Category Archives: Evolution

What's next: The evolution of the Walt Disney World annual pass

Annual passes for Walt Disney World are back on sale but there are some changes.

LAKE MARY, Fla. - Annual passes for Walt Disney World are back on sale but there are some changes.

For example, platinum, gold, and all the other tiers are no more. There a four new tiers to choose from, ranging from the Pixie Dust Pass, which costs $19.00 a month after a down payment to the Incredi-Pass, which will cost Florida residents about $150 monthly after a down payment.

Each pass includes parking and discounts on dining and merchandise. Pass holders can customize with features including photo pass downloads and admission to water parks.

RELATED: Disney World annual passes are back on sale: Cost, benefits, and more

Getting into the parks is one thing, but once pass holders are in, there's a new service to help guide each Disney World visit called the Disney Genie.

Guests walk down Main Street, U.S.A. at Magic Kingdom Park, July 11, 2020, at Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., on the first day of the theme parks phased reopening. (Kent Phillips, Photographer)

The app is free and will give visitors the ability to create a personal tip board that will display current and future wait times. It will also have all the functions the My Disney Experience app already has like mobile food ordering and the ability to join a virtual queue. Then, for $15.00 per ticket, per day, passholders can get the Genie Plus option, which allows visitors to select the next available time to arrive at several attractions and to use the Lightning Lane.

RELATED: Disney retires FastPass, launches 'Disney Genie' and 'Lightning Lane'

The Lightning Lane will replace the fast pass lane. Selections must be made on the same day of visit and can be used across parks.

Watch FOX 35 Orlando for the latest Central Florida news.

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What's next: The evolution of the Walt Disney World annual pass - FOX 35 Orlando

Shang-Chi Director Explains the Evolution of the Films Mid-Credits Scene

Warning: There are spoilers ahead for Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings!

The mid-credits stinger from Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings didnt just hint at big things to come in Phase Four of the MCU. It also marked the return of two of the franchises most valuable players for the first time since Avengers: Endgame hit theaters two years ago. Both Mark Ruffalo and Brie Larson came back to reprise their roles as Bruce Banner and Captain Marvel, respectively. The two characters appeared via hologram to help Wong study Wenwus rings of power. But according to director Destin Daniel Cretton, their cameos werent always a sure thing.

Cretton and co-writer Dave Callaham discussed the scenes evolution during a recent interview with Yahoo! Entertainment (via ComicBook.com). According to the director, a number of different character combinations were considered before the filmmakers settled on Ruffalo and Larson.

You would think that more things came straight down from the top, but that never was [ordered down], said Cretton. We were begging sometimes to like, Just tell us [who can be in the scene]. But it took a lot of us throwing out options, like, How about this, how about this, how about this? And I think because the [Marvel Cinematic Universe] is such a living organismyou know, theres writers rooms happening, developing things simultaneously all the time. Everything does need to fit.

In the end, it all boiled down to what else was happening in the MCU at that moment in time.

[We] would throw ideas up the chain for that, and sometimes wed get a maybe, continued Cretton. And that meant, Okay, something else is developing somewhere else, but were not totally sure if that character will make sense. Sometimes that maybe would hang for a bit, and then theyd [Marvel Studios] say, Oh, no, we cant do that person anymore. We did that, I dont know [how many times].

We went through so many iterations of who could be in that room, added Cretton. We knew that we wanted characters to be helping us usher Shang-Chi into the bigger universe. But those characters that we landed on made sense to all of the other things that are happening in the MCU at the time that we actually shot it.

Were you happy with the way Shang-Chis mid-credits scene turned out? Let us know in the comment section below!

Recommended Reading:Shang-Chi: Master of Kung-Fu Omnibus Vol. 1

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Shang-Chi Director Explains the Evolution of the Films Mid-Credits Scene - Superherohype.com

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Evolution of the Northwest Passage - Seaside Signal

In the mid-1990s, when an online bookseller called Amazon.com was starting up, building a new company required piecing together a lot of complicated software on your own. There were no cloud computing companies, explains Amazons Adam Selipsky. So Amazon itself had to get really good at operating infrastructure and data centers at a massive scale. It had to be highly available, had to be really secure, had to be really low cost.

About a decade in, it occurred to the company that the platform it had implemented might be useful to other businesses. It turned that epiphany into a new business, Amazon Web Services, that gave any organization pay-as-you-go access to storage, computing cycles, andeventuallyemerging technologies such as machine learning. Today, AWS has a run rate of nearly $60 billion in annual revenue and accounts for more than half of Amazons operating income; it might well be the most successful bet Amazon has ever made.

After helping to hatch AWS and then manage it until 2016, Selipsky left Amazon to run visualization software company Tableau. When Jeff Bezos named AWS CEO Andy Jassy to replace himself as Amazon CEO, Jassy recruited Selipsky to return as AWSs new chief. In a keynote for the Fast Company Innovation Festival, Fast Company editor-in-chief Stephanie Mehta spoke with Selipsky about AWSs past and present, and the opportunities and challenges ahead.

