Tyler Reddick went high and overtook Ryan Blaney on the final turn to win at Homestead-Miami on Sunday to secure a spot in NASCAR's winner-take-all finale in Arizona in two weeks. Reddick led 98 of the 267 laps, the last of them the one that mattered most.

Republicans are touting big plans for the early days of the incoming Trump administration, saying their expected trifecta of power in the House, Senate and White House will allow them to fulfill a lengthy list of campaign promises.

About half of Americans believe the public education system is headed in the wrong direction.

Many people are rightly calling Donald Trump's reelection the "greatest comeback" of all time ("'History's greatest comeback': From Israel to Ukraine, world leaders congratulate Trump on election," web, Nov. 6)..

The quarterback carousel isn't spinning. It should in some cases.

What Christians need to know about marriage. Learn how Christian marriage is very different, very special and very hard to break.

Cleveland has won its first 12 games and is off to the best start in the league. There are 10 teams in the Western Conference with winning records. And somehow, only two teams in the Eastern Conference have winning records.

Netflix is teasing the upcoming fourth season of The Witcher, with Liam Hemsworth taking over the lead role.

The post Toss A Coin: First Look At Liam Hemsworth’s Witcher first appeared on SciFi Stream.

A correspondence item, published today, 10 Oct 2013, in Nature focuses on the upcoming calls for Horizon 2020 research funding. The European Commission has said that it would prefer bids from open, collaborative consortia rather than the competitive bids seen in previous funding programmes. The authors call for an effort to forge interdisciplinary links in biodiversity research, and ask readers to contribute to discussions on project ideas.

For more information read the full correspondence item in Nature: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v502/n7470/full/502171d.html

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).

High-quality biodiversity data is essential for answering key questions on biodiversity in Europe, for example regarding the state and trends of species or for evaluating ecosystem services and functions on various scales. A new EU BON report "Gap analysis and priorities for filling identified gaps in data coverage and quality" evaluates the state of available biodiversity information and points out gaps of available biodiversity information sources.

The report aims to assess relevant data sources on biodiversity on a European and global scale. The assessment particularly evaluates the gaps of available biodiversity information sources and, after outlining the most important ones, identifies priorities for improving the data availability and gives recommendations of how they can be closed.

The report is divided into three main sections, starting first with an overall overview of gaps and limitations of biodiversity datasets. After outlining some general limitations of biodiversity data in Europe, the key findings from the specific analyses are summarized along with recommendations of how existing gaps can be closed. The last part presents a chapter containing the specific gap analysis for a selection of several main global and European datasets. The datasets represent some main sources for biodiversity data, either for specific realms (terrestrial, marine, freshwater), taxonomic groups, thematic fields (taxonomy, genetic databases) or networks of European test sites.

A new EU BON acknowledged paper "Advancing species diversity estimate by remotely sensed proxies: A conceptual review" has been recently published in the journal Ecological Informatics.

Abstract: 

Many geospatial tools have been advocated in spatial ecology to estimate biodiversity and its changes over space and time. Such information is essential in designing effective strategies for biodiversity conservation and management. Remote sensing is one of the most powerful approaches to identify biodiversity hotspots and predict changes in species composition in reduced time and costs. This is because, with respect to field-based methods, it allows to derive complete spatial coverages of the Earth surface under study in a short period of time. Furthermore, remote sensing provides repeated coverages of field sites, thus making studies of temporal changes in biodiversity possible. In this paper we discuss, from a conceptual point of view, the potential of remote sensing in estimating biodiversity using various diversity indices, including alpha- and beta-diversity measurements.

Original Source: 

Rocchini D, Hernández-Stefanoni J L, He KS (2014) Advancing species diversity estimate by remotely sensed proxies: A conceptual review. Ecological Informatics. DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoinf.2014.10.006

Biodiversity Observation Networks (BONs) have recently become a hot topic on the scene of natural sciences. But what is their role in advancing our knowledge of biodiversity and associated ecosystem services?

A new paper in the Biodiversity journal uses the European Biodiversity Observation Network (EU BON) as an example, to explain how they can fill in gaps and address existing barriers in knowledge through implementing an integrated biodiversity information framework.

Biodiversity supports essential ecosystem services that are key to human well-being. The ongoing global biodiversity decline is a threat to humans, particularly in developing countries.

