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Elon Musk Challenges Putin ‘Single War’ Against Ukraine

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Elon Musk sends Starlink broadband technology to Ukraine after Russian airstrikes, cyber attacks compromise Internet access.

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and founder of SpaceX, wrote to his 77.7 million Twitter followers on Monday that he was challenging Russian President Vladimir Putin to wage a single war and bet on Ukraine.

The tweet provoked an almost immediate reaction from Roscosmos, the head of the Russian space agency, who has been at war with Musk in the past.

“You, little devil, are still young,” wrote Dmitry Rogzin, director general of Roscosmos since 2018. “Compete with me weakly; it will only be a waste of time. Get over my brother first.”

Rogozin then Russian poet A.S. Pushkin quotes the 17th fairy tale, entitled “The Priest’s Story and His Workman Balda.” The story is about a lazy Russian orthodox priest who chooses a common man as a cheap laborer, who in the end surpasses his master and in the end drives him crazy.

Elon Musk warns Russian airstrikes could target Ukraine’s Starlink satellite.

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Mikhail Fedorov shouted: “I’m sure that Elon Musk can send Putin to Jupiter.”

Fedorov has been raising funds for weeks to launch Putin into space, saying the proceeds could go to repair damaged Ukrainian infrastructure.

Starlink_Mission

The fourth round of talks between Russian and Ukrainian dignitaries has been under way since Monday, when Putin first launched an invasion of Ukraine on February 24.

Since the beginning of the war, Musk has been sending shipments to the SpaceX Starlink terminal, which Ukraine faced in the face of Russian shelling and cyber-attacks to reduce Internet disruptions.

A historic turning point in the war after the advent of social media, it was Fedorov who first tweeted Musk on February 26, writing, “When you try to colonize Mars – Russia tries to occupy Ukraine … when your rocket successfully lands from space. – Russian rockets attack Ukrainian citizens! We ask you to provide Ukraine with Starlink station and call on intelligent Russians to stand up. ”

Musk calmly responded that the Sterlink service was now active in Ukraine and was on its way to more terminals.

Amid concerns that in Russian controlled airspace, the “uplink” transmissions could be used as beacons for Russian airstrikes, Musk warned Ukrainian users to place antennas as far away from people as possible and to cover them with light camouflage. Fedorov thanked Starlink for keeping cities connected but also warned generators were needed as Russian shelling was destroying infrastructure. Musk said he was working to update the software to reduce peak power consumption, ideally so terminals could be powered with cigarette lighters.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked Musk for “supporting Ukraine in word and deed” and said he would receive another batch of Starlink systems for the destroyed cities this week.

According to its website, Starlink uses advanced satellite in a low orbit to enable video calls, online gaming, streaming and other high data that has not historically been possible via satellite internet. In a public speech shared in the Telegram, Rogzin condemned the installation of “civilian” technology before the mask during a military confrontation in an attempt to disrupt Russian interests in Ukraine.

Earlier this month, Rogzin told Russian state-run media that Moscow would no longer supply rocket engines to the United States after President Biden’s economic sanctions in the Ukraine war.

“Under such circumstances, we cannot supply the United States with the best rocket engine in the world,” he said, according to Reuters. “Let them fly in something else, their broom. I don’t know what.”

Last Wednesday, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 launched 48 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. In the launch video, an unnamed launch director is heard announcing, “It’s time to let the American broom fly and hear the sound of freedom.”

 

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The Braves Are Going to Miss Freddie Freeman

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Freddie Freeman is an Canadian-American professional baseball first baseman in Major League Baseball who is a free agent. Professionally, Freeman has played exclusively for the Atlanta Braves. He made his MLB debut in 2010 and is a five-time MLB All-Star.

Fifteen years with Brave, the last four as a top 10 MVP finisher, Freddie Freeman seems to be more valuable to the Dodgers than his only known team. This is understandable when the aging curve guides teams more than the hello effect of signing, developing and keeping a franchise player.

Atlanta was seen moving away from Freeman, 32, on Monday when it sent four young players to Oakland to get first baseman Matt Olson, who is four years younger (and two years away from his own free agency). Olson is capable of replacing Freeman. But he is not a Freeman.