Like every company, AWS saw its business go through abrupt, epoch-shifting change when the COVID-19 pandemic struck in early 2020. In its case, the impact reflected the disruption that AWS customers and potential customers were experiencing. For somelike those in the travel industrythe pandemic was wrenching. But overall, Selipsky says, it has served as an accelerant for the types of ambitious technology projects that organizations turn to AWS to help enable.

The most important thing thats happened is that so many companies have just understood that they must undergo a digital transformation, and it has become fundamental to who theyre going to be in the future, he told Mehta. If you didnt think you were a digital company in February of 2020, you figured out in March and April that you actually were. And so weve worked even more closely with so many different companies to map out that path.

In some cases, AWS has assisted customers with urgent needs, such as spinning up cloud-based call centers to deal with spikes in customer-service needs, Selipsky said. In others, its services are powering migrations that will take years to complete. And some companies are still figuring out what the whole idea of digital transformation means to them. Theyre coming to us, sometimes with very specific goals in mind, but very often saying, Hey, AWS, youve seen this before across a lot of different companies and industries, youve been doing this since 2006, much longer than anybody elseyou help us decide what that journey looks like,' said Selipsky.

AWS didnt just originate as a new way to leverage the computing services that Amazon had built for itself. Today, Amazons manifold other arms call on AWS to power everything from the companys namesake online store to the Alexa voice assistant to online ads. Were really proud that we help those teams, Selipsky said. Theyve got brilliant people who are highly innovative.

Still, its the external customers that will keep AWS growing. And given Amazons far-flung ambitions, Mehta asked Selipsky whether its problematic that companies that compete with it in one way or another might be unwilling to consider doing business with AWS.

Though Selipsky acknowledged a few high-profile instances of AWSs ownership by Amazoncosting it business, he said that these are outnumbered by examples of it being a non-issue. AWS has big and deep relationships with folks like Netflix, Hulu, Disney Plus, and HBO, even though there are other parts of Amazon that might compete against them, he said. Or if you look at retail, for example, youve got Nike, Brooks Brothers, Shop Direct, Instacart, and Zulily.

Actually, Selipsky says, other Amazon divisions that create products on top of AWS services have been known to get jealous of third-party users:Occasionally, some of the folks from some of those groups say, Hey, is it possible that youre treating some of the external customers with more care than we get treated? Im here to tell you its not true, but just to show you that we are maniacally focused on our external customers.

AWS itself faces plenty of competitionmost notably from Microsoft, whose Azure services have become a fast-growing second-place player in the cloud-computing business Amazon created. But its future growth may be constrained less by competitive dynamics than its ability to keep up with the opportunities ahead. I make a joke about a day in the life of a bit, Selipsky told Mehta. Any given piece of data in the world may get ingested somewhere and then travel to the cloud, where it can be stored, transformed, analyzed, cleaned, visualized, and shared. The possibilities are so endless that AWS isnt going to run out of additional ways to help organizations wrangle all that information.

I still think theres a lot of building-block components that are left to build and a lot of abstracted capabilities on top of those building blocks to make that process a lot easier, a lot faster, a lot more convenient, so you can get to better decisions faster, Selipsky said. Those are a couple of the product areas, and there are many others where we have a lot of work still to do.

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AWS's new CEO on its evolution from wild idea to $60 billion giant - Fast Company

Over the past five years, the English-speaking regions of Cameroon have rapidly morphed into a war zone. Lives have been lost, properties have been destroyed, and the humanitarian crisis continues to intensify.

In its latest report, theUnited NationsOffice for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs(OCHA)highlighted the impact on education: "Since the beginning of the crisis in 2016, education has been highly affected. Many schools have closed to avoid frequent attacks against education facilities. Teachers and students have been attacked, kidnapped, threatened, and killed. In 2021, more than 700,000 children are deprived of education in the north-west and south-west regions."

Felix Agbor Nkongho, a human rights lawyerwho was a leading member of thenow-outlawed Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium (CACSC), has been disheartened by the ongoing crisis.

"The current state of affairs in the Anglophone regions is very sad," he told DW."It is very deplorable. It is frustrating."

Though CACSC led the first wave of peaceful protests against the federal government's marginalization of Cameroon's Anglophone regions in 2016, Agbor Nkongho said violence was never part of the group's agenda.

"Nobody had a crystal ball that could see the future," he said. "By and large we didn't foresee violence."

Young Anglophone Cameroonians have sought refuge in Nigeria, after the crisis morphed into armed conflict

Agbor Nkongho said the initial measures to pressure the government such as lockdowns and school boycotts were only meant to last for a short while.He blames Yaounde for escalating the situation.

"[The measures] werejust to draw attention to the international community to what we were going through as a people," he said."We were even planning to call off the school boycott before the consortium was outlawed."

In the lead-up to the country's Unification Day on October 1,the situation in Cameroon's two English-speaking regions remains uncertain. Speaking on behalf of the Ambazonia Governing Council(AGovC), the movement's deputydefense chief,Emmanuel Ndong,briefly explainedthe history behind their cause.

"British Southern Cameroons that is being called today Ambazonia gained its independence from the United Kingdom following the UN's Resolution 1608, whichterminated the British mandate to govern Southern Cameroons on the 1st of October, 1961," Ndong told DW.

Agbor Nkongho said the government's decision to markUnification Day on this date wasthe "height of political hypocrisy."

