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Irish crowd waits hours for Halloween parade, only to find it was fake

A representational image showing people wearing costumes during a Halloween parade. — AFP/File

DUBLIN: In a rather intriguing yet disturbing revelation, a Pakistan-based artificial intelligence-powered website has been found to be behind a hoax Halloween parade in Dublin that led to...




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Pod Rods: Microbus fetches big bucks


The flower-power generation definitely couldn't afford this VW Bus. Plus: the rest of the week's car news.




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Pod Rods: New Infiniti crossover


Infiniti is showing off its upcoming seven passenger crossover and we get behind the wheel of a Dodge Challenger 392 HEMI SRT8.




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Pod Rods: Micro-compact Scion coming


This week: A Blue Angels Mustang, a new Magnum and a big hello to Augusta, Ga.




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John Krasinski crowned as 2024's ‘Sexiest Man Alive'

John Krasinski crowned as 2024's ‘Sexiest Man Alive'

John Krasinski, who is best known for his role in famous sitcom The Office, has been named as People Magazine’s 2024 "Sexiest Man Alive”.

According to People, the 45-year-old actor’s name was revealed in a...




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Senate panel moves to criminalise necrophilia

Bill, making necrophilia punishable by life imprisonment, highlights the disturbing occurrences in Pakistan




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Public hospitals staff to be tested across Sindh

Health department to restart contact tracing for coronavirus




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Crossroads Jena BMX Jam + Best Trick + Best Line Contest



BMX Jam + best trick & best line Contest in Jena (Germany)

On 23 September, a BMX Jam with Best Trick + Best Line Contest will take place in Jena. The Jam / Contest takes place in the Skatepark Jena Paradies. Registration from 1 pm and start approx. 3 pm. The whole is supported by the Crossroads Jena e.V., which also provide for grill pies, drinks, music and afterwards for an open air cinema.

address: Crossroads Jena e.V. Lindenstraße 1, 07747 Jena

More infos on Facebook.




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BMX Supercross Track Stuttgart - Opening



On the 20.07.2018 the new BMX Supercross Track will open in Stuttgart and you're invited to celebrate this day with us!
This new track is a combination out of BMX and SX (Supercross) track and will be build in Stuttgart, Germany

Track Details: The course has a length of about 450m, 2 start ramps (5m and 8m), 4 straight lines, which are divided into two parts to provide advanced riders and professional athletes a huge development opportunities. 3 asphalted steep curves allow optimal grip in the curves. There will be various obstacles and obstacle combinations in different difficulty levels, which have Worldcup level.

This constant track is (currently) the first and only one of its kind. That makes Stuttgart to a hotspot for all ambitious BMX athletes in Europe.
The construction works are in progress since 15th of May. How it looks at the moment, you can check right here:



Click here for more: BMX Supercross Track

All the best, your kunstform BMX Shop Team!

What:
BMX Supercross Strecke Stuttgart - Opening

When:
27th July at 14pm (local time)

Where:
BMX Supercross Strecke Stuttgart
Löwentorstraße
70376 Stuttgart




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Shaheen Afridi retakes ODI bowling crown

Shaheen Afridi celebrates with captain Mohammad Rizwan at the Perth Stadium in Perth on November 10, 2024. — AFP

Pakistan’s star pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi has climbed to the top of the International Cricket Council Men’s ODI Bowling Rankings.

Afridi, who...




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Eminem, Alanis Morissette, Sheryl Crow, N.W.A. and Janet Jackson get Songwriters Hall of Fame nods

Eminem, Boy George, George Clinton, Sheryl Crow, Janet Jackson, the Doobie Brothers, N.W.A. and Alanis Morissette are among the nominees for the 2025 class at the Songwriters Hall of Fame, an eclectic group of rap, rock, hip-hop and pop pioneers.




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Departure of Clark, Reese opens door for new crop of talented women's players

Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese helped bring women's basketball to new heights over the past two years. While there may be a ratings dip from last season's record high, there are plenty of talented players like Paige Bueckers, JuJu Watkins, Deja Kelly and Hannah Hidalgo ready to continue the rise.




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Crowds flock to small Massachusetts town to send off New York's Rockefeller Christmas tree

This year's Rockefeller Center Christmas tree comes with a strong New England accent, and locals could not be more excited.




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Bueckers helps No. 10 UConn women win Big East Tournament crown with win over Georgetown

Paige Bueckers scored 27 points and had five blocks to help No. 10 UConn beat Georgetown 78-42 on Monday night to win its 22nd Big East Tournament title.




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Belmont with Kentucky Derby and Preakness winners could be the best of these Triple Crown races

Horse racing history of all kinds is being made Saturday in the final Triple Crown race of the year.




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NSA document reveals Russians had microwave weapon suspected in attacks

Russia's government since the 1990s has had the type of microwave weapons that are suspected in the covert attacks on U.S. intelligence officials and diplomats that have caused what has come to be known as "Havana syndrome."




