Category Archives: Golden Rule

We're in the golden age of TV, they say. Never before has so much content been so good. And with thousands of streaming options, there has never been so much. Binge-watching TV during the pandemic may have kept most of us occupiedand saneduring periods of social isolation, but now it might be a good idea to change your viewing habits. That's because it's possible to watch TV the wrong way, and making any of these five mistakes can leave your body less than golden. Read on to find out moreand to ensure your health and the health of others, don't miss these Sure Signs You May Have Already Had COVID.

Being a couch potato doesn't just affect your weight. A 2019 study found that people who spent more than two hours a day sitting and watching TV had a 70 percent increased risk of developing colorectal cancer at a young age. "Being active can help improve your hormone levels and the way your immune system works," says the American Cancer Society. Experts recommend that for overall health, all adults should get at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise (or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise) each week.

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A study published in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Health found that binge-watching TV was associated with a higher risk of dying of inflammatory conditions like heart disease, Alzheimer's and diabetes. Each added hour of viewing was associated with a 12% increased risk of death. Not only is binge-watching encouraging us to be more sedentary, it can cut into sleepwhich alone is a risk factor for several health problems.

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Back in the day, grandmas everywhere warned kids against sitting too close to the TV screen"you'll go blind!" they warned. That didn't happen, but today experts say that getting too much exposure to blue light can age you faster. A 2019 study published in the journal Aging and Mechanisms of Disease found that blue light could damage cells in the brain and eyes. To avoid this, the researchers recommended getting as much natural light as possible, wearing blue-light glasses to block emissions, and limiting your screen time. And it might be a good idea not to multi-screenwatch TV while scrolling your phone or computerwithout those blue-blockers.

RELATED: This Decreases Your Risk of Dementia Considerably, Study Finds

On the sleep tip: Research by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that blue light emitted from electronic devices like your computer or LED TV can inhibit the production of the sleep hormone melatonin, which can result in poor quality sleep or insomnia. The National Sleep Foundation encourages setting an episode limit and not watching anything action-packed right before bed; the golden rule is to avoid glowing screens of all kinds 30 minutes before turning in.

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"Distracted eating"having a meal or snack while glued to your phone or watching TVcan encourage you to overeat. "If you aren't mindful of what's going into your mouth, you don't process that information," says Harvard Medical School. "That means it doesn't get stored in your memory bank. And without a memory of having eaten, you are more likely to eat again sooner than you might have if you ate mindfully." And to get through this pandemic at your healthiest, don't miss these 35 Places You're Most Likely to Catch COVID.

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Don't Watch TV This Way, Experts Warn | Eat This Not That - Eat This, Not That

Adhere to these 3 wise principles when it comes to money and you will grow your wealth.

TEMPLE, Texas What if there were just a few rules that if you adhered to them financially, your life, when it comes to dollars and cents, would be just great?

That's why we're here with Money Talks! The rules to make you wealthy and make you financially healthy are here. There are basically three that you need to follow.

Rule number one, with how easy it is to obtain credit these days, don't spend more money than you make.

Financial Planner Rolandus Johnson stressed that one.

"Whooo, that's the biggest one. That's like the big golden rule right there. And again, you make your money, you work hard for it and you want to spend it," Johnson said. "I understand that and we're all at times prisoners of the moment. But you know we always talk about financial freedom and the guys and the girls that are doing it right, they never spend more than they make."

Once you spend less than you make, move onto rule number two. Johnson said that is to consider your retirement a bill that you are always paying.

"The best thing to do is to pay yourself first. Not only that but look at your goals and readjust your goals at least annually," he said. "That is something that I preach consistently to all of my clients. Pay yourself first, set a goal, review it, at least annually and if you would, adapt those goals as your situation changes."

That brings us to rule number three. After you pay yourself, do smart things with that money.

"Stick to a plan. If you're going to put a hundred dollars away, invest it somewhere," he said. "And another short little saying that we use in the financial world is that Time in the market is more beneficial than trying to time the market. So there's no great time to get into the market, always just get in, once you get in, stay in, and you're nine times out of 10 going to win."

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Here are 3 rules to help grow your wealth | Money Talks - KCENTV.com

The golden rule of Boris Johnson's Conservatives is that an otherwise disparate party is at its most happy when it's talking about Brexit and its consequences.

At times of stress, it's the trump card the PM routinely reaches for. Given the stage of the country, expect it to feature heavily during the party conference.

As the prime minister heads to Manchester in what would conventionally be an extraordinarily troublesome backdrop - fuel shortages, supply line disruption, containers mounting up at ports, food shortages for months, lack of medicines in pharmacies culling pigs where they live rather than in slaughter houses due to a lack of labour meaning they become pet food not pork - he will seek to turn this to his advantage.