"[President Paul Biya]can take all of us by an ambush by declaringthe 1st of October, a national holiday in Cameroon," he said.

Felix Agbor Nkongho, the leader of the outlawed CACSC, says the regime has 'done nothing to show good faith'

For Cameroonians directlyaffected by the conflict,talk of dates and history ismeaningless.

"The government and separatists are playing with the lives of the local population they claim to protect," Nfor Nkfu, an Anglophone taxi driver, told DW."These parties involved in the ongoing crisis are protecting their interests. They are not protecting anyone."

Nelson Tum, a history teacher, said the fighting between the separatists and the government had left him and many others distrustful of both sides.

"To say that I feel protected by both parties is completely out of place, because you do not know who can hurt you at any given moment,"he said.

Paul Nilong, from theInterim Government of Ambazonia, said the federal government soughtto make "Ambazonia ungovernable it's all about destroying everything."

"The most important part is the economic sabotage," said Ndong.

The separatists, however, have not always agreed on their own strategy, particularly when it comes to repeated lockdowns something that Ndong acknowledgedhas damaged their cause.

"We think it is counterproductive to declare a two-week lockdown of the territory, which is going to impose additional hardship to our people that are already bearing the brunt of this war," he said.

But Nilong said the lockdown was needed to send a message to the government.

"The two-weeklockdown was to tell Yaounde they are not in control," he said.

The government has been accused of not doing enough to stem the crisis.

Elvis Ngolle Ngolle, a member of the ruling Cameroon People's Democratic Movement (CPDM) party whopreviouslyserved as forestry and wildlife minister,told DW thatofficials have been doing the best they could to end the violence.

"Thegovernment means well and has been doing a lot to try to put an end to the crisis and, in particular, to try to put an end to the armed conflict."Ngolle Ngolle said.

From his experiences on the ground, the history teacher Tum said thegovernment had tried to restore calm in the Anglophone regions, but called the efforts insufficient.

"The government has done a lot, but I will say it's not enough to end the crisis," Tum said. "During the holding of a major national dialogue, those we consider leaders of the Anglophone [regions] were not brought into the dialogue with the government."

President Paul Biya has said the form of the state is not up for debate

Ngolle Ngolle said the lack of progress on the part of the government had more to do with the "bad faith"ofsome individuals who seek to "benefit from the conflict."

"Apparently, money flies around onboth sides, and they seem to be benefiting from this money," he said.

Separatists have said the government's deployment of increasingly sophisticated weapons means the conflict won't end for them anytime soon.

"The IEDs have been modified so that they create a heavy impact, and they will continue to until Yaoundegives up the fight," said Ambazonia's Nilong.

Deputy Defense Chief Ndong said the separatists were even looking abroad to draw more international attention to their cause.

"We seek to destabilize the Gulf of Guinea and make sure the exploitation of resources in this area is stopped until the international community comes to the recognition that [they are the only] peoplethat can guarantee peace and stability," Ndong said. "Itis no longer Cameroon and Nigeria but Biafra and Ambazonia."

Ngolle Ngollesaid a political solution would be preferable to amilitary option.

"I am not a military man," he said."I am one of those who believe that the political arm works, has worked and can work. Iam one of those who believes dialogue should never stop."

Agbor Nkongho believes the ultimate solution will require the international community to impose travel bans and freeze the assets ofthe parties who are fueling the conflict. But to him, any progress needs tostart with honesty.

"Friends of Cameroon in the international community, should be honest with Biyaand tell him that he cannot win the war," he said.

He also warns that separatists should not feel as though they are immune to justice.

"Non-state actorsshould also be made to understand that if you incite violence or commit crimes, you should be held accountable,"he said.

Originally posted here:

From peaceful protests to war: The evolution of Cameroon's Anglophone conflict - DW (English)

As the best first-round quarterbacks of the 2018 NFL Draft march toward bountiful second contracts, its easy to see the identities each franchise has carved around its centerpieces.

The Baltimore Ravens have leaned all the way into Lamar Jackson as the engine of their offense. Through the structure of its downhill option runs, Jackson has been the Ravens' best runner between the tackles and on the edge. The passing game, often out of four-open sets (all receiving threats spread out) and empty, puts the game in Jacksons hands completely, releasing every receiving option downfield and asking him to use his legs as the checkdown.

The Cleveland Browns have settled into a multiple tight end, downhill rushing attack of its own for Baker Mayfield. Head coach Kevin Stefanski, offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt, and offensive line coaching legend Bill Callahan have combined outside zone and power runs to manufacture clean pockets and open crossers for the quarterback.

Rankings&Projections |WR/CB Matchup Chart |NFL & NCAA Betting Dashboards |NFL Player Props tool |NFL & NCAA Power Rankings

What the aforementioned situations have in common, aside from sharing some concepts and play design, is an organizational commitment to replicate the things that their quarterbacks did best coming into the NFL. Lamar Jacksons breakout game in his Louisville career at home against Florida State was a display of his ability to run power read and work through pro-level progressions. Baker Mayfield looked like an immediate lock for the No. 1 pick behind the gap-scheme run (power, counter, etc.), play-action, pass-heavy approach Lincoln Riley runs at Oklahoma.