Freddie Freeman Rumors: Monday

Maybe there’s a grand plan to keep Olson and Freeman, but no such signs from Braves. Last year Freeman told friends that if the Braves came up with a deal offer, he was ready to go back to his roots in Southern California. Atlanta cried out for the opportunity to lock up Freeman during the season and after the 2021 World Series title. They offered 135 million to Freeman over five years, which basically took the Paul Goldsmith contract (five years, $ 130 million) and added $ 1 million a year.

From an accounting standpoint, this can make sense. Instead of estimating the risk of Braves Freeman’s career loss, Olson is taking two major years (the cost of trading players combined) – which is not yet clear.

Freeman soon will become the seventh first basemen to sign for an average annual value of $23 million or more. The previous six were Miguel Cabrera, Goldschmidt, Ryan Howard, Albert Pujols, Prince Fielder and Chris Davis. All signed for at least five years and through at least age 36.

How did those deals turn out? Not good. In 39 seasons under those contracts (not including two years left for Cabrera and Goldschmidt), those players returned only 12 qualified seasons of average or better offense (OPS+ of at least 100), with three of those 12 seasons coming from Goldschmidt in his three years with St. Louis. Legacies die hard, especially first basemen because of their general limited athleticism.

In rebuild mode, Oakland did well to focus on middle-of-the-field young talent, but the cost was not especially high for Atlanta to get Olson. Outfielder Cristian Pache is a wonderful Gold Glove caliber center fielder who may or may not hit. Catcher Shea Langeliers already is 24 with only 151 career pro games (in part because of COVID, which canceled the 2020 minor-league season; trading prospects of the COVID generation is a case study in the making). Young pitchers Ryan Cusack and Joey Estes have the quality fastballs that the A’s can dream on.

Olson has terrific power, is a fine defender, grew up in Georgia and has been a team leader since the minors. Braves fans will be happy with Olson.

But here is when they will miss Freeman: when there is a runner at second or third base and Freeman isn’t there to get him in. Freeman has an awkward hitting stroke that some wonder how it will hold up as he ages. But Freeman has such good hands and a quick path to the ball that despite its lack of beauty the swing is built for the long haul.

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The 1980’s Oscar’s Winning William Hurt Dies At 71

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William Hurt, who became a hot Hollywood commodity with his performance as a hapless lawyer in “Body Heat” in 1981 and within a few years had won the best-actor Oscar for the 1985 film “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” in which he portrayed a gay man sharing a Brazilian prison cell with a revolutionary, died at his home in Portland, Oregon, on Sunday. He was 71.

Hurt, tall, blond and speaking in a measured cadence that lent a cerebral quality to his characters, was a leading man in some of the most popular films of the 1980s, including “The Big Chill” (1983), “Children of a Lesser God” (1986), “Broadcast News” (1987) and “The Accidental Tourist” (1988).

“Children of a Lesser God” and “Broadcast News” earned him best-actor Oscar nominations as well, meaning he had the heady distinction of being nominated for that award in three consecutive years.

William Hurt

In later years, Hurt transitioned from leading man to supporting roles; he was nominated for another Academy Award, as best supporting actor, for “A History of Violence” (2005).

Janet Maslin wrote in The New York Times in 1985 of the “brilliant achievement” of Hurt and his co-star, Raul Julia, in “Kiss of the Spider Woman.”

“Hurt won a well-deserved best actor award at the Cannes Film Festival for a performance that is crafty at first, carefully nurtured and finally stirring in profound, unanticipated ways,” she wrote. “What starts out as a campy, facetious catalog of Hollywood trivia becomes an extraordinarily moving film about manhood, heroism and love.”

Before he broke into films, Hurt was an in-demand stage actor, working frequently at Circle Repertory in New York, among other theaters. In 1985 he was nominated for a Tony Award for best featured actor in a play for his work in “Hurlyburly,” a David Rabe play directed by Mike Nichols with a loaded cast that included Cynthia Nixon, Sigourney Weaver, Harvey Keitel and Jerry Stiller.

Despite Hurt’s successes as a leading man in Hollywood, he told the Times in 1990 that “theatre is a language I speak better or am more tuned into than English.”

