Category Archives: Evolution

The workplace is evolving rapidly and the pandemic gets the blame - and the credit.

Although we are still living with the Covid-19 pandemic, thanks to vaccines and masks, people are starting to get back to a normal rhythm of life. Kids are going back to school. People can eat inside restaurants again and many businesses are starting to let workers return to their offices. While some companies continue a level of cautiousness about welcoming their entire staff back to their workplaces, even those companies are signaling that by early next year, their staff will be allowed to work at the office on a flexible basis. Indeed, Amazon stated this week that their corporate staff could work from home indefinitely and come to the office as-needed.

Social scientists are just now starting to evaluate the impact of the pandemic on work, learning, and play. It may take a while to understand the full impact the Covid-19 pandemic had on all of us both personally and professionally. However, the one thing the pandemic has changed is how we work and the future of the workplace.

Had it not been for technologies like Zoom and other video conferencing apps, along with new collaborative software and services, much of our businesses would have struggled to be as productive as they were during the pandemic.

Jacob Morgan, who in 2014 wrote the book, "The Future of Work" and developed a concept he calls "The Evolution of the Employee" seems to have had a crystal ball of our current working world.

He created this chart below to suggest that employees and organizations around the world need to embrace, prepare for and encourage the evolution of the employee.

Jacob Morgan's chart -The Evolution Of The Employee

I don't think Mr. Morgan saw the pandemic coming but he points out that, "Covid has made this evolution a present-day reality."

One part of my job as a technology analyst since 1981 was to cover the evolving world of tech around the globe. Until the pandemic hit, I averaged between 50K and 100K miles traveling each year for 38 years. I have accumulated over four million airline miles during that time and I can tell you from experience that this much world travel takes a toll on one's body.

When the first whole room video conferencing systems debuted in 2000, I had a chance to use a couple of them where we connected with people from a company in other parts of the world. This was an "aha" moment for me as the reality of working with someone via video was now a reality. The only problem was that these conferencing systems cost over $100,000 each and were targeted at large corporations and not the mainstream market yet.

By 2010, we began to see a lot of what I would call small conference room video systems come to market in the $700-$1200 range and ushered in another important bridge to the use of video conferencing for all types of business. However, even though these new low-cost video systems worked, the market demand for them was paltry.

Office workers had engrained into their work-styles a view that face-to-face meetings were preferable to any type of video conferencing, and if traveling was needed to make these meetings happen, so be it.

I have worked with some Taiwanese ODM's in the past and always had to go to Taipei for my meetings with them. I had encouraged some of these companies to install these lower-cost video conferencing systems and on one of my trips, I brought a system with me and installed it in their board room. My goal was to try and reduce my travels to Taiwan as much as possible. But even with this video conference system at both of our sites, they were so used to in-person meetings, they resisted using them to the degree that did not allow me to reduce my travel to their offices.

Then the pandemic hit. All businesses were forced to find new forms of communications and collaboration to stay alive. Many technologies played a role in helping businesses weather the pandemic storm, but none had as great an impact as video conferencing.

If you look at the chart above, video conferencing software like Zoom, Microsoft's Teams, Google Meet, and Cisco's WebEx and others, have enabled work anytime, work anywhere, use any device, share information, collaborate, and democratized learning and teaching. Not bad for a 2014 prognostication.

Tragically, Covid-19 has killed nearly 4.9 million people worldwide to date.

Its impact on families has been devastating. It continues to be a serious health concern that some medical experts say it may never be fully eradicated although they also tell us it can be controlled.The heartbreak of deaths and economic destruction can never be minimized.

But it has also forced the medical and technical worlds to innovate faster. Weve had a Covid vaccine get to market in record time. Tech companies moved faster to expand their collaboration and video conferencing tools to help large and small companies keep working. And these technologies have upset the proverbial face-to-face meetings mentality and broke the resistance to using video conferencing that now allows people to work from anywhere, with any device, and create a new world where flexible work schedules will be the norm, not the exception.