That leaves Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills. On its face, what Buffalo is doing couldnt be more opposite from what Allen operated within during his time at Wyoming. Offensive coordinator Brian Daboll was called up from Alabama to lead Allens development as a quarterback, fresh off a national championship season that required building an offense around a raw quarterback.

The two came into Orchard Park as a package deal in 2018, and the trajectory theyve been on is evidence not just of success, but of adjustments in philosophy and scheme to maximize a franchise-altering talent.

In order to contextualize the present-day Josh Allen, its imperative to look at 2021 in comparison to what he was asked to do between his final year in college, his first two years in the pros with Daboll and their breakout 2020 campaign.

Its not revolutionary to play out of 11 personnel (one back, one tight end) on almost two-thirds of snaps (65%) as Buffalo has this year. The average NFL usage is just under a three-fifths share.

At Wyoming, an offense made to smash teams with fullbacks and multiple tight ends had much less use for one back and one tight end (38% of snaps) than youd typically see for a pro prospect in the modern college era. If the Wyoming Cowboys had a slot receiver on the field, it was as clear a passing tendency as there could be, using 70% of the 315 snaps to pass the ball. Because Wyoming was majority run out of almost every other personnel group it had, its 11 personnel package lacked window dressing like play action (15%) and RPOs (9%).

Having a complete 11 personnel package wasnt an issue for Daboll in Alabama (72% of snaps in 2017), filling the shoes of former offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin. Not only had the Crimson Tide built out a perfectly balanced run-to-pass attack, but with 16% of the snaps being an RPO and 26% a play-action pass, defenses could not divide their gameplan between how it wanted to stop the run and cover the field.

Leaving Alabama and coming back into the NFL, Daboll had a clear philosophical belief that a healthy run game required a large share of gap scheme runs to keep a defense honest. Power and counter plays with pulling guards and lead blockers made up one-third of the rushing attack in 2017.

Pin and pull schemes replaced counter in his current tenure, better handling the elite athletes on the edge (many counter plays leave an edge defender unblocked), but the use of bedrock gap scheme runs have waned as the seasons passed. This suggests that Daboll had to recalibrate his approach not just to suit Allen and his rare arm talent, but to concede that the investment in gap schemes at the NFL level doesnt yield the same results it may in college, especially if youre not looking to run the ball as often (The 50-50 split at Alabama in 2017 became 67-33 in favor of the pass in his four years in Buffalo).

Where Allen had to make adjustments came in the RPO game. Coming out of Wyoming in 2017, he had only five passing attempts on RPOs in 11 personnel. For comparison, Jalen Hurts and Tua Tagovailoa combined for 43 in 2017. The glance route, effectively a slant, was Dabolls favorite to package on his runs (22% of RPO pass targets in 2017), and a strong-armed quarterback like Allen made fast friends with his wide receivers on glances in the NFL, throwing them into areas vacated by linebackers who went to fit the run.

In total, Allens 75 dropbacks on all 11 personnel RPOs ranks fourth over the span of his NFL career, and his 6.9 yards per attempt ranks ninth among signal-callers with at least 25 dropbacks.

Ultimately, the conditions that led to the structural changes in Dabolls 11 personnel scheme would have happened independent of Allen. If an offense is in 11 personnel and not using tight splits so receivers can create extra gaps as blockers or with misdirection off of jet motions, the option game is just about the only way to keep linebackers from flying downhill.

Where Daboll and Allen have forged a new identity for this offense has more to do with what Buffalo stopped doing than what it added.

Allens college offense being predicated on hitting defenses in the mouth influenced Wyomings secondary and tertiary personnel packages. The Cowboys used 12 personnel (one back, two tight ends) 22% of the time compared to an 11% share of that personnel grouping for Alabama.

Though two tight end sets were shared as the No. 2 package, the way that Allen and Dabolls offenses operated out of it couldnt have been more opposite. For Allen, getting out of 11 personnel seemed to balance the offenses play calling out (54-46 split, leaning run), and Daboll got into two-tight end sets almost exclusively to run (83-17 split). The element of downhill runs also opened the door for play-action opportunities for Allen in a way he missed out on in 11 personnel, with 46% of his 12 personnel passes coming after faking the run.

For Allens first two years in Buffalo, Daboll adjusted his scheme to replicate an approach in 12 personnel that Allen would theoretically be comfortable with. In 2018 & 2019, 12 personnel was the third-most used personnel grouping behind 21, and a 52-48 run-pass split with 55% of passes being play action fit right into what Allen knew best.

In spite of the effort, his performance on play action out of heavier personnel didnt hold in his transition to the NFL. Some of Allens worst habits would rear their head on play action. He extended outside of the pocket or hung on to the ball too long and made a bad play worse with inaccurate throws.

At the end of the 2019 season, if Daboll had said the answer to fixing the flaws of Allens game in 2020 and 2021 would be best addressed by trimming the 12 personnel package down (11% to 7%), cutting the 21 personnel package out completely (11% to 2%) and investing scheme and talent resources into playing with more wide receivers, Id have signed his walking papers myself.

