Category Archives: Evolution

Andrew Harnik/Associated Press

BOSTON Al Horford is a pretty even-keeled guy. "He's just easy, man," says Charlotte Hornets forward Marvin Williams, who played five seasons alongside Horford on the Atlanta Hawks. "Nothing ruffles his feathers." This might actually be one of the few things fans know about the reserved 30-year-old and four-time All-Star, which is why the following story, courtesy of Al's younger half-brother, Jon, might surprise you.

Back when he was a high school kid in Lansing, Michigan, Al's family loved sitting around the house and playing games. Al's father, Tito, a former NBA player himself, had imparted his competitive spirit onto his offspring, and Al, who was born in the Dominican Republic before joining Tito and Tito's second wife in Lansing for high school, was a quick learner. Dominoes and cards were frequent family pastimes, but Monopoly was a particular favorite. After all, there were four children in the Horford householda perfect amount to fight over ownership of various Atlantic City properties.

As Jon tells it, one day he, Al and a cousin were sitting around the living room playing Monopoly. Jon, who plays in the D-League now, was around nine at the time, five years younger than Al, and he says he remembers the scene vividly. There he was, the younger brother finally keeping up with the older sibling, getting every roll he needed, racking up the cash and assets, and yet, somehow, Al's stack of green and pink and yellow paper bills remained intact.

The battle raged on for a while, as Monopoly games tend to do,with this cycle repeating itself over and over. It didn't matter how many hotels Jon built, or how many of those spots Al landed on. Al just wouldn't lose.

Then, toward the end of the game, Jon caught Al sliding his hand beneath an adjacent couch. Underneath it was one of the family's spare Monopoly boards. Jon examined the set. Thanks to Al's sticky fingers, chunks of cash were missing from the bank.

"That's just Al," Jon says. "He's super competitive, the kind of guy that will do anything to win."

Of course, this narrativeStar Player Is So Great Because He's So Competitiveisn't exactly an exceptional one. The world's sports pages are littered with stories of professional athletes professing their addiction to victory and of the not-always-legal lengths they'll go to stave off defeat.

Few, though, have gone about doing so the way Horford has.

It started in college, where he helped lead the Florida Gators to consecutive NCAA titles. It continued in Atlanta, where he helped transform the once-lowly Hawks into a playoff mainstay. And in this, his first season with the Boston Celtics, he's helped elevate his new team to the top of the Eastern Conference and brought them to within one win of the conference final.

Everywhere Al Horford goes, his teams win. Could this be a coincidence? Sure. Or maybe there's something about Horfordsomething beyond his pedestrian career averages of 14.3 points and 8.7 reboundsthat brings out the very best in those he plays with. As Jon says, "He's the ultimate glue guythe guy who does all the little things on the floor."

But, yes, that's another cliche, even if in this case it's true, even if Horford's affinity for team basketball, lack of a major flaw and ability to be in the right spot at the right time does seem to always instantaneously lift whatever team he plays on.

Thing is, there's more to Horford adapting this role of being the ultimate glue than him just wanting to fulfill the dreams of Hoosiers-loving coaches everywhere.

"He does all those things because of how competitive he is," Jon says, "because winning is all that matters to him and he knows those plays are needed to win."

You see, in a way, it's actually a selfishness that has driven Horford to perfect seemingly every one of basketball's secondary skills, which have served as the catalyst for his relentlessly selfless play.

Al Horford might not bark as much as LeBron or scowl as much as Kobe, but that doesn't mean he doesn't want to win as badly as they and other stars do. It's just that long ago he recognized there are other ways for a player to dominate a game and so he perfected them, and in doing so, he morphed into one of the best, most underappreciated and distinctive basketball players in the world and a beacon for what prioritizing team glory over individual accolades looks like.

So what exactly is it that separates Horford from every other would-be glue guy to step foot on an NBA floor? How is it that a player who often puts up middling box scores can rank third in the NBA in win shares in the postseason, according to Basketball Reference, trailing only one-name studs like LeBron and Kawhi?

"His ability to make people around him better has been very helpful to our team, obviously," Celtics head coach Brad Stevens told reporters Wednesday night following Boston's 123-101 Eastern Conference semifinal victory over the visiting Washington Wizards in Game 5. Not exactly enlightening, but it's blunt statements like those that at times are most revealing.

After all, Stevens had just watched Horford torch Washington with a 19-point, seven-assist, six-rebound, three-block effort. It was exactly the kind of performance Boston hoped it'd get from Horford this season after handing him a four-year, $113 million contract over the summer and beating out other playoff teams like the Thunder, Hawks and, yes, the Wizards, whose front office no doubt spent part of Wednesday evening wondering what could have been as they watched Horford dominate on both ends.

There he was, pulling down defensive rebounds and taking the ball coast-to-coast. There he was, using his 6'10", 245-pound frame to stifle the electric John Wall anytime he dared to wander into the paint. There he was, setting back-breaking screens and tossing pinpoint passes and leveraging the threat of his much-improved outside shot (more on that later) into wide driving lanes for his teammates all over the floor.