The Aichi biodiversity targets of the United Nations' Strategic Plan for Biodiversity set ambitious goals for protecting biodiversity from further decline, but gaps in knowledge still sit in the way of monitoring progress, hindering the assessment of the current status and future trends of biodiversity.

There is an urgent need for a paradigm shift with regards to how biodiversity data are collected, stored, shared and streamlined in order to tackle many sustainable development challenges ahead.

Solving issues of biodiversity knowledge gaps and data reuse are a main focus of the EU BON project and provide a European contribution to GEO (Group on Earth Observations) and the wider Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS).

The EU BON project aims at addressing the need for a shift towards an integrative biodiversity information framework, starting from collection to the final interpretation and packaging of data.

At the centre of the EU BON's efforts is promoting and adopting existing standards of good practice and integrating data within a single biodiversity portal in order to make it discoverable, accessible and digestible. The aim of the portal is to collect and standardize existing data sources, as well as to work towards translating and visualizing the collected raw data to show trends and prognoses useful to policy and society.

"Biodiversity data, information and knowledge are diverse, dispersed and disparate. It is hard for a non-specialist to make sense of raw data and often separate data sets and gaps in data prevent effective policy reporting. This is why progress towards the Aichi targets is often hard to calculate, and where BONs can play a central role by working towards standardization to achieve true interoperability of data sets." explains the lead author Dr. Florian T. Wetzel,Museum für Naturkunde (MfN), Berlin.

"For advancing with the biodiversity challenge and the Aichi Targets globally, regional BONs are needed, and this is where EU BON attempts to make a difference for Europe" adds Dr. Christoph L. Häuser, EU BON coordinator and Deputy Director General at MfN, Berlin.

###

Original Source:

Florian T. Wetzel, Hannu Saarenmaa, Eugenie Regan, Corinne S. Martin, Patricia Mergen, Larissa Smirnova, Éamonn Ó Tuama, Francisco A. García Camacho, Anke Hoffmann, Katrin Vohland & Christoph L. Häuser (2015): The roles and contributions of Biodiversity Observation Networks (BONs) in better tracking progress to 2020 biodiversity targets: a European case study, Biodiversity, DOI: 10.1080/14888386.2015.1075902

A new article published in the Journal of Marine Science and Engineering looks at how Aphia, the core platform that underpins the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS),  can Serve the taxonomic community and the field of biodiversity informatics.

Abstract

The Aphia platform is an infrastructure designed to capture taxonomic and related data and information, and includes an online editing environment. The latter allows easy access to experts so they can update the content of the database in a timely fashion. Aphia is the core platform that underpins the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) and its more than 80 related global, regional and thematic species databases, but it also allows the storage of non-marine data. The content of Aphia can be consulted online, either by individual users or via machine-to-machine interactions. Aphia uses unique and stable identifiers for each available name in the database through the use of Life Science Identifiers (LSIDs). The system not only allows the storage of accepted and unaccepted names, but it also documents the relationships between names. This makes it a very powerful tool for taxonomic quality control, and also allows the linking of different pieces of information through scientific names, both within the Aphia platform and in relation to externally hosted databases. Through these LSIDs, Aphia has become an important player in the field of (marine) biodiversity informatics, allowing interactions between its own taxonomic data and e.g., biogeographic databases. Some applications in the field of biodiversity informatics encompass the coupling of species traits and taxonomy, as well as the creation of diverse, expert validated data products that can be used by policy makers, for example. Aphia also supplies (part of) its content to other data integrators and the infrastructure can be used to host orphan databases in danger of being lost.

Original Source: http://www.mdpi.com/2077-1312/3/4/1448/htm

On the 1st of April, between 9:30 and 16:30, the BiodiversityKnowledge project organises a conference where outcomes will be presented and widely discussed with policy makers, science and other stakeholders at the European parliament in Brussels. As final result, BiodiversityKnowledge will present a stakeholder’s document outlining a recommended design on how such a Network of Knowledge could operate and produce added value.

EU BON will be also presented at the confernce as one of the knowledge providers of the Network of Knowledge.

To counteract biodiversity loss, efforts have considerably increased over the past years to strengthen the science-policy-society interface on biodiversity and ecosystem services. There is indeed an active landscape of projects, institutions, organisations and individuals in Europe involved in this interface, all aiming to improve the knowledge flow so that decisions at different policy levels (from European, to national and local levels) are based on the best available knowledge.