Nothing about Allens resume suggested that the issue was Buffalo running too few dropback passes. Nothing about the tape or data suggested Daboll or Allen wouldve been able to make this work either. Alabama in 2017 ran 10 personnel on only 5% of its snaps, while Wyoming was at an 8% clip. Yet, Allens 180-degree turn in 2020 was brought on by just that, and the addition of Stefon Diggs putting all of Allens receiving threats in their proper roles.

Playing with four true wide receivers (10 personnel) was something Daboll hadnt done with Buffalo. After Allens first two seasons, Daboll had played less than half a percent of snaps out of 10 personnel a number that flew up to 15% between 2020 and now.

Opening the field like such came just as Allens accuracy and efficiency working through progressions evolved. Evaluating his pure dropback game shows the unforeseeable jump everyone raved about throughout 2020.

This investment in the spread does not come without trade-offs, especially in the run game. Many offenses, because of the multiplicity that can be found in using different personnel packages, are able to flex their tight end in and out of the box (between the tackles and on the edge) and the slot to toggle between run- and pass-first sets.

This season in Buffalo, tight end Dawson Knox almost has to line up in the box when hes on the field. Otherwise, the Bills wouldnt have any formations in their base offense that employ an inline tight end. Of the 24 teams with at least 100 snaps out of 11 personnel, Buffalo ranks sixth in its usage of an in-line tight end, even though Daboll is looking to pass first and pass second.

The third-most used personnel package in 2021 21 personnel has to be categorized differently than how most defenses would scout that grouping. Of the 18 snaps Buffalo has in 2021 with two backs and one tight end, eight have come in the red zone. For all intents and purposes, thats the Bills short-yardage package, where a more typical team would play out of 22 personnel.

Buffalos offense this season is completely bought into the spread. In 2020, it worked better than anyone outside of upstate New York could have imagined. In 2021, though, the high variance nature of the spread has been on full display already. The lack of a run game to punish Pittsburgh cost Buffalo to open the season, and the offense has torn off 78 points in the two games since.

As the year goes on, it will be interesting to see if defenses start to treat this offense the way college defenses do the Air Raid sitting deep in coverage to force as many checkdowns and handoffs as possible.

Allen and Daboll have evolved this offense once already, but if leaning this hard into wide-open offenses doesnt work, I would expect an offseason to correct some of the holes in this roster between the tackles.

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The evolution of Buffalo Bills QB Josh Allen and Brian Daboll's offense | NFL News, Rankings and Statistics - Pro Football Focus

Benji Marshall makes a break to set up Pat Richards' try in the 2005 Grand FinalFairfax Media via Getty Images

Stadium Australia roared with a raucous wave of celebration as a 20-year-old Kiwi produced a stroke of genius, setting up one of the most famous tries in NRL history.

"Who does that?" The commentators cried in disbelief of Benji Marshall, who'd flown down the field and flicked the ball to Pat Richards as the Wests Tigers went on the claim the 2005 title.

Marshall's flamboyance, fancy footwork and flicks made him an NRL hero of the mid-2000s. Coach Tim Sheens told the teenage halfback he could do whatever he wanted on the field as long as he practiced it.

And that he did. The New Zealand talent inflicted damage with a brand and skills arsenal no one had seen before, and even his teammates learned to be on alert once he touched the ball.

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That's how it was for Richards as Marshall received the ball from fullback Brett Hodgson deep in their half, because that first touch was where the magic started.

The moment was not all about Marshall's famous flick - it was also his ability to read the play, roam from five-eighth to the wing, his trademark steps, and how he drew the Cowboys towards touch for Richards to finish off the feat with a big fend and four points.

"You'd just have to expect anything [from him]. We just read the play and I realised Benji was running cross-field into touch, so I just decided to come inside. I didn't even realise he had flicked the ball to be honest until a few days after," Richards tells ESPN.

"Everyone kept replaying it, talking about it and all that. It was just normal, it was the way we'd practiced that year. Tim always had us practicing that flick pass, doing all these basketball kind of skills and really promoting that.

"So it did come out on the big stage. It just sort of stuck. I put my hand out and luckily enough it stuck, and I ended up getting the try.

"It's amazing. I don't think that try would have been replayed as much if Benji wasn't involved in it. He had that sort of star power about him back then. It's grown to be the moment of that Grand Final, I was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time."

As September comes to an end for another year, so does another NRL finals series with that highlight reel hit on repeat. Only this season it has more significance.

Marshall will feature in his second decider on Sunday as the South Sydney Rabbitohs clash with the Penrith Panthers for the 2021 title.

His 16-year wait between Grand Finals is the longest in NRL history, with the 36-year-old veteran outlasting former teammate Lote Tuqiri - who featured in the Broncos 2000 and the Rabbitohs 2014 sides.

"It's hard to comprehend at the moment. It's been so long I almost forgot about what Grand Final week was like," Marshall said to the media on Tuesday.

"I'm just really grateful to be in this position, to have this opportunity. There's been a couple of times, especially in the last five years, where it looked like my career was over.

"To be able to be here with a great club that has shown me a lot of support, especially from the players, to get me here. With Wayne [Bennett], the club and the fans... I'm really enjoying myself at the moment."

For the last five seasons Marshall has played on one-year contracts. He first linked with Bennett at the Broncos in 2017 before returning to Concord where he would remain with the Tigers for three seasons.

