Connecticut's Alyssa Thomas Records Double-Double in Sun's Win vs Sky - Sports Illustrated

Nine months ago, Connecticut's Alyssa Thomas was undergoing surgery for an Achilles injury. In Game 2 of the semifinals against Chicago, Thomas rose to the occasion.

Thomas brought tons of energy to the court, finishing with a double-double, as she recorded 15 points, 11 rebounds and six assists in the Sun's 79-68 victory over Chicago. 

"It was about protecting our home court," Thomas told ESPN's Holly Rowe after the game. "We didn't come out and perform last game."

Four other Connecticut players—DeWanna Bonner (15), Brionna Jones (11), Briann January (12) and Jasmine Thomas (12)—finished in double figures in Thursday's contest. 

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Thomas stepped up to lead the Sun in a game where the WNBA MVP and Sun star Jonquel Jones finished with four points on 2-of-9 shooting from the floor in 24 minutes. 

"It's amazing. ... You appreciate things like this," Thomas said regarding her recovery from the Achilles injury. "Anybody who has went through something like this can appreciate this.

"Playoff AT [Alyssa Thomas] is back."

The series shifts to Chicago for Game 3 on Sunday.

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Recap: Bruins double up on Flyers, 4-2, in preseason win - Stanley Cup of Chowder

The Boston Bruins capitalized on special teams and two power-play goals helped fuel the team to a 4-2 preseason win over the Philadelphia Flyers tonight at the TD Garden.

Both the Bruins and Flyers each netted two goals on the man-advantage in eleven opportunities combined.

The Flyers opened the scoring at 7:18 of the first period with a power-play goal. From the goal line, James van Riemsdyk backhanded a pass out front to Joel Farabee skating to the top of the paint for a quick goal past Jeremy Swayman’s blocker. 1-0 Flyers.

Special teams dominated the first period, much like the other preseason games before it. The Flyers scored on their first power play of the night, but then the Bruins took over.

The B’s had three power-play opportunities and unlike the previous games, they capitalized on the man-advantages.

The Bruins tied the game at 9:17 of the first period with a power-play goal of their own. Ten seconds into the man-advantage, Taylor Hall made a diving pass to Brad Marchand who from the center hash marks threw a wrister over the blocker of Martin Jones. 1-1 game.

The Bruins extended their lead with another power-play goal at 12:23 of the first period. Nick Foligno found Craig Smith in the slot where he put a quick wrister past Jones’ glove. 2-1 Bruins.

The Bruins took a two-goal lead at 16:41 of the first period. Hall dished a pass to Brandon Carlo inside the right-wing circle where he had enough time to fully winded up a slap shot that went past Jones’ glove. 3-1 Bruins.

The B’s power-play units looked A LOT different tonight obviously with a stacked roster and was closer to what can be expected on opening night than what the units looked like outside of tonight. Still, they were able to get chemistry cooking early into the power plays and some nice shots on net.

The second period was pretty uneventful for most of the frame. The Bruins spent a chunk of time in the defensive zone and let their guard down. Puck management wasn’t the best and the team had a hard time breaking out of the zone and winning battles in the corners.

The penalty kill also had its faults with positioning and letting a few shots get by that shouldn’t have.

Swayman’s game improved as he saw more of the Flyers’ offense during the second. He tracked the puck better as he faced more shots than in the first 20 minutes.

Jake DeBrusk scored the lone goal of the second frame at 18:31. Erik Haula battled along the corner boards to win the puck to DeBrusk who kept control of the puck and carried it to the front of the net where he snuck one past Jone’s five-hole. 4-1 Bruins.

Good to see Jake DeBrusk rewarded again for driving to the front of the net.

Encouraging signs for a guy looking to bounce back.

Also, another good play along the wall for Haula.

4-1 Bruins. pic.twitter.com/eEKx58fy1e

— Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) October 1, 2021

Both teams had more chances on the power play and penalty kill in the third. The Bruins continued to have some sloppy moments in the final 20 minutes and had a hard time in the neutral zone. But it’s preseason so let’s not read too into that just yet.

The Flyers scored at 9:40 of the third period on Farabee’s second power-play goal of the night. Cam York sent a pass to Farabee at the top of the right face-off circle where he sent a one-timer top-shelf over Swayman. 4-2 game.

The Bruins are back in action Saturday October 2 at the TD Garden against the New York Rangers.

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American Horror Story: Double Feature Recap: There’s Been an Incursion - Vulture

American Horror Story

Take Me To Your Leader

Season 10 Episode 7

Editor’s Rating 5 stars *****

Remember last week when we all watched the finale of “Red Tide” and made fast and loose guesses as to how it will tie in with “Death Valley”? Whatever theory I had in mind then made so much sense in comparison to me sitting here repeating the word “giardia” over and over again in my mind like I too have newly returned from being beamed into the sky and back again.

One pocket of my Uniqlo PJ pants is filled with unanswered questions from Part 1 of Double Feature, and now the other pocket is half-full after one episode of Part 2. Aliens impregnating gay youths? Bisected cows? Goddamn Amelia Earhart?! What now, Ryan Murphy? What in the living hell now??

It’s too soon to provide a concrete case one way or the other as to whether “Red Tide” will, or won’t, tie into “Death Valley.” This could end up being something that Harry Gardner (Finn Wittrock) wrote in Part 1, or it could be the result of Murphy and Brad Falchuk taking ayahuasca and coming away from the experience with the decision to pay homage to episode eight of Twin Peaks: The Return via whatever this ends up being. A lot of pressure to put on four episodes, but I’m not worried one bit. Let’s just embrace the chaos. Sit back and enjoy your trip on the mothership, but keep your legs closed tight. They’re handing out alien babies up there, and no one’s in the mood for that level of responsibility right now.

Before we get into the whats, wheres, and whos of “Take Me To Your Leader,” let’s make a nice expanse of room to provide a virtual safe space for Lily Rabe. First, they have this poor lady play Doris Gardner, a piss-poor interior designer and put-upon mother who suffers a great deal and then is left bald and tragic, wandering the cemeteries of Provincetown. And now here she is, popping up right away in the first episode of “Death Valley” as a naked and afraid Amelia Earhart. I don’t know why Amelia Earhart is so funny, but she just is. I wrote a report on her in the fourth grade and have thought about her at least once a year ever since. Lily Rabe should win an award.

