Month: August 2022

Categories
Sports

All Blacks No 10 Beauden Barrett opens up on horrendous spill against Springboks

All Blacks No 10 Beauden Barrett opens up on horrendous spill against Springboks

Star All Blacks No 10 Beauden Barrett has admitted he “feared the worst” after his horrific spill against the Springboks in Mbombela that left him fortunate to escape serious injury.

The 31-year-old, 105-test international has spoken for the first time about the incident late in the opening Rugby Championship test that saw Springboks wing Kurt-Lee Arendse red-carded, and subsequently banned for four weeks, for his illegal mid -air challenge. South Africa won the match 26-10 to inflict a fifth defeat in the last six matches for the All Blacks.

Barrett, in an interview with the All Blacks media team, opened up on the scary thoughts that ran through his head in the immediate aftermath of the spill and then the enormous sense of relief he had when he was cleared of significant injury.

The New Zealander was spun around by Arendse’s challenge and landed on his neck in a precarious position indeed. All Blacks coach Ian Foster described the incident as “probably the worst I’ve seen” and halfback Aaron Smith tagged the Boks tactics as “borderline”.

“It was quite a big collision,” said Barrett in Johannesburg in the leadup to a much-anticipated rematch at Ellis Park. “I did think of the worst instantly, especially when I was on the ground and, I can’t remember who it was, told me to stay still. It wasn’t until Doc came on and asked me could I move my fingers and toes, I was relieved I passed all those tests and eventually sat up and was able to walk off and get on with it.

“There was a fearful period there for a minute or so where you do think of the worst. It’s quite scary when you go over backwards and find yourself come down on your head and shoulders. It’s part of the game and every time we go up for the high ball we’ve got to be courageous.”

But, as Barrett conceded, sometimes courage is not enough.

Beauden Barrett is sent hurtling to the ground after being taken illegally in the air by Kurt-Lee Arendse in Mbombela.

Dirk Kotze/Getty Images

Beauden Barrett is sent hurtling to the ground after being taken illegally in the air by Kurt-Lee Arendse in Mbombela.

“Sometimes the chasers don’t get it right,” he said. “They have intentions to get up but find themselves running into the person, which happened at the weekend. As escorts, the players in front of me are doing their best to protect me, but it’s not always the case.

“It’s something we expected from South Africa… the high ball collision and contest. I don’t think they’ll change anything. They’ll look to make it a real contest and a 50-50, but we’ll continue to be courageous, get up, and our escorters have to do a job to legally stop that chaser form running a good line and allowing that mid -air collision.

“Yeah, relief is an understatement,” he added with a rueful smile.

Barrett recalled being involved in a similar spill in 2018 against the French in Wellington when he came down “more on my shoulder” and also escaped serious harm.

“It’s high-speed, split-second stuff which can be quite dangerous,” he added. “I was lucky on that occasion and was lucky at the weekend, so let’s hope I’ve still got plenty of luck in me because I’ve got to be courageous and so does everybody who goes up to catch a high ball.

“It’s a strength of South Africa’s because they cause carnage up in the air and they like to play off the spills.”

Beauden Barrett said the mid-air challenge was a strength of the Boks and the All Blacks had to find a way to counter it.

Dirk Kotze/Getty Images

Beauden Barrett said the mid-air challenge was a strength of the Boks and the All Blacks had to find a way to counter it.

The experienced playmaker was cleared of injury and trained fully with the All Blacks on Tuesday in Johannesburg. He is expected to be named to run out at Ellis Park in Saturday’s rematch (early Sunday NZ time).

The spill caused even more anxiety given the problems he went through in the aftermath of a head knock suffered against Ireland in Dublin last November. Barrett felt symptoms for months afterwards and it was not until early in the Super Rugby season that he was cleared to return to the field.

He admitted then he had feared his career could have been ended prematurely by the ongoing concussion symptoms.

Barrett, meanwhile, said the All Blacks were fiercely motivated to end their losing skid and bounce back against the Boks this weekend.

“We believe in what we’re doing and where we’re heading,” he said. “Winning is a habit, but losing can be too. We’ve just got to remember how well we can do the simple things, why we play the game and what got us here in the first place, and not over-complicate things, not listen to too much external noise and just enjoy playing footy .

“All I ask is for our fans to believe in us, and have our backs because we certainly need that.”

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US

The IRS wants to spend billions on “enforcement.” Here’s who is most likely to get audited.

The IRS wants to spend billions on "enforcement." Here's who is most likely to get audited.

One of the most gut-tightening phrases for taxpayers is “IRS audit,” but years of underfunding and a decline in staffing at the tax agency have pushed the audit rate to a decade-long low. That could soon change under the Inflation Reduction Actthe bill that proposes to give $80 billion to the IRS to beef up enforcement and hiring.

The prospect of a revitalized IRS is causing some consternation among some Republican lawmakers and taxpayers, who express fears that the proposed funding could be used to target workers and middle-class families. Indeed, Republicans on Tuesday warned taxpayers that the agency wants to hire “87,000 new IRS agents to audit Walmart shoppers.”

While the estimate of 87,000 new employees isn’t entirely accurate, the Inflation Reduction Act would inject some urgently needed funds at the tax agency. Under the plan, about $46 billion of that $80 billion would be spent on hiring more enforcement agents, as well as on keeping track of taxes on cryptocurrencies, a relatively new area for the IRS.

That has raised fears the new agents would target middle-class workers with invasive audits, although the Treasury Department on Wednesday pushed back against those concerns.