But he looked destined for retirement at the beginning of 2021 after the Tigers, where he's the highest point scorer and second-most capped player ever, shut the door on a new deal.

He was close to signing with the Bulldogs to unite with his brother Jeremy Marshall-King before the club went cold, so instead he called Bennett for a lifeline to end his career on a high note.

His arrival in Redfern was a shock as it was unclear where he'd fit in, with the Rabbitohs already boasting a strong-starting combination of Adam Reynolds and Cody Walker in the halves. But in effect it was a stroke of wizardry as Bennett turned the NRL's oldest player into the ultimate utility.

Marshall and the master coach have transformed the role of the No.14 as he came on for stints across the field this season, including at lock and hooker for the first time in his decorated 19-year career.

Although the razzle dazzle of his heyday has faded, Marshall has been as effective from a tactical and leadership perspective. The 2010 Golden Boot winner credits his longevity in the NRL to his resilience and ability to adapt his body and playing-style to suit the game's changes.

"I think one of the things a lot of people don't talk about when it comes to me is resilience," Marshall said.

"I had five shoulder reconstructions at a young age, missed out on like 70 games due to injury throughout my career. So to bounce back from that for me is one of the things I'm most proud of.

"To play 19 years in this competition is pretty special as well. I've had to change my body to try not to get so injured, especially with my shoulders. I've probably had to change my game as I've gotten older into playing a lot smarter and not so flashy and instinctive.

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"I've really enjoyed the evolution of what I've had to do with my game... every year I've had something to work on and try to be better at.

"Because I've gotten older, everyone has a stigma about age. It doesn't matter how old you are, you've just got to keep on going and I feel like I've changed heaps of stuff over the last 12 years of my career, not just the last four to five. If you want to keep getting better, you have to change your game."

And so the Marshall who'll run onto Suncorp Stadium this weekend is far removed from the 20-year-old sensation who rocked the rugby league world in 2005.

Marshall has been credited as one of the most influential players in rugby league history, with his fancy footwork and flick passes inspiring a generation of kids on both sides of the Tasman.

His vintage moves have come through with those who made it to the NRL, with the likes of Kalyn Ponga and Shaun Johnson incorporating his big steps with the same flash and flair.

"He's inspired so many young kids. To be someone like that out there doing that, it's incredible you know," Richards said.

"People always come up to me and one of the first things they bring up is the [Grand Final] try and talk about Benji. Everyone is so fascinated by him because he was one of the first to do that [flick pass] in our game. He was a bit of a pioneer and he has definitely inspired so many.

"What I loved about him was that attacking footy, and that's what people paid money to come watch, to see you excite the crowd and all that. Benji was a huge part of that."

Although the Kiwi international has replaced his flicks and tricks with a more measured approach to the game, he still captures the imagination of fans by his constant evolution into what Richards describes as "the complete player."

"I think at the start of his career he basically just played footy. Whatever was in front of him, he attacked with a confidence about him," Richards said.

"Now he's much more calculated and understands the game so much more. He's been a student of the game as well and has control of certain situations now, he's a completely different player from when he first started. His game has evolved so much.

"I got to play with that young, exciting, brash sort of young kid, and now he's pretty much the complete player. The transition has been unreal and he's still as effective, but in a different way now than what was at the start of his career. But at the start when he was that young, exciting player - I love those days, you know."

And so Marshall's career will come full circle with a fairytale finish to the season in Brisbane. Although it would be fitting to bow out on the NRL's biggest stage, he has no intention of retiring just yet.

"If you've still got the desire and passion to play and you want to play, why not?" Marshall said.

But should Marshall opt not to crack the NRL's record and continue for a 20th season, he would finish as one of rugby league's greatest showmen with 96 tries and 260 try assists across 344 NRL matches - as well as 31 Tests for New Zealand and a World Cup win in 2008.

"I think someone of his stature deserves the big stage and I think it's ironic that if it is his last game, it's a Grand Final because that's where Benji has made his name - on that big stage. Even at the World Cup final and all that, he always delivers in those big moments," Richards said.

"If he does hang up, who knows? Every year I think it could have been [his last] but let's just enjoy him as he is and if he goes again, then he does and it just proves how competitive he is.

"He still wants to do it and is contributing out there, when he comes on for Souths he's playing a perfect role where he could be in the middle - he could be anywhere. He's really making an impact in the team as well."

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NRL Benji Marshall's 16-year evolution between Grand Finals - ESPN

AL MAYADIN, SYRIA MARCH 22: An SDF (Syrian Democratic Forces) fighter looks over seized ISIL weapons. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)

DUBAI: Transitioning from machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades (RPG) and basic light rocket launchers to drones, guided munition and ballistic missiles, armed groups branded as terrorist by the United States and other countries have become more widespread, technologically savvy and much better armed since the start of the global war on terrorism 20 years ago. The transformation was not limited to military capabilities for some but to their very nature from non-state actors to state actors.

When the United States launched the Global War on Terrorism right after the 9/11 attacks in 2001, the focus was on al-Qaida, a relatively small, Sunni terrorist organization led by Osama bin Laden and based in Afghanistan with some cells in neighboring countries. But the US would expand its counter-terrorism horizons to include another major player in international terrorism: the Shia militant group Hezbollah, based in Lebanon and supported by Iran.