With the 7th Environmental Action Programme and the start of Horizon2020 and its focus on innovative solutions for society, the need for more concerted activities in this context become even more important.

In this context, BiodiversityKnowledge (FP7 KNEU), an EU-funded coordination action has been set up to help to map, mobilise and organise this landscape focusing on the knowledge holders’ community. For this the project has been developing and testing a prototype Network of Knowledge since 2011 with more than 300 active participations of representatives of the biodiversity and ecosystems services knowledge community. Stakeholders involved ranged from practitioners and researchers to policy-makers.

Please find the conference agenda attached below.

The European Citizen Science Association organizes the First International ECSA Conference at the Kulturbrauerei in Berlin, Germany to take place from 19 to 21 May 2016.

The event will involve three days of talks, interactive sessions and panels to discuss and network with Citizen Scientist enthusiasts, practitioners, academic researchers, policy makers, science funders, non-governmental organisations, interested citizens and other stakeholders. The conference focuses on demonstrating and further exploring the innovation potential of Citizen Science for science, society and policy and its role within open science and innovation.

Attached below please find our Save-the-date Announcement in English and German. Please feel free to distribute it further or to print it for your institution's bill-board. Conference language will be English.

Subscribe now on the conference website and you will be sure to get all conference information: http://www.ecsa2016

The Zone of Interest (2023)   Yes, another entry on A24. I didn’t expect for this topic to continue as a series, but the indie studio keeps doing intriguing and unusual things that most studios wouldn’t try. I first dealt with A24 because I was interested in the phenomenon of “prestige horror.” It was one […]

Russians close to the Kremlin voiced optimism that Donald J. Trump could help end the war in Ukraine on Russia’s terms. But Moscow also remembers Trump’s first term as a disappointment.

The post For Putin, Trump’s win is a new opening, and a chance to win the war appeared first on Boston.com.

Betts said the two have grown even closer in recent years.

The post ‘Love you, big bro’: A call from David Ortiz helped Mookie Betts break out of a playoff slump appeared first on Boston.com.

Un manifesto per chiedere la libertà dei prigionieri politici catalani e il ritorno alla normalità democratica in Spagna sta raccogliendo centinaia di adesioni. Promosso da una quarantina di intellettuali e politici italiani, è stato pubblicato dal sito internet Left.it

A Madrid, nel cuore dell’Europa occidentale, dodici esponenti della politica e della società civile catalana sono in questi giorni sotto processo. Nove di essi si trovano in regime di detenzione preventiva, in molti casi da ben oltre un anno. I capi di imputazione sono gravissimi, con richieste di pena da parte della pubblica accusa che arrivano sino a 25 anni.

Tra i reati contestati vi è la “ribellione”: si tratta della figura criminosa utilizzata per chi, nel 1981, entrò con le armi in parlamento e portò in strada i carri armati. Il codice penale spagnolo, in effetti, richiede, nella tipizzazione del reato, l'elemento della "rivolta violenta". L’unica violenza finora certa, per le innumerevoli immagini che la mostrano e che hanno fatto il giro del mondo, è però quella messa in atto dalle forze dell'ordine spagnole: che partono da ogni angolo del Paese per la Catalogna al grido minaccioso di "a por ellos!" (“a prenderli!”; “dategli addosso!”); che picchiano votanti e manifestanti – anche non indipendentisti – intenti a resistere pacificamente, con le braccia alzate, in difesa dei seggi; che sparano proiettili di gomma sui cittadini, nonostante il loro utilizzo sia vietato in Catalogna.

