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chris-evans-indian-fanfic · 5 years ago

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Across Seven Seas

Chapter 4

Description: This fanfiction series is set in the year 2022, after the horrid COVID-19 has finally come to an end. In this fanfiction, Chris Evans holidays with his family in India and meets Meera Shankar. The story explores their rollercoaster journey and raises a question, whether two people, from two contrasting backgrounds and cultures, can build their future together?

WE FINALLY FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENED WITH CHRIS IN THIS CHAPTER!

This series is Chris Evans x OFC with Chris Evans' family and friends having recurring appearances. Please find below a lot of Original Characters-

Meera Shankar - The female lead

Meera's Mother

Poppy - Meera's maternal grandmother

Rohan - Meera's elder brother who is 6 years older than her.

Ankur - Concierge of the Hotel Maple-Fawn in Mussoorie

Chapter 1 • Chapter 2 • Chapter 3

Chapter 5

FIND MORE CHAPTERS BY CLICKING ON MY BIO

P.S- India follows only one timezone.

P.P.S- All the photographs used in the chapters are of the real locations mentioned. I clicked these photographs on my vacation.

This is a work of fiction. The names of the hotels and companies have been changed to avoid copyright issues. Meera Shankar and her family is based on the author and her kin. No offense is intended.

I don’t consent to have any of my work published or featured on any third party app, website or translated. If you are seeing this fanfiction anywhere but tumblr, it has been reposted without my permission. In that case, please do share the link and let me know.

...

Chapter 4

7th September, 1:50 pm - Dehradun-Mussoorie Road

Seated comfortably in 2 large SUVs, the Evans family was on its way to Maple-Fawn, where they were to spend the rest of their vacation in peace. While almost everyone was fast asleep, Chris was wide-awake, awestruck with the view as their cars drove on winding slopes of the mountain. His body was tired, but his eyes refused to shut, taking in every detail of the natural beauty.

When they finally reached the hotel, the cold air was cruelly nipping at them. Since Delhi had been extremely hot, they had decided to ditch the winter wear until after they reached Mussoorie. Basking in the warmth of their rooms, Chris couldn't help but marvel at the view from his room. The entire valley was sprawled beneath him, the hill-side dotted with lush green leaves.

There were mountains as far as his eyes could see, dark green set against the bright blue sky. This would be a good place to sketch, he thought, sitting on the chair in his bedroom balcony.

The rest of the day was uneventful for the family, with all of them tuckered out.

Same day, 5:30pm - Hotel Maple-Fawn

Bundled up in 2 sweaters, a jacket, skull cap and finally, a shawl to cover it all up, Meera finished her walk across the property. She now knew where the gym, yoga centre, gaming zone, library, swimming pool, dance club, spa and garden were located. She knew every exit, every corridor and passage. She was satisfied with the amount of fire extinguishers present and their ease of access. The hotel had various maps screwed into the walls, with clearly demarcated ways to the nearest exit and fire extinguishers.

Heading back to her room, she felt her phone vibrate. "Hey Ma, what happened?" she answered the call. "Where are you?" "Just taking a walk, coming back now." "YOU LEFT THE HOTEL?! ALONE?!" shouted her mother. "Ma, calm down, I did not leave the hotel. I was just taking a walk inside the hotel premises. I wanted to see their gym, swimming pool, gaming zone, spa..." "Oh okay okay, but you should have told me you are going na." "Have you checked your phone? I sent you a Whatsapp message when I left. You even received it," replied Meera. "Yes but that was a long time ago!" "It was only 20 minutes ago Ma!" said an indignant Meera, "It is not my fault that you panicked!" "I am your mother. I have every right to panic when I can't find my children." Reaching the lift to her portion of the hotel, Meera disconnected the call.

Conducting a thorough check of any premises had become somewhat of a habit for Meera. There had been too many instances where innocent people had been the victims of fires just because the building had not been upto code, or even if they were, then the people did not know where the exits were or how to use a fire extinguisher. She was not going to take any chances when it came to protecting her family.

Entering the shared bedroom, Meera's mother ran to hug her, "Where were you? Do you know how worried I was?" "Mom I had been gone for just 20 minutes. Can you please not be so clingy?" retorted Meera, dodging her mother. "I am a mother. Mothers are not clingy." "First of all," replied Meera, "A mother is a relation and being clingy is a personality trait, so yes, you can be both. And secondly, I told you where I am na, what is the need to be so hyper all the time?" "I worry Bala," her Mother said with concern, "Times are bad." "If the times are bad then..." "How is the rest of the hotel?" interrupted Poppy, ending their conversation. "It is great. They even have a small library here. Some of your favourite authors are available as well. There's Danielle Steel, Maeve Binchy and Babara Taylor Bradford." "Oo that's nice. Any books which we haven't read?" "I don't know which books you haven't read, but I will take you there whenever you want. I got this interesting book which talks about the history of Mussoorie and..." "Why is my phone hanging?" Poppy interrupted again, "Meera check and see what is wrong with my phone." Meera quietly sighed. Her grandmother had an annoying habit of interrupting people when they were talking about something she wasn't interested in. Clearing some of the junk from the phone, she handed it back to Poppy. "Aah now it's working properly," smiled Poppy.