All right. So we enter into Part 2 with a snippet of alien music (you know the kind) which then cuts to Dean Martin’s “That’s Amore,” which was released a year before this segment takes place. We’re in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and it’s 1954, seven years after the Roswell Incident. The set-up here is very David Lynch meets Twilight Zone meets the first half of The Wizard of Oz, with a mom named Maria (Rebecca Dayan) listening to 45s while making dinner.

As Maria glides around the house, content in her 1954 duties, her young son is outside zooming around in a toy car. A sandstorm swirls in from a distance, and the boy calls out to his mom, referring to the formations as “dust devils,” and then he gets sucked straight into the sky by unseen forces that we already know to be aliens. Mere moments later, after his mom has floated to the ceiling of the home’s interior, he waltzes in all like, “Mommy, please don’t be afraid.”

When this household’s patriarch(y) comes home, he finds everything in disarray, and there’s Maria, floating in the air with white eyes. She makes the literal scariest noise I’ve ever heard in my life and explodes her husband’s head with a wave of her hand. Later on, she explodes more noggins, left and right, floating up and down the hallways of a base in Palm Springs as if she’s been doing this her whole life. They’re doing an autopsy on one of her alien brethren inside, and she’s going to let everyone hear about it (by exploding some heads, of course).

Sarah Paulson is amid all this portraying Mamie Eisenhower, but we don’t know too much about that just yet. Based on the preview for the next episode, she’s afraid of microwaves. Shrug.

These aliens lurking about seem to be dead set on making everyone pregnant. Amelia Earhart is pregnant. In the present, four college kids on a short-lived camping trip come back mysteriously pregnant, and two of them are men. Those cut-in-half cows were probably pregnant, for all we know. Dwight D. Eisenhower (Neal McDonough) is going to get to the bottom of this. Or get his head exploded trying.

In more modern times, Kendall Carr (Kaia Gerber) is 45 percent at fault for getting her friends into this pregnancy mess as she, under the cult-y influence of a professor she’s sexing, convinces them to leave their cellphones behind when they head out on their “Luddite Summer.” Not like they would have done much to help, seeing as aliens love to do spooky stuff like deaden electronics and cause clocks to click backward. Kaia Gerber went right from the first season of American Horror Stories, where she played a love-sick ghost, to this. She’s got talent in spades and the familial eyebrows to prove it.

Kendall’s friend Jamie (Rachel Hilson) comes away from this camping trip with the most TikTok content. Not only is she allergic to her crush’s jizz and pregnant with a probable alien, but she was the only one of the four to be left wandering alone in the street post-abduction. What happened up there in the not-at-all-friendly skies? And what’s she going to do about this jism problem?

Postcards From Howland Island

• I Googled “was Mamie Eisenhower afraid of microwaves?” but was only able to glean that she had anxieties and feared that her husband was cheating on her. What husband wasn’t at that time? Especially husbands of the presidential variety.

• According to an article on Insider, one of the most common theories regarding Amelia Earhart’s disappearance after her flight to Howland Island is that she landed on the wrong island and died there. The name of the island this theory offers up is Gardner Island. Now that’s a pretty weird coincidence.

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Double-helix data storage developer Catalog gets funding boost – Blocks and Files - Blocks and Files

Spurred on by the development of its DNA storage Shannon system, Catalog has taken in $35 million in B-round funding to help devise a storage and computation system based on DNA.

The round was led by Hanwha Impact and the money will also help create an ecosystem of Catalog collaborators, partners, and users of DNA-based computing. Korea-based Hanwha Impact is the rebranded Hanwha General Chemical. DNA is a double-helix molecule present in the cells of all living organisms. It carries genetic instructions for the development, everyday functioning, and reproduction of cells — the base coding foundation for living creatures.

Hyunjun Park, Catalog’s founding CEO and an MIT researcher, said in a statement: “Simply preserving data in DNA is not our end goal. Catalog will fundamentally change the economics of data by enabling enterprises to analyse and generate business value securely from data that previously would have been thrown away or archived in cold storage. The possibility of a highly scalable, low energy, and potentially portable DNA computing platform is within our reach.”

Catalog’s head of molecular biology, Tracy Kambara, prepares Shannon, the first commercially viable automated DNA storage and computation platform for enterprise use. 

Catalog’s DNA storage technology involves creating quasi-letters which can represent binary data, and “writing” the resulting DNA sequences to fluid or dry pellets for later retrieval. Such stored DNA is orders of magnitude denser than flash or tape-based storage, air-gapped from online systems like tape, and can last for, it is claimed, thousands of years.

It is possible, Catalog says, to compute the data stored in DNA molecules. This concept is of a compute-in-storage product and its programming and other details have yet to be revealed. 

Catalog does say that, by incorporating DNA into algorithms and applications there could be “potential widespread commercial use through its proprietary data encoding scheme and novel approach to automation. Expected areas of early application are artificial intelligence, machine learning, data analytics, and secure computing. In addition, initial use cases are expected to include fraud detection in financial services, image processing for defect discovery in manufacturing, and digital signal processing in the energy sector.”

The firm says that its coming data and compute platform will be more energy efficient, affordably scalable, and highly secure compared to conventional electronic platforms.

Catalog was founded at Boston in 2016 and has taken in a total of $44.3 million according to our records. We think we’ll hear about more progress in 2022.

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How Uranium ETFs logged double-digit returns and rare-earth buys shined in Q3, but KraneShares's China fund tanked - MarketWatch

Brett Gardner's RBI double - Yahoo Sports

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KFC's controversial Double Down sandwich is coming back to Canada - blogTO

It's been 10 long years since KFC first introduced the Double Down sandwich in Canada, which is breadless and features two crispy chicken fillets as buns, and now the iconic sandwich is set to make its official return. 

The fast food chain shared an ambiguous tweet advertising the sandwich's comeback Wednesday morning, and it featured a blurred photo of the item with the words "If you know you know." 

Get early access to the sandwich a decade in the remaking. If you're in the know order this item now in restaurant, https://t.co/SdLTVphc5d or SkipTheDishes #IYKYK pic.twitter.com/D13OVAGiRS

— KFC Canada (@kfc_canada) September 29, 2021

The Double Down—which includes bacon, cheese and sauce sandwiched between two pieces of fried chicken—is, depending on people's *ahem* palate, both loved and hated by Canadians. 