Households earning less than $400,000 “will likely see the chance of an audit decline,” Treasury said in a statement. “Instead, new funding will crack down on tax evaders among the wealthy and large corporations, invest in technology upgrades that help taxpayers, and hire more customer support staff to prevent backlogs.”

The IRS declined to comment on its hiring plans to CBS MoneyWatch, noting that it doesn’t comment on pending legislation. The Inflation Reduction Act passed in the Senate on Sundaywhile House lawmakers could vote on the bill as early as Friday.

“Anytime people hear the IRS will audit more, they are going to be concerned,” noted Eric Bronnenkant, head of tax at financial services firm Betterment. But, he added, “The audit rates are not likely to increase dramatically, I would argue, for people whose sole income is a W-2 and maybe $100 in interest from their bank account.”

Here’s what to know about audits and the proposed IRS funding.

Why does the IRS need $80 billion?

The Inflation Reduction Act would invest $370 billion in fighting climate change and $64 billion to lower costs for people with Affordable Care Act health plans. To pay for that, Democrats want the IRS to step up audits and enforcement efforts to collect billions that currently get lost in the so-called tax gap.

There’s a “gap between taxes collected and actual taxes owed, and the government has an interest in closing that gap,” Bronnenkant noted. “One way that they can close that gap is by increasing enforcement of existing laws.”

The inflation bill would direct $80 billion to the IRS, with $45.6 billion aimed primarily at enforcement. The remaining money would be spent on upgrading technology and operations at the agency, which has been dogged by delays and poor customer service.


How tax laws contribute to America’s racial wealth gap

05:57

Would the IRS really hire 87,000 new agents?

That’s a misleading figure.

Last year, before the bill emerged, the Treasury Department had proposed a plan to hire roughly that many IRS employees over the following 10 years if it got the money.

The IRS will be releasing final numbers for its hiring plans in the coming months, according to a Treasury official. But those employees will not all be hired at the same time, will not all be auditors and, in many cases, will be replacing employees who are expected to quit or retire, experts and officials say.

The IRS currently has about 80,000 workers, ranging from audit officials to customer service employees. The agency has lost roughly 50,000 employees over the past five years due to attrition, according to the IRS.

Budget cuts, mostly demanded by Republicans, have also diminished the ranks of enforcement staff, which have fallen roughly 30% since 2010 despite the fact that the filing population has increased.

Will the new funding increase audit rates?

Most likely, because that’s partly the intention behind giving the IRS billions in new funding.

The tax gap is estimated at about $400 billion annually — revenue that the US government could be collecting, but can’t because taxpayers underreport income or use other tactics to lower their tax burdens.

But the risk of getting audited currently stands at a decade-long low. The audit rate for individual tax filers was 0.25% in 2019, down from 0.9% in 2010, according to a May study from the US Government Accountability Office. Audit rates for all income levels declined over that period.

The reason for the decline: A loss of IRS staff and funding. The agency employs about the same number of people it did in the mid-1970s, according to the GAO report. And that could only get worse without more funding, with more than half of IRS employees who work in enforcement currently eligible for retirement, said Natasha Sarin, the Treasury Department’s counselor for tax policy and implementation.

Could middle-class taxpayers be targeted by the IRS?

Not likely, according to tax experts and officials at the IRS and Treasury.

Most middle-class workers receive W-2s at tax time, or tax forms that show total compensation and the amount of federal, state, and other taxes withheld from your paycheck. This data is also reported to the IRS, which then checks whether tax files match the amount reported by employers. It’s difficult for people who receive W-2s to hide income, in other words.

In an August 4 letter to the Senate, IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig noted that “audit rates will not rise relative to recent years for households making under $400,000.”

Who might face higher audit rates?

High-earning Americans and businesses, according to Treasury officials.

Other taxpayers could also face more scrutiny, including self-employed workers and people who operate cash businesses because it’s often easier for these types of workers to claim deductions that they might not be entitled to or to underreport income, tax experts note.

“If you look at that [$80 billion] as an investment, you say, ‘How do we generate the most amount of revenue for the money we are being allocated?’, and the highest potential impact is for business owners and higher-income individuals” to face more audits, Bronnenkant said.

What about the impact on low-income households?

One noteworthy point is that the IRS has recently focused its recent enforcement efforts on two groups: Wealthy taxpayers and low-income households.

In fact, households with less than $25,000 in annual earnings are five times as likely to be audited by the IRS as everyone else, according to an analysis of IRS data by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University.

That’s largely due to the IRS checking whether tax returns claiming the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) actually qualify for the benefit, which can provide a tax credit of up to $7,000 to some families. It’s a valuable benefit, but one that can be abused, with one analysis finding that as many as half of returns claiming the tax credit had erroneously claimed too much, or even incorrectly claimed the credit at all.

It’s likely that the IRS will continue to check tax returns that claim this tax credit, but the IRS’ Rettig noted in his letter that the agency’s focus would be on “meaningful, impactful examinations of large corporate and high-net worth taxpayers to ensure they are paying their fair share.”

— With reporting from the Associated Press.

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Categories
Business

Senex Energy announces plans for a $1 billion expansion of its Surat Basin gas project

A drilling rig in a clearing

Queensland’s Surat Basin may be home to the state’s main coal seam gas region but it could be about to get a whole lot bigger.

Senex Energy, which is owned by Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Energy and South Korean steel maker Posco, has announced a $1 billion expansion of its natural gas developments in the Surat Basin, which includes hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.

The expansion, which still needs approval from federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek, will increase the company’s gas production to 60 petajoules (PJ) per year from the end of 2025.

Producing enough electricity to power more than 2.7 million homes each year, it is equivalent to more than 10 per cent of the east coast’s annual domestic gas requirements.