"I think Al brings so much to this team," Celtics guard Avery Bradley told reporters after that game. "He's a veteran leader. He's been in this position before. Oh, man, I just really enjoy playing with him."

Bradley isn't the first one of Horford's teammates to feel this way. Which brings us back to the original question: What is it that makes Horford so good at turning an ability to execute the so-called little things into such game-changing plays?

"He really doesn't have any weaknesses," says Celtics big man Tyler Zeller. "He kind of does a little bit of everything."

OK, we're getting somewhere, but that's still not really answering the question. Maybe one of Horford's former teammates can provide a bit more insight? Williams, the former Hawk who's now with the Charlotte Hornets, is quick to point out that Horford always makes the right basketball play, be it the extra pass or sliding over into the paint to help stifle an opposing drive. But then he brings up something else.

"When you go over a scouting report, everyone knows where they're supposed to be, but still, not everyone does it every single time," Williams says. "With Al, though, that's not the case. He's going to be where he's supposed to every time down the floor, and that's contagious."

We can all agree: That stuff is great. Sharing the ball and playing a beautiful team-first style and all the rest. It's wonderful and inspiring and certainly has played a role in the Celtics' recent ascension.

But much of that talk overshadows just how skilled Horford is and just how perfectly his game jells with the new space-and-pace, guard-dominant NBA. After all, so much of what the Celtics do on offenseand remember, this was a team that had the NBA's eighth-best offensive rating during the regular seasoncan only be done because of what Horford is able to do.

Despite his height, Horford has always been a strong ball-handler and adept passer. This year, though, those skills have been utilized more than ever before, and even more so in the playoffs.

He's been Boston's second-most prolific passertrailing only Isaiah Thomas in assist points created per game.He's drilled 53.6 percent of the 2.6 three-pointers he's attempted per contest (to go along with 15.5 points, 7.9 rebounds and 6.0 assists). He's also assisted on a team-high 11 of Thomas' baskets, many of which have come off dribble handoff play that allows Thomas, who not coincidentally morphed into an MVP candidate the moment Horford joined his team, to operate off the ball and that the two have perfected. During Game 5 the Celtics even ran a pick-and-roll with Thomas as the screen and Horford the ball-handler.

"What makes Al unique is that he's playing center, but he's such a great shooter," says Kyle Korver, who played with Horford in Atlanta. "That makes any action with him and Isaiah really hard to guard. You have to stick with both, and that opens up all sorts of lanes."

None of this came to be so by happenstance. For years, Horford has worked with a shooting coach named Larry Turnbow. When he was younger, Horford, while shooting, would cup the front of the ball with his off-hand. It took years to fix the flaw, and it wasn't until last year that Horford even began regularly launching shots from downtown.

"His outside shooting is the biggest improvement I've seen in his game," Williams says. "And him being able to stand out there and knock it down, giving the Celtics five guys on the floor who can shoot, it really changes the game."

Turnbow also drilled into Horford the importance of hitting shooters squarely in the hands right above the waist, an area where Korver says Horford now excels.

All the while, Horford's also been tasked with manning the Celtics' defensive back line, making him the rare player who can play like a guard but defend like a big man.

He evolved his skill set, at 30, into exactly what the Celtics needed to win.

And if that's not enough, don't be surprised to see him sneaking his hand under the couch to pull out whatever extra they need.

All stats via NBA.com unless otherwise noted.

Yaron Weitzman covers the NBA and other things for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter:@YaronWeitzman.

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The Evolution of Al Horford: How Boston's $113 Million Investment Is Paying Off - Bleacher Report

NOGALES, Ariz. (KGUN9-TV) - There are three ports of entry that make up the Nogales Port of Entry, facilitating traffic between the United States and Mexico -- the Mariposa Port of Entry, the DeConcini Port of Entry, and the Morley Port of Entry. Officers at these ports of entry are challenged by drug smugglers every day, and are consistently finding ways with new means of smugglers trying to get them across the border.

"It's a challengethat officers have to deal with on a daily basis," Port of NogalesSupervisor Marcia Armendariz said.

Armendarizhas 15 years of experience working at the border. She explained the drug officers used to find the most was Marijuana. However, she said now they're dealing with much harder drugs.

.@CBPArizona officers finding more hard drugs at border, including #Fentanyl -- like from this April 4th bust. Story tomorrow @ 10 on @kgun9 pic.twitter.com/ZLWB6YVYWk

"We are experiencing a lot more of the hard narcotics," Armendariz said. "Cocaine, Heroin, Methamphetamine, and now -- Fentanyl. This drug is very, very dangerous, and people do not realize it's a deadly drug."

With more than a decade of experience in a variety of roles, Armendariz explained people will hide drugs anywhere.

"We've seen it inside tortillas, we've seen it inside a game console," she said. "We've seen inside an accordion."