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Vatican, Microsoft create AI-generated St. Peter's Basilica to allow virtual visits, log damage

The Vatican and Microsoft on Monday unveiled a digital twin of St. Peter's Basilica that uses artificial intelligence to explore one of the world's most important monument's while helping the Holy See manage visitor flows and identify conservation problems.




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EUBrazilOpenBio announces 2 new training tools covering Ecological Niche Modeling and Cross-mapping

The EUBrazilOpenBio project  announces two new training tools as a part of its e-training Programme aiming at educating and enabling current and potential users of EUBrazilOpenBio to unlock new knowledge and shape effective policy on biodiversity challenges. The new tools cover the following use cases: Ecological Niche Modeling and Cross-mapping.

The EUBrazilOpenBio anytime, anywhere eTraining tools are designed for researchers in the spheres of Biodiversity, Life science, Climate Change, application Developers as well as regulatory authorities and policy decision-makers.

EUBrazilOpenBio is focused on tackling the complexity of biodiversity science such as the diversity of multidisciplinary datasets spanning from climatology to earth sciences by integrating advanced computing resources with data sources across Europe and Brazil.

For more informationand to try out the new tools click here.





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From Barcode of Life Data Systems to scholarly publishing systems: a case study with ten Nearctic species of Microgastrinae

An innovative workflow reveals new research potential of the Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLD). A recently published article in the Biodiversity Data Journal (BDJ) used specimen records downloaded from BOLD in tabular format and imported these into a human-readable text developed in manuscript within the Pensoft Writting Tool (PWT). Data were used to study the species distributions of ten Nearctic species of braconid wasps from the Microgastrinae subfamily.

BOLD is originally designed to support the generation and application of DNA barcode data. However, the repository also holds unexplored treasures of additional data that provide unique potential for many other research uses.

Currently almost 4 million sequences (over 3.4 million of them DNA barcodes) are stored in BOLD, including coverage for more than 143K animal species, 53K plant species, and 16K fungi and other species, and this impressive storage of information is continuing to grow every day.

A team of researchers, led by Dr Jose Fernandez-Triana from the University of Guelph, Canada, have now explored how the unique amount of data stored on the BOLD platform can be utilised for new research purposes. Choosing tiny parasitic wasps for their case study they selected a sample of 630 specimens and 10 North American species. Data stored on BOLD were then used to uncover a significant number of new records of locality, provinces, territories and states.

The research was then secured a fast publication via BDJ, a community peer-reviewed, open-access, comprehensive online platform, designed to accelerate publishing, dissemination and sharing of biodiversity-related data of any kind.

"Import of structured data into human-readable text is important but it does not represent the whole story. More importantly, the data can be downloaded straight from the article text by anyone for further re-use, or be automatically exported to data aggregators, such as the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). In this way, data platforms could get more peer-reviewed content from scholarly publications and scientists will be properly credited for their efforts" said Prof. Lyubomir Penev, founder of Pensoft Publishers.

###

Original Source:

Fernandez-Triana J, Penev L, Ratnasingham S, Smith M, Sones J, Telfer A, deWaard J, Hebert P (2014) Streamlining the use of BOLD specimen data to record species distributions: a case study with ten Nearctic species of Microgastrinae (Hymenoptera: Braconidae). Biodiversity Data Journal 2: e4153. doi: 10.3897/BDJ.2.e4153

Additional information:

The workflow is part of the Data Publishing Toolkit elaborated within the EU FP7 funded project EU BON (Grant agreement No 308454).

 





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Monitoring farmland biodiversity across Europe: It could cost less than you think

How can we monitor Europe-wide farmland biodiversity so that it makes sense to farmers, is ecologically credible and scientifically sound and can be implemented for a reasonable price? Two new studies answer these questions.

First, stakeholders were asked, which indicators provided best "value for money" for their purpose. Habitat, plant species and farm management indicators ranked highest. Wild bees, earthworms and spiders as important providers of ecosystem services came next. Together they form a minimum set of indicators which provides non-redundant information and which can make dominant changes in farmland biodiversity visible.

Researchers from the FP7 funded EU projects "Biodiversity Indicators for European Farming Systems (BioBio)" and "Building the European Biodiversity Observation Network (EU BON)", then developed cost estimates for nine monitoring scenarios and the authors conclude that a continent-wide farmland biodiversity monitoring scheme would require only a modest share of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) budget (2014-2020).

Cost assessments showed that the farmland biodiversity monitoring scenarios require 0·01% - 0·74% of the total CAP budget and 0·04% - 2·48% of the CAP budget specifically allocated to environmental targets. With 30% of the CAP devoted to environmental targets (more than 120 billion EURO), investing in a monitoring process seems a logical choice given these results. The researchers provide a framework for individual countries to start farmland biodiversity monitoring, building towards a coherent European picture.