In a speech to industry leaders in Brisbane on Thursday, federal Resources Minister Madeleine King urged them to expand amid warnings a gas shortage could lead to higher prices.

“More supply of gas is a good thing in the domestic market and for the international markets,” Ms King said.

“We want to have a sustainable and ongoing system of gas supply for the domestic market, while also honoring the arrangements companies have in place and Australia has in place with our international partners.”

Filling domestic demand

According to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) interim report of its inquiry into gas supply, there is a significant risk to the east coast’s energy security in 2023.

Two men walk through gas pipes
Resources Minister Madeleine King is encouraging gas production expansions.(Supplied: Senex Energy)

“The outlook for 2023 is very concerning and is likely to place further upward pressure on prices, which could result in some commercial and industrial users no longer being able to operate,” the report said.

“Liquified natural gas (LNG) exporters are expected to contribute to the shortfall in 2023 by withdrawing 58PJ more gas from the domestic market than they expect to supply into the market.”

An ‘obligation’ to Asia

Senex Energy chief executive Ian Davies said the supply would be mostly directed to the domestic market.

“[The] majority is absolutely domestic, but we do have an obligation, which we take quite seriously, [in] supporting our Asian neighbors to decarbonise and provide energy security,” he said.

“We have an [international] supply arrangement with Gladstone LNG for a minority of that 60PJ.

“We’re fundamentally a domestic company focused on a domestic supply.”

Two men sit at a table
Senex Energy CEO Ian Davies [R] says the project will create 50 ongoing jobs.(Supplied: Senex Energy)

Landowners ‘deeply concerned’

Senex said its expansion would create 200 jobs during construction at its Atlas and Roma North projects, and 50 ongoing roles, and inject $200 million into the region’s economies.

But property owners in Queensland’s south-west have already felt the impact of gas wells in their backyard.

Ellie Smith of the Lock the Gate Alliance said she was “deeply concerned” about the impact of Senex’s proposed expansion.

“We don’t believe that will have any impact on prices that Queenslanders are facing with this gas price crisis,” she said.

“We’re seeing gas exported overseas when we need it at home, and the only way that we can bring energy prices down is by supporting manufacturers and Australians to shift to renewables.

“What we need to see the federal government do is put in place the gas price caps and the gas trigger to keep more gas onshore to really combat this predatory behavior by the gas industry, so we can see prices come down and protect our farmland and not open new areas to gas fields.”

The ACCC’s interim report recommended the government consider intervening in the market by pulling what’s known as the “gas trigger” to ensure there was enough supply.

Filling a supply shortfall

Queensland Resources Council chief executive Ian Macfarlane said the proposed expansion would pick up the shortfall from Australia’s southern states.

A man stands at a lecture, with a screen behind him that reads the Hon Ian Macfarlane MP
Ian Macfarlane claims the expansion will pick up the shortfall from other states.(AAP: Lukas Coch)

“It is a significant step by Senex in terms of helping this shortage of supply in Victoria and New South Wales,” he said.

“The shortage has come about because Victoria does not explore for [unconventional] gas onshore and New South Wales as a gas industry has been tied up by red and green type.

He said it would set some “certainty about supply in the future”.

“Spot prices are spot prices, and the actual supply of gas today and tomorrow will continue to be affected by the fact that the Victorians and New South Welshmen have not developed their own supply and gas is short globally.”

Potential price drop

Mr Macfarlane said consumers could expect a price drop in coming years as certainty returned to the domestic market.

“there will be a continuation of higher prices in the short term, but with the hope and certainty of lower prices going forward,” he said.

“It’ll be very strong interest and coming from domestic buyers, both here in Queensland and also in southern states.

“Industries such as brickworks, glass making, but also of course, power generation — there’s a whole range of industry that relies on gas, and there’ll be very strong competition in the market for it.”

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Categories
Technology

New Saints Row Trailer Outlines Your Saint Unharmed Takeover

New Saints Row Trailer Outlines Your Santo Ileso Takeover

News

The Saints Row reboot is once again nicely showing off what it means to be a Saints Row game.

Published on

A new gameplay overview trailer for the upcoming Saints Row reboot has dropped that gives a really detailed look at what all you will be facing when it comes to taking over Saint Ileso. Just like the previous games, you will be able to purchase shops to expand the Saint’s influence throughout the city.

You can find all of this in the trailer below. Buckle up, because it is certainly a wild ride.

First, you’ve got the several factions that you will be facing off with. Seeing as this is a Saints Row game, it’s not even slightly a surprise that one of the factions, The Idols, dress up like they are at an EDM concert. The fact that some of them wear helmets like they are in Daft Punk is just the cherry on top.

Of course, no game like Saints Row is complete without a police presence. Turns out The Marshalls privatized the local police force and have more than enough “defense technology” to pose a legitimate threat.

One of the nicest touches to this trailer is that you are shown a nice piece of property that is said to be “on 3rd Street”. Longtime fans of the series will definitely take notice of that as throughout the original series, the gang was specifically referred to as the 3rd Street Saints. It’s a nice call out and reminder that this reboot was made with the upmost love.

The Saints Row reboot will be out Aug. 23, for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. We will most certainly bring you plenty of guides when the game launches, so be sure to be here.