Those who find the combination of ingredients drool-worthy have been asking for the sandwich to make its return for some time now, so many are rejoicing that it will once again be available at stores across Canada as of Oct. 4.

Dear @kfc_canada Please bring back the Double Down Thank you!

— Shawn V (@ShawnV316) July 22, 2021

But for anyone who just can't wait that long, early access is available now online or through the KFC Canada app.

The sandwich is currently advertised online with the same vague messaging as KFC's tweet, though the item is described as the "iconic bunless sandwich featuring crispy bacon, Monterey jack cheese, and Finger-Lickin' Good sauce, all sandwiched between two hand-breaded, extra crispy chicken fillets."

Who knows, maybe the return of the Double Down will even give the iconic Popeyes sandwich a run for its money.

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KFC is bringing the controversial Double Down sandwich back to Canada - Curiocity

Long before the fried chicken sandwich trend swept Canada, one trailblazer created the be-all-end-all in the scene. Of course, we’re talking about the KFC Double Down. For the first time in years, and almost a decade after its initial release, the sandwich is coming back.

For those who don’t remember, the Double Down uses fried chicken as the buns, with bacon, cheese, and a sauce as the filling. While the concept itself is larger than life, the Double Down, ironically, is about as healthy as other fast-food sandwiches of the same size. Not great (by any measure), but not immediately heart attack inducing.

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Turns out, the sandwich made its return in the states earlier this year, and now KFC is ready for Canada to get a taste. The Double Down will be widely available starting October 4th, but some locations are already offering it. So, check-in if you’re craving a serious fried chicken sandwich this week.

Now, time for us to decide what adjustments we need to make in our diet to rationalize getting a KFC Double Down for ourselves. Maybe salads and smoothies for an entire day beforehand? Yeah, that’s cleansing enough.

Curiocity Staff

With a curated slate of what matters in your city, Curiocity presents you with the most relevant local food, experiences, news, deals, and adventures. We help you get the most out of your city and focus on the easy-to-miss details so that you’re always in the know.

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Canadian food inflation nearly double what official data suggests: Study - BNN

Climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic are causing food prices in Canada to rise, but a new study suggests the official data is underestimating the increase.

According to Statistics Canada, food prices are up 2.7 per cent over the past 12 months. But, new research from Dalhousie University’s Agri-Food Analytics Lab published Wednesday shows the food inflation rate in Canada is closer to five per cent.

Meat products have seen the largest price spike, with Statistics Canada data noting those products have become 10 per cent more expensive over the past six months.

In partnership with consumer insights startup Caddle, the Dalhousie lab surveyed 10,000 Canadians over the summer to determine how consumers are responding to rising grocery bills.

Nearly half of Canadians (49 per cent) said they have reduced their purchases of meat products over the past six months due to higher prices. In Alberta, widely known as the steak capital of Canada, a majority of consumers (57 per cent) acknowledged cutting back on meat since the start of this year.

Many Canadians are also spending more time and effort searching for the best deals than they did last year. The survey found 42 per cent of respondents were reading their weekly grocery store flyer more often this year than in 2020.

Nearly as many (40 per cent) said they were purchasing discounted products with expiry/best before dates within a few days of purchase more often in 2021 than they were last year. More than one in four Canadians (26.9 per cent) said they are buying products with an “enjoy tonight” label more often this year than they did in 2020.

Canadians have also noticed increasing use of a strategy known as “shrinkflation,” the study found, whereby food producers sell products with less quantities or volume without reducing the price. Almost three quarters of respondents (73.5 per cent) said they were aware of certain food products that have shrunk, despite prices either remaining the same or increasing.

“We are aware that many consumers dislike such a strategy, believing it may be dishonest, especially right now,” Dr. Sylvain Charlebois, director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab, said in a summary of the study’s preliminary results. “But on the flipside, from a food waste perspective, Canadians have historically bought too much food and have wasted a lot at home.”

“Shrinkflation could be getting Canadians to waste less food at home,” Charlebois said.

In terms of the factors driving the trend of rising food prices, the study cites “macroeconomic shocks, caused by both unfavourable weather patterns in the northern hemisphere and logistical challenges due to the global pandemic.”

Supply chain disruptions related to the COVID-19 pandemic are widely seen as transitory and should eventually dissipate. The ongoing impacts of climate change, however, could send food prices soaring globally for decades.

Yields of staple crops could decline by almost a third by 2050 unless emissions are drastically reduced in the next decade, according to a Chatham House report published earlier this month, while farmers will need to grow nearly 50 per cent more food to meet rising global demand during the same timeline.

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Oil flow to double from Alberta to Wisconsin as Enbridge completes long-delayed Line 3 - Financial Post

Line 3 goes into service Friday

Author of the article:

Enbridge Inc has now completed its expanded Line 3 pipeline that carries oil from Edmonton, Alberta, to Superior, Wisconsin. Photo by Reuters/Nicholas Pfosi

Article content

CALGARY — Enbridge Inc said on Wednesday it is starting to fill its expanded Line 3 pipeline with oil, marking the completion of a long-delayed replacement project that will increase the capacity of crude deliveries from Canada to U.S. refineries.

Article content

The Canadian pipeline operator said the in-service date of the pipeline is Oct. 1.

Line 3, built in the 1960s, carries oil from Edmonton, Alberta, to Superior, Wisconsin, and was transporting less than it was designed for because of age and corrosion. The replacement project will allow Enbridge to roughly double its capacity to 760,000 barrels per day.

Earlier this month, the company told shippers it will offer 620,000 barrels per day of crude capacity in October, and expects Line 3 will reach full capacity during the fourth quarter.

© Thomson Reuters 2021

Listen to Down to Business for in-depth discussions and insights into the latest in Canadian business, available wherever you get your podcasts. Check out the latest episode below:

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‘Disgraceland’ Producer Double Elvis Ramps Up Podcast Slate With Four Music Series - Deadline

EXCLUSIVE: Double Elvis, the podcast company behind hit music series Disgraceland, is bolstering its slate of original podcasts with a new post-punk series from members of Siouxsie and the Banshees and The Cure as well as adding a trio of shows to its banner.

The company, founded by Jake Brennan and Brady Sadler, is launching Curious Creatures from Lol Tolhurst, co-founder of The Cure and Budgie, drummer from Siouxsie and the Banshees.