Next day, 10am - Hotel Maple-Fawn

The restaurant where all the meals were served housed floor-to-ceiling windows which offered a beautiful view of the trees and overlooked the valley below.

The Evans family was already at the table next to the window, savoring the delicious breakfast. Scott suddenly stopped eating his omelette, his eyes squinting at something across the room. "Did you guys see that woman? She took a bowl of cornflakes and is eating them without milk! Why would she do that?" Carly and Lisa turned around while Shanna tried to crane her neck to look at the person. "Who are you talking about?" asked Shanna. "That woman in the skull cap! She's sitting at the table of 4, with 3 other people! The one who's wearing the bulky sweater and shawl!" "That's not a woman, that's a man," stated Carly, "I saw him walking around our wing yesterday. He was looking at all the fire extinguishers and the maps for some reason. I thought he worked with the hotel. What a weirdo." "I think that's a woman," contributed Lisa, "What do you think Chris?" "Not interested," came the reply.

Over the course of the next few days, members of the Evans family kept spotting the 'mystery person', either at the gaming zone, the library, restaurant or around the premises. Shanna swore she once heard the person and their voice sounded "Deep and gruff, just like a man's!" "Bullshit!" retorted Scott, "I saw her crouching on the gravel pathway yesterday. It's a she!" "Wait why was she crouching on the pathway for no reason? That is so weird!" commented Stella, Chris' 13-year-old niece. "Oh she was picking up some wrapper or plastic, I don't know I wasn't very close." "Then how are you sure it was she and not he?" argued Shanna.

The doorbell of their suite rang, putting a pause to the argument. The concierge, Ankur, was at the door. He informed them that the hotel was organising a horse-riding workshop for the next day and wanted to check if anyone would be interested to participate. "Sounds like fun," Scott wondered, "No! I cannot hear you complain about chafed thighs for the rest of the vacation," said Chris. After they politely refused, Ankur reminded Chris about the mediation program. "You have only visited one session sir, when we had you signed up for the entire duration of your stay. Did you not like the session?" "Oh no it was great. I... I just wanted to spend sometime with my family, you know?" "I understand sir. You can rejoin the program anytime you want. I will take your leave. Do let us know if there's anything we can do to serve you," and with that, Ankur left.

"I am sorry," apologized Carly, "I thought you might like the mediation program. Rishikesh is just a few hours away you know. We can go and spend the rest of our vacation there." "Please don't say that," replied Chris, "They have a nice teacher here. It's just that I have already heard and read everything that the guru was preaching. Plus it's so beautiful here. I want us to stay," Chris tried his best to sound convincing.

It wasn't that this vacation was a bad idea, the change of location and the absence of the hounding media had relieved some of the stress Chris had been facing. It was just that Chris felt like he didn't belong anywhere. Uptil now, for the better part of the vacation, he had stayed holed up in his room, either watching PicFlix or sitting in his balcony, with a blank notepad and pencil. There were days when his mind was flooded with thoughts and then there were times when he felt... numb. He sat in the cold, without a sweater or a jacket, just to feel the nip of the wind, which never really came. He felt like he was either running at top speed, or he had come to a full stop. When therapy had not worked for him, he had tried to speak to his family, but they were always supportive and just this once, just this once, he did not want them to be. He had fucked up, and he wanted a way to fix it. But how could he when he himself needed fixing?

Settling back in his room, with a glass of whisky, neat, he closed his eyes, to rewind everything that had happened, once again.

Post the COVID-19 nightmare, when the country had finally reopened and life had started to return to normalcy, Chris and his partners, Mark Kassen and Joe Kiani, had finally launched their civic engagement project A Starting Point (ASP). The launch had been successful, with Chris' devoted fans flocking to the website in the first few days. The concept had been quite simple, to get senators on one-minute videos to answer questions on topics related to education, trade policies, immigration and more. They had managed to get inputs and secure participation from politicians belonging to both the parties. It all worked fine for the first 2 months.

The third month came with its own set of issues. Many politicians started promoting their own agendas, instead of just explaining the existing policies. This led to a shortage of interview clips as Chris and his team refused to air such videos.