Categories
Entertainment

Lamont Dozier: the Motown master craftsman who created miracles under pressure | motown records

LMont Dozier was not a man much given to discussing the mystical art of songwriting and inspiration. You might have thought he would be. There’s certainly something extraordinary about the sheer quality of the songs he wrote with Brian and Eddie Holland in the 60s and early 70s: Baby Love, Nowhere to Run, Stop! In the Name of Love, Reach Out I’ll Be There, Heatwave, I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch), Band of Gold, You Can’t Hurry Love, You Keep Me Hangin On and Bernadette among them – a catalog that meant Holland-Dozier-Holland stood out even amid the riches of songwriting and production talent assembled at Motown. There’s a fair argument for calling this collection of songs the greatest in the history of pop.

And it wasn’t just that these songs were hits – they were the kind of hits that became indelibly imprinted on the brain of anyone with even a passing interest in pop music. But Dozier took a very prosaic attitude to it all, presenting himself not as the genius he clearly was but as a man who’d simply worked hard, “banging on that piano”. “There’s no such thing as writer’s block,” he contended a few years before his death. “That’s just being lazy. That’s just something you put in your own head. ‘I don’t feel it today’ – that’s bullshit.”

Perhaps that was just the attitude one developed in the hothouse hit factory environment of Motown where, Dozier recalled, songwriting sessions could last for 18 hours straight and founder Berry Gordy was given to announcing “so-and-so needs a hit because they’re going out of town and they need something right away”. The more successful the label got, the more Gordy seemed to pile on the pressure: in 1965, at the height of Motown’s golden age, he issued an edict: “We will release nothing less than a Top 10 product on any artist. Because the Supremes’ worldwide acceptance is greater than the other artists, on them we will release only No 1 records.”

'No such thing as writers' block' … Holland Dozier Holland with Smokey Robinson.
‘No such thing as writer’s block’ … Holland-Dozier-Holland with Smokey Robinson. Photograph: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

It was a challenging environment to which Dozier and the Holland brothers responded in the most incredible fashion. Each of them had started out as a performer in Detroit before being brought together by Gordy. Dozier thought they worked so well together because of their shared background in the church and a mutual love of classical music. They were, by all accounts, as determined and tough as their boss, and not above provoking the artists they worked with in order to get the best out of them. Diana Ross fled the sessions for Where Did Our Love Go in tears: she hated the song, which Dozier just maintained gave her vocal “the attitude it needed to become a big hit”. Their relationship with Marvin Gaye was also frequently volatile, the singer feeling provoked by the trio deliberately writing songs in a key he felt was too high for him, in order, Dozier said, “to be a little more imaginative, reach up to a falsetto ”.

However much trouble their methods caused around Hitsville USA, you couldn’t argue with the end result. Holland-Dozier-Holland were skilled at drawing out performances of starting intensity from artists. Listen to Levi Stubbs’ voice on the Four Tops’ Standing in the Shadows of Love. Or his cry of “Just look over your shoulder!” on Reach Out (I’ll Be There). Or the 1971 single You Keep Running Away, where the singer’s agonies – “Just look at me, I’m not the man I used to be / I used to be proud, I used to be strong” – chafe against the ebullience of the music backing. Meanwhile, the Supremes may have been painted as Motown’s poppiest and sweetest group, but there’s a genuine desperation about Ross’s lead vocal on You Keep Me Hangin’ On that is startlingly powerful when combined with the music’s churning relentlessness, the pounding drums, the one- note morse-code guitar.

Holland-Dozier-Holland’s songs occasionally contained a darker undercurrent than was immediately apparent. Martha and the Vandellas’ wonderful 1967 single Jimmy Mack was inspired when Dozier attended a songwriting ceremony in New York where the mother of the songwriter Ronnie Mack – who had died aged 23 from cancer – accepted an award on his behalf for the Chiffons’ He’s So Fine. It takes on a noticeably different hue if you consider that the subject of the Martha Reeves’ pleas to return might be dead.

Standing in the shadows of love … Lamont Dozier
Standing in the shadows of love … Lamont Dozier Photograph: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Although never overtly political, Motown’s golden age played out against a backdrop of turmoil in America, much of it connected to the civil rights movement. And without ever making it explicit enough to harm their commercial chances, Holland-Dozier-Holland frequently seemed to be sending out coded messages to their black American audience. As the writer Jon Savage subsequently noted, the tense, Bob Dylan-influenced Reach Out (I’ll Be There) “offered advice and sustainability to communities… under extreme duration.” Martha and the Vandellas’ Nowhere to Run, meanwhile, presents itself as a love song but in reality it was inspired by the state of America. Dozier later said its claustrophobic atmosphere had more to do with seeing tanks on the streets in the wake of riots and teenagers being shipped off to Vietnam than with romance.

Immediate, accessible pop music that is emotionally impactful and rich with meaning: it was an incredible trick to pull off, but Holland-Dozier-Holland did it again and again. It wasn’t enough to save their relationship with Motown. Promised and then denied their own sub-label, and angry about the way money was distributed in the company, they first went on a go-slow, then left entirely in 1968. The ensuing litigation went on for years, and forced them to use a pseudonym – Wayne-Dunbar – when writing for artists on their own labels, Invicta and Hot Wax.

They had more hits – Freda Payne’s Band of Gold; Give Me Just a Little More Time by the Chairmen of the Board – maintaining the same breathtaking standard that they’d kept at Motown. But Dozier became disillusioned: he claimed the Holland brothers passed on the chance to sign both Funkadelic and Al Green, and their rejection of the latter pre-empted his decision to leave, and another lawsuit. He pursued a successful solo career as a performer: 1973’s gorgeous Take Off Your Make Up and the following year’s Trying to Hold Onto My Woman suggested songwriting powers undiminished by the break-up of the partnership, and the Afrocentric 1977 album track Going Back to My Roots enjoyed a long afterlife thanks to multiple cover versions. Somehow his friendships with both Berry Gordy and the Holland brothers survived the legal disputes: “Business is business,” he shrugged, “but love is love.”