Mr Johnson wants to boil this down into an argument over migration he believes he can win - the Tories will continue to control numbers coming in from overseas in the hope competition drives up wages, Labour would let in more workers from abroad to fill the vacancies, undercutting domestic workers.

It is a bold gambit, not without its risks. No matter the argument doesn't fix the problems at hand or fill empty shelves. No matter that his government has had to increase visa numbers and relax conditions to entice migrant labour twice in a fortnight. No matter that Labour is not actually proposing a return to free movement or unlimited migration, though he is helped by their line being inconsistent. No matter that some economists would argue constraining labour supply when inflation is rising could lead to a stagnant economy.

The argument over the involvement of Brexit will be nuanced, and he won't say the shortages are a consequence of it. Instead he will make clear Brexit allowed the ending of free movement which stops overseas low-wage migration being part of the solution under his government.

Mr Johnson believes he has found a politically-winning dividing line up to a 2023 or 2024 election, so expect to hear variations of it from the conference podium and fringe events through the week. If he can show by the time of the next election wages have risen, he believes voters will thank him.

The prime minister's business secretary gave a foretaste of the argument in a pre-conference interview with Conservative Home.

Kwasi Kwarteng put the supply line crisis, flashing amber and red in different sectors in the briefings for minister, down to a "transition" as the UK "rejects a low-wage high immigration economic model".

He goes on: "You're quite right to say people are resisting that, particularly employers that were benefiting from an influx of labour that could keep wages low," in remarks that will leave many industry associations reeling.

And what if the shortages cause disruption? "All you can do, other than take various emergency measures, is tough it out," said Mr Kwarteng.

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Faced with a crisis, this prime minister loves nothing more than to try and "tough it out", so expect little backing down at conference, but if Christmas retail is disrupted in the way some predict, it could still be a choppy autumn for the Conservatives. But first he wants to use the extraordinary platform which Manchester affords.

The prime minister is entering Tory conference in as strong a position as any Conservative leader since David Cameron in October 2015. The Conservatives are eight percentage points of Labour in YouGov's latest poll. The party enjoys huge leads in everyone over 50, with three times as many over-65s voting Tory as Labour. Almost nobody who voted Tory in 2019 says they will vote Labour now (at 2% this figure is within the margin of error of zero) with four times as many voters deserting to Richard Tice's right-wing Reform party.

That does not mean that Mr Johnson is in an unassailable position. Slowly Sir Keir's ratings have been catching up with Mr Johnson's in the YouGov tracker. Some 52% said they disapprove of the government compared to 26% approving. It would not take much volatility for 'red wall' MPs, elected because Labour got the worst defeat since 1935 in the 2019 general election, to start to wobble. Politics can spiral.

This is not happening yet, and almost certainly will not happen in the confines of the Manchester Conference Centre. Tory MPs I've spoken are asking little more than that the prime minister empathises with cost of living pressures in his speech. Mr Johnson's reshuffle confirmed he rules his party now, beholden to no one, hearing little meaningful dissent and happy to promote potential future rivals who can all compete to succeed.

So expect Manchester to be an Instagram beauty pageant, of Rishi Sunak's diffident one-liners pitted against Liz Truss intoning to the ideologically faithful, all beautifully presented in picture form. Try and spot the work being put into the brands of people who consider themselves contenders to the Johnson throne while also waiting for Michael Gove to hit the dancefloor again.

With the lobbyists cooing compliments and the faithful cheering, the Tory party conference is a long way from the real world. Mr Johnson will want to enjoy it.

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Tory party conference: PM will try to turn a troublesome backdrop to his advantage - Sky News

The Andalusia Star-News is proud to announce the winners of the 2021 Readers Choice contest.

The contest began in June with a new digital format that greatly increased public involvement. The first phase of the contest provided readers to nominate their favorites in a variety of categories. The top nominees were then entered into a digital ballot where the public voted between the nominees to determine winners in each category. The voting phase began August 2 and concluded on August 21.

The new digital format led to 2,042 nominations and a total of 36,590 votes, which are huge increases from the previous print version of the contest.