We will look back on this era as one with heartbreak as well as driving positive changes, especially to the workplace. As Mr. Morgan suggests, "...employees and organizations around the world need to embrace, prepare for and encourage," this evolution of work as I sense the workplace has changed forever.

Originally posted here:

The Evolution Of Work - Forbes

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. From skin pigmentation to food preferences to gender identification, there are no limits to the diversity of individual human expression. And whether they be genetic, cultural, or a mix of both, the root causes of all these extraordinary variations have long fascinated our species.

Tracking Traits, a new podcast launched by Penn States Center for Human Evolution and Diversity (CHED), explores the current work of researchers who are forging new pathways to understanding the evolution of human diversity, via a wide variety of approaches.

"Tracking Traits provides a glimpse into scientific curiosity and the attitude we try to bring to all of CHED's work, explained center co-director Nina Jablonski, Evan Pugh Professor of Anthropology. Were trying to tackle important and interesting problems in human evolutionary biology. To do this, we want to engage with people of diverse backgrounds and talents, including some of our highly motivated undergraduate research students.

For the eight episodes of the shows first season, three Penn State undergrads conducted the researcher interviews. Samantha Muller is a forensic science major with a minor in anthropology;Hannah Marchok is a biobehavioral health major with a minor in global health; and Amy Mook graduated from Penn State in spring 2021 with a degree in genetics and developmental biology.

I was so excited to be able to interview such an amazing array of scientists from in and around our department, said Muller. Everyone had a unique view to present on, not to mention a unique topic. However, what struck me most was everyones excitement to create a project that would relate all of these interests back to the broad ideas of human diversity.

In addition to episodes that relate the story of CHEDs founding and the research of Jablonski and the centers other co-director, professor of biological anthropology Mark Shriver, Tracking Traits first season explores the following scientists work:

In addition to discussing their science, Tracking Traits student hosts talked with the researchers about their personal stories, including the reasons they decided to pursue research as a career.

I think that's an important part of our program here, noted Shriver. Hearing from the people as people about their lives and how they developed the curiosity. When did that happen, and then when did they see it was going in a good direction, that they could build a career on? Who did they reach out to as mentors? I don't think there's enough of these science storiesout there from scientists. So I think that's going to be a really interesting part of this and probably useful to students.

Muller agreed, saying, All the researchers, whether anthropologists, biologists, or in-between, were so passionate about what they were doing that it made me so excited for my future as a scientist.

TheCenter for Human Evolution and Diversity (CHED)is a joint venture of Penn States Department of Anthropology and the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences. The scientists interviewed on the show all received 2021 seed grants from CHED and agreed to participate in the podcast in order to educate and inspire others.

For the 2022 seed grant program, CHED seeks proposalsfor multidisciplinary projects aimed at developing innovative methods for visualizing and/or studying the human phenotype (including human behavior) and human contextual information using common handheld and wearable devices.Recipients of these grants will be featured in the next season of Tracking Traits.

Applications for the 2022 cycle of CHED seed grants will be accepted through Friday, Dec. 10. For more information on the program,visit the CHED RFP page.

To listen to the entire first season of Tracking Traits and subscribe to the series,visit the Tracking Traits website.

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New podcast tracks the evolution of diverse human traits | Penn State University - Penn State News

The FINANCIAL NYUs Center for Ballet and the Arts and the Laboratory of Neurogenetics of Language at The Rockefeller University partner to investigate the genetic origin and evolutionary purpose of dance across different species with an eye to developing new clinical therapie.

A new research fellowship, developed in collaboration with NYUs Center for Ballet and the Arts and the Laboratory for Neurogenetics of Language at The Rockefeller University, is tackling an age-old question: Why do humans dance?And what can dance teach us about the brain?

According to New York University, research suggests there is overlap between the neurological processes for how humans and non-human species learn complex vocalizationsand thus, develop singing and speech skillsand how these same species also learn to move rhythmically. Now, a new fellowship leveraging the unique resources of both an artistic research institution and a biomedical research university will apply researchers expertise in the neural and genetic mechanisms of spoken language to further investigate what is happening in the brain when we move and dance.