1 of many ways people may try to get drugs into US. Meth tortillas found in Oct. at AZ port. More on evolution of drug smuggling, Thurs @ 10 pic.twitter.com/NiL3Y1rfqL

One of the ways the evolution of drug smuggling has evolved, in her eyes? More body carriers, many of them often just kids.

"A lot of the drug cartels recruit these young kids, and, most of the time they probably tell them -- "you're a juvenile, they're not going to do anything to you, you can't get prosecuted," Armendariz said. "But, you can get prosecuted, they are going to get booked in jail, they are going to get arrested."

Security at all three of the ports is taken very seriously. At the DeConcini Port of Entry, there are eight lanes of traffic coming into the United States. Deputy Port Director Joe Agosttini showed KGUN9 some of the different ways officers are constantly monitoring the traffic coming into the United States.

"You have the license plate readers," Agosttini said. "You have the cameras taking pictures of the driver and passengers, the scanner that is reading all of the documents."

Like Armendariz, he has a significant amount of experience working at the border: 31 years under his belt. With more than three decades of experience, he's witnessed the evolution of drug smuggling first hand.

"You make every effort in good faith to stop the illegal drugs from coming into the United States," he said.

While going over documents and a typical line of questioning,Agosttiniexplained officers have about two minutes or less to make a decision whether or not to send someone to secondary inspection.

"Once you're satisfied that they can come into the country, then you move into, "is there anything illegal here?" he said. "You need to couple the behavior along with what you see in the vehicle."

He added it's better to send someone to secondary inspection if there is any suspicion of illicit activity.

"It's better to send a vehicle to secondary than to let it go," Agosttini said. "So you've got to make the right decision."

That being said, both Agosttini and Armendarizbelieve almost everyone coming into the country are "honest, law abiding citizens." However, the challenge they say is to address the "2%, maybe 1.5%," that are not.

When it comes to searching a car, it will first go through an X-Ray scanner -- then officers will meticulously go through areas of the car that could be hiding places.

"Bumper to bumper, they'll put their drugs inside those areas," Armendariz said.

Agosttinielaborated even more --

"Inside the tires, inside the drive shaft, inside the panels, the dashboard, the roof," he said. "Just about every area that has a void from the factory will be used to bring in narcotics."

With his experience, Agosttini said this is a problem officers at the border will continue to face for years to come.

"What we'll never be able to change," he said. "The fact that there are people out there that will always attempt to bring narcotics into the US."

But it's their job to continue to be vigilant in the battle to keep the drugs out of the country.

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Evolution of drug smuggling at the border - KGUN9.com - KGUN

In these days of anti-ID consensus, dont expect to find science journals publishing overt statements like, Well, what do you know! Stephen Meyer and the intelligent design people were right! Darwinian natural selection must remain omnipotent. Observational evidence, however, is more powerful than the language used to suppress it. Here are a couple of examples.

Rapid Arthropods

We reported two years about Marble Canyon, a remarkable Cambrian fossil deposit in British Columbia that rivals the famous Burgess Shale in significance. More extensive and detailed than its famous neighbor 26 miles to the northwest, Marble Canyon will likely provide years of discoveries to illuminate the Cambrian explosion. The site is of special interest because it was announced a year after Darwins Doubt (2013) was published.

Meet Tokummia, a creature found at Marble Canyon. The Calgary Sun calls it an ancient arthropod with gnarly claws. By all appearances, this four-inch animal was highly complex, possessing over 50 pairs of jointed legs, a shell, antennae, pincers, eyes, and mouth parts (implying a gut). Undoubtedly it was capable of sexual reproduction and partial metamorphosis, as are other arthropods. It is assigned a date of 508 million years old.

Jean-Bernard Caron, the discoverer of the Marble Canyon fossil trove (who also found a vertebrate fish there), with colleague Cdric Aria from the University of Toronto, studied 21 specimens of Tokummia. They tried to figure out where it fits in the evolutionary scheme. Writing in Nature, they conclude that it might have represented the start of the taxon Mandibulate (biting things). The Editors Summary offers hope that a gap has been partially filled:

Fossils from the famous 508-million-year-old Burgess Shale in Canada have been vital for shaping our understanding of the origin and early evolution of arthropods, the group of invertebrate animals recognized by their segmented bodies with jointed limbs and an exoskeleton. In recent years, research has found support for a single group of arthropods known as mandibulates that comprises insects, crustaceans and myriapods (centipedes and millipedes) but excludes chelicerates (spiders, scorpions and their allies). Few fossils have been found to illuminate the earliest mandibulates. Cdric Aria and Jean-Bernard Caron now show that this gap is partially filled by the arrival of the Burgess Shale fossil Tokummia katalepsis, whose anatomy allows the reconstruction of the anatomical and evolutionary history of this important animal group. [Emphasis added.]