All of us at the Star-News are excited about the level of participation in this years Readers Choice Awards. The digital format opened the door to greater involvement and input from the community. There was a learning curve for our staff as we worked through the process and we already have ideas to improve next years contest. We want to thank everyone who participated and congratulate this years winners, said Star-News Publisher Robert Blankenship

This years winners are:

Dining

All Around Restaurant

Winner: Golden Rule BBQ & Grill

Runner-Up: Big Mikes Steakhouse

Bakery

Winner: Cakes by Butta

Runner-Up: Deans Cake House

BBQ

Winner: Golden Rule BBQ & Grill

Runner-Up: Crows Nest

Biscuits

Winner: Hardees

Runner-Up: Harts Country Store

Breakfast

Winner: Huddle House

Runner-Up: Halls Country Store

Buffet

Winner: Tabby Ds

Runner-Up: Happy Kitchen

Burger

Winner: Golden Rule BBQ & Grill

Runner-Up: Big Mikes Steakhouse

Carry Out/Take Out

Winner: Golden Rule BBQ & Grill

Runner-Up: Firehouse Subs

Caterer

Winner: Golden Rule BBQ & Grill

Runner-Up: Wing Queen Palace

Chicken Wings

Winner: Wing Queen Palace

Runner-Up: Golden Rule BBQ & Grill

Coffee

Winner: Bluebird Coffee Co.

Runner-Up: Java Time

Country Cooking

Winner: Tabby Ds

Runner-Up: Golden Rule BBQ & Grill

Dessert

Winner: Golden Rule BBQ & Grill

Runner-Up: Tabby Ds

Ethnic Dining

Winner: Samurai Japanese Steakhouse

Runner-Up: Ophelias Italian Restaurant

Ice Cream

Winner: Dairy Queen Grill & Chill

Runner-Up: Sonic Drive-In

Iced Tea

Winner: Davids Catfish (tie)

Winner: Golden Rule BBQ & Grill (tie)

Runner-Up: Tabby Ds

Mexican Restaurant

Winner: Rancho Grande Grill

Runner-Up: Amor & Tacos

Pizza

Winner: Little Caesars

Runner-Up: Pizza Hut

Ribs

Winner: Golden Rule BBQ & Grill

Runner-Up: Crows Nest

Sandwich Shop

Winner: Steamboat

Runner-Up: Firehouse Subs

Seafood

Winner: Hilltop

Runner-Up: Davids Catfish House

Steaks

Winner: Big Mikes Steakhouse

Runner-Up: Golden Rule BBQ & Grill

Health & Wellness

Audiologist

Winner: Beltone Hearing Care

Runner-Up: Miracle Ear

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Readers' Choice 2021 winners announced - The Andalusia Star-News - Andalusia Star-News

I want you to imagine the following scenario:

You wake up, the sun is still rising and theres that eerie silence outside of a city thats still mostly asleep. Youre exhausted and full of regret for not going to bed earlier. Sluggishly, you dread what you know will be hours wasted of your day standing in obnoxiously long lines. Maybe it wont be that bad this time, you think to yourself.

You arrive at your destination to a sight of lines stretched for what seem to be miles. After choosing which line seems to be the shortest, you wait for hours to be met by snarky workers who make the oh-so-pleasant experience you just had even more enjoyable. Hastily, you get what you came for and get out as soon as possible.

Where did your imagination take you? Plausible answers would be getting something at the Department of Motor Vehicles, voting in a presidential election or getting the newest iPhone the day it comes out. Unfortunately for Aggies, all those answers are incorrect. The scene I set was getting a student ticket for a Texas A&M football game.

Ive experienced this too many times, and my hours of waiting in line have left me plenty of time to think about the whole process. The conclusion I have come to is that the ticket pulling process the 12th Man Foundation has created is outdated, unnecessary and needs to go.

To get a student ticket for a football game at Texas A&M, you need a couple of things: to be a registered student at A&M, a sports pass and common sense. Unfortunately, the last point is one a lot of my peers are missing.

Ticket pulling is divided into separate days based on classification. If youre a senior or graduate student, you get priority and are the first to pull on Mondays. Juniors pull on Tuesdays, sophomores on Wednesdays and freshmen on Thursdays. There is a way to pull on other days, though. This is what I like to refer to as the golden rule of ticket pulling and where common sense is thrown out the window. Its the one-to-one ratio rule.

If you are a senior, you can pull for anyone in a grade below you; however, you must have one senior sports pass per underclassman sports pass. So, if you had four senior passes and four junior passes, everyone would be good to go. If you had four senior passes and five junior passes, one of those juniors is out of luck and wont be getting a ticket for that game.

Time and time again, this has led to backed up lines and what little efficiency the whole process had being thrown out the window. There is a solution that avoids the confusion of this process and leads to no long lines, though.

We live in the age of the internet, and its time the 12th Man Foundation and A&M incorporate student tickets into this age. This university needs to move to online ticket pulling.

I know, Ive upset some of the Old Ags which is nothing new anyway but hear me out!