The series will explore the legacy and contemporary relevance of post-punk with guests such as Michael Dempsey, Mason Silva and LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy, who joins as their first guest.

Double Elvis is also bring three shows under its banner: Washed Up Emo, Sounds and Vision with Andrew Loog Oldham and Women in Hip Hop with Jazzie Belle.

Sounds and Vision is hosted by Andrew Loog Oldham, best known for managing the Rolling Stones. The series sees him chat with people he’s met throughout his life and the new season launches October 5.

Washed Up Emo, created by Tom Mullen, looks at the history and impact of the musical genre through interviews with musicians such as Taking Back Sunday’s Adam Lazzara, who is set as a guest on his 200^th episode.

Finally, Women in Hip Hop with Jazzie Belle is hosted and created by Detroit’s Jazzie Belle, formerly of Eminem’s Shade45 SiriusXM. The podcast tells the history of women in the genre through interviews from both the pioneers and the newest additions to the art form. New episodes return October 6.

“There is a direct parallel between the growth of any medium and the need for curation,” said Brady Sadler, Co-Founder of Double Elvis. “Starting Double Elvis with our own originals and select co-productions has allowed us to really get to know our audience, helping us to ensure that each new podcast will be relevant to our current fanbase, while allowing us to expand to new genres. It’s win-win for listeners as well, who now have a one-stop-shop for the most dynamic, music-driven stories across many genres.”

“The foundation of Double Elvis is made up of independent creators, and I know first-hand how difficult it is to go at it alone as an independent musician,” added Jake Brennan, Co-Founder of Double Elvis and creator of Disgraceland. “We have seen great success on both sides when working with creators like Asante Blackk, Daniella Perkins and Bobby Cius on Here Comes The Break, Chelsea Ursin on Dear Young Rocker and Nikki Lynette on About a Girl. Our goal with this new slate of series is to provide support for other independent artists and exposure to like-minded listeners, while making sure creators still have complete control over their projects.”

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Modders Are Reimagining Mario Kart: Double Dash On DS - Nintendo Life

Image: Nintendo

A few notable gaming systems have a look; for the Game Boy - as one example - that look is pea green. We also think the DS has a look, those chunky character models that are sort of like the N64 but not quite, and the fact that it had such an extraordinarily varied library with these aesthetics.

DS mods of well known games are particularly fun for this reason, like this Super Mario Galaxy project. Some modders are wizards at remaking games that actually run on the retro [can we call it retro, now?) portable, and another eye-catching project is Mario Kart DS: GameCube Grand Prix.

You can see it in the video below, see if you can spot some of the tweaks that the modders are making to give the original tracks a fresh flavour.

Some tracks have shifted palette, time of day and even seasons, while there are some that look like faithful recreations of the originals. Also, notably, it's the conventional single-driver-per-vehicle, dropping the double gimmick of the original - there are limits to what can be done.

It's interesting to see what can be achieved in projects like this, and most of us are now maybe tempted to revisit Mario Kart DS - it's got the look.

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Vandersloot’s triple-double leads Sky to double OT win over Sun - Sportsnet.ca

UNCASVILLE, Conn. -- Like a great maestro, Courtney Vandersloot orchestrated one of the best games in WNBA playoff history.

Vandersloot had the second triple-double in the postseason with 12 points, a league playoff-record 18 assists and 10 rebounds to lead the Chicago Sky to a 101-95 double-overtime victory over the Connecticut Sun on Tuesday night in the opener of their best-of-five series.

"She's amazing," Chicago coach James Wade said. "Look at the stat sheet and the way she controlled the game. She was able to control the game from the beginning to the end. She had a special game. One of the best point guard games in playoff history. I'm not surprised because this is what she does."

Vandersloot had no idea that she was close to the historic stats. She was just focused on trying to get the Sky the huge victory.

"It's really special. I didn't know I had the triple-double until the end," Vandersloot said.

Sheryl Swoopes had the only other triple-double in WNBA playoff history, which she did in 2005.

"She's elite. To be with that company, that's obviously special," Vandersloot said. "To do it in the playoffs, I needed 50 minutes to do it."

With the game tied at 93, Candace Parker scored on a layup off a neat pass for Vandersloot's record-breaking assist. Vandersloot, who broke Sue Bird's mark of 16 set last postseason, then threw a beautiful pass to Stefanie Dolson to give the Sky a four-point lead with 1:29 left.

Connecticut couldn't recover, scoring only its second basket of the second OT on Brionna Jones' jumper with 13.7 seconds left that made it 98-95. Vandersloot got her 10th rebound with 7.9 seconds remaining.

"She orchestrates everything out there," Connecticut coach Curt Miller said. "She's so good with the basketball. Huge game for her. We have to look at different ways to disrupt her. That's Slooty. That's what we think about her each and every night, she has the ability to just orchestrate everything."

Jonquel Jones, who was honored as the league's MVP before the game, led the Sun with 26 points and 11 rebounds. Brionna Jones, who earned Most Improved Player honors as well, added 22 points and 10 rebounds for Connecticut, which lost only one game at home during the regular season en route to the league's best record.

This was the league's first double-overtime playoff game since 2015 between the Mystics and Liberty.

"I'm disappointed with the end result, but a great game to start the semifinals," Miller said. "I think there was 14 lead changes, 15 ties. We get a double-overtime game in Game 1. ... Really good game to start for the WNBA."

Both teams had chances to end the game before the second OT. DeWanna Bonner missed an off-balance shot at the end of regulation.

With the game tied at 91 in the first OT, the Sky dribbled the clock down before Brionna Jones stole the ball. Connecticut couldn't get a shot off before the buzzer, sending it to the second extra session.

The Sun, who won the last 14 games of the regular season, got off to a slow start in their first game since Sept. 19. They trailed by 11 but scored 10 of the final 12 points to cut it to 24-21 after one quarter.

Connecticut kept its roll going in the second and led 44-40 before Diamond DeShields scored the final seven points of the half for Chicago to give the Sky a 47-46 lead at the break.

Neither team could get much separation in the third quarter and the Sky led by three heading into the final period.