Dr. Constantina Theofanopoulou, a postdoctoral researcher at The Rockefeller University, and Dr. Sadye Paez, a senior research associate in the Neurogenetics of Language Laboratory, will join NYUs Center for Ballet and the Arts for a semester-long fellowship to gather and synthesize evidence on the neurological links between dance and vocal learning; examine how species developed the capacity to coordinate rhythmic sound with movement to unlock theories about the purpose of dance in human evolution; and design experiments and methodologies that will have a range of clinical and research applications and create a better shared understanding of how the neuroscience of language and dance intersect.Theofanopoulou and Paez say their research into the neurological underpinnings of danceand how this links up with what they already know about the neuroscience of vocal learningcan help inform the creation of better clinical therapies for people with a range of neurological movement and spoken language disorders.Research into how certain species synchronize motor movements to particular rhythms (like how a parrot might bop its head to a song) could enhance understanding of how different regions of the brain are linked, allowing health practitioners to employ different therapies to repair certain neural circuits impacted by injury or disease. For example, the way that dance exercises specific motor circuits could have indirect or complementary benefits for patients undergoing existing speech therapies.

Species such as humans, parrots and seals learn to produce complex vocalizations over time. We dont think its a coincidence that these same species are able to train themselves to synchronize their movements with rhythm. It might be that the motor circuit responsible for rhythmic movement in these species evolved as a prerequisite for vocal learning, said Theofanopoulou.The impulse to move is innate, and the continuum of movement is as vast and infinite as the numbers and types of species. Many species crawl, climb, slither, swim, walk, leap, and more. But the ability to move rhythmically, what we call dance or movement to sound, is unique. This distinct ability to purposefully control and coordinate our bodies in response to cadence or tempo has exciting applications, said Paez.

For example, clinically, we know that walking among patients with Parkinsons disease improves dramatically by adding a metronome. Patients are able to better sync their movements when they could match a regular beat. Their strides lengthened and their gait improved. We want to better understand why this happens and what this could mean for people living with a range of neurological disorders, she continued.The research will also tackle a larger, more existential question: Why exactly did humans evolve to dance?Why is it that the non-human apes studied thus far find it so difficult to hear a sound and tap out a rhythm like humans do? What purpose does dance serve? Evolution is a fascinating component of this research, said Theofanopoulou.Many cultures do not distinguish between music and dance, often using the same word for both. Vocal learning and dance overlap in how these behaviors are culturally transmitted from one generation to another, such as in dialects or repertoires of sounds or movements. Thus, it is plausible that vocal learning and dance co-evolved both culturally and genetically, said Paez.

The researchers also plan to sequence the genomes of highly specialized dancers to understand if these dancers have specific DNA variants or genetic commonalities, compared to non-dancers. Both Paez and Theofanopoulou are involved in the Vertebrate Genomes Project, which aims to generate reference genome assemblies of all ~70,000 living vertebrate species to enable the study of how genes have contributed to the evolution and survival of these species.

Using the same technology, they will be able to sequence the dancers genomes and uncover specific characteristics at the full length of their DNA. It remains to be found, for example, whether the genetic similarities between specialized dancers overlap with genetic locations involved in speech learning or speech deficits.

This collaboration is the outgrowth of CBAs The Brain is the Dancer, a half-day symposium co-presented with the Lincoln Center that brought together leading neuroscientists and dancers in a series of conversations and demonstrations. The collaboration will allow the Rockefeller researchers to leverage the full artistic and institutional resources of New York University, including CBAs choreographers and dancers, faculty in the creative arts therapies, and practitioners and researchers in the health sciences.

The research fellowship will incorporate perspectives from movement science, physical therapy, disability studies, neuroscience and neurogenetics. The research will, in part, investigate hypotheses that are based on the original findings of two independent studies, led by Ani Patel and Adena Schachner, showing that only vocal learning species can learn to dance, moving their bodies rhythmically to the beat of sound in music. Debate exists on the hypothesis, but most can agree that there is a distinction among vocal learners for dancing.