Lamont performing solo in 2009.
Lamont performing solo in 2009. Photograph: Paul Morigi/WireImage

He moved to London in the 80s and kept writing: he was behind Alison Moyet’s 1984 hit Invisible, and collaborated with Mick Hucknall, who one suspects couldn’t believe his luck, on a string of tracks for Simply Red. Sometimes he dealt in material that is reminiscent of the classic 60s Motown sound, such as the Four Tops’ Loco in Acapulco or Phil Collins’ Two Hearts. None of it was ever likely to supplant Holland-Dozier-Holland’s 60s output in anyone’s affections, but clearly his hitmaking touch was intact.

In his later years, he has dabbled in musical theatre, taught courses at the University of Southern California and seemed happy to give interviews in which he reflected on Holland-Dozier-Holland’s peerless achievements; the pressure they’d worked under at Motown; the havoc it had wreaked on their personal lives; the way they’d come up with this song or that song. Ultimately, however, every interview seemed to come back to the same unassuming theme. “It was blood, sweat and tears,” he told the Guardian in 2015. “We just worked and worked … until we came up with things.”

Categories
Sports

Lone Scout’s Fantasy Q&A: Round 22

Lone Scout's Fantasy Q&A: Round 22

As we get down to the elimination stage for many head-to-head leagues, your choice of captain, point of difference players and trade selections are more important than ever.

Lone Scout addresses the big questions ahead of round 22.

Is Tapine a sell? – @ben_jorritsma

At this stage Joseph Tapine is only set to miss round 22, and with the Raiders basically in must-win territory it’s likely they’ll bring the influential prop back as soon as he is physically able. So unless you think holding him this week will cost you victory in a head-to-head league, I’d be holding him. He is an excellent Fantasy middle this year and hasn’t scored under 50 since round 10, if you remove last week’s injury-caused 26.

What should I do with just the one trade left? – @andyyreid

Ideally you’d want to hold it for if one of your big guns gets injured in the next week or two and you need to replace them. But if you’re playing head-to-head and facing the prospect of being eliminated from a league this week, then you have to use it and give yourself the best chance to keep your season alive. That extra trade won’t be much use if you have no game to play next week.

Who should I buy between Cook and Grant? – @cami.chickolo

Definitely Cook. He averages 69 points across his last five games, compared to Grant who averages 56.2 across the same period. Over the season Cook also averages eight points more per game than his Storm counterpart. He is the best option if you have the money.



Cook on the boil early

Who should I trade Booth to with no extra money in the bank? – @ryan.saward

If position doesn’t matter, then I think the best players available at or below Booth’s price of $301k this week are Jaeman Salmon or Cooper Johns. Salmon looks set to have a starting spot in the halves for the remainder of the regular season, with Nathan Cleary suspended until the finals and Jarome Luai not expected back until then either, and he’s good value at $298k. The job security isn’t as good for Johns ($285k), but it’s likely Jahrome Hughes will face at least a few weeks on the sidelines with his shoulder issue.

If Booth was your only hooker and you need to bring in another one, then your options are extremely limited with Zac Woolford ($274k) the only starter available in that price range.

Who should I trade Hughes out for? – @crowleydarby

If you have a little bit of extra cash to use on player just over Jahrome Hughes’ price of $571k, then I like the look of Nat Butcher ($574k) who has an average of 56 over his last three games and has locked down a starting spot in the Roosters’ pack. Ben Hunt is a decent option as well at $578k and is your best pick if you need a HLF replacement. If you want to make a trade and also save some cash, consider Tyson Frizell ($538k) or Josh Curran ($547k).



Butcher carves out a second

Who are the best PODs going into H2H finals this week? – @vianello_arlo

It depends greatly on your budget, but here are my leading point of difference (POD) options who are selected by less than 5 percent of all teams:

  • Jayden Brailey ($609k) – The fact that he missed the first 16 weeks of the season through injury means Brailey has been forgotten about by almost everyone and is owned by 0.5 percent of teams. He comes off consecutive scores of 55 and 60 and is playing 80 minutes for the Knights.
  • Hudson Young ($713k) – The Raiders back-rower remains in just 1.34 percent of teams despite boasting a past five-game average of 52.8 points. Past issues with his job security from him – which is a big reason most Fantasy players have stayed away from him – appear to no longer be a problem, with Young playing 18 games this year.
  • Ryan Matterson ($721k) – The riskiest of these options given his injury history and uncertainty around his minutes right now, but he’s also a Fantasy gun on his day. Matterson is owned by just over four percent of teams and has scored over 60 points in six games this season.

Who’s the best captaincy choice this week? -@brendanb20

Rabbitohs lock Cam Murray is in fine touch and should have a busy day in the middle against a strong Eels pack on Friday night. While he set up three tries on his way to 94 points last week, his side’s dominance meant he also only made 35 tackles, which is below his normal defensive output. You could also go with Nicho Hynes, who comes up against the 15th-placed Wests Tigers and could rack up some good attacking numbers. The Sharks’ halfback has scored over 60 Fantasy points is each of his last seven games from him.



Hynes opens the scoring

Is Dylan Brown a must-have with Moses out? – @tyson_dempsey

Brown is a good Fantasy player, but far from a must-have, especially with signs pointing towards Mitchell Moses possibly returning from his finger injury in the next fortnight, ahead of what was initially indicated. Brown is likely to be a nice scorer over the next couple of games while Parramatta’s chief playmaker, as he was last week with 81 against the Sea Eagles, but with trades at a premium, bringing him in shouldn’t be a priority.