First and foremost, this is not an uncommon practice. Clemson University, for example, utilizes an online system much like many other universities. Some schools have even simpler methods, such as the University of Mississippi, who just use their student IDs on game day to walk right into the stadium. As long as they have paid for their student ticket, theyre good to go.

Some of you may be thinking that an online system would lead to a crash, considering the massive student population we have, and thats a legitimate concern. However, it should be kept in mind that the entire university went online for almost a full year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, thousands of students register for classes at the same time every single semester. Frankly, I find it hard to believe the university could not move the process online.

And yes, everything would need to stay the same regarding classification and pull days, seniors would still pull on Mondays and so on and so forth; it would just be done online. Youd get your spot, have the tickets downloaded on your phone and show up ready to cheer on the Aggies on gameday.

The only thing that would change is waiting in long lines stretching from the ticket box to the Memorial Student Center and dealing with snarky student workers. I dont know about yall, but that sounds like a win in my book.

Sam Somogye is a political science senior and columnist for The Battalion.

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Student ticket pulling needs to go | Opinion | thebatt.com - Texas A&M The Battalion

Its been a fretful week here. My wife tested positive for COVID last Friday. This is a breakthrough case were all fully vaccinated, and both younger daughter and I have tested negative (twice) since then.

The vixen hasnt had any severe symptoms, shes just been wiped out, sleeping 12-16 hours a day. Were hoping that her sort of hibernating through this will turn out to be our story, feeling grateful (to Providence and Moderna) if this is the worst of it. But were also all a bit on edge, hyper-self-conscious of any slight hint of anything potentially symptom-like. Ive stocked up on chicken soup and ginger ale and Gatorade and cranberry juice and all of the other things one buys when someones sick, but doing that in the context of all those white flags on the National Mall seems inadequate and surreal.

The fact that were all vaccinated makes this a hugely different situation than it would have been if this had happened last autumn. Thats undeniable. But its still weird how impatiently blas our employers are now compared to how responsive and responsible they both were a year ago.

Most of the pandemic-necessary HR measures the Big Box and the salon had in place have already ended even though the pandemic itself has not. Thus I was briefly sent home to get tested, but then was right back to work in the (crowded) store the next day after testing negative. I was encouraged to get the home-test kits (at my own expense at $12 a pop) and to test myself regularly on the honor system I guess? until our household is back in the clear. But thats it.

So the pandemic is still happening, and the Box still has rules in place to bar potentially infectious employees from working, but the supports once provided to enable those workers not to work are no longer in place. The Box doesnt seem to be dealing with the fact that its hourly employees may, once again, be financially constrained to come to work while sick. The same is true for the salon. The vixen is, of course, forbidden to return to work until one week after shes back to testing negative, but the only support shes getting now was some guidance on how to file for unemployment until then.

One gets the sense that part of the reason the pandemic will never end is that so many employers are acting like it already has ended. Thats distressing and a bit infuriating.

Given that theres another cresting wave of the Is empathy a sin? and I feel like my agenda is threatened by the idea of empathy so I must condemn it nonsense at the moment, heres a flashback from two years ago:

I went back into the archives searching for when the traditional virtue of empathy the bedrock of the Golden Rule became a partisan punching bag. Id thought this weird and explicitly sociopathic argument traced back to President Barack Obamas description of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor as someone possessing the heretofore unambiguously positive and admirable quality of empathy as the breaking point for Republicans (if Obama praised anything, they imagined they had to condemn it). But I find that Fox News and other partisan Republican outlets have been raging against empathy since the early 2000s.

Opposition to empathy is genuinely one of the most disturbing, morally imbecilic talking points to emerge from Americas white right-wing cesspools. Its literally an attack on the Golden Rule itself, an assertion that we have no obligation to do unto others as we would have them do unto us.

So what makes anyone listen to such a vile attack, nodding their head in agreement? Partly, I suppose, its just the habit of playing ones assigned role. Fox et. al. says jump and you say How high? Partly I suspect its due to some weird idea about empathy being a form of weakness. And partly due to the fear of retribution that any thought of empathy is bound to conjure up for people who know that they would seek such retribution if their situations were reversed.

But reading the hideous posts from those CBP agents, and hearing from pro-Trump Camp protesters egged on in support of their hateful cruelty, Ive also begun to suspect that many people oppose and condemn empathy because they dont understand it and therefore dont believe it exists. They have trained themselves never to think of others in such a way and so theyre bewildered when normal people claim to do so. If I dont care, at all, about the plight of children in cages, then I cannot believe what others say when they claim to care about those kids. I will think theyre faking it for some weird liberal reason. And so I will mock their tears, just as I mocked Obamas tears after Sandy Hook, because I desperately need to believe those tears are fake.