Both Theofanopoulou and Paez are in the laboratory of Dr. Erich D. Jarvis, head of the Laboratory of Neurogenetics of Language at The Rockefeller University, an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and long known for his studies on the neurobiology and evolution of vocal learning.Future developments in the partnership will be announced at a later date.

Originally posted here:

Why Do Humans Dance? New Research Fellowship Explores the Evolution and Neuroscience of Dance FINCHANNEL - The FINANCIAL

Critics of evolution often argue that life, rather than gradually changing over the years through natural selection, was actually created by a so-called "intelligent designer."Their position is that the biological machinery which makes up living bodies is so complex, and so perfectly calibrated to supportour numerous needs, that it had to have been planned out by a deliberate andthoughtful force of some kind.

Yet if God actually did design human bodies according to a plan, they forgot to make sure that we can breathe while we sleep a remarkably crucialdetail to overlook. Whilenot everyone suffers from the aforementioned anatomical glitch,known to doctors asobstructive sleep apnea,it affects 22 million Americansand has become an even more hazardousconditionamid the spreadof a deadly virus that attacks the lungs.

To understand this fault in the human blueprint, imagine your upper airway as a tube that must remain open to do its job. (This is a simplistic reduction for the purpose of analogy.) When you're awake and upright, the tube stays open easily. Yet once you recline say, to sleep one'smuscles around that tube start to relax. The apparatusesaround the tube including one's tongue and soft palate can press down and constrict it, interferingwith the smooth passage of air, akin to a kink in a hose. When one's breathing is reduced, this condition isknown as a hypopnea; if one's breathing stops altogether, it is called an apnea.

To the people in proximity tothe sufferer, the result issnoring, choking and other highly unpleasant sounds during sleep. The sufferers themselves are usually deprived of restful sleep and adequate blood oxygen levels, and their consequent lot in life can beone of abject misery: Constant daytime fatigue, headaches andliving in a mental fog are just three of the most common symptoms. Over the long term, sufferers are at a high risk of heart disease, Alzheimer's disease, strokes, high blood pressure,diabetes and a number of mental health ailments. For a large percentage of the patient's day, their body endures the stress of repeatedly coming close to suffocating, as well as the weariness of never being allowed recuperative sleep.

Why does this happen? In children, the culprit is frequently obstructions from the adenoids or tonsils, and the solution can be as simple as an operation. Obese people may beat a higher risk for sleep apnea, since excess fat deposits around one's throat and chest can further restrict nighttime breathing. Aging is a factor, too, asaging causes one's throat muscles to weaken. Those who makelifestyle choices that weaken therespiratory system, such as smokers, are at higher risk. Finally, some merely havegenetic or anatomical predispositions that, for one reason or another, mess with the proper working of thestructures in the upper airway.

COVID-19 has made being an apnea sufferer a more dire condition. In January, a studyin the journal BMJ Open Respiratory Research found that obstructive sleep apnea is an independent risk factor for severe COVID-19. Patients with obstructive sleep apnea were at a 2.93 times higher risk of requiring hospitalization for COVID-19 independent of other risk factors for either the disease or the sleep disorder. While this could simply mean that having obstructive sleep apnea givesa patientother risk factors that coincidentally make them more vulnerable to COVID-19 (such as a high BMI), it could also be that the sleep disorder exacerbates COVID-19 on its own, "especially during the night, when decreased oxygen saturation levels occur in" obstructive sleep apnea, the researchers say.

There are treatments for sleep apnea, the most notable of which is the CPAP, or continuous positive airway pressure, machine.CPAP machines work by keeping the upper respiratory tract open with a constant level of air pressure greater than atmospheric pressure. A patient attaches a nasal mask, a face mask or nasal prongs to their airway, and a machine uses water to lubricate a regular pressure stream that persists throughout the patient's sleep.While the apparatus can be difficult to adjust to, those able to make the transition often report significant relief.Many patients say that using a CPAP completely changed their lives, restoring their physical and mental vitality literally overnight. (CPAPs have been in the news lately becausea manufacturing issue in the CPAP machines made by Phillips Respironics has put certain customers at risk of cancer; the company hasissued a recall.)