Its hard to find, however, more than mere suggestions that certain protrusions on the face of this animal might suffice to partially fill the gap. They present a theory story that modern mandibulates emerged from larval forms:

The presence of crustaceomorph traits in the Cambrian larvae of various clades basal to Mandibulata is reinterpreted as evidence for the existence of distinct ontogenetic niches among stem arthropods. Larvae would therefore have constituted an important source of morphological novelty during the Cambrian period, and, through heterochronic processes, may have contributed to the rapid acquisition of crown-group characters and thus to greater evolutionary rates during the early radiation of euarthropods.

Pause to understand what they are saying. This statement does nothing more than push the lucky mutations into the larva instead of the adult. Instead of the adult constituting an important source of morphological novelty (i.e., body luck), the larva becomes the source. Then, through heterochronic [different-time] processes, some things evolved more rapidly than others. Presto! You greater evolutionary rates in the Cambrian, speeding up the acquisition of arthropod traits. A more vacuous suggestion could hardly be concocted: basically, some things happened, and some of them happened faster. Now, watch how some things happened over and over:

The integration of larval taxa in the phylogeny (Extended Data Fig. 10 and Supplementary Discussion) suggests that morphological traits typically associated with crustaceans or their larvae (large labrum, segmented cephalic exopods, antennule-like frontalmost appendages) have occurred across multiple euarthropod clades (Cheiromorpha, Artiopoda, Pycnogonida) with non-mandibulate adult morphologies.

From there, they launch into full-bore storytelling mode. Putting the lucky mutations into the larvae open up wondrous possibilities:

This implies that crustacean-like characters appeared early in the evolution of euarthropods, as a result of adaptation to ecological niches specific to ontogenetic stages, and may have persisted across the ancestors of major clades before their paedomorphic appearance in adult mandibulates. Because ontogenetic niches create new characters upon which natural selection can act intraspecifically, the emergence of specialized larval forms may have constituted an important catalyst for the rapid evolution of euarthropods during the Cambrian period, and a notable source of morphological novelty for the first mandibulates.

Imagine that lucky mutations appeared in larvae, which exposed them to new ecological niches where natural selection could act. Those that stayed young-looking as adults (paedomorphs) emerged as new kinds of arthropods. That emergence triggered rapid evolution. This explanation is indistinguishable from magic. It should be dismissed as a non-scientific affirmation of presumptive Darwinian belief.

Whats more interesting for design advocates is their admission of rapid evolution of euarthropods during the Cambrian period, and rapid acquisition of crown-group characters, viz., the Cambrian explosion. You cant hide an explosion in post-hoc distractions like emergence and acquisition and arrival. Like all the other Marble Canyon fossils, Tokummia appears in the rock record fully formed as a complex, successful animal.

Elsewhere in their paper, they admit to serious problems in the evolutionary story of arthropods, the most diverse and successful animals in all of nature:

(Regarding the arthropod head problem, see here.)

Its clear that putting lucky mutations into larvae is not going to solve any of these problems. Meyers book stands unanswered.

Unrelated Ediacarans

What about earlier Ediacaran organisms? Can they be considered ancestral? Meyer dealt with one called Parvancorina on page 89, refuting suggestions that it had superficial resemblances to an ancestral trilobite-like body plan.

A new paper in Nature Scientific Reports focuses on another topic, a suggestion that Parvancorina displayed an early instance of rheotaxis (active alignment with a fluid current). The evidence, however, is circumstantial and admittedly open to interpretation. The authors do not present any evidence of organs, genes, or tissues capable of controlling movement.

Of more interest to us is their affirmation of Meyers view, that the Ediacaran animals bear no ancestral relationship with the Cambrian animals. Here, in regard to one of the leading candidates of such a relationship, these authors say, Apart from possessing a bilaterally symmetrical body, there are no unequivocal morphological characters to support placement of Parvancorina within the Euarthropoda or even the Bilateria.

These papers show that four years after Meyers book, and 13 years after his paper in the Smithsonian journal, evolutionists are still failing to come up with plausible evolutionary hypotheses for the sudden appearance of the Cambrian animals. As paleontologists hold these stunning fossils in their hands, they need to stop the storytelling about magic appearances, the desperate attempts to force-fit the fossils into mythical evolutionary trees, and take seriously Meyers proposal that intelligent design provides the best explanation.

Photo: Parvancorina fossils, Australia, compared with a size of a coin, by EOL Learning and Education Group [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons.

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More Admissions of Cambrian Explosiveness - Discovery Institute

Expect the unexpected, goes the saying. And thats archaeologyjust when you think its all sorted out, you turn a spade full of earth over (usually on the last day of the dig) and there it is, the find that changes everything. Perhaps we should not have been so surprised at Homo naledithere are, after all, precedents for the unprecedented.

No one ever dreamed of Homo floresiensis, the "hobbit"from the Indonesian island of Flores, a hominin with a brain the size of an Australopithecine, an extinct genus of hominin that lived between four and two million years ago that includes the famous "Lucy"specimen. Yet there it is. Whats more, recent work on Flores suggests it had emerged as a species by 700,000 years ago and lasted until at least 100,000 years ago. So, tucked away on its island retreat, it spanned the time Homo sapiens evolved and left Africa maybe 100,000 years ago.