Rejecting my own humanity, I will be forced to deny others as well, lest I be forced to come to terms with my own inhumanity. Or something like that. I dunno. Im trying to empathize with people who deny, reject, and oppose empathy. But its tough.

The Indigo Girls lyrics in the title of this post could be read as a sardonic version of the Big Boxs prematurely post-pandemic policies for its workforce, but thats not what I was thinking there.

Today is Jimmy Carters 97th birthday and this song reminds me of him (because Emily and Amy are also from Georgia, and so is Habitat for Humanity). Heres the video, which reminds us that 1990-91 were still part of the long 80s.

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Gotta get out of bed, get a hammer and a nail - Patheos

For more than 50 years the James Bond franchise has dazzled cinemagoers with its suave spies, atomic action and glorious gadgetry. But theres perhaps more riding on No Time To Die, the latest entry in the series, than any Bond film before it.

Delayed several times because of the ongoing pandemic, fans are hoping Daniel Craigs last outing as 007 will see his serialised take on the character go out on a high particularly at a time when the future of the character is being debated.

For director Cary Joji Fukunaga, these pressures were secondary to that golden rule of film making shoot the best movie you possibly can.

I want for the diehard Bond fans to feel like they got everything they hoped for out of the film, and then to also have them completely surprised by the new things they learn about Bond through the experience, says Fukunaga, speaking with TechRadar.

A franchise with as much cultural cache as Bond always has lots of resources thrown at it, and Fukunaga and his team took advantage of every tool given to them. As such, its the first Bond film to hit cinemas with the Dolby double-whammy in tow No Time to Die can be seen in select cinemas with both Dolby Atmos spatial surround sound and the Dolby Vision HDR imaging technology.

"I've always had just a huge respect for sound."

Dolby Atmos sound was pretty fun to mix, says Fukanaga, whose previous credits include Beasts of No Nation and the outstanding HBO drama True Detective.

I love being on a mix stage my very first experience in the film world was on a mix stage. I got the opportunity, when I was in college, to sit in on a final sound mix with Anthony Minghella on The Talented Mr. Ripley, and with Walter Murch, the editor and sound designer who worked with [Francis] Coppola. So my appreciation of the sound mix goes back to my very first professional experience during the final sound mix on Talented Mr. Ripley. Just to watch the intricacies of sound and just the details, whether it's the foley or the dialogue or whatever is being mixed in, plus the atmosphere, plus the score, and seeing the effect of that I've always had just a huge respect for sound.

Fukanaga has always had an ear for innovation when it comes to sound design in his films an early film school project (to later become the directors first major picture) could have benefited hugely from the dynamic movement Dolby Atmoss object based audio movement would have afforded.

"Anything that heightens the immersive experience of the audience...that's what I'm aiming for.

I had a video teacher in high school that always said, an audience will forgive bad picture, but will never forgive bad sound, the director recalls.

So, you know, I've always felt that was an important aspect to anything I made. Even at film school there are projects that I made that were driven more by sound than by picture. My big second year project, which ended up leading to my first film Sin Nombre, which is about a group of immigrants that were trapped in a refrigerated trailer in the dark I wanted to do it completely in the dark, and just do a complete sound experience, with three dimensional sound for the audience. But my professors wouldn't allow me to do that, so I had to shoot some image of some kind, and it kind of shifted the structure of the story. But that was the aim.

With Bond in Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision, anything that heightens the immersive experience of the audience, that transports them in a way, when that low bass kicks and just kind of shakes their guts. That's what I'm aiming for.

And what an experience it is in Dolby Cinema. TechRadar were lucky enough to see the film at an Atmos / Vision presentation at the Odeon Luxe cinema in Leicester Square, London, the UK's new flagship home of Dolby Cinema. It makes an already lavish production even more jaw dropping from the muzzle flash of gunfire in a darkened secret lair to the blinding whites of a frozen, snowy lake, Dolby Vision's HDR output leads to a crisp and detailed image unlike any other you're likely to see in lesser cinemas. Likewise, Dolby Atmos's overhead surround sound roars in No Time to Die, whether Bond's racing through European streets in his iconic Aston Martin, or evading the sights of a menacing helicopter in the sky.

But no technology is a silver bullet to a successful on-screen result. Careful daily work and edits, paired with the enduring magic of shooting on analogue film, has been important to ensuring No Time to Die retains the visual magic fans of the spy have come to expect.

"This may be one of the more beautiful films I've ever worked on.

We had the same dailies color grader, as we did in the final color grade, explains Fukunaga.

I think it's really essential because you need that continuity, you need the looks that you're exploring in the camera test, and then once you're shooting, to reflect what's in the final image, especially in the edit. Just having in the edit dailies, beautiful dailies really that were very close to what ended up being the final picture, meant that when we were finally looking at the final picture, it was pretty interesting to see that the changes we did make we're pretty subtle.