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So how did naturebring us to a point where, for millions of people, the only effective way to breath while sleeping (aside from major surgery) is to literally force air down their throats? How did evolution let this happen?

The answer, as it turns out, has to do with evolutionary trade-offs. Humans evolved to be highly intelligent, walk upright and communicate through complex vocalizations. Those giftscame with a price.

As Allen J. Moses, Elizabeth T. Kalliath and Gloria Pacini wrote in the dental journal Dental Sleep Practice, lower animals are fortunate to have "evolved structures of nearly perfect design" for tasks like breathing, swallowing, smelling and chewing.Humans, by contrast, need to balance a large cranium (housing a large brain) on a spinal column that remains vertical to the ground to allow them to walk on two legs. They also need equipment in their necks that permit them to produce sounds for talking, and those organstake up more of the already-limitedamount of real estate in the neck. The tongue, for instance, descends deeper into a human'sneck than it does for any other mammal. Even pioneering biologist CharlesDarwin was aware of the absurdity of evolution in allowing food to potentially go down the wrong pipe in your throat;"every particle of food and drink we swallow has to pass over the orifice of the trachea with some risk of falling into the lungs," he wrote.

If the human body were a building, our neck would arguably be the most poorly conceived room in the house, overflowing with functionally mismatched organs stuffed there to accommodate other design priorities. "Significant evolutionary changes to the human head are flat face, smaller chin, shorter oral cavity, changes in jaw function, repositioning of ears behind jaws, ascent of the uvula and descent of the epiglottis, right angle bend in tongue, creation of compliant, combined, flexible airway-footway, and speech," the researchers write in the aforementioned journal.

Perhaps in part because scientists assumed humans could not possibly have such an absurd inherent design flaw, the symptoms of these structural deficiencies most conspicuously snoring were for centuries perceived as innocuous or, at worst, merely annoying. It wasn't until the mid-20th century that scientists began to figure out that those periods when sleeping people struggle to breathe actually pose a serious health problem. Even then, a common approach was to perform a tracheotomy, a drastic measure in which a hole is punched into the throat to facilitate breathing. The CPAP was invented after one patient refused to undergo the procedure but was willing to try his doctor's new air-pressure machine. Chronically unable to sleep before using the world's first CPAP, he reported feeling utterly refreshed the following morning. Humanity's architectural flaw had been exposed.

Before long, Japanese scientists were learning how even minor alterations in the size and position of the pharynx drastically altered the likelihood of developing a sleep disorder. Scientists were even figuring out the precise role of obesity in contributing to the disorder. (Obesity enlarges tissues in the already cramped throat.) Within decades, obstructive sleep apnea has become a common diagnosis and a main condition that sleep health professionals look for in their patients.

These problems existed before the COVID-19 era and, despite being worsened by the pandemic, will almost certainly persist after it is over. After all, obstructive sleep apnea has been a literal and figurativepain in the neckfor as long as humans have hadnecks as we currently know them. Aside from the immediate knowledge humans have acquired about our own anatomical deficiencies, the existence of obstructive sleep apnea is a reminder to embrace humility. Millennia after the ancient Greeks created modern medicine, we are still learning surprising new things about the bodies we inhabitevery day.

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The human neck is a mistake of evolution - Salon

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Multiple evolutionary origins and losses of tooth complexity in squamates - Nature.com

The 49ers can't get their story straight when it comes to Brandon Aiyuk.

Everyone agrees he's not producing up to expectations. The 49ers traded up to take him in Round 1 last season and he performed well as a rookie, but now he's a total afterthought in the offense.

Reporters have been asking the 49ers since Week 1 what's the deal with Aiyuk, and their story keeps changing.

On Sept. 17, head coach Kyle Shanahan said this:"No, it's not a doghouse. He would've got his spot completely back; tweaked his hamstring before the third preseason game. Planned on rotating him; we did. and you get a big reaction to that. It's not personal. Things are a bigger deal because of fantasy football."