Categories
Australia

Tips for clearing out your parents’ house

A man sitting on the back of a car with the boot open showing packing boxes in the car. He looks sad with his head in his hands

When a loved one dies, there is a lot of practical, organizational things that need to be done.

Clearing out their home and deciding what to do with all their stuff can be a very daunting and emotional task.

Olivia (name changed for privacy) found the experience somewhat overwhelming when she first helped her father downsize following her mother’s death, and then again after he died less than a year ago.

“[It is a] mountain of stuff that you have to work through,” the 40-year-old Sydneysider said.

“Even though my parents’ didn’t have a load of stuff, they still had a lifetime of stuff.”

Olivia says she was lucky because she didn’t have any arguments with her two brothers about who got what of their parents’ possessions, but it was still tough to know how to dispose of a house full of things.

“My parents had furnished their home with antique furniture that a relative of my dad had brought out from England when they arrived in Australia,” she says.

“That furniture had a lot of sentimental value to my dad, [but] it’s not the kind of furniture that any of us kids would have.”

Lynette Brigden runs a business that helps families deal with a lifetime of stuff when someone dies or needs to downsize and move into care.

She says it’s always going to be an emotional experience and can be overwhelming.

“You just can’t keep everything,” she told Philip Clark on ABC’s Nightlife program.

“You have a whole house full of stuff and most people can’t absorb that into their house, because they’ve already got a whole house full of stuff. So you do have to be a bit brutal.”

Here are some tips on how to go about packing up a lifetime of stuff.

Start in one room and make piles

There are businesses that you can use to help you pack up a parents’ home, if that’s affordable and accessible to you.(Pexels: Ivan Samkov)

Ms Brigden’s first tip is to start to pack up an area of ​​the house that doesn’t get used too much, something like a spare bedroom or office is a great place to start.

Go through everything in the room and make a decision with every item, placing them in a pile to keep, sell, give away or send to the tip.

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Categories
US

In 6-1 decision, Ohio Supreme Court approves Icebreaker wind project in Lake Erie

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COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that a state permit to construct the first freshwater, offshore wind turbine facility in North America was appropriately granted for the Icebreaker project in Lake Erie.

The Icebreaker project proposes to build six turbines eight to 10 miles off the Lake Erie coast, near Cleveland. The demonstration project would generate 20.7 megawatts of electricity, with a potential to expand if successful.

At issue before the court was whether the Ohio Power Siting Board followed the law in granting the permit.

Ohio Justice Jennifer Brunner wrote the majority opinion. Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor and Justices Patrick F. Fischer, R. Patrick DeWine, Michael P. Donnelly and Melody Stewart joined her opinion of her.

Justice Sharon Kennedy dissented.

Brunner, a Democrat, and Kennedy, a Republican, are running for Ohio Supreme Court chief justice in this November’s election. O’Connor is retiring due to age limits in the judiciary.

With the Ohio Supreme Court approval, the Lake Erie Energy Development Corp., which is called LEEDCo and is developing the project, has additional security to market the power to potential customers, the company said in a statement Wednesday, shortly after the Supreme Court decision was released.

A third of the power is under contract with the City of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County. LEEDCo can now focus on marketing the remaining two-thirds.

There isn’t yet a date for when construction will start, as LEEDCo was waiting in court, said Will Friedman, president and CEO of the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority.

“LEEDCo will need some time to regroup, market the power and determine next steps. We could not advance the project in any way while the Supreme Court case was pending,” he said. “Even though we prevailed today, it’s been a detrimental delay for over a year. With certainty received from the Court, we can now focus on marketing the remaining two-thirds of the electricity it will produce.”

Icebreaker is projected to have a $253 million local economic impact and create more than 500 jobs, according to the company.

The case ended up before the court after two Bratenahl residents opposed the project.

One described herself as a birdwatcher who learned to swim in Lake Erie before she could walk. She was concerned about the killing of birds and bats by the turbine blades. The other resident enjoys birding, boating and swimming in Lake Erie. They argued that the state hasn’t received enough data on whether the project poses significant harm to birds and bats.

At one point, Murray Energy Corp., a coal company that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2019 and sold off its assets to American Consolidated Natural Resources Inc., was paying for expert testimony and the Bratenahl residents’ legal fees in the case.

But Brunner wrote that the board collected the necessary research to allow Icebreaker to begin construction, while also requiring more data before the company can operate the turbines.

“Rather than requiring Icebreaker to resolve those matters before issuing the certificate, the board determined that the conditions on its grant of the application were sufficient to protect birds and bats and to ensure that the facility represented the minimum adverse environmental impact,” Brunner wrote.

Kennedy, on the other hand, wrote that the board held the project to a lesser degree of scrutiny because it is a first-of-its-kind demonstration project. State law does not make exceptions for demonstration projects, and the board failed to gather the required data regarding the environmental impacts, including its impact on aquatic and avian wildlife, before issuing the certificate, she stated. If more relaxed standards should apply to demonstration projects, that decision must be made by the legislature, she wrote.

The Siting Board made over 30 conditions for Icebreaker to follow, including monitoring wildlife activity before and after construction from April 1 through Nov. 15 each year. Before construction, radar must be installed on a barge. The board also is requiring collision mitigation technology to be installed before turbine operations can begin.

The Supreme Court, in the majority decision, noted the board cited many scientific studies about birds and bats flying near and off the shores of Lake Erie, including studies of bird fatalities at 42 land-based wind farms in the Great Lakes region and bat fatalities at 55 land-based wind farms. The board also cited evidence that the location of the turbines would not likely impact the habitat of nesting birds and roosting bats because of its distance from the shoreline.