Homo naledi is similar. Yet it was not hidden away on a far flung island. Archaeologists found it in an area rich in hominin species and their archaeologythe so called Cradle of Humanity in South Africa. Scientists discovered H. naledi remains within chamber in a cave in South Africa in 2013. The species was officially described two years latera hominin species new to science.

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Front view of the near-complete H. naledi skull archaeologists discovered in South Africa. Wits University/John Hawks

The first discovery was a surprisebut even greater surprises were to come. Archaeologists announced on Tuesday they had found another chamber containing H. naledi remains. Combined, the discoveries are raising major questions about the evolution of our early ancestors.

The date just announced for the first lot of remains discovered is between 330,000 and 230,000 years ago. It has a mixture of traits seen on older, contemporary and younger species of Homo (the genus to which modern humans belong), and even from other genera like Australopithecus. This is puzzling. What was natural selection up to?

At such a late date (evolutionarily speaking) it shouldnt look like it does. Before the dating was announced, many of these features led some researchers to suggest it was old, existing near the end of the Australopithecines and near the beginning of early Homo, maybe two million years ago.

Now it seems H. naledi lived at a time when Homo heidelbergensis in Africa (sometimes called Homo rhodesiensis) was fully established. At this time, H. heidelbergensis was making Acheulean hand axes and possibly even the more advanced Middle Stone Age tool industries.

A recreation of Homo naledi by paleoartist John Gurche. Mark Thiessen / National Geographic

Some researchers like to suggest that at this point in time, we have a new species called Homo helmei. They believe this species transitioned to the earliest Homo sapiens. There is a lot of debate about this.

The oldest modern humans are about 195,000 years old from East Africaand thats awfully close to the youngest potential age for H. naledi. To turn H. naledi into H. sapiens is a big jump in a short period of timeand there are much better candidates.

So where does H. naledi fit? Are these the remains of an isolated species coming to their end of their evolutionary history, a side branch in our story? Or are they the result of multiple interbreeding events between different species as the authors suggest might be one explanation? We didnt expect there to be evidence of species interacting in such a way a few years ago, but now we arent so surprisedwe now know early humans mated with Neanderthals, for example.

Map of the Rising Star cave system in South Africa where H. naledi was discovered. Marina Elliott/Wits University

Or alternatively, is this mish-mash of anatomical traits a result of H. naledi being an ancient species, never before discovered, from which later species emerged, accentuating some of those traits in favor of others as selection shaped them to their environments? We just dont know.

Where H. naledi was discovered is a puzzle too. Its deep in a cave systemthe Rising Starthat is difficult to get to. The first finds were made in the Dinaledi chamber. Now new finds have been announced in the Lesedi Chamber. There is no connection between the two. There may be upwards of 15 individuals in the Dinaledi, and perhaps three or more in the Lesedi.

Why are they there? There is no evidence that either chamber was a living space, and there are no carnivore remains to suggest they were dragged there as supper for hyena or other carnivores.

Curiously there are no stone tools either. Did they fall in? Were they pushed? Why are they in two different chambers so difficult to access?

The authors of the new articles would like us to believe they were put there by others of their kind, but there is a long way to go before we can be certain of thatbut archaeology has revealed stranger things before.

One thing is for surethere will be more surprises.

John McNabb is a senior lecturer in paleolithic archaeology at the University of Southampton, U.K.

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Homo Naledi: The Mystery Hominin Species Raising Huge Questions About Human Evolution - Newsweek

Bob Morrisons column stated but weve only recently learned that birds are evolutionary descendants of dinosaurs.

This is an unproved theory of evolutionists. He went on to say that dinosaurs adapted to environmental changes over 150 million years. Hmm. Dinosaurs had solid bones: birds have hollow ones honey-combed for lightweight/strength. So if this transition took 150 million years would that mean an evolving bird could only get five feet off the ground for the first 50 million years or so?

Darwins unproved theories are based on survival of the fittest. How could a half dinosaur survive as the fittest in a dual land/air environment? I have the answer. This never occurred.

After debating creation vs. evolution for years, I have concluded there is a third element common sense. Setting both Gods Word and evolutionary theory aside, please consider that if all lifes ancestor was an accidentally created one-cell organism:

* How did an animal form turn into a plant (blood to sap)?

* How did virtually all animals develop both male and female forms simultaneously?

* As many male animals have rituals to attract females for mating, how were they attracted while they were evolving?

* How did a butterfly survive over millions of years while evolving? The life stages are egg, which becomes a caterpillar, which spins a chrysalis and later emerges as a butterfly with wings. Its like the old question about which came first, the chicken or the egg. Did some mysterious force of nature tell the egg (if it came first) to turn into a worm, eat like crazy, spin a chrysalis and then youll become a butterfly and be able to lay eggs?

From a one-cell organism, how did extremely complex things like sight, smell, hearing, touch, speech, thoughts, feelings, the brain and all the other marvelously complex systems of humans, animals and plants just happen?