Translation: This is a non-story created fueled by fantasy football player and hot-take journalists. Aiyuk simply was coming off an injury and we're were being careful with him. We'll get him involved in the offense as the season progresses.

On Sept. 22, here's whatJimmy Garoppolo said about Aiyuk: "Honestly, he does a great job in practice every day. He brings it, right attitude, right mindset. I think it's honestly just a matter of time. I know there's a lot of panic in the air, but if you were at practice every day consistently and you saw what he could do. It's really one of those things that, one week it's this guy's game, the next week it's anothers. That's just kind of how the offense goes. But I think it's truly just a matter of time."

Translation: Aiyuk is a good player who practices hard and does everything right. It's an anomaly that he hasn't gotten the ball much yet. We'll get him the involved in the offense as the season progresses.

Here's what JohnLynch said about Aiyuk on Oct. 13: "Its important you earn your opportunities. You do that during the week. Its not as if Brandon isnt working hard. For whatever reason, he hasnt made the strides we expect him to. We probably hold him to higher standards because he has so much in his body."

Translation: Aiyuk isn't practicing well, and he currently is less reliable than Mohamed Sanu and Travis Benjamin. So that's why he's not playing. He absolutely is in the doghouse.

Could the 49ers please pick a story and stick to it? It's getting hard to believe anything they say this year. They contradict themselves from one month to the next.

What will be their next excuse for playing a washed-up veteran wide receiver over Aiyuk?

Visit link:

The Evolution of the 49ers' Narrative about Brandon Aiyuk - Sports Illustrated

Assembly theory an approach that characterises molecular complexity has been used by scientists in the UK to investigate how selection emerges in chemistry. The method offers new possibilities for making compounds with desired properties in a minimum number of steps based on evolution. By using assembly theory to follow a given path of, say, molecular evolution of a natural product that is a useful drug, we can predict how that product will evolve and literally jump ahead in time to get the new molecule rather than waiting, says Lee Cronin at the University of Glasgow, UK, who invented assembly theory and led the study.

Chemical space includes every possible compound all the drugs and materials we already know and those that are still to be discovered so it contains an almost infinite number of molecules. But many of the potential products may be unstable or synthetically inaccessible, so exploring the vast range of possibilities to find useful molecules can be a huge and challenging task. The method developed by the research team could make things easier.

Assembly theory extracts evolutionary information from the structure. The scientists considered that simple living organisms only need a few hundred different types of special small molecules to function, indicating that the chemical space relevant to biology is only a tiny fraction of the chemical space that is possible. The main issue is then to find out what makes the molecules both thermodynamically possible and biologically accessible.

To study this, the scientists created molecular trees by taking different molecules, cutting them into bits and arranging the pieces in order, from smallest to largest, to make the end target. Such molecular trees are like family trees that identify a compounds parents and offspring. When you take two or more molecules and cut them apart, you can overlay them to find common units and then look to see how you can combine the trees to not only make the two molecules but also novel hybrids, explains Cronin.

He adds that the method can be used to combine related molecules but also totally unrelated ones. This approach allows you to find potentially more interesting molecules because youre accounting for the interesting features that have been selected by evolution and also using the assembly tree to keep to that path rather than getting too lost.

Aln Aspuru-Guzik, a computational chemist at the University of Toronto in Canada, says that this is a new way of thinking about chemical space. The authors introduce the concept of assembly trees to analyse proximity in chemical space, he comments. This methodology seems promising to understand molecular complexity.

But looking for molecular trees can be a hard mathematical problem, especially as the molecules get bigger, so the researchers developed a Monte Carlo algorithm to help them with the search. Taking simple building blocks, and by connecting or overlapping them with each other, the algorithm proceeds to find the shortest, non-trivial pathways of assembly for given molecules, Aspuru-Guzik says. By exploring these pathways in families of molecules, assembly graphs can help explore chemical spaces.

The team applied the approach to study a class of potent but addictive painkillers opiates. These molecules were an important target as were interested in exploring chemical space for effective new opiates that arent addictive and hence so dangerous, Cronin says. In the study, nine natural and synthetic compounds were grouped together and broken into assembly pools that could then be used to explore new possible drugs while keeping all the features necessary for the molecules to work.