The studies were published in the Journal of Applied Ecology and the Journal of Environmental Management.

"Despite scientific proof that monitoring increases the (cost) efficiency of policy measures, monitoring rarely gets included in policy programme budgets. We identified that the cost are not as high as feared. To further facilitate implementation, the study provides stepping stones to build a European monitoring scheme, offering a choice in indicators and using regions as a unit of trend analysis," explains Dr. Ilse Geijzendorffer, the lead author of the Journal of Applied Ecology paper.

Original Source:

Geijzendorffer, I. R., Targetti, S., Schneider, M. K., Brus, D. J., Jeanneret, P., Jongman, R. H.G., Knotters, M., Viaggi, D., Angelova, S., Arndorfer, M., Bailey, D., Balázs, K., Báldi, A., Bogers, M. M. B., Bunce, R. G. H., Choisis, J.-P., Dennis, P., Eiter, S., Fjellstad, W., Friedel, J. K., Gomiero, T., Griffioen, A., Kainz, M., Kovács-Hostyánszki, A., Lüscher, G., Moreno, G., Nascimbene, J., Paoletti, M. G., Pointereau, P., Sarthou, J.-P., Siebrecht, N., Staritsky, I., Stoyanova, S., Wolfrum, S., Herzog, F. (2015), How much would it cost to monitor farmland biodiversity in Europe?.Journal of Applied Ecology. doi: 10.1111/1365-2664.12552

S. Targetti, F. Herzog, I.R. Geijzendorffer, P. Pointereau, D. Viaggi, Relating costs to the user value of farmland biodiversity measurements, Journal of Environmental Management, Volume 165, 1 January 2016, Pages 286-297, ISSN 0301-4797, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2015.08.044.

 





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8th Annual Meeting of the Specialist Group for Macroecology

Integrating mechanisms into macroecology 

8th Annual Meeting of the Specialist Group for Macroecology of the Ecological Society of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland (GfÖ)

Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Institute of Biology, Department Geobotany & Botanical Garden, Am Kirchtor 1, 06108 Halle (Saale), Germany

Linking processes and mechanistic approaches (e.g., from physiology, experimental ecology, demography, and evolution) with macroecological approaches, scales, and methods has long been discussed among macroecologists. Still, only few steps toward implementing such links have been taken, yet. With the 8th Annual Meeting of the Specialist Group for Macroecology of the GfÖ, we want to offer a forum for presenting and discussing both tested approaches and new ideas to make these links. Additionally, in order to move beyond discussion, we invite all participants to join the conference workshop on the 2nd day. Here, we plan to intensively discuss gaps in existing approaches and possible ways for bridging these gaps in several discussion groups and to take first steps towards publishing the summarized workshop results. 

http://www.macroecology.org/






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A Somerville teen crocheted her prom dress in three days. Her video of the design process went viral.

Sarah Akinbuwa remembers the days when she was bullied over her love of crocheting, a hobby she picked up with her circle of schoolmates as a 12-year-old in Nigeria. Now living in Somerville and devoted to the craft, the 18-year-old is winning acclaim for one of her latest creations: a bright pink, floor-length prom dress […]

The post A Somerville teen crocheted her prom dress in three days. Her video of the design process went viral. appeared first on Boston.com.




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Crop vegetation structure is more important than crop type in determining where Lesser Kestrels forage





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Establishing macroecological trait datasets: digitalization, extrapolation, and validation of diet preferences in terrestrial mammals worldwide




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Uncertainty analysis of crowd-sourced and professionally collected field data used in species distribution models of Taiwanese Moths





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Streamlining the use of BOLD specimen data to record species distributions: a case study with ten Nearctic species of Microgastrinae (Hymenoptera: Braconidae)




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A regionally informed abundance index for supporting integrative analyses across butterfly monitoring schemes





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Assessing relative variable importance across different spatial scales: a two-dimensional wavelet analysis




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Cross-realm assessment of climate change impacts on species’ abundance trends




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Sulfate-reducing microorganisms in a Mediterranean lagoonal complex (Amvrakikos Gulf, Ionian Sea)




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Actor Timothée Chalamet crashes his own look-alike contest after police shut down crowded event

Actor Timothée Chalamet made a surprise appearance at his own look-alike contest in Lower Manhattan on Sunday, a well-attended event that drew an order to disperse from police and at least one arrest

The post Actor Timothée Chalamet crashes his own look-alike contest after police shut down crowded event appeared first on Boston.com.




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George Frideric Handel - Alceste (soprano: Lucy Crowe; tenor: Benjamin Hulett; bass-baritone: Andrew Foster-Williams; Early Opera Company; conductor: Christian Curnyn)

The incomplete ‘incidental music’ for Alceste, conducted with liveliness and sensitivity.