REPRESENTATION MATTERS

Miller was proud that he could continue to be a role model as the only openly gay man to coach in the WNBA,

"It's part of what my legacy will be. I want to be visible," said Miller, who was honored as the league's Coach of the Year for the second time in his career. "I want to represent the next wave of gay male coaches that now have someone to look at that you can thrive and be successful and no one can tell you otherwise."

Miller admitted earlier in his career he was more focused on being a successful coach then helping to be a trailblazer.

"I didn't want to be the gay coach," he said. "I wasted some years to be a role model to the next generation of young gay men that are struggling,"

TIP-INS:

Chicago won two of the three matchups during the regular season, but the Sun were missing Jonquel Jones for all three games. ... Chicago advanced to the semifinals by beating Dallas at home before upsetting third-seed Minnesota on the road.

ROLE REVERSAL

The Sun were the lower-seeded team last year in the semifinals and won Game 1 against top-seeded Las Vegas. The Aces ended up winning that series.

UP NEXT:

Game 2 is Thursday in Connecticut before the series shifts to Chicago for potentially the next two games.

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Texas executes Rick Rhoades for Harris County double murder - The Texas Tribune

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Texas carried out its third execution of the year Tuesday night, lethally injecting Rick Rhoades for killing two men in their Houston-area home 30 years ago. In an unsuccessful last-ditch effort, his attorneys had hoped to delay the execution to explore whether racial bias during jury selection tainted his trial.

Rhoades, 57, was convicted of killing brothers Charles and Bradley Allen in September 1991, a day after his release on parole from a five-year sentence for car theft and home burglary, according to prison records. When Rhoades was arrested weeks later for allegedly burglarizing a school, he confessed to the murders, court records state.

Less than an hour after the U.S. Supreme Court denied Rhoades' final appeal Tuesday afternoon, he was taken into Texas' death chamber in Huntsville. Two of his friends were to stand witness, according to a prison report, along with two siblings of the slain brothers, the daughter of Bradley Allen and a friend to both of the murdered men.

Rhoades chose not make a final statement while laying on a prison gurney. He was pronounced dead at 6:29 p.m. after being injected with a lethal dose of pentobarbital, the prison system reported.

After he was released from prison in 1991, Rhoades told police he took a bus to Houston and began drinking while wandering around his old neighborhood into the early morning, according to court records. Eventually, Rhoades and Charles Allen got into an argument outside the Allens’ house in Pasadena, and Rhoades followed Allen inside because he thought Allen was getting a gun.

Rhoades beat Allen with a metal bar and stabbed him with a knife Allen had grabbed during the attack, the records said. Bradley Allen came out and began to hit Rhoades, who stabbed the brother. Prosecutors said Rhoades took clean clothing and cash when he left the house.

Rhoades told police he found out the brothers died from the news later that day. When he was spotted during a school burglary weeks later, Rhoades said he was “tired of running” and was bothered by the murders, the records state.

Shortly after he was sentenced to death in 1992, Rhoades, who is white, began arguing in appeals that Harris County prosecutors eliminated potential jurors from his trial because they were Black. A Texas court said his attorneys argued the county had a history of trying to exclude Black people from jury trials.

When choosing jurors for trials, defense attorneys and prosecutors are able to remove a limited number of people from the potential juror pool without giving a reason, as long as the reason is not because of the person’s race. In the courtroom and in their appeals, Rhoades’ attorneys challenged two strikes as race-related, arguing that prosecutors probed the responses of two Black jurors more thoroughly than the white people on jury panels, as if looking for reasons to reject them.

By 2019, state and federal courts of all levels had rejected Rhoades’ challenges, ultimately finding that prosecutors had reasonable grounds unrelated to race for striking the two Black people from the jury pool. Of their 14 strikes allowed without giving reason, the prosecutors had also struck 12 white people, an appeals court noted.

Rhoades’ jury ultimately was made up of 10 white jurors, one Hispanic juror and one whose race was not clear from court records, the appeals court said.

This year, Rhoades’ attorneys again sought missing information on the potential jurors. They argued that more information, like the racial breakdown of the entire jury pool, has not been disclosed, keeping Rhoades from presenting arguments that his trial was corrupted by racial bias.

“He has been prevented from developing and raising his claim because the State has denied him access to the materials provided for by state law — materials which are necessary to conduct the comparative juror analysis,” his attorneys wrote in a district court filing in July.

The Harris County district attorney’s office told Rhoades’ attorneys that there are more records on the jury pool available, but the trial court must order the release of the records. The trial court judge said she had no jurisdiction and wouldn’t rule on the matter, the courts said, prompting Rhoades’ last appeals to state and federal courts.

“It is clear — and indeed the district attorney has not disputed — that, under state law, the motion Counsel filed was precisely the correct vehicle by which to ask for access to the juror information,” his attorneys argued in a filing last week.

In a 5-4 ruling, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in July declined to order the trial court judge to rule on the matter, though dissenting judges said the judge’s refusal was inconsistent with court precedent and suggested the court should have asked the judge why she didn’t think she had jurisdiction. The federal courts all rejected Rhoades' motions as well, ending with the nation's highest court Tuesday afternoon.

The Texas Attorney General’s Office argued in a filing this month that the courts have no justification to stop an execution after Rhoades’ attorneys failed to seek this information for decades. Josh Reiss, who leads the Harris County District Attorney’s Post-Conviction Writs Division, said Monday “it was time.”

“It’s been 30 years,” he said. “When you kill two people less than 24 hours after you’re released from parole, that’s kind of a quintessential threat to society.”

The 2021 Texas Tribune Festival, the weeklong celebration of politics and policy featuring big names and bold ideas, wrapped on Sept. 25, but there’s still time to tune in. Explore dozens of free, on-demand events before midnight Thursday, Sept. 30, at tribfest.org.

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Texas executes Rick Rhoades for Harris County double murder - The Texas Tribune
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3 Stocks That Could Double Your Money in 5 Years - Motley Fool

If you could double your money every five years for 30 years, you would compound your original investment by a multiple of 64. That's the magic of compound interest. One of the safest ways to achieve those returns is to stick with strong brands that have plenty of growth opportunities.

To give you some ideas, three Motley Fool contributors offered their best picks to double to in value by 2026. Here's why they picked Planet Fitness (NYSE:PLNT), Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), and Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX).

Image source: Getty Images.