Evolution, as in one animal turning into another, is utter nonsense spawned mostly since Darwins theories about 150 years ago, which most of mankind has swallowed.

God stated 10 times in Genesis 1:11-25 that all life was created after its kind. Do you think God didnt know this evolution slop was coming, due to the wickedness of mankind?

Larry Allgood

Sophia

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Element missing in evolution common sense - Asheboro Courier Tribune

by Samantha Stephens 5/10/2017

Sassy, frank, warm, bold and real are just a few of the descriptions that come to mind when I think about singer-songwriter Jo Smith.

Im pretty fearless, the Georgia-native told me with a full-belly laugh as we chatted one sunny afternoon on Music Row about her new single and video and, most importantly, the journey that brought her to this moment in her career.

Its an evolution quite a few years in the making and one heck of a story the Old School Groove singer is ready to tell.

But she had lot more teeming beneath the surface. This country girl also had soul, but she didnt exactly find the outlet to let that part shine as she found opportunity in Music City.

She signed to a major record label in 2010 and released a handful of singles to country radio.

When I first moved to Nashville, I moved from South Georgia, where I grew up on a farm, Smith told CMT.com. You jump into the creative circles here and you want to be an artist, and people immediately just look at the surface.

It taught Smith so much and forced quite possibly the most important realization and moment of self-discovery for the singer/songwriter.

To be honest and fair, at the time I wasnt sure of who I was, she admitted. I thought I was, and, of course, it seemed so natural to be singing songs about Georgia and farms and then to be very country, not countrypolitan,

But when I lost my record deal and lost everything, and it was just me sitting alone in my house, I discovered that I was leaving out massive pieces of myself because either people didnt look hard enough or I didnt trust my own instincts enough to raise my hand and say, I want to do this.'

With the loss came personal, spiritual and creative freedom and the opportunity to peel back those layers and dig deeper into herself and her artist. Thats when she realized it was a pop, soul and Motown-inspired vibe that she was missing from her sound.

I grew up listening to my all dads vinyl, Smith revealed, and just as much as I listened Keith Whitley and KT Oslin and the Judds and Merle Haggard and Patsy Cline, I listened to James Taylor, Steely Dan, Chicago, Aretha Franklin and all of Motown.

And she grew up singing all that, as well. Smith was an extremely successful pageant competitor and a favorite entertainer on the Miss America Organization circuit in Georgia as a teen (she was crowned the first-ever Miss Georgias Outstanding Teen in 2001.)

In the pageant world, you have to cover all your musical bases and be comfortable with an audience that may be filled with your competition and not necessarily on their feet for you. Thats another experience Smith told me shes truly grateful for because molded her into the performer she is today.

Smiths journey is filled with gratitude for her past experiences and the lessons learned along the way. The last few years of her journey have brought even more wisdom and the gift of discernment as she continues to navigate her career path.

Thats the whole thing of learning to listen to your inner voice, she said. I know that sounds super corny. It took me my first decade in Nashville to know that that little thing inside was what I should listen to.

So she did. And made her way back as part of the SMACKsongs family, with Grammy-winner Shane McAnally and Jesse Frasure at the helm of her new project, Introducing Jo Smith, the culmination of years of soul-searching and owning the many colors of her musical tapestry.

The debut single Old School Groove is the truest representation of Jo, as a person and as an artist. Motown magic meets classic countrypolitan with this laid-back, romantic tune, and the video brings it to life in the perfect way.

Filmed at the American Legion Post 82 in East Nashville, the staple dancehall is one of the few places you can go in town and see people dancing and mingling in the tradition of days gone by. It welcomes everyone, from our distinguished veterans to the hip youngsters who revere the culture and all things throwback. For Smith, the venue brought her vision to life.

And that adorable older couple you seeing dancing in the spotlight?

Those are not actors, Smith revealed. I just didnt want a lot of acting. What was filmed there was really what was going on a normal Tuesday night!

The older people that were theretheyre what is so great about America, Smith said. They were Veterans, and they were so accepting of this young, hipster crowd. They werent annoyed that the young people were there, it was great.

There was nothing but old school love in the room that day, which for me begged the question: what is old school love to Jo?

Its harder these days, she admitted. Im a traditionalist like the song saysa very forward thinking traditionalist. When youre a traditional girl like me, I still want a traditional guy. And I know not all women are like me, but I think that that traditional heart and soul is what everybody wants in a relationship, whether its outwardly manifested in a traditional way.

Throwback love for the modern erathats the aim of the tune, and theres no question Smith hits the mark perfectly.

Introducing Jo Smith is now available on iTunes.

Samantha is a country radio insider with a deep love for the music and its stars. She can often be found on a red carpet or at a late-night guitar pull.

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Jo Smith's Soul-Searching Evolution - CMT.com

individuals diving down to catch eagle rays along the seafloor of a shallow cove off the coast of present-day Peru. Illustration: Alberto Gennari

Fossil hunters say they have unearthed a missing link in the evolution of baleen whales after digging up the remains of a creature thought to have lived more than 36 million years ago.