At the time, both groups were armed with the basic Soviet-era weapons for guerrilla warfare such as rifles, machineguns, RPGs, early generation wire-guided anti-tank missiles and 107-mm and 122-mm rockets and some basic radio communication systems.

But in the two decades since, al-Qaida splinter groups like the recently defeated Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) used drones, encrypted communications and even social media to recruit, plan and fight against the worlds most powerful militaries. Al-Qaidas former host in Afghanistan, the Taliban, has gone from militant group dominating some tribal areas to the seat of power in Kabul.

Hezbollah, meanwhile, is equipped with state of the art weapons, some of which are US-made, like M-113 armored personnel carriers and M4 rifles. Its infantry units are reportedly armed with laser guided anti-tank missiles like the Russian Cornet, and anti-ship cruise missiles like the C-802 and about 150-thousand missiles of various caliber mostly built by Iran that are believed to include ballistic missiles.

Hezbollahs area of operations has expanded through dispatching trainers and advisors to Syria, Iraq and Yemen, and its early warning and communications capabilities have become more sophisticated with an arsenal of drones, low-band and high-band radios and a state-of-the-art fiber-optic network covering all of Lebanon. Its operatives and trainers went on to help Iran establish militias in Iraq and Syria groups that the US has added to its of terrorists list.

Experts told Breaking Defense that basically three developments have driven the evolution of terrorist organizations since 9/11: Easy access to dual-use technology, partnerships with transnational organized crime, and the shift of focus of some groups from undermining the state to trying to become it.

Retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Abduallah Sayed Al-Hashemi, former assistant undersecretary at the United Arab Emirates Ministry of Defense, places much of the blame for the resiliency of terror groups at the feet of the US.

The US-led war on terrorism lacked a clearly-defined strategy and engaged in futile military conflicts in Iraq and other places that resulted in the rise of new terrorist groups and the empowering of others with help from actors such as Iran, he said.

But technology too progressed in parallel with the War on Terrorism, and while it benefited the militaries and law enforcement agencies of the world, it also benefited insurgent and terrorist groups worldwide.

Commercial drones and satellite imagery allow groups with minimal expertise to observe and attack secure facilities, and the internet allows small groups to dispatch commands and orders around the world instantly and at negligible cost, said David Des Roches, professor at the Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies at National Defense University in Washington. Because these are mostly commercial capabilities modified for battle, virtually every terrorist group in the world has access to them. So now security services have to think in three dimensions instead of two.

Although a lot of the new technology is easy to access by terror groups, other more sophisticated and more lethal technology and weapons could only be accessed through states, and in this case Iran which can mean, by extension, Hezbollah and many others.

Iran has provided terrorist groups in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen with attack drones, ballistic missiles and command and control systems, said Al-Hashemi. The poor leadership of the global war on terrorism has allowed this proliferation of such weapons to these groups.

Many scholars have acknowledged the increased collaboration between terrorist groups and organized crime in many regions a consequence of US and allied success in clamping down on terrorists traditional financing networks. The anti-money laundering laws and sanctions on companies and charities that funded terrorist groups have compelled the latter to seek new partners and means to secure funds and be able to smuggle weapons and operatives.

The presence of organized crime helps terrorism because it erodes law and order and facilitates the trafficking of things terrorists need, such as weapons and explosives. Individuals have been known to work in both terrorist and criminal organizations, especially in conflict areas, said Des Roches.

Then theres the equipment and technology the US unintentionally provided.

Al-Qaidas original ally in Afghanistan, the Taliban, has recently regained control of the country and captured a large arsenal of U.S.-made weapons that were supplied to the Afghani military. In stark photos and videos following the collapse of the Afghan government, some of the Taliban own special forces fighters were seen dressed and equipped like modern-day crack-troops armed with M4 rifles and equipped with night-vision goggles. The Taliban also now reportedly has access to sensitive biometric data.

The Afghan Taliban, which was never formally declared a terrorist group by the US even if its sister organizations were, is the most recent, and successful, example of what Mohammad Baharoon said was an evolution in militant strategy.

The modern-day terrorist groups are not just seeking to export ideology but are seeking to rule countries, said Baharoon, director general of Bhuth think tank in Dubai.

ISIS, for instance, did manage to briefly establish its own caliphate in Iraq and Syria, with its own dull bureaucracy, before being beaten back. The most complicated example is Hezbollah, which has been a political entity in Lebanon for decades.

In this new era of quasi-legitimacy, there appear to be differences between Washington and some of its European and Asian allies on which groups should be regarded as terrorists and how to deal with them.

The United States, Britain and Germany regard Hezbollah in Lebanon as a terrorist group and have subsequently imposed sanctions on its leadership and entities affiliated with it. However, France and the EU regard Hezbollah as a Lebanese political party and its officials hold talks and meetings with the Partys leadership on state level.

During President Donald Trumps administration Washington regarded the Iranian-backed Houthi group in Yemen a terrorist organization. But President Joe Biden reversed this decision.

Now that the Taliban has taken control of Afghanistan and the international community is debating whether to recognize it as the legitimate ruler of the country.