The authors generated 1000 opiate-like compounds using the assembly tree as well as 1000 random compounds considering the bonds present in opiates. They found that the molecules obtained from the assembly pools showed a much higher similarity to opiates than the random compounds. The products generated using the assembly tree also exhibited similar levels of drug-likeness to opiates, as opposed to random molecules which were less drug-like.

The scientists also demonstrated the potential of the new method in areas such as prebiotic chemistry, genetics and environmental chemistry. It remains to be tested how these new ideas work in a practical design application, mentions Aspuru-Guzik. But they can provide a good theoretical framework to think of chemical space.

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Exploiting evolution to explore chemical space shows promise for drug discovery - Chemistry World

AT FIRST GLANCE there was nothing out of the ordinary about the call Philadelphia 76ers general manager Elton Brand received a few minutes before 7 p.m. on Monday night. Agent Rich Paul was on the line, for probably the third time that day.

That had become standard as the Sixers and Paul's client, Ben Simmons, played out one of the longest, most frustrating games of poker between a franchise and its disgruntled superstar the NBA has seen in years.

After months of a mostly unproductive staredown, Brand received a call and text message from Paul, informing him that Simmons had ended his two-week, unpaid staycation in Los Angeles and was outside the door of the team facility, reporting for a COVID-19 test.

Simmons had shown up to face an organization and a city he'd let down in the playoffs last season -- something many in the organization doubted he'd ever do.

"I don't know if he can face the team or the fans after everything that happened last year," one source close to the situation puts it.

But there he was in Philadelphia on Monday night, this transcendent player whose confidence had unraveled to such an extent he has sworn all summer he'd do just about anything except face the people who witnessed it.

The Sixers didn't have time to ask questions. They had to hastily arrange for the testers to come back to the facility, according to sources close to the situation.

Simmons wasn't giving away any answers, either.

Was he actually back? Or was he just reporting to stem his financial losses?

Simmons' side had been dealt a blow the previous week when the NBA and players' union issued a memo stating a player without a "reasonable excuse" will not be paid for games he does not play. Previously, the collectively bargained league memos had used slightly softer language, like "would not" be paid, which Paul's agency believed left room to argue Simmons could ask to be paid for the salary he lost if and when he was traded, sources said.

That memo -- issued while Simmons was across the country, hunkering down for a protracted absence he thought would create leverage, or at least incentive for the team to trade him -- had felt like the kind of small event that could have a giant ripple effect.

But in a meeting with Brand, head coach Doc Rivers and president of basketball operations Daryl Morey on Tuesday, Simmons offered little insight -- and has offered his teammates even less.

The only explanation he has offered them throughout this process came months ago, when Paul invited everyone to his house in Beverly Hills.

Much has been made about that August meeting. Snippets of the Sixers' message to Simmons have been revealed and dissected.

But it's what Simmons said to them that mattered most.

Link:

Ben Simmons and the Philadelphia 76ers: The evolution of the offseason's most complex saga - ESPN

The Ripon Channel Control Room sits ready for a broadcast. Ripon Channel has expanded into internet streaming and has forged partnerships with local organizations to provide coverage.

Question:

Has the pandemic helped Ripon Channels evolution into streaming?

Answer:

Those visiting the Ripon Channels YouTube page may notice more coverage of sports, school musicals and community events than they would have in 2019 as the cable access channel has solidified its pivot into the world of streaming.

Prior to the pandemic, Ripon Channel was covering high school concerts, sports, local government meetings and other community events, according to Ripon Community Media Committee Coordinator Riley Icenogle.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Icenogle says Ripon Channel took baby steps toward streaming that content on social media, but the pandemic helped propel the network into pursuing streaming with a full steam ahead mindset.

Our expanded streaming program has been successful because were really doing exactly what weve done in the past, he said. Except now, were livestreaming everything. That means our social media outreach and our YouTube channel are having the desired effect of reaching many more people.

Icenogle said the decision to expand into streaming was motivated by more people dropping their cable subscriptions and a desire to stay relevant in a changing media landscape.