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Nobel Prize in medicine honors two Mass. professors for their discovery of microRNA

“Their groundbreaking discovery revealed a completely new principle of gene regulation that turned out to be essential for multicellular organisms, including humans,” the Nobel Assembly said.

The post Nobel Prize in medicine honors two Mass. professors for their discovery of microRNA appeared first on Boston.com.





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Christmas . . . Don't Be A Scrooge

Ok. It’s Christmas. It’s the weird time of year where everyone seems so jolly, kids are all well-behaved and the money flows like we are all Bill Gates. It can also be a stressful time of year for parents, teachers, leaders and especially Santa. It becomes super easy to complain and tell everyone how BAD things are...BUT! We can make this the best time of year for people everywhere! This truly is a magical season (and let’s all be reminded of WHY...hint: it’s Jesus), so lets make it so. Help spread the good cheer, so to speak.

So, here are James’ 5 simple ways NOT to be a scrooge (or insert appropriate adjective here) this year.

BE FRIENDLY.

Oh boy, I literally just felt you roll your eyes. Seriously though, this can be overlooked in so many ways. For instance; when was the last time you texted a friend for no reason but to say “I’m thinking about you and praying for your family this season!”. Ok, some of you do that, but what about to people that aren’t really your friends? Take a moment and scroll through your contacts list and see who you can reach out to just as a friendly person to say your thinking about them. You’ll be surprised at how quickly you’ll make more friends and you’ll be giving someone a much needed boost during the day.

BUY STUFF.

Ok, this one is mainly for me. I LOVE presents. Who doesn’t? But, we all know someone around who might need something. Might be clothes, shoes, a jacket...or food. Maybe a neighbor you’ve seen who just moved in, or a friend you know would love a candle for their home. These little things add up and can express value to those around you.

GET TOGETHER.

C'mon people! Have people over to your house! ‘Tis the season for big meals! Hey, and if your house isn’t big enough, then meet at someone else's’! Getting together regularly strengthens friendships and keeps you out of isolation in a season when it's easy to hide away. Force yourself to be with other people on a regular basis.

LAUGH.

For the benefits of this, see my article on “Medicinal Laughter”. Trust me, laughing is good for you. For those of you that aren't funny (I know who you are), practice some jokes! Yes, practice. And practice bad jokes too. It sounds weird but even a poorly told joke, around good people, can lighten up the room and show you are willing to go the extra mile so those around you can laugh and have a good time.  For those of you that are funny, unleash the crazy.

NO COMPLAINING.

This is tough in today's society and culture. Complaining is almost a given. From politics to sports, family to work, we can cover the whole gamut. Make a conscious effort to try focusing on positives in regular conversations. Write down 5 good things that are happening in the world, or at work, or in your family and focus on those things in conversation. Not only will people respond favorably toward you, you’ll feel better too.

There you go. Some good starters for the season, and you might as well carry them through to the new year too. We can have enough battles to face ourselves over Christmas, we might as well not be a battle to someone else. Kapish? ...Kaposh.

Remember, all in all, that we are called to love people and love God. So be a good example of that moving forward!

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and New Year!





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Why Garrett Crochet makes sense as a Red Sox trade target

With Garrett Crochet linked to the Red Sox as a potential trade candidate, John Tomase explains why the White Sox pitcher would be a great fit in Boston.




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Micron falls after Edgewater sees softening outlook in 2025




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Super Micro Stock Sinks After Another Filing Delay for Earnings




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Super Micro delays filing September-quarter report as delisting looms




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CPI Survey Unveils Positive Polyurethane Production Across North America

The Center for the Polyurethanes Industry announced on Sept. 9 the results of a two-year survey on the polyurethanes industry in the United States, Canada and Mexico.




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Crowdfunding campaign aims to resurrect former vinspired service

The defunct charity's former digital director wants to set up its digital volunteer recruitment network as a social enterprise




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Kate Sayer: Does your board neglect the finances or micromanage?

To be effective, the different ways of handling the finances have to be balanced




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Sto Launches Microsite for EIFS

Sto Corp. recently unveiled its StoViewer, a virtual tool where the user can search for color and texture options in its cladding systems.




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British Red Cross volunteer retires after 50 years of service

Steve Bradley joined the charity as a cadet aged 11 and continued to serve for the next five decades, meeting the woman who would become his wife along the way




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Cross-border trucking pilot program upheld in court decision

Washington – The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on April 19 rejected petitions for review for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s cross-border trucking pilot program.




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Court backs cross-border trucking pilot program

Washington – The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s cross-border trucking pilot program will continue, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled on July 26.




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OSHA crowns ‘Beat the Heat’ contest winners

Washington — OSHA has announced the winners of its national competition challenging stakeholders to submit the best tools and resources on the dangers of heat exposure – indoors and outdoors – at work.