You know, [director of photography] Linus Sandgren is not the kind of guy that uses a ton of power windows and stuff to shape a final image. Part of that is due to the fact that we shot on film I still believe originating on film is still the most beautiful way to create a final product image. So, the digital tools that we use after are just able to take all that beautiful grain, and the information that's inside that grain, and further that into this glossy beautiful thing.

Though many months have passed since No Time to Dies initial release date, the actual final film has been locked in for some time. There was no tweaking after COVID lockdown, so what we turned in at the beginning of March is what we're all going to be watching in cinemas this week, reveals the director.

But that painstaking work early in the production has paid dividends in Fukanagas eyes this may be the best looking, and best sounding, Bond film, ever.

I think that the mix is pretty incredible, praises Fukanaga.

Paul [Massey, re-recording mixer] and Oliver [Tarney, supervising sound editor] and everyone did an amazing job with that. And then on a picture level shooting on 35mm and then 5-perf 70mm and 15-perf have provided an amazing base medium to create a gorgeous final image I'm very happy with.

This may be, you know, one of the more beautiful films I've ever worked on, so you know I'm hoping that Bond fans will also feel that cinematically it's one of the most beautiful Bond films.

No Time to Die is in international cinemas now, and will land in US theaters on Friday, October 8. Itll be available in Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos screenings at theatres with Dolby Cinema technology across the globe.

Continued here:

No Time to Die is one of the most beautiful Bond films says director Cary Joji Fukunaga - TechRadar

WATCH: Previewing the Texas-TCU matchup

On Thursday's Longhorn Confidential, we breakdown the Texas-TCU matchup and discuss coach Steve Sarkisian's laser-like focus on the Horned Frogs.

Hookem

American-Statesman columnists Kirk Bohls and Cedric Golden weigh in on 10 topics of interest from this week's college football slate of games:

1. Will TCU's recent domination of Texas continue?

Bohls:Absolutely not. Steve Sarkisian wasnt here for those recent Horned Frogs beatdowns, and this isnt the same TCU team that has gotten its way with Texas. Sure, Gary Pattersons bunch was looking ahead, but a decent but hardly great SMU ran all over his defense, and so should the Longhorns in a 38-21 romp.

Golden: Much has been made of TCU having won seven of the last nine meetings, but the Longhorns are on a different level of focus in Sarkisians first year. The much maligned offensive line has a great day on the road and Bijan Robinson runs wild in a 34-24 win.

2. Is Casey Thompson the Big 12's best quarterback right now?

Bohls:At this point, I would say yes, even with such a small sample size of only two starts. No ones playing any better than the Texas junior, unless someone wants to put Baylors Gerry Bohanon a touch above him with a 73% accuracy rate thats eighth in the nation and a win over Iowa State, but those two have been far and away the cream of this crop.

Golden: For me, he is. Oklahomas Spencer Rattler and Iowa States Brock Purdyhave struggled at times but Thompson has been the most consistent of the Big 12 signal callers. Hes producing in efficient fashion with 10 touchdowns, only two interceptions and a passer rating of 207.15 which would rank No. 2 in the country behind Coastal Carolinas Grayson McCall if Thompson had enough passing attempts.

Texas football:Bohls: Texas quarterback Casey Thompson says coaching a possibility after football ends

3. Will new kid on the block Arkansas upset Georgia?

Bohls:Uh, the Hogs meet reality. I picked Arkansas to beat Texas and Texas A&M, but this Georgia defense is a different animal altogether, allowing just 69.5 yards a game on the ground. Kirby Smart will force K.J. Jefferson to try to beat Georgia through the air, and that wont happen hes completing just 58% of his throws.I've got Georgia winning big at 34-14.

Golden: The Hogs are one of the best feel-good stories in all of college football behind good guy head coach Sam Pittman, but my preseason national championship pick Bulldogs are too talented on both sides of the ball to get caught slipping. Georgia wins going away42-21.

4. Will Ole Miss' Lane Kiffin become the first Saban assistant to beat his old boss?

Bohls:Is this a joke?Saban assistants dont beat the master. It just doesnt happen. Now, the Rebels are vastly improved, averaging about 300 yards or more rushing and passing and have had just two turnovers, but is that more a product of weak opponents or Ole Miss strength and Matt Corral prowess? Alabama will take down the feisty Rebels 48-35.

Golden: Alabama hasnt been this vulnerable in quite some time, and fans remember last seasons 63-48 shootout at Vaught-Hemingway, but Ole Miss wont come close this time. Roll Tide by three touchdowns.