Ma la vicenda giudiziaria non si esaurisce a Madrid, innanzi al Tribunal Supremo. Altri imputati verranno giudicati (per disobbedienza e ulteriori reati) da Tribunali in Catalogna; centinaia i sindaci, gli attivisti sociali, gli artisti indagati (e in alcuni casi condannati) per aver contribuito in qualche modo alla preparazione del referendum o per aver semplicemente manifestato le loro idee (eloquente, in tal senso, l’Amnesty International Report 2017/18, pp. 339-341). Vi sono, poi, i sette politici, sia parlamentari che componenti del precedente governo catalano rifugiatisi in Belgio, Scozia e Svizzera per sfuggire all’arresto e continuare a condurre la propria azione politica dall’estero. Sono liberi cittadini in tutta Europa, visto che, anche a seguito della decisione del tribunale tedesco nel caso Puigdemont, l’autorità giudiziaria spagnola ha ritirato tutti gli ordini d’arresto europeo a loro carico. Al di là delle anomalie tecniche dei procedimenti giudiziari (evidenziate da diversi osservatori internazionali), è evidente ciò che sta accadendo: si discute, nelle aule dei tribunali, di una questione eminentemente politica, che dal campo della politica non sarebbe mai dovuta uscire. Si criminalizza un’intera classe politica, la cui responsabilità è quella di aver cercato di smuovere le istituzioni spagnole da posizioni di radicale chiusura al dialogo. Si dimentica che oltre due milioni di cittadini catalani chiedono da anni, in maniera civile e pacifica, di potersi esprimere liberamente e democraticamente sull’assetto della relazione tra la Spagna e la Catalogna.

Solo da una posizione di intransigente nazionalismo si può continuare a ritenere la questione dell’indipendenza catalana un tema su cui non può neanche essere aperta una discussione democratica; solo da una posizione illiberale si può ritenere preferibile a quella prospettiva la compressione di fondamentali diritti civili e politici.

Il silenzio dell’Europa, che liquida la vicenda come affare interno alla Spagna, è deprecabile e pericoloso. Si tratta di un segno di debolezza delle istituzioni europee, non di forza, e contribuisce alla radicalizzazione del conflitto anziché alla sua risoluzione. Se la UE accetta la criminalizzazione della protesta pacifica e della disobbedienza civile in un Paese membro della rilevanza della Spagna, ad essere minacciati sono i diritti democratici non solo dei catalani, ma degli spagnoli e degli europei tutti. E quel silenzio diviene imbarazzante allorquando il Parlamento europeo vieta ai politici catalani rifugiati all’estero di partecipare ad una conferenza organizzata nei suoi locali mentre consente, quasi contestualmente, un dibattito anti-catalanista promosso dal partito spagnolo di estrema destra Vox, dichiaratamente e programmaticamente omofobo, maschilista, xenofobo.

Preoccupa anche la scarsa attenzione di parte della stampa, dell’opinione e degli intellettuali del nostro Paese. Nello scenario descritto, crediamo invece siano necessari l’impegno e il controllo vigile di tutti coloro che hanno a cuore la protezione dei diritti, dei valori democratici e dei principi sanciti dagli stessi Trattati UE.

Chiediamo, come cittadini europei, la scarcerazione dei prigionieri catalani, il ritorno ad una situazione di normalità democratica e l’apertura di un dialogo politico sulla questione, unica strada che possa condurre ad una risoluzione della stessa coerente con i valori della democrazia.

Il destino della Catalogna è anche il nostro destino, e il destino dell’Europa intera.

PRIMI FIRMATARI
 

Maurizio Acerbo, segretario nazionale PRC-Sinistra Europea, Roma

Luigi Agostini, saggista, Roma

Matteo Angioli, Partito Radicale, Roma

Vando Borghi, Università di Bologna

Bojan Brezigar, giornalista, Trieste

Luca Cassiani, Consigliere PD Regione Piemonte, Torino

Luciano Caveri, giornalista e politico, Aosta

Lluís Cabasés, giornalista, Alba

Massimo Cacciari, filosofo, Venezia

Duccio Campagnoli, ex Assessore Emilia-Romagna, Bologna

Elisa Castellano, Fondazione Di Vittorio, Roma

Pietro Cataldi, Rettore dell’Università per stranieri di Siena

Nancy de Benedetto, Presidente Associazione italiana di studi catalani, Università di Bari