This gym operator can double its store base

John Ballard (Planet Fitness): Staying healthy, both mentally and physically, is something many people have taken more seriously during the pandemic. That's why Planet Fitness, one of the leading fitness centers in the U.S., retained more than 13 million members during the depths of the pandemic when most of the company's gyms were temporarily closed. It ended July with more than 15 million members, marking six straight months of net member growth, and there's more to come.

Over the last five years, the stock has nearly quadrupled in value, as Planet Fitness nearly doubled its store count to 2,170. The chain has distinguished itself with its "Judgement Free Zone" environment, which encourages all people, no matter where they are in their fitness journey, to not be shy about visiting a gym. 

Its past performance shows the concept working. Before the pandemic, Planet Fitness achieved 53 consecutive quarters of positive same-store sales growth going into the first quarter of 2020, and it's set to pick up where it left off now that 98% of its locations are open. 

One of the main characteristics to like about the business is the high recurring revenue stream, where approximately 90% of store revenue is derived from royalties, vendor commissions, and membership fees. Plus, franchisees are required to purchase new fitness equipment from Planet Fitness every five to seven years.

Management is targeting 4,000 stores in the U.S. alone, which is nearly double the current store count. More store openings, membership growth, and increasing revenue per customer -- as more members upgrade to a Black Card membership that offers additional perks -- should keep the value of the business growing for investors to potentially earn a double from this growth stock over the next five years.

The king of online retail is only getting stronger

Jennifer Saibil (Amazon): If you bought shares of Amazon when it was just starting out, you're already sitting on a nice pile of cash. But if you didn't, don't fret; Amazon's story is far from over, and there's no better time to buy shares than now.

2020 was a milestone year for the internet giant, as it dealt with unprecedented demand as people stayed home. That demonstrated just how important Amazon has become to the American economy, and it's becoming even more entrenched.

Amazon's sales exploded last year, increasing 38% over 2019 sales. For comparison, they increased 20% in 2019 year over year.

But we're past that, and things are starting to slow down. In the 2021 second quarter, growth decelerated to 27%, and the company is guiding for a 10% to 16% increase in the third quarter. While that at first glance looks disappointing, it's important to remember that that's on top of last year's tremendous growth -- 37% in the third quarter. After it laps the 2020 results, we could be in for some more serious growth in 2022. And there are many reasons to be confident about Amazon's continued success.

While there's been some slowdown in digital growth as people return to stores, the shift is permanent, and Amazon will keep benefiting. It's also made a strong effort to enter physical retail as omnichannel becomes the new way to build customer loyalty and people want more options. It's investing in streaming through its purchase of MGM studios, and it has started to sell its just-walk-out technology to client companies. And of course there's cloud computing business Amazon Web Services, which keeps adding new clients and contributes about half of total profits.

Lastly, let's not forget that Amazon is the ultimate disruptor, and it has the cash to get into any business it wants. It doesn't always end up the leader, such as with its efforts to compete against creative marketplace Etsy and its streaming devices that are up against competitor Roku. But it has gained a foothold in both of those areas and is a leading contender in many other areas where it concentrates it investments, such as grocery and streaming content.

Amazon stock has gained almost 350% over the past five years, and you can easily double your money again with Amazon stock over the next five years.

The streaming content pioneer that has plenty of room to expand

Parkev Tatevosian (Netflix): Streaming content pioneer Netflix is one stock that can double your money in five years. After all, over the previous five years, Netflix stock has returned 499% for shareholders. Of course, past performance is not guaranteed to replicate itself in the future, but it indicates what might be possible.

The company had thrived since the onset of the pandemic when people were staying home more often and the demand for in-home entertainment surged. Netflix boasts 209 million paying subscribers. The large base of members who value the company's content helped it earn $7.3 billion in revenue in its most recent quarter ended June 30.

Annualized, Netflix is on pace to earn over $29 billion in revenue. That's a large base from which it can increase content budgets, add to the total movies and shows, and improve the quality of productions. All told, Netflix's business will be challenging to compete with at this large scale. 

As it builds out its treasure trove of content assets, Netflix is an even more attractive option versus traditional cable TV. According to Nielsen, streaming still represents just 27% of viewing time compared to 63% for linear TV. However, the trend is moving in the direction of streaming. Compared to linear TV, streaming is more convenient, often costs less, and is more portable. For instance, you can use your Netflix subscription on your TV, smartphone, tablet, and laptop, whereas in most cases, you can only watch linear TV on your, well, TV.

If you're looking for a company that can double your money in five years, be sure to place Netflix on your list. The company is making excellent progress in its bid to be one of the most dominant media companies in the world. 

This article represents the opinion of the writer, who may disagree with the “official” recommendation position of a Motley Fool premium advisory service. We’re motley! Questioning an investing thesis -- even one of our own -- helps us all think critically about investing and make decisions that help us become smarter, happier, and richer.

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3 Stocks That Could Double Your Money in 5 Years - Motley Fool
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Puma Looks To Double Revenue Despite Factory Closures And Supply Chain Issues - Forbes

Eli Manning gave a double middle finger on TV and immediately apologized - SB Nation

Philadelphia sports fans are a notoriously rude bunch. They threw snowballs at Santa Clause, dumped popcorn on Russell Westbrook, chucked batteries at JD Drew, and booed Donovan McNabb when he was drafted. If there’s one thing Philadelphia sports fans truly hate, it’s an opposing team in the NFC East. NFL fandom just gets territorial like that.

As the Eagles hosted the Dallas Cowboys on Monday Night Football, one of their former division rivals called the game on ESPN2 with his older brother. At this point, the ManningCast is becoming must-watch, and Week 3 provided us with another memorable moment when Eli Manning got a little carried away talking about the hostility he felt playing in Philadelphia during his days with the New York Giants.

“You go to Philly, you’re getting the double bird from a 9-year-old,” Eli Manning said during the broadcast. Manning then proceeded to show American what the double bird looks like by raising his two middle fingers at the TV screen.

Manning said he thought ESPN2 would blur out his one finger salute, but they didn’t. Instead, Eli Manning basically told Monday Night Football viewers to f-off.

Manning apologized minutes later. ESPN probably didn’t love that this happened.

If nothing else, Eli flipping the double bird gave us a great screencap to send to all of the annoying New England Patriots fans in our lives. Eli has always given off Large Adult Son vibes, and him being absent-minded enough to flip off America and thinking it’s totally chill seems perfectly fitting.