“Even one moment onstage is a glacier of comprehension,” he added. “That’s where the work is. And it’s as fascinating to study as any other science.”

But his screen work could be mesmerizing. His acting had an ease to it even as he was creating complex characters. His first major film role was in Ken Russell’s sci-fi thriller “Altered States” in 1980; then, in early 1981, came the crime drama “Eyewitness,” in which he again played opposite Weaver. Later that year he starred in the steamy “Body Heat” with Kathleen Turner.

“Once again, Mr. Hurt establishes himself as an instantly affable screen star, an actor who combines some of Dustin Hoffman’s best qualities with some of Jeff Bridges’s,” Maslin wrote in reviewing that film for the Times. “He seems thoughtful, wry and funny, yet he has a comfortable physical presence, too, and a friendliness that’s uncomplicatedly disarming.”

Later in his career he played roles large and small. In a 2009 interview with the Times, he explained: “I don’t have to be the star, physically. My greatest offering is my concept. It isn’t my face.”

In recent years he had worked more in television, including the FX series “Damages” and the British sci-fi drama “Humans.” He was also in the 2013 television movie “The Challenger Disaster,” which in a 2015 interview prompted The Guardian to ask him if he was interested in space travel.

A son, Alexander Hurt, said the William Hurt died cause was complications of prostate cancer.

“I’m interested in all horizons and what’s on the other side of them,” he said. “We know less about the ocean than we do about space. I like to swim, float and fly.”

William McChord Hurt was born March 20, 1950, in Washington, the son of Alfred Hurt, a career diplomat, and Claire Isabel (McGill) Hurt, who worked at Time Inc. When Bill was 6, his parents separated and his mother married Henry Luce III, the son of Time magazine’s founder.

Hurt attended Tufts University and went on to study acting at Juilliard. By the second half of the 1970s he was drawing notice on New York stages, notably appearing in the Lanford Wilson play “Fifth of July” at Circle Rep in 1978. In 1981, Frank Rich, reviewing “Childe Byron” at Circle Rep for the Times, singled him out.

“Maybe William Hurt has now been discovered by Hollywood (‘Altered States,’ ‘Eyewitness’), but he hasn’t lost any of that crazy intensity that makes him a joy to watch in the theater,” Rich’s review began. “What makes this talented actor so special — and, inevitably, a star — is his ability to create his own reality onstage. While he can create a powerful character when he wants to (as he did with Kenneth Talley in the original production of “Fifth of July”), he’s prepared to be fascinating without any help from a playwright.”

If his acting drew raves, Hurt’s personal life was rocky. He had a relationship with his co-star in “Children of a Lesser God,” Marlee Matlin, which she later described as abusive. A long-term relationship with Sandra Jennings, a dancer, landed in court in 1989, with Jennings contending, unsuccessfully, that they were in effect married. His marriages to Mary Beth Hurt and Heidi Henderson ended in divorce.

In addition to his son Alexander, who is from his relationship with Jennings, Hurt is survived by two sons from his marriage to Henderson, Samuel and William Jr.; a daughter from his relationship with Sandrine Bonnaire, Jeanne Bonnaire-Hurt; two brothers, James Hurt and Ken O’Sullivan; and two grandchildren.

Alexander Hurt, an actor, said in a phone interview that what he will remember about his father is “the pride he took in the work he did, and the pride we took — all of my siblings and I — in the work he did.”

“He had a pure spirit,” he added, “and that’s what we’re all going to miss the most, and the way he challenged us all.”

The NCAA 2022 Bracket For The DI Men’s Basketball Tournament

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2022 Bracket NCAA Tournament: Expert picks, bracket analysis, news and more as Gonzaga, Arizona, Kansas, Baylor take top seeds It’s Selection Sunday and the bracket reveal for the 2022 men’s NCAA Tournament just concluded. Gonzaga, Arizona, Kansas and Baylor are the four No. 1 seeds.

Indiana, Notre Dame, Rutgers and Wyoming were the last four teams in, with Dayton, Oklahoma, SMU and Texas A&M as the first four out. The latter four will be on standby, serving as replacement teams in the event that any team has to withdraw due to COVID-19 issue.