Luigi de Magistris, sindaco di Napoli

Piero Di Siena, giornalista, Roma

Fausto Durante, Resp. politiche internazionali ed europee Cgil, Roma

Paolo Ferrero, vice presidente del Partito della Sinistra Europea, Torino

Gennaro Ferraiuolo, Università di Napoli Federico II

Luigi Foffani, Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia

Eleonora Forenza, Parlamentare europea GUE/Ngl, Rifondazione comunista, Bari

Laura Harth, Rappresentante alle Nazioni Unite del Partito Radicale, Roma

Rafael Hidalgo, insegnante, Ràdio Catalunya Itàlia, Roma

Andrea Maestri, Avvocato per i diritti umani, Ravenna

Fabio Marcelli, ISGI CNR, Associazione giuristi democratici, Roma

Maria Grazia Meriggi, Università di Bergamo

Sandro Mezzadra, Università di Bologna

Cesare Minghini, sindacalista CGIL, Bologna

Tomaso Montanari, Università di Siena, Firenze

Simone Oggionni, Responsabile Forum Europa MDP-Articolo 1, Roma

Fiorella Prodi, segreteria regionale Cgil Emilia-Romagna, Modena

Roberto Rampi, senatore PD, Vimercate (MB)

Patrizio Rigobon, Università Ca’ Foscari di Venezia

Simonetta Rubinato, avvocato, ex senatrice e deputata, Treviso

Emilio Santoro, Università di Firenze, Centro di documentazione “L’altro diritto”

Rossella Selmini, Università del Minnesota, Minneapolis-Bologna

Barbara Spinelli, giornalista e Parlamentare europea GUE/Ngl, Roma

Massimo Torelli, coordinatore nazionale di Altra Europa Con Tsipras, Firenze

Gianni Vernetti, ex senatore e sottosegretario agli Affari esteri, Torino

Walter Vitali, Direttore esecutivo Urban@it – Centro nazionale studi politiche urbane, Bologna
 

SOTTOSCRIVONO:

Cristina Accardi, studentessa, Salemi (TP)

Carla Acocella, Università Suor Orsola Benincasa di Napoli

Ivana Aiello, avvocato, Avellino

Rosalba Altopiedi, Università del Piemonte Orientale

Anna Amat, CNR Perugia

Umberto Amato, IMM CNR Napoli

Luciana Ambrosino, copywriter, Napoli

Giso Amendola, Università di Salerno

Virginia Amorosi, avvocato, Lecce.

Daniele Amoroso, Università di Cagliari

Giorgio Andreoli, psicologo, Milano

Simona Anichini, traduttrice, Firenze

Sara Antoniazzi, Università Ca’ Foscari di Venezia

Francesco Ardolino, Universitat de Barcelona

Gennaro Avallone, Università di Salerno

Edoardo Balletta, Università di Bologna.

Danilo Barbi, sindacalista Cgil, Bologna

Giuliano Barbolini, ex senatore PD, Modena

Albert Barreda, pittore, Savona

Ursula Bedogni, traduttrice, Barcelona

Marzia Bertazzoni, impiegata, Parma

Gabriele Bettelli, responsabile MDP, Modena

Imma Boixadós, agente immobiliare, Bra (CN)

Mirka Bonomi, pensionata, Ostia (Roma)

Enric Bou, Università Ca’ Foscari di Venezia

Mario Bravi, presidente IRES Umbria, Terni

Stefania Buosi Moncunill, insegnante, Trieste

Rosa Maria Caballé, dipendente pubblico, Bologna

Marco Calaresu, Università di Sassari

Domenico Caminiti, ingegnere, Torino

Stefano Campus, funzionario amministrativo, Presidente Òmnium Cultural de L'Alguer

Fulvio Capitanio, economista, Aiguafreda (Barcellona)

Flora Cappelluti, giornalista, Milano

Lìdia Carol, Università di Verona

Maria Carreras Goicochea, Università di Catania

Imma Caruso, Napoli, ISSM-CNR

Sergio Caserta, attivista e blogger, Bologna

Giovanni Castagno, insegnante, Roma

Giovanni C. Cattini, Università di Barcellona

Ivan Cecchini, dirigente pubblico, Bellaria-Igea Marina

Giulio Ceci, libero professionista, Roma

Giovanni Cherubini, ingegnere, Gilching (Germania)

Federico Chicchi, Università di Bologna

Claudia Ciavatta, dipendente pubblico, Roma

Adriano Cirulli, Università La Sapienza di Roma

Elena Coccia, Napoli, consigliere comunale Napoli, Sinistra in comune

Maria Teresa Colarossi, insegnante, Tivoli (Roma)

Gemma Teresa Colesanti, ISEM CNR Napoli

Maria Cristina Coliva, pensionata, Bologna

Mauro Colombarini, sindacalista Spi-CGIL, Bologna

Anna Maria Compagna, Università di Napoli Federico II

Michele Conia, Sindaco di Cinquefrondi (RC)

Roberto Cornelli, Università di Milano Bicocca

Giacomo Comincini, studente, Pavia

Enrico Curti, imprenditore, Riomaggiore (SP)

Salvatore D'Acunto, Seconda Università di Napoli.