The ManningCast is routinely becoming more entertaining than the product on the field for some of these Monday night games. This was another uncompetitive contest with the Cowboys winning easily, 41-21.

This week’s show featured LeBron James and Nick Saban prior to Eli flipping the double bird on TV screens all across the country. Please just don’t punish him, ESPN. The ManningCast must continue unabated.

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Fernie Brewing Bringing Back The Professor Amber Lager and Off Axis Double IPA - Canadian Beer News

FERNIE, BC – Fernie Brewing has announced the return of a pair of popular seasonal beers.

The Professor Amber Lager (5.2% abv):

The Professor Amber Lager is a commemorative brew, named after and stemming from a partially created recipe found in past FBC Brewmaster Gord Demaniuk’s recipe book. With rich, toasted and caramel malts, and a hint of noble hop flavour, we know Gord would have loved this easy-drinking malty lager.

Off Axis Double IPA (8% abv):

A hazy, double IPA that is truly unique in our lineup, as the only brew that is double dry-hopped – once at the start, and then again at the end of fermentation. Loaded with Cascade and Galaxy hops bringing floral and passionfruit notes, plus Cashmere providing hints of lemon and lime.

The Professor and Off Axis will be released on Wednesday September 29th at the Fernie taproom and retail store, and soon after at select beer retailers in British Columbia and Alberta.

Source & Photo: Fernie Brewing

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Canucks double up Flames in pre-season play - Sportsnet.ca

ABBOTSFORD, B.C. — For Conor Garland, a goal is a goal, even if it comes in a pre-season game.

Every tally brings much-needed confidence heading into the NHL season, he said.

“I’ll take a goal any time, if it’s in the middle of the summer or if it’s in the pre-season or an NHL playoff game,” the Vancouver Canucks winger said Monday after scoring in his team’s 4-2 pre-season win over the Calgary Flames.

“They all feel good and it’s nice to get one. But obviously, when the (regular-season) games start, you better keep scoring.”

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Garland’s goal came early in Monday night’s game after Calgary’s Glenn Gawdin was called for high-sticking 1:41 into the contest.

Stationed at the top of the slot, the Canucks winger sent a shot screaming through heavy traffic and found the back of the net to open the scoring at 2:28.

Defenceman Oliver Ekman-Larsson was credited with an assist.

While Garland and Ekman-Larsson are new to Vancouver, they’re old teammates. The Arizona Coyotes dealt the pair to the Canucks in July in exchange for a first-round pick in the 2021 NHL entry draft.

Ekman-Larsson had two assists Monday, his first-ever game in a Vancouver jersey.

“He looks really good. It’s nice to see how fast he’s playing. He’s moving the puck so well, how physical he is, he looks really engaged,” Garland said. “He looks like the Oliver I know.”

Canucks head coach Travis Green liked Ekman-Larsson’s game, too.

“I really thought he took charge tonight, played with a lot of energy, had a lot of bite in his game, too, which you always like,” he said.

Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman talk to a lot of people around the hockey world, and then they tell listeners all about what they’ve heard and what they think about it.

The Canucks came into Monday’s matchup after opening the pre-season with a 5-3 loss to the Seattle Kraken in Spokane, Wash., on Sunday. The Edmonton Oilers blanked the Flames 4-0 in Calgary the same night.

Vancouver jumped out to a three-goal lead Monday but the Flames battled back with two strikes of their own in the second frame.

Chase Wouters, J.T. Miller and Tanner Pearson also scored for the Canucks, while the Flames got goals from Dillon Dube and Connor Mackey.

Michael DiPietro was solid in net for Vancouver with 25 saves.

The 22-year-old netminder faced a late barrage when the Flames pulled goalie Daniel Vladar in a bid to make a late push.

“I thought (DiPietro) stood tall, especially in the six-on-five. They probably had, I don’t know, seven or eight shots in the last three minutes there with the goalie out,” Green said. “And I thought he looked solid tonight.”

DiPietro spent much of last season on the Canucks’ taxi squad and said it felt good to get back into a full game.

“I think heading into the game, all I was focusing on was having a good start, trying to get my feet and hopefully kind of role from there,” he said.

“It was just really fun to get a full 60 and get back playing a full game.”

Adam Werner stopped 12-of-15 shots for the Flames before being replaced midway through the second period. Vladar had 14 saves in relief.

Pearson gave the Canucks some insurance 13:31 into the third period, picking up a drop pass from Ekman-Larsson and riffling it in past Vladar to make it 4-2.

The Flames pulled the goalie in a bid to make a late comeback but couldn’t finish with the extra attacker.

Mackey cut Calgary’s deficit to 3-2 with less than a minute to go in the second period, sneaking a shot past Di Pietro from the blue line.

The Flames’ first tally of the night came on a two-man advantage earlier in the frame.

Canucks captain Bo Horvat was sent to the box for cross-checking at 10:59 and his teammates steadily worked to kill off the penalty until Ekman-Larsson was sanctioned for the same offence in front of the net. Boos emanated from the crowd as the Flames were given 23 seconds of five-on-three hockey.

Dube scored 11 seconds in with a long bomb through DiPietro’s legs.

The Flames were 1-for-3 on the power play Monday, while the Canucks went 2-for-3 with the man advantage.

A pair of power-play goals helped Vancouver to a 3-0 lead after the first period.

Calgary’s Andrew Mangiapane was called for cross-checking at the Canucks bench 15:18 into the opening frame and the home team wasted little time in capitalizing.

A scramble in front of the Flames’ net saw Horvat blast a shot at Werner and the rebound pop out to Miller, who fired it back in over the past the netminder at 15:34.

Three minutes earlier, Vancouver’s Jonah Gadjovich streaked deep into Calgary territory, out-waited a sprawled out Juuso Valimaki, then dished the puck to Wouters from the goal line. The 21-year-old forward popped a shot in from the low slot to give the Canucks a 2-0 lead.

The Flames are set to host the Seattle Kraken Wednesday. The Canucks get a brief reprieve before heading to Alberta for a rematch with Calgary on Friday.

NOTES: Vancouver moved its American Hockey League affiliate to Abbotsford earlier this year. The team _ known as the Abbotsford Canucks _ is set to play its first game against the Bakersfield Condors on Oct. 16. … Pre-game ceremonies marked the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation which is being marked for the first time on Thursday.