We thought that it would help expand our viewership, he said. We were fortunate to have some good timing with it, starting that program and having some of the equipment and some of the skills in place when it became necessary because of COVID. Id say that overall its been a great success.

In fact, Ripon Channels YouTube channel has expanded so quickly that it gained enough subscribers to create a dedicated URL for the webpage, Icenogle noted.

There have been lots of people whove said, Holy cow, we didnt even know youre here and where did this all come from? he said, noting many people use their phones to find content both for educational and entertainment purposes.

Icenogle added that Ripon Channel has developed an advertising partnership with Hometown Broadcasting, where ad revenue from sports coverage is split between the two entities as Hometown provides the commentary during games and Ripon Channel provides the video.

So far, Icenogle said the fledgling partnership, which is less than a year old, is going well.

After we get to about a year and get through basketball season, well evaluate it and see how we are moving forward, he said. But I think, for the time being, its working pretty well.

Beyond sports and community events, Ripon Channel provides video of city government proceedings, free of commentary or punditry.

Icenogle says those services have become more important in an era of increasing pressure on local media.

The things that happen in local government are the things that most directly affect our lives, he said of covering local government meetings. The Common Council decides what sorts of ordinances to act on or not to act on. And government committees decide what sorts of programs they will or will not have in their particular areas.

What this means:

Video coverage of local sports, school and community events in the city of Ripon is more accessible than ever before.

Icenogle added that Ripon Channel plans to continue evaluating its programming and looking for new ways to offer a diverse array of viewing experiences for local residents.

Were going to continue to try to find appropriate non-school music events that we can provide some programming with, he said. We hope to, in the relatively near future, begin to focus some more programming on the activities here at City Hall, and possibly have the city administrator more directly speak to people through our channel, and maybe get some closer looks at departments.

Were working out details on how we might be able to accomplish those things.

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Mail: 303 Watson St., Ripon WI 54971, P.O. Box 262, Ripon WI 54971

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FAQ: Has the pandemic helped Ripon Channel's evolution into streaming? - Ripon Commonwealth Press

This article contains spoilers for the new Bond movie. You have been warned

Bond purists have criticised No Time To Die for its portrayal of Craigs Bond. How can it be, they say, that Bond sleeps exclusively with one woman, or that he dedicates much of his energy to protecting a child? I argue that the emotional and paternal 007 we see in Craigs final outing is actually one rooted in the original novels and does well to resist the macho tropes of the last films.

Bond first showed his partiality for monogamy in Ian Flemings 1963 novel On Her Majestys Secret Service. Choosing to dedicate his future to Tracey di Vicenzo, her subsequent death was a landmark moment in the series because it was the first moment we see Bond distraught by loss.

Fast forward a year with Flemings final full-length Bond novel You Only Live Twice, upon which aspects of No Time To Die are heavily based (Safins Garden of Death), and we realise that Bond has gotten Kissy Suzuki pregnant, just as he does with the new films Dr Madeleine Swan. However, we can have no doubt of Bonds natural paternalistic instincts, highlighted through previous films in his relationship with younger women, for example Melina Havelock.

In their cinematic form, Craigs emotional Bond is often tied in with the storylines that question his role and necessity in the modern world. This vulnerability is also a natural progression within the storyline of No Time To Die. Having retired from service, Bonds mellowing feels very natural. However, when he does re-enter the murky world of espionage, his retired status affords his character a sense of confidence and ease previously unseen.

Bond, famous for short quips, talks more than any previous film in No Time To Die, and gives us a glimpse at the person behind the secretive killer. This enables tender moments such as at the grave of one-time love Vesper Lynd and references a similar moment in For Your Eyes Only when Roger Moore visits his deceased wife Tracey.

All in all, Bonds increased vulnerability represents a positive shift in the series, but one that is not as unfounded as some purists have argued. This shift engenders a far more thoughtful film in which the losses of Bonds previous years are finally recognised.

Written by Alex Mcloughlin.

Read more:

The Evolution of an Emotional Bond - The Mancunion