Texas football:Plenty of points, and plenty of reasons why Texas offense looks like well-oiled machine

5. Does Cincinnati have to beat Notre Dame to have any shot at a College Football Playoff spot?

Bohls:It absolutely must and will. Luke Fickells team has this last great opportunity to audition for the CFP selection committee. No other team left on its schedule moves the needle with no ranked team left to play, unless SMU jumps into the Top 25. The Bearcats have forced eight turnovers in the last two games alone and know whats in front of them, and they will upset an overrated Irish team 27-24.

Golden: Abso-freakin-lutely. Notre Dame moved up to No. 9 in the Associated Press Top 25 and No. 10 in the coaches' poll. Can you say signature win? Its what Cincy needs to harbor any hopes of getting into the CFP. An impressive win over the Irish would be a huge checked box.

6. Pick a Top 25 upset.

Bohls:Maryland might be the surprise team of college football and will knock off No. 5 Iowa. The Terps (4-0) are riding high behind the passing tandem of Taulia Tagovailoa (No. 7 nationally with 294 passing yards a game) and receiver Dontay Demus Jr. (leads the Big Ten) but also a defense paced by lineman Sam Okuayinonu that has 16 sacks.

Golden: No. 14 Michigan's defense has given up only 47 points all season, but Wisconsin rallies late at home for a 27-24 win.

7. What team outside the Top 25 will be ranked Sunday?

Bohls:Take your pick between Texas and Maryland. Theyll both crack the Top 25 after wins Saturday.

Golden: The Longhorns have been knocking on that door for a while, and they'll bust through after the TCU win.

Texas football:In Red Raiders rout, Texas Longhorns pulled a sack out of PeteKwiatkowski's 'old bag of tricks'

8. Rate the Power Five conferences in order.

Bohls: The SEC remains the king with the best two teams in the country, while every other league is a pauper in comparison. Id put the Big Ten at No. 2 with strength from Penn State, Iowa, Michigan and eventually Ohio State. In truth, the other three might all be tied for last, but Ill award No. 3 to the Pac-12 because its best team (Oregon) beat the Big Tens best (Ohio State, maybe) with the Big 12 fourth and the pitiful ACC fifth. The ACC has three ranked teams, all 23rd or below, and Clemson is no longer Clemson.

Golden: 1. SEC. 2. Big Ten. 3. Big 12. 4. ACC. 5. Pac-12.

9. Who's the most underrated college coach in America?

Bohls:I love offensive-minded Dave Clawsen at Wake Forest. Hes a great developer of talent and gets very little credit, but his teams are well-coached, are disciplined and playhard. After him, Id offer up SMUs Sonny Dykes, who came very close to getting the Texas job before the money men intervened.

Golden: Clawson often gets overlooked because he coaches in the ACC with men like Dabo Swinney and Mack Brown,but he has quietly led Wake Forest to four winning seasons over the past five years, with the lone blip coming in the pandemic-plagued 2020 season. Wake is 4-0 and surging with a 2-0 start in the ACC.

10. Has the targeting rule worked?

Bohls:Yes, to an extent. But it should be modified. The rule has worked beautifully to make coaches and players more safety-conscious, but it remains the most punitive rule on the books with absurd ejections, often of a defenses best player. Ive always preached to make it a cumulative penalty with three such flags forcing a defender to miss the rest of that game and the next one. Immediate ejection is too harsh and can sway the outcome of a game, and no rule should have that big of an impact.

Golden: To a point. Players have been more careful about helmet-to-helmet contact and blowing up defenseless receivers across the middle, but having those who are whistled get thrownout of the game or, worse yet, making them sit for the first half of the next game is just too punitive. A 30-yard penalty for targeting and disqualification after a second infraction in the same game makes more sense.

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Bohls, Golden: Is Texas about to turn the tables on TCU's recent control of the rivalry? - Hookem.com

There are few things more stressful than owning livestock while knowing available feed and water may run out over a prairie winter.

Drought hurts grain producers pocketbooks but when feed is in short supply or of poor quality, its about more than money for stock growers.

Insurance, risk management tools, bank loans and a few dollars diverted from that account you hoped youd leave for the kids might pull you through the toughest times on the farm. Dreams can be delayed but chore time comes every day.

Herds are developed over years of selection and care, so its much more than a business decision to reduce stock when resources run out. Worse, avoiding the hard choices means short-rationing the herd, feeding straw and pricey proteins.

When the cold calls for calories, its no place producers want to find themselves or their animals. No day is colder than when the snow blows through an empty feedyard.

Most droughts are regional and short-lived. This one was widespread and lasted through the forage growing season.