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COVID-19: 83% of eligible Ottawa residents double vaccinated - Global News

A number of key COVID-19 metrics in Ottawa are holding steady to start the week as the percentage of fully vaccinated residents ticks up.

Ottawa Public Health reported 48 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday, down from increases of 79 cases on Sunday and 50 cases on Saturday.

The number of active COVID-19 cases in the city dipped slightly to 463 in the latest report.

Read more: Ontario reports 613 new COVID-19 cases, no deaths

There was no change to the number of deaths, outbreaks or hospitalizations tied to COVID-19 in the past 24 hours.

Ottawa’s weekly coronavirus positivity rate stands at 2.3 per cent as of Monday.

OPH’s COVID-19 vaccination dashboard shows slight progress in the number of people who are fully vaccinated.

As of Monday, some 83 per cent of Ottawa residents aged 12 or older have received both doses of the vaccine while 88 per cent of those eligible have gotten at least one shot.

Just under 80 per cent of residents aged 18-39 have received at least an initial shot of the COVID-19 vaccine, OPH’s dashboard shows.

1:42 Biden gets COVID-19 vaccine booster shot

Biden gets COVID-19 vaccine booster shot

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© 2021 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

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COVID-19: 83% of eligible Ottawa residents double vaccinated - Global News
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Eli Manning flips the double bird to explain Philly experience during Week 3 Manning-Cast [VIDEO, PHOTO] - DraftKings Nation

The Manning-Cast is a ton of fun, and Eli Manning took it to a whole other notch in the fourth quarter of Week 3 Monday Night Football. Chris Long joined Eli and Peyton to talk about the game and was discussing his experience in Philly. Eli brought him his own experience, joking about a nine-year old giving him double middle-fingers at the stadium.

And then, Eli decided he needed to demonstrate it.

Coming back from the commercial, Eli and Peyton apologized with Eli saying, “I guess that’s frowned upon.” No apologies, Eli, no apologies.

This really reminds me of the scene when Goose flips the bird in discussing how he and Maverick were communicating with a Russian MIG pilot. I hate it when that happens.

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U of T researchers say 'unusual' metamaterial could double capacity of wireless networks - News@UofT

Your office wall may play a part in the next generation of wireless communications.

University of Toronto researchers George Eleftheriades and Sajjad Taravati have shown that reflectors made of metamaterials can channel light to enable more wireless data to be transmitted over a single frequency.

They believe this newly realized property – called “full-duplex nonreciprocity” – could double the capacity of existing wireless networks. Their research is published in a paper in Nature Communications.

“This is happening,” says Eleftheriades, a professor in the Edward S. Rogers Sr. department of electrical and computer engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering.

“Within the next three to five years this technology will be adopted.”

The intellectual property for the team’s proof of concept was recently transferred to the Montreal-based startup LATYS Intelligence Inc., which was co-founded by U of T Engineering alumnus Gursimran Singh Sethi.

Professor George Eleftheriades has achieved a practical mechanism for full-duplex nonreciprocity, a property in metamaterials that allows for manipulation of both incoming and reflective beams of light (photo by Matthew Tierney)

Metamaterials are synthetic structures composed of building blocks that are smaller than the wavelengths of light they are designed to manipulate.

The material used by the team is composed of repeating unit cells about 20 millimetres in size. They appear to form one homogenous object – a metasurface – for larger wavelengths of light such as microwaves, which are used to carry cell phone signals and reflect off the metasurface exhibiting a property known as nonreciprocity.

Eleftheriades uses a car’s rear-view mirror to illustrate how it works.

“When you’re driving and look in the rear-view mirror, you see the driver behind you. That driver can also see you because light bounces off the mirror and follows the same path backwards,” he says.

“What’s unusual about nonreciprocity is that the incident angle and the reflected angle are not equal. To be specific, the backward path for the wave is different.

“Basically, you can see someone, but you cannot be seen.”

In addition, metamaterials enable you to steer and amplify incoming beams, which is useful in many applications, from medical imaging and solar panels to satellite communications and even nascent cloaking technology.

By adding the capability to steer the reflective beam, new intelligent metasurfaces could make a significant mark on wireless communication, according to Eleftheriades.

“In everyday experience, a microwave emitted from a tower reaches its intended terminal point, like a modem, and then goes back to the telecommunication station,” he says. “That’s why when you have a conversation on your cellphone, you do not talk and listen on the same channel. If you did, the signals would interfere and you wouldn’t be able to separate your own voice from the voice of your partner.”

Today’s 5G networks feature only “half-duplex” links. Essentially, the 5G signal uses slightly different frequencies, or the same frequency but at a slightly different time, to avoid interference. The time delay is imperceptible to the user.

By contrast, the full-duplex architecture developed by Eleftheriades and Taravati, a post-doctoral researcher, means that one can talk and listen on the same channel at the same time.

Unlike other metamaterial technology, it spatially separates the forward and backward paths within the one frequency – doubling the system capacity.

While full-duplex functionality exists in a limited capacity in military-grade radars, it’s currently unsuitable for consumer applications such as mobile devices. That’s because current full-duplex transceivers are made of bulky and expensive structures comprising ferrite materials and biasing magnets to manipulate the beam.

“We propose a completely different mechanism,” says Elefthreriades. “No magnets or ferrites. Everything is done using printed circuit boards and silicon electronic components such as transistors.”

The broad applicability of these intelligent metasurfaces is what excited LATYS’s development team.

“Tunable, asymmetric radiation beams in both the reception and transmission states have incredible potential to address some of the most pressing and major challenges in the wireless communication industry,” says Sethi. “By spatially decoupling the receive and transmit paths, we can create ‘true full-duplex systems’ that can support bidirectional communication at the same time and the same frequency. 

“This will allow LATYS products and prototypes to gain an edge over competition and much traction, especially in radio-hostile environments such as industrial automation, IIOT [Industrial Internet of Things] and 5G applications.”

Professor Deepa Kundur, chair of the electrical and computer engineering department, says the relationship between U of T Engineering researchers and the business world is an important one.

“It’s a good illustration of one of the many ways engineering advances,” she says. “A breakthrough proof of concept, such as Professor Eleftheriades and Taravati’s, clears a path to better technology – and then industry picks up the baton.”

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