The whales, known as mysticeti, sport a bristling collection of sieve-like plates known as baleen that they use to filter water for food. Species include the enormous blue whale, the gray whale and the humpback whale.

But while baleen whales are known to have shared a common ancestor with toothed whales, which are the other major group of modern whales, the path by which the creatures emerged has been somewhat hazily understood. Now researchers say they have discovered the oldest known cousin of modern baleen whales, offering unprecedented insights into their evolution.

This [split in the family tree] has been dated to about 38 or 39m years ago, said Olivier Lambert, co-author of the research from the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences. The whale we discovered here has been dated to 36.4 [million years ago], so it is only two to three million years younger than this presumed origin.

Unearthed at a site known as Playa Media Luna on the southern coast of Peru, the newly discovered creature has been named Mystacodon selenensis a portmanteau of the Greek for moustache and tooth, together with a nod to the Greek goddess of the moon.

The animal would have been just under four metres in length but, rather than boasting baleen, it had a mouthful of teeth and apparently vestigial hind limbs.

From an analysis of the skull, jaw and teeth, Lambert says that the newly unearthed animal likely hoovered up other marine creatures by suction feeding, moving its tongue to lower the pressure inside its mouth and draw its prey in, before expelling the water.

If it was indeed using suction to catch its prey, it means that the prey items could not be too large, because the whole animal was swallowed in a single gulp so medium sized fish, maybe small squid, could have been a good type of prey for such an animal, he said.

By contrast, the ancestors of both baleen and toothed whales are thought to have captured prey by grabbing it with their teeth, a method also used by many modern toothed whales.

The feeding method and body form of the new creature, added Lambert, backs up previous predictions of the features expected for an animal near the bottom of the baleen branch of the whale family tree.

Sometimes it is good to see that predictions were precise enough, and well documented, in a way that new fossils really fit the story, he said.

Whats more, said Lambert, the find ties in well with the recent discovery of Alfred, a much younger, toothed fossil whale dating from 25m years ago that is also thought to have been a suction feeder and falls on the baleen branch of the whale family tree.

But the new find has also thrown up surprises, not least that the creature was found to have tiny, probably useless, hind limbs sticking out from its body. That, says Lambert, was a shock.

The absence of hind limbs in all modern whales, together with evidence of apparently vestigial limbs in fossils dating to before the split in the whale family tree, had previously led scientists to believe the appendages had been lost in a common ancestor of toothed and baleen whales.

But the new finding, published in the journal Current Biology, suggests that both branches of the whale family tree lost the hind limbs independently.

Emily Rayfield, professor of palaeobiology at the University of Bristol who was not involved in the research, welcomed the findings, adding that the suggestion that the creature was a suction feeder ties into recent theories about how terrestrial animals returned to the water and evolved into the whales we see today.

I think it is an interesting new fossil from an exciting part of the world that shows how new information can enrich and development our understanding of the evolution of groups, including their feeding strategies, she said.

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36m-year-old fossil discovery is missing link in whale evolution, say researchers - The Guardian

Join popular Biblical scholar Scot McKnight as he explores the contours of Marys life, from the moment she learned of God's plan for the Messiah, to the culmination of Christ's ministry on earth. McKnight dismantles the myths and also challenges our prejudices. He introduces us to a woman who is a model for faith, and who points us to her son.

What does it look like to follow Jesus, and how will doing so change the way we live our life---our love.life, our justice.life, our peace.life, our community.life, our sex.life---everything about our life.

This book examines conversion stories as told by people who have actually undergone a conversion experience, including experiences of apostasy. The stories reveal that there is not just one "conversion story." Scot McKnight and Hauna Ondrey show that "conversion theory" helps explain why some people walk away from one religion, often to another, very different religion. The book confirms the usefulness--particularly for pastors, rabbis, and priests, and university and college teachers--of applying conversion theory to specific groups.

McKnight's The Blue Parakeet has emerged at the perfect time to cool the flames of a world on fire with contention and controversy. It calls Christians to a way to read the Bible that leads beyond old debates and denominational battles. It calls Christians to stop taming the Bible and to let it speak anew for a new generation.

Scot McKnight here explains the Letter of James both in its own context and as it may be seen in light of ancient Judaism, the Graeco-Roman world, and emerging earliest Christianity.

The gravity point of a life before God is that his followers are to love God and to love others with everything they've got. Scot McKnight now works out the "Jesus Creed" for high school and college students, seeking to show how it makes sense, giving shape to the moral lives of young adults. The Jesus Creed for Students is practical, filled with stories, and backed up and checked by youth pastors Chris Folmsbee and Syler Thomas.

Jesus amended the Shema, giving his followers a new creed for life: to love God with heart, soul, mind, and strength, but also to love others as themselves. Discover how the Jesus Creed of love for God and others can transform your life.

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. And...love your neighbor as yourself."