It was so large that the American treasury was enlisted to help U.S. ranchers snatch up forages in Canada. The U.S. government is paying 60 to 90 percent of US$6.60 per mile for shipping hay distances of up to 1,000 miles. Last week the program was extended from Idaho to Wisconsin. American producers are paying $250 to $300 per ton for hay, competing with Canadian ranchers for short supplies.

Late autumn rains failed to wash away the droughts damage to pastures for many Canadian producers. With only a few months of feed on hand, at best, they face critical culling before freeze-up.

Now some livestock producers are seeing a bit of hope on the highways horizon. Its coming in the form of eastern Canadian hay.

The amounts provided might not be enough to carry all the cows until spring grass sprouts but loads of hay from Eastern Canada are arriving in the West. Tandem programs, both called Hay West, are shifting forages from Central Canada to the Prairies at more affordable prices.

The generosity of eastern farmers and transport companies echoes that of western farmers who shipped hay eastward in another troublesome year, 2012, and of eastern farmers who shared hay with the West in 2002.

In all those cases, farmers gave a hand to their neighbours 3,000 kilometres up the road. While federal politics this month highlighted divisions within this country, farmers showed the shared concerns and generosity possible within the agricultural community. They can and do pay it forward when times are tough.

The Canadian Federation of Agricultures Hay West program finds surplus forage in Central Canada and puts it on west-bound trucks. The feed is available for 10 cents per pound, with costs underwritten by the federal government.

The other Hay West program is organized by the Mennonite Disaster Service. Its strong ties to agricultural producers make it well-positioned to provide affordable forage. They plan for 50 truckloads.

Neither program is large enough to replace what has been or will be lost from 2021s dry times, but it will make some producers decisions easier. Both Hay West programs lighten the burdens of feeling isolated or alone when the snow blows through the feedyard.

And it might hydrate a few eyes in the men and women who stand at the end of long, dusty lanes when the hay-bearing trucks arrive.

Karen Briere, Bruce Dyck, Barb Glen and Mike Raine collaborate in the writing of Western Producer editorials.

For more content related to drought management visit The Dry Times, where you can find a collection of stories from our family of publications as well as links to external resources to support your decisions through these difficult times.

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Force of the Golden Rule appears through Hay West - Western Producer

Rudy Coggins

School days.

School days.

Dear old golden rule days.

Readin and ritin and rithmetic.

Taught to the tune of a hickory stick.

Those catchy lyrics why I dont know danced through my brain while browsing through old editions of the Tribune at Wayne County Public Library.

It certainly sparked a walk down Nostalgia Lane.

Back in the day, we didnt have the block system in school.

We studied the same subjects, in a seven-period day, for the entire year. Although retention of the material escaped me on occasion, the method of how it was taught is certainly different than today, too.

Im not saying it doesnt happen now, but teachers then worked diligently to make sure we understood what we were being taught. There was no race to complete the material in record time in hopes that students were prepared for what are now EOGs (end of grade) or EOCs (end of course) testing.

I had one teacher, in both middle and high school, who taught biology. She had two chalkboards full of information presented in outline form. It was an effective way to teach material and believe me, it was a great study guide for her tests and final exams.

During the elementary years, teachers allotted time for homework during class. We learned about study halls when we reached high-school age.

Many a morning I did last-minute homework or studied for a test while woofing down a bowl of cereal at breakfast. I did the same thing while riding the activity bus either to and/or from an away game.

To be truthful, the best times were my elementary years.

Each year, mom and I searched for the ultimate lunch box. I can remember carrying the Lone Ranger, some super hero or Scooby-Doo to school each day. I couldnt wait to pop it open, gobble down my sandwich and chips and drink from a plastic thermos.

Im sure many of you remember those.

Usually, the thermos contained sweet tea. Sometimes the ice melted, sometimes it didnt.

They werent very big, so if mom added a lot of ice, there was little tea to drink.

Then again, Im sure my teachers didnt mind. The lack of a huge sugar rush prevented me from bouncing off the walls like a ping-pong ball during the afternoon.

As a kid at heart, I scan Amazon to see if vintage lunch boxes still exist. Ive found Pac-Man, Snoopy, Star Wars, Rosie the Riveter, Aquarius and Batman. But no Superman, no Superfriends and no Wonder Woman.

Now we have insulated lunch bags.

Im not a fan of them.

Id rather carry a tin lunch box ANY day. It draws attention and brings back some awesome memories.

At least it does for me.

Rudy Coggins is assistant editor of the Mount Olive Tribune. He can be reached at rcoggins@mountolivetribune.com.

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Catchy lyrics and lunch boxes - Mount Olive Tribune