Brunner wrote that when appealing the board’s decision, the Bratenahl residents had to demonstrate the board’s decision was “so clearly unsupported by the record as to show misapprehension, mistake or willful disregard of duty.”

She wrote that the residents did not provide enough evidence to justify overturning the board’s decision.

Brunner wrote that Icebreaker, by being a demonstration project, is not exempt from information requirements about the danger to wildlife. However, she stated the lack of precise knowledge should not prevent the board from issuing the certificate if conditions are added that require the company to continue to study and report its environmental impacts.

“We have upheld the board’s practice of imposing conditions on wind-farm construction certificates,” the opinion stated, referring to the court’s 2012 opinion in the Buckeye Wind LLC project in Champaign County.

In the statement released by Icebreaker developer LEEDCo, Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb says renewables such as Icebreaker Wind bring “a great opportunity to grow the wind industry locally as well as provide access to renewable energy for businesses and residents of Cleveland and the region. This project has always been a win-win for our economy and for our environment. Let’s position ourselves to be a leader, not a follower, to other states.”

Friedman, of the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority, said by one estimate, there will be $70 billion in the offshore wind business pipeline in the US by 2030.

“Other states are nipping at our heels to attract offshore wind and its economic benefits,” Friedman said. “We don’t want to squander this opportunity and let 15 years of work slip away to other states eager to capture market share.”

Ohio has no choice but to embrace the energy transition to meet the state’s power needs, said LEEDCo Board Chairman Ronn Richard, who is also CEO of the Cleveland Foundation, noting Intel’s decision to build the world’s largest computer chip factory near Columbus includes a commitment to power 100% of its operations with renewable energy. Other companies in Northeast Ohio and throughout the state have also set ambitious renewable targets, he said.

“This decision will create jobs, attract talent from outside our region and retain the best and brightest minds from right here in Ohio,” Richard said. “It also shows that we’re committed to improving health outcomes for Ohioans by cleaning up the air we breathe and the water we drink. It’s our hope that LEEDCo can now resume selling the remainder of the power and turn this dream into a reality.”

Wednesday’s decision is likely the last legal hurdle for Icebreaker, after years of hearings and appeals with the Siting Board. This included a requirement, since removed, that the operation of the turbine blades be curtailed from dusk to dawn between March 1 to Nov. 1 each year to mitigate the killing of migrating birds and bats. Icebreaker officials celebrated that win, saying the requirement was a poison pill that would make the demonstration project financially unviable.

The Siting Board made many decisions under former Chair Sam Randazzo, who opposed renewable energy in his earlier career as an energy lobbyist, and ultimately resigned from the Siting Board and Public Utilities Commission of Ohio after the FBI searched his Columbus home during its investigation into the alleged $60 million corruption scandal involving FirstEnergy and former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder. Randazzo hasn’t been charged by the feds and he claims he didn’t break any laws in relation to FirstEnergy.

Categories
Technology

These Canon Cameras Are Actually Transformer Robots in Disguise

These Canon Cameras Are Actually Transformer Robots in Disguise

Canon has officially partnered with Japanese toy company Takara Tomy to produce two “robots in disguise” Transformer toys that take the shape of the EOS R5.

spotted by TFormers and TheVerge, Takara Tomy is set to release a pair of Transformer toys that take the shape of Optimus Prime of the Autobots and Refraktor of the Decepticons. Refraktor might at first seem like an obscure character to pick to go alongside the Autobot leader Optimus Prime, but according to Transformers lore, the Decepticon is a combination of three separate robots named Spectre, Spyglass, and Viewfinder, which fits nicely into the idea of it hiding as a Canon camera.

Takara Tomy indicates that it works in tandem with various companies annually to produce fun collaboration products and in the case of Transformers, it works particularly hard to make sure that they not only function as toys, but also look the part of whatever original product they are trying to mimic.

This year, the company’s toys are being produced in collaboration with Canon and the result is an 80% scale model of the company’s full-frame mirrorless R5. Takara Tomy says that the camera body and lens can be removed like the actual camera, although as a toy it cannot actually take any pictures.

When not in the robot state, the toy looks strikingly like the Canon R5 and it is particularly impressive that the body and lens can be separated and still look like the R5 and 24-105mm that they were modeled after.

The lens cap that looks strikingly similar to the one found on Canon’s actual cameras can be removed and used as a shield.

Both robots come with a small camera that each can hold when in their “transformed” state. Optimus Prime ships with a tiny EOS R5 while Refraktor comes with a three-part camera that mimics the original concept of the Decepticon that, as mentioned, is made up of three separate robots.

The two Transformers are scheduled to be released in Japan on February 25, 2023 and pre-orders for each (Optimus Prime and Reflektor) are currently open between August 10 and September 28 for 19,800 yen, or about $150. Takara Tomy has, unfortunately, not made any mention of an international release.

Image Credits: Takara Tomy

Categories
Entertainment

Lance Armstrong ties the knot with girlfriend Anna Hansen in France

Just married! After 14 years together, Lance Armstrong and his longtime girlfriend Anna Hansen have tied the knot

After 14 years together, Lance Armstrong and his longtime girlfriend Anna Hansen have tied the knot.

The disgraced cyclist, 50, announced they said ‘I do’ in France in a touching post showing their nuptials on Tuesday.

‘Best. Day. Ever. Married the love of my life @annahansenarmstrong. So special having our kids there as well,’ Lance began in the caption.