2022 NCAA bracket: Printable March Madness bracket .PDF

NCAA bracket 2022: Printable March Madness bracket

The 2022 men’s NCAA Tournament begins on Tuesday and Wednesday in Dayton with First Four games. The first round begins on Thursday and will continue on Friday with 32 games at eight different locations: Buffalo, Greenville, S.C., Milwaukee, San Diego, Portland, Indianapolis, Fort Worth and Pittsburgh. The four regional sites are San Francisco, Chicago, Philadelphia and San Antonio, and the 2022 men’s Final Four will be in New Orleans on April 2 and 4.

On the women’s side, South Carolina, North Carolina State, Stanford and Louisville are the four No. 1 seeds. The women’s tournament will feature 68 teams for the first time ever and begins on March 16.

2022 Bracket Who can be the team to end Coach K’s career

The storybook ending, if you’re a Duke or Coach K fan, to this NCAA Tournament is him winning another national championship, riding off into the sunset from New Orleans with another net in his collection.

But what if it ends before that? Who could be the team to end Coach K’s career? Our Brendan Quinn has some thoughts.

2022 NCAA Tournament: Seth Davis picks his entire March Madness bracket

The guessing is over. Let the guessing begin!

There is so much information out there and so many bracketologists and bracket watchers (none better than our own Brian Bennett of course) that it’s getting harder for the men’s basketball committee to surprise us. They managed to do so in a couple of ways on Sunday. Michigan getting a bye into the first round, instead of being placed in the First Four, was a mild surprise.

Dayton being assigned as the first team out took me off-guard. (If Richmond didn’t beat Davidson, then the Flyers would have been in the field, which would have meant many years of “Who is this year’s Dayton” questions in the run-up to Selection Sunday.) Most perplexing of all was the committee’s decision to give Tennessee the overall No. 10 seed, which placed the Volunteers on the No. 3 line just hours after they polished off Texas A&M for the SEC tournament championship.

We may not like all of the committee’s final answers, but at least now we know them. Now it’s time to put in our guesses as to what will happen next.

March Madness 2022: Expert picks for the men’s NCAA Final Four and national championship

The next national champion? Our experts are again pointing to Gonzaga.

A year ago the same group said the Zags were destined to win their first national title, a prediction that looked great until the title game and Baylor ran right through Gonzaga to easily win its first national title.

Gonzaga is back as the overall top seed in the NCAA Tournament, and the pick by nine of our 16 experts to win the national title this time. Kentucky got four votes, followed by two votes for Kansas and one vote for Arizona.

The Zags got 12 votes to come out of the West Region, to Texas Tech’s four. Kentucky was the favorite by nine voters to come out of the East, followed by UCLA (three votes), Purdue (two), Baylor (one) and Saint Mary’s (one). Arizona is the favorite in the South Region, showing up on nine ballots. Tennessee got five votes, and Colorado State and Villanova each took one. In the Midwest things are very tight: Auburn got six votes, followed by Iowa and Kansas with five each.

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National Pi Day celebrated on March 14

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Pi Day, not to be confused with National Pie Day in January or National Pizza Day in February, means deals on pizza, pastries and more.

There is a day to commemorate just about anything, and mathematical equations are not exempt, with National Pi Day fast approaching to celebrate the never ending sequence. However, rest assured, it is not a day one is forced to practice their least favourite school subject, with actual pie-eating and baking involved.

Pi has an approximate value of 3.14159265, with a decimal representation that never ends nor repeats, making it one of the standout mathematical constants.

The day to commemorate Pi was launched all the way back in 1988 by the Exploratorium Museum of Science, Art, and Human Perception in San Francisco, before it was officially recognised by the US Congress in 2009.

A day for actual pie

As well as its mathematical merits, National Pi Day is celebrated by eating actual pie. It has become a tradition to pay tribute to this day by baking, and subsequently eating, pies of all kinds.

In the US in particular, where the day was launched, people tend to make a selection of pies at home and take them to work or social settings to then share with colleagues or friends.

It is also encouraged for baking competitions to be thrown between friends, family and co-workers, before each one tastes the other’s and a victor is crown.

When is National Pi Day celebrated?

As it began in the US, where the date format sees the month placed before the day, National Pi Day falls on March 14 or 3/14, which are the first three digits of Pi (3.14).