Ettore D’Agostino, insegnante, Torino

Francesco D’Agresta, coordinatore provinciale MDP Pescara

Patrizia D'Antonio, insegnante, Roma

Elisa D’Ugo, studentessa, Roma

Pasquale D'Ugo, agente di commercio, Roma

Gaspare Dalia, Università di Salerno

Gaetano

"We want this place to be the soul of skiing."

The post New Hampshire’s Black Mountain will become a community co-op appeared first on Boston.com.

A "a collector of curiosities" once lived there.

The post Salem visitors can learn about this 1729 home by scanning a code appeared first on Boston.com.

Researchers at University of Washington released a dataset of classical music pieces called MusicNote Wednesday that facilitates machine learning of note patterns and automated note ... Read more

The post Will the next great classical music composer be a computer? appeared first on CMUSE.

The contemporary dating scene might, at times, resemble TS Eliot’s wasteland or, worse, a post-apocalyptic landscape punctuated by primeval beings who shy away from light. Apps like ... Read more

The post Seven Reasons Why You Should Date a Classical Musician appeared first on CMUSE.

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

"I thought I was just giving him a compliment. But, at the same time, this is who I am."

The post How Giannis Antetokounmpo responded to Jaylen Brown calling him ‘a child’ appeared first on Boston.com.

“I’m just focused on helping my team get a win, and that’s what we did tonight.”

The post Jaylen Brown calls Giannis Antetokounmpo ‘a child’ after 2-time MVP offers handshake before pulling hand back appeared first on Boston.com.

The Celtics will open NBA Cup play on Tuesday with a home game against the Atlanta Hawks.

The post Watch: Celtics install new court at TD Garden ahead of 2024 NBA Cup appeared first on Boston.com.

"That's the difference between what we do here and what you do around the world."

The post Joe Mazzulla explains what he would change about the NBA Cup  appeared first on Boston.com.

This marks the second time this year that Boston sports has been featured as a clue on "Jeopardy!".

The post Joe Mazzulla’s love of ‘The Town’ lands him on ‘Jeopardy!’ as a clue  appeared first on Boston.com.

It won’t search for life, but rather determine whether conditions there could support it.

The post NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft will scour Jupiter moon for the ingredients for life appeared first on Boston.com.

If you've been let go from your organization, is it appropriate to try to maintain the internal and external professional relationships you've made during your time there? What implicit and explicit rules exist around contacting former clients and colleagues? Elaine Varelas explores the many aspects of this situation.

The post Maintaining professional relationships after being let go from a company—Elaine Varelas advises on an appropriate course of action appeared first on Boston.com.

Titled “Beyoncé Makes History: Black Radical Tradition, Culture, Theory & Politics Through Music,” the one-credit class will focus on the period from her 2013 self-titled album through this year's genre-defying “Cowboy Carter.”

The post Queen Bey and Yale: The Ivy League university is set to offer a course on Beyoncé and her legacy appeared first on Boston.com.

Five months after Jewish graves were vandalised in St. Louis, questions remain.

Also: a resolution condemning racism causes chaos at the Southern Baptist Convention; why refugees from Myanmar draw inspiration from the action movie, Rambo; the story of a murder that got manipulated to serve more than one political agenda; why a hate crime survivor tried to save the life of his attacker; plus Renee Goust has something to say to people who thinks she’s a “feminazi” and it comes in the form of a song.

(Image: Karen Aroesty is the regional director of the Anti-Defamation League. Credit: Daniel A. Gross)

Adam Carter was awarded a prestigious Fulbright scholarship to teach English to teenagers in Beijing. When the coronavirus outbreak hit, his school there was shut down. Carter is still teaching his students remotely, but he also came up with an idea for a side project: trying to broker deals of Chinese-made personal protective equipment - things like masks and gloves - to American hospitals in need. It's been far more complicated than he imagined.