Pointing to the cases of Hezbollah and the Palestinian group Hamas, Baharoon said, Terrorism has been politicized and it has become difficult to countries such as the United States and the EU not to deal with some of these organizations as political actors and not as radical groups carrying out systematic terror attacks under the banner of resistance.

Link:

The Evolution of Terror Groups Since 9/11: From Tech to Politics - Breaking Defense

Inset of the cover of Monsters of the Multiverse, featuring the wizard Mordenkainen.Image: Wizards of the Coast

Your regular sessions playing Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition leaving you bored? Get ready to shake things up a little, and a lot. Not only will the games rules get expanded next year, but the RPG will have a biggerand more mysterioustransformation in two years.

The 2022 tinkering comes courtesy of the D&D Rules Expansions Gift Set, a boxed collection of two already published expansion books, Xanathars Guide to Everything and Tashas Cauldron of Everything, along with a third, new book titled Monsters of the Multiverse. It collects and revises tons of D&D material released since the launch of [the] fifth edition into one convenient tome, and contains over 30 updated player character races and a massive bestiary with over 250 redesigned monsters and stat blocks, all for use in any D&D world. The three books have exclusive foil covers, as does the included Dungeon Masters screen. Its due out January 25 of next year, will run you $169.99, and you can get more details here.

Image: Wizards of the Coast

However, you may want to wait for... whatever the hell is coming next. Executive producer Ray Winninger announced during a recent D&D Celebration live-stream event that the next evolution of Dungeons & Dragons would be arriving in 2024. He was then extremely cagey about the details, so we dont know whether this will be the 6th Edition of the granddaddy of tabletop role-playing games, or a 5.5 Edition much like the one received by the 3rd Edition. Winninger did say, however, that it would be compatible with 5th Edition, which suggests a 5.5... but 2024 is Dungeons & Dragons 50th anniversary, and surely Wizards of the Coast would make something grander to mark the occasion than merely adjusting the current incarnation of the game, which isalready 10 years old. Surely.

Whatever it ends up being, apparently work on it has already begun. Clearly, Wizards isnt going to be dropping more details anytime soon, but well let you know as soon as they are.

G/O Media may get a commission

[Via Wargamer]

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Dungeons & Dragons' 5th Edition to Get a Revision, Then an Evolution - Gizmodo

Triceratops, Stegosaurus, Tyrannosaurus rex, Diplodocusit turns out that the hundreds of species of dinosaurs we know today may have arisen because of volcanoes, according to an international team of researchers.

During the late Triassic period, there was a stretch of time known as the Carnian Pluvial Episode (CPE), which ran from 234 to 232 million years ago.

Before the CPE, the supercontinent of Pangaea was dry and arid, but then the CPE came along with its mega monsoon climate, leading to an increase in global temperature and humidity. This transformation of conditions had a major impact on plant and animal life.

Within the space of two million years, the worlds animal and plant life underwent major changes, including selective extinctions in the marine realm and diversification of plant and animal groups on land, said co-author Prof Jason Hilton. These events coincide with a remarkable interval of intense rainfall known as the Carnian Pluvial Episode.

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By analysing sediment and fossil records from northern China, the researchers propose that volcanic activity could have led to the significant climate change seen during the CPE.

The researchers found that there were four distinct events during the CPE, with each one being driven by pulses of powerful volcanic activity. These eruptions released enormous amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which triggered a rise in global temperature and humidity.

The likely source of these powerful eruptions was the Wrangellia large igneous province, the remnants of which are preserved in North America today.

Ecological changes following intense volcanic activity during the Carnian Pluvial Episode 230 million years ago paved the way for dinosaurs to become dominant Pixabay

Thisrelatively long period of volcanic activity and environmental change would have had considerable consequences for animals on land, said Dr Emma Dunne, a palaeobiologist at the University of Birmingham, who was not involved in the study.

At this time, the dinosaurs had just begun to diversify, and its likely that without this event, they would never have reached their ecological dominance we see over the next 150 million years.

As well as dinosaurs, the CPE was also important for the rise of modern conifers, and had a huge impact on the evolution of ferns, crocodiles, turtles, insects and early mammals.

Around 232 million years ago, the world experienced a burst of rainfall and got a lot more humid. It was around this time that dinosaurs emerged from their small, humble ancestors and began to diversify, said Dr Steve Brusatte, a palaeontologist at the University of Edinburgh, who was not involved in the research. Although the evidence is a little circumstantial at this point, theres reason to believe this change from drier to more humid conditions helped trigger the rise of dinosaurs.

He added: This new study takes the story a step further, and implicates big volcanic eruptions as the source of the climate change. Putting the pieces together, it looks like there was a chain reaction in the Triassic: big volcanoes erupt, they change the climate from dry to humid, and that helps catalyse the spread of dinosaurs. This shows how big changes in climate can have big implications for evolution. Its not just that climate changes can cause extinctions, but they can also help certain groups prosper and spread.

Steve is a professor of palaeontology and evolution at the University of Edinburgh. He has written more than 110 scientific papers and six books. His latest book is The Rise And Fall Of The Dinosaurs (9.99, Pan MacMillan).

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Volcanoes may have given dinosaur evolution a helping hand - BBC Science Focus Magazine