” Since he wasn’t there to answer, she described four potential areas for action:
Dr. David Hornbeck, co-founder of Strong Schools Maryland, presented alarming data that indicate recent declines in student scores in Maryland and the state’s poor educational standing (23rd – 37th) compared to other states. He noted that 58% of Maryland schools draw from areas of concentrated poverty, and the system is further challenged by wide-spread underfunding. He concluded that the problems faced by educators are complex and there is no single, simple “silver bullet” solution. Therefore, Dr. Hornbeck calls on the Governor to Support the Nine Building Blocks for a World Class Education currently being considered by the Kirwan Commission. He proposed three potential areas for immediate action to the forum:
Equity in MD’s funding and performance standards across districts to reduce disparities in resources and outcomes
Support high-quality programs for our youngest children – school readiness is a strong predictor of academic success
Concern for the most vulnerable among us led yielded the #1 priority for high quality programs for our youngest children.
Mike Tidwell, Executive Director of Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN), engaged the audience with a dynamic presentation on environmental issues and climate change. This year’s hurricane season, only about half over, has already set a number of world records for wind speed, rainfall, and pure destructiveness. It is imperative that we reduce the release of green house gases into the atmosphere, and he sees us in a race against time to keep more fossil fuels in the ground (where they belong) while simultaneously developing more clean energy sources. Although Maryland has had some recent legislative successes, such as the state-wide fracking ban, there is much more to do. His recommendations:
Require 50% of MD electricity come from renewable sources (wind and solar) by 2030 – new legislation to be introduced
Stop the Potomac pipeline (transporting “fracked” gas from PA to WV via pipeline under Potomac River and C&O Canal)
Forum participants strongly endorsed establishing new, stricter renewable electricity goals for 2030 as their top priority.
At his Healthcare Town Hall in Rockville on August 31, Senator Ben Cardin announced that he wanted to applaud “We the People” for saving the Affordable Care Act (ACA). What made the difference, he said, were personal stories and specific examples of how loss of coverage would affect real people. Many “Do The Most Gooders” were among the approximately 150 people in attendance at Gilchrist Hall to accept his praise and get his assessment of where we go from here.
Can the ACA be improved, Cardin asked? His answer: “No major legislation has not needed some revision.” He has offered legislation to address two major areas of the law that need work. First, he is concerned about lack of competition, particularly in the individual markets, and higher premiums exacerbated by the uncertainty the Republicans have caused. Secondly, is the need to bring down the growth rate of healthcare costs, beginning with prescription prices and including innovative care delivery models.
Cardin believes we need careful deliberation to determine what works best for our country, not the Republican’s precipitous and exclusionary process. Whether he eventually supports Medicare-for-all or a single-payer system, Cardin believes we need to establish healthcare as a right, then assure universal coverage and access, while taking care to safeguard quality. With this Congress, we may need to compromise while we keep our eye on the goal.
Excellent letter in Sunday’s Washington Post by our team lead for environment and science, Olivia Bartlett!
Check out this letter to the editor in the Washington Post, by DTMG Steering Committee Member Trip Rothschild, in which he calls out Maryland Gov Larry Hogan for his lack of leadership. Read and share!