Scot McKnight has come to call this vital teaching of our Lord the Jesus Creed. He recites it throughout the day every day and challenges you to do the same. You may find that, if you do, you will learn to love God more creatively and passionately, and find new ways to love those around you.

In The Jesus Creed DVD, explore with Scot how the great Shema of the Old Testament was transformed by our Lord into the focal point for spiritual maturity. According to the Jesus Creed (found in Mark 12:29-31), loving God and loving others are the greatest commandments.

The act of fasting, he says, should not be focused on results or used as a manipulative tool. It is a practice to be used in response to sacred moments, just as it has in the lives of God's people throughout history. McKnight gives us scriptural accounts of fasting, along with practical wisdom on benefits and pitfalls, when we should fast, and what happens to our bodies as a result.

McKnight discusses the value of the church's atonement metaphors, asserting that the theory of atonement fundamentally shapes the life of the Christian and of the church. This book, the first volume in the Living Theology series, contends that while Christ calls humanity into community that reflects God's love, that community then has the responsibility to offer God's love to others through such missional practices of justice and fellowship.

Discover not only the original meaning of Galatians, but also how the message of Galatians can speak powerfully today.

Learn not only what Peter said to his audience in the first century but also how what he taught can be applied today in this volume of the NIV Application Commentary Series.

Praying with the Church is written for all Christians who desire to know more about the ancient devotional traditions of the Christian faith, and to become involved in their renaissance today.

In the candid and lucid style that has made McKnight's The Jesus Creed so appealing to thousands of pastors, lay leaders, and everyday people who are searching for a more authentic faith, he encourages all Christians to recognize the simple, yet potentially transforming truth of the gospel message: God seeks to restore us to wholeness not only to make us better individuals, but to form a community of Jesus, a society in which humans strive to be in union with God and in communion with others.

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Evolution is Stochastic (not Random) (RJS) - Patheos (blog)

Food Evolution, the documentary about GMOs and how they have infiltrated our food supply from Oscar nominated filmmaker Scott Hamilton Kennedy, has been picked up for distribution by Abramorama. Thefilm will bow in in the U.S. initially on June 23 at the Village East Cinemas in New York before it rolls out for a nationwide release to select cities.

Traveling from Hawaiian papaya groves to banana farms in Uganda to the cornfields of Iowa, Food Evolution wrestles with the emotions and the science driving one of the most heated arguments of our time. This is one of a handful of documentaries that have been produced about our food supply. Island Earth from filmmaker Cyrus Sutton about what is happening in Hawaii was also produced this year. Food Evolution is narrrated byNeil deGrasse Tyson.

Meanwhile, another film Song of Granite about traditional Irish singer Joe Heaney, has been acquired by Oscilloscope Laboratories which will open the film theatrically later in the year. The Pat Collinss film was co-written by Collins, Eoghan Mac Giolla Bhrde, and Sharon Whooley, and had its its world premiere at this years SXSW Film Festival.

Heaney was one of the greats of traditional Irish singing (sean ns). Shaped by the myths, fables, and songs of his upbringing in the west of Ireland, his emergence as a gifted artist came at a personal cost. Featuring performances from Colm Seoighe, Macdara Ftharta, Jaren Cerf, Lisa ONeill, Damien Dempsey, and sean ns singers Michel OConfhaola and Pl Ceannabhin, and beautiful black and white cinematography, Song of Graniteis a distinct portrait of Heaneys life and a marvelous exploration of music and song.

The film was produced by Alan Maher and Jessie Fisk of Marcie Films with Martin Paul-Hus of Amerique Film. Executive producers are Philip King, Tina Moran, and Keith Potter. The film was financed by Bord Scannn na hireann/Irish Film Board, SODEC, Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, Telefilm Canada, and TG4. Song of Granite will open the Galway Film Fleadh in Ireland in July of this year.

Oscilloscope Laboratories is a film production and distribution entity launched in 2008 by Adam Yauch of Beastie Boys and released Lynne Ramsays critically acclaimedWe Need to Talk About Kevinstarring Tilda Swinton and John C. Reilly in 2011.

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'Food Evolution' Acquired By Abramorama; | Deadline - Deadline

The new mobile, free-to-play football title will feature officially licensed teams, players and stadiums, including club and national teams as well as a UEFA Champions League license. Konami says that the game, while optimized for mobile, was made with the console title's graphics engine, which could make for a slick, highly-realistic soccer experience on the go.

Soccer is a global phenomenon, and PES 2017 honors that tradition with an interface localized in 10 different languages and play-by-play commentary in nine: English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Japanese, Cantonese and Mandarin Chinese. Plus? For a limited time, pre-registering will net you some "deluxe" players to add to your team roster as you take on all comers.

This isn't Konami's first foray into the mobile soccer arena, of course. There have been many PES games on mobile since 2010, as well as a more strategic football manager app for the league. FIFA has been on mobile for a similar amount of time.

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'Pro Evolution Soccer 17' is coming to your phone this month - Engadget