A group of Harvard university graduate students have also created a new PPE supply chain from China to Boston, while other students are on the front lines of debunking Covid-19 misinformation; international students continue to face uncertainty over what the coming school year will look like; while yet another student, her friends and her family, find a unique way to celebrate her graduation; and professional athletes find creative ways to train from while staying at home.

Photo: From left, statues of Lucy Stone and Abigail Adams are heeding the advice of the CDC by wearing face masks on Commonwealth Avenue Mall in Boston. (Photo by David L. Ryan/The Boston Globe/Getty Images)

It may not feel or look anything remotely close to Christmas outside, but there is something in the air that brings back that ol’ “It’s after Labor Day, better get ready for Christmas” feeling. A season enjoyed by some, dreaded by others, but necessary for any who are involved with music in the life of a Church. At All About Worship we are here to help you navigate your way through the challenges and on to a successful season of Christmas cheer and high fives from your Pastor.

First up is how and why you should recruit a choir. So let’s begin with why.

1. It looks, sounds, and feels like Christmas: Blame it on Hollywood Producers if you want, but we all have an iconic image of choirs at Christmas lodged into our brain that actually began at the birth of Jesus with choirs of angels. It’s Biblical and it satisfies the itch.
    
2. It gets people involved…at a temporary level: Pastors are supernaturally driven to see the gifts of their people developed. Most worship leaders are concerned about letting people on the team who are may not be the best at singing or those whose abilities are an unknown. The solution is a Christmas Choir. A chance to let people be a part of something in a group setting where voices are blended and there is no promise of further involvement. A win-win situation.
    
3. Talent scouting: Through the process of rehearsals you will have an opportunity to audition people without having an audition. While you may find some who don’t sing very well, you will also find some diamonds in the rough. People who you didn’t know could sing. Once identified, if you want, ask them to be a part of the regular team.
    
4. It Boosts Attendance: More people involved means more people will show up for the special service. (Also a great reason to include a Children’s choir in your plans as well)
    
5. It’s Fun: Gatherings are a big part of Christmas and it can be a lot of fun. Have people bring snacks and let there be an element of social time.

Ok so now you’re motivated to do it. But now ‘the how’ comes to the forefront so here are some tips:

1. Decide if you’re a recruit/plan or a plan/recruit: If you have a specific piece of music you want to do, it might determine the kind of voices that you are looking for. Thus changing how you will recruit. For example a men’s number will obviously not include the ladies. It might also be that the piece is complicated or that you only have sheet music so a certain level of knowledge or skill is required to participate. However you can also recruit and see whom you get. Then adjust your plan accordingly.
    
2. Determine the Qualifications and Commitment: Make a list of the requirements for participation. Make sure to think about Age, Gender, Ability, Part they Sing, and whether they need to attend your church. You will also want to be able to communicate when rehearsals and events are.
    
3. Ask the Traditional Ways: When it comes to asking for participation most people immediately turn to the bulletin or ask for time during the announcements. A sign up table in foyer or/and a web based sign up form can add some names.
    
4. Ask the Non-Traditional Ways: Have your pastor or announcement person ask the congregation for a show of hands of who has ever been in choir.  Take a moment and look around as these are prime targets for recruitment. If you feel comfortable in doing so, put a little social pressure on these people from the stage to participate.
   
   While the above mentioned methods are good, hands down the best way to recruit is to ask personally. But who to ask? And more specifically what to ask? The best way is to ask anyone, “Do you know anyone who sings?” or “Do you know anyone who was ever in choir?” That’s when people will tell on their friends and neighbors. Giving you the opportunity to approach that person and say, “I heard you used to be in choir?” and then ask them to be a part of the group.
    
5. Have the next step determined: Make it easy to do and clear to understand what to do next. Do they need to fill out a form or just show up at this place on this date?
   
   I would recommend getting people to put their name to something as it can have a higher level of cementing their decision. People are more likely to come if they have signed up rather than if they can decide later if they are coming or not.
    

Hopefully you have inspiration and motivation surging through your veins at this very moment for an amazing Christmas season. In the coming weeks through articles and podcasts we will be discussing what to sing, how to teach people their parts even if they can’t read music, and where to find those resources. But for now, get started because it’s almost the middle of September and time is running out.

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