Just married! After 14 years together, Lance Armstrong and his longtime girlfriend Anna Hansen have tied the knot

Just married! After 14 years together, Lance Armstrong and his longtime girlfriend Anna Hansen have tied the knot

‘It was an evening full of laughter and plenty of joyful tears. Anna, you have been my absolute rock the past 14 years and let me be clear, I would not have survived them without you.

‘I am so proud of the couple we have become – It took us doing the work, the really hard work, and I am so glad that we did. I love you immensely and will always be here for you and our family. I’d be remiss if I didn’t think our best bud aka “Reverend” @chad_mountain for officiating the ceremony.

‘As well as the great @lizkreutz for making sure these beautiful memories were captured. Hope you are all having an excellent summer – I sure as hell am.’

Lance and Anna have been engaged since 2017 and share daughter Olivia Marie Armstrong, 11, and son Max Armstrong, 13. The cyclist also has son Luke, 22, and twin daughters Grace and Isabelle, 20, with his ex-wife Kristin Richard, whom he was married to from 1998 to 2003.

Soulmates: The disgraced cyclist, 50, announced they had said 'I do' in France in a touching post showing their nuptials on Tuesday

Soulmates: The disgraced cyclist, 50, announced they had said ‘I do’ in France in a touching post showing their nuptials on Tuesday

Forever and ever: The post captured their magical nuptials

Forever and ever: The post captured their magical nuptials

Gone! Images captured Lance and his bride exchanging vows

Gone! Images captured Lance and his bride exchanging vows

The images, which were taken at Chateau La Coste in France, captured the newlyweds in nearly every stage of their special day.

Anna wore a gorgeous white dress with lace detailing and a small arrangement of flowers in her hair.

The couple beamed from ear to ear as they exchanged vows before sharing their first kiss as man and wife.

They also enjoyed a glass of wine as they took pictures in the vineyard.

The bridal party included their children, and Lance tagged his son Luke and daughter Grace in the images.

Aww: 'Anna, you have been my absolute rock the past 14 years and let me be clear, I would not have survived them without you,' Armstrong gushed in his post

Aww: ‘Anna, you have been my absolute rock the past 14 years and let me be clear, I would not have survived them without you,’ Armstrong gushed in his post

Here comes the bride! The post also appeared to capture the couple's first look

Here comes the bride! The post also appeared to capture the couple’s first look

Longtime love: The newlyweds were together for 14 years before finally walking down the aisle

Longtime love: The newlyweds were together for 14 years before finally walking down the aisle

Lance announced their engagement in 2017, posting a photo of them at Lake Austin as Anna showed off her new ring.

‘She said….. YES!!!!’ I have captioned the elated snap.

Lance has been romantically linked to a number of celebs in the past.

He was previously engaged to singer Sheryl Crow, and also dated the likes of fashion designer Tory Burch and actress Kate Hudson. He was also linked to Ashley Olsen in 2007.

Sealed with a kiss! Lance beamed as he kissed his bride

Sealed with a kiss! Lance beamed as he kissed his bride

Suits him! Armstrong was looking smart in a black suit with white rose attached to the lapel

Suits him! Armstrong was looking smart in a black suit with white rose attached to the lapel

She said yes! Lance announced their engagement of her in 2017, posting a photo of them at Lake Austin as Anna showed off her new ring

She said yes! Lance announced their engagement of her in 2017, posting a photo of them at Lake Austin as Anna showed off her new ring

Former flame: Armstrong was previously engaged to singer Sheryl Crow; pictured 2005

Former flame: Armstrong was previously engaged to singer Sheryl Crow; pictured 2005

Armstrong was the only cyclist to ever win seven consecutive Tour de France titles between 1999 and 2005 but lost it all following a doping scandal.

Years of cover-ups and denials finally caught up with Armstrong in 2012 when a United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) investigation found Armstrong had used performance-enhancing drugs throughout his career.

He was stripped of all of his achievements from August 1998 onwards, including his record seven Tour de France titles, and handed a lifetime ban from the sport.

The former factor: Armstrong dated the likes of fashion designer Tory Burch (L) and was married to Kristin Richard from 1998 to 2003 (R)

The former factor: Armstrong dated the likes of fashion designer Tory Burch (L) and was married to Kristin Richard from 1998 to 2003 (R)

The former factor: Armstrong dated the likes of fashion designer Tory Burch (L) and was married to Kristin Richard from 1998 to 2003 (R)

Embroiled in controversy: Armstrong was the only cyclist to ever win seven consecutive Tour de France titles between 1999 and 2005 but lost it all following a doping scandal; pictured winning stage 17 of the Tour de France in 2004

Embroiled in controversy: Armstrong was the only cyclist to ever win seven consecutive Tour de France titles between 1999 and 2005 but lost it all following a doping scandal; pictured winning stage 17 of the Tour de France in 2004

The elected star not to contest doping charges brought against him, dismissing proceedings as a ‘witch hunt’ and claiming he did not feel the process was a fair one.

Armstrong returned from cancer to dominate the Tour between 1999 and 2005 but fiercely denied allegations of doping until coming clean in an interview with Oprah Winfrey in January 2013.

During that interview, Armstrong admitted taking banned substances – including EPO – to help win the Tour de France.

He latter admitted he ‘wouldn’t change a thing’ about the episode, adding: ‘We did what we had to do to win.

‘It wasn’t legal, but I wouldn’t change a thing – whether it’s losing a bunch of money, or going from hero to zero.

‘It was a mistake, it led to a lot of other mistakes. It led to the most colossal meltdown in the history of sport. But I learned a lot.’

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