As time went on, politicians belonging to the same parties started giving different, contradicting information on the same topics. While some senators painted a pretty picture about a particular policy, others spoke against it. What added fuel to the fire was that the some of the news media had started reporting that Chris was causing friction in both the political parties through ASP, especially the Republican party. It also didn't help that Chris had been outspoken against the previous Republican President. Moreover, politicians who answered questions by ASP started changing their responses when they were asked the same questions by the media. They blamed Chris for somehow manipulating and changing their responses.

This had already started taking a toll on Chris' career. Award functions were reluctant to invite him to the ceremony, let alone nominate him for his roles. His box office collections had started seeing a decline. Even the media was increasingly writing negative stories about him, wondering whether America's blue-eyed hero is finally becoming the villian.

As months passed, an increased number of citizens were disgruntled by the lack of new videos and hence, lack of information on the site.

The final nail in ASP's coffin was Senator Yellowstone. One of the youngest senators to ever be elected, Senator Yellowstone was charming, intelligent and sharp. He understood the need for reforms in the governement and knew that change was inevitable in order for the country to progress. It was uncanny how Chris and Yellowstone agreed on multiple political issues. Both of them saw eye-to-eye when it came to the electoral college, voting and other issues. As a result, Yellowstone became one of the top contributors of ASP, always open to share a small video on the topics that mattered the most.

Chris would never forget the day when Yellowstone's rape scandal broke the news. He had been accused of rape and molestation by 43 teenagers. Apparently, as a part of his community outreach, Yellowstone ran a program wherein he would tutor and guide young females who would be interested to take part in politics in the near future. Chris had been impressed by the initiative and had supported Yellowstone. But, he did not know that Yellowstone was using the initiative as a front for his horrific crimes. That scandal destroyed Chris, professionally and personally. ASP finally shut down and all the studios cancelled their contracts with him. He was fired from his ongoing projects. While the court had acquitted Chris of all charges, the media still put him on trial everytime. He couldn't come to face the truth. He blamed himself for what happened to those poor girls. He could have been, should have been more careful in trusting people. But, Yellowstone's charm was such that he could charm the snake into shedding it's skin, and then sell it back to him.

Chris had publically apologized to all the victims and had discreetly offered to pay for their education. While some graciously accepted the offer, understanding that Chris had nothing to do with the scandal, a few others saw it as Chris' attempt to hide his 'alleged' involvement. They approached the media with this story and as expected, the next day his kind gesture was butchered, tainted as a 'cover-up fiasco' by the news outlets.

It had been a year since then. There were no new projects on Chris' desk. Most of the film industry was practising their distance, with only a few loyal friends sticking by his side. His social media accounts lay dormant. There were still a portion of his fans who stood by him, defending him on the internet, but there was a large number of people who even today thought he had to do something with the scandal and was to blame.

Everyday, his remorse ate him alive. Everyday, he felt himself slipping into the abyss and everyday, his motivation to try and reach out for help lessened. Everyday.

Chris' phone pulled him out of his reverie. He saw Scott's name on the screen, asking him to join the family for dinner. Chris looked at the untouched glass of whisky, deciding he was not hungry.

Not tonight.

#chris evans #chris evans fanfic #chris evans fanfiction #chrisevans #chris evans x india #angst #chris evans angst #a starting point #chris evans family #chris evans fic #chris evans fandom #oc appreciation day 2020 #OCs Are People Too

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calyxaomphalos · 2 years ago

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The Ghosts of Windy Ridge

Turn #15, evening of day four.

four components location #3 - Windy Ridge Academy - school (2) - This is my first visit. Though the name says 'Academy', it's for gifted kids and children of rich parents who want the prestige neighbor #7 - Tina James - human w/ a quirky hobby (4) - My first meeting with Tina. She teaches robotics at the Academy. item #14 - item that brings a smile to my face (3) event #15 - rain while the sun is shining (just sunset now!) (6)

4 April 2022, Monday Evening

I went back to the cabin, ate one of the salads, put the rest of the food away and pondered my next move. When I'd gone from the Great Hall over to the WRFBC that first night, I'd taken a left fork in the road. Looking at the map, that right fork is the only other major artery road around here. It could be worth a little evening drive to see what is up that way.

The sun was just about to go down, not a cloud in the sky. Probably going to be a boring sunset, but at least it'll be nice for the drive. A few minutes later, I'd taken that right fork. About a mile and a half, maybe less, on the left-hand side of the road was an imposing-looking building. A large carved granite sign in front said, "Windy Ridge Academy" and in smaller lettering, "Grades Six Through Thirteen."

There were a few cars in the parking lot down at the end near the athletic field. I parked closer to the front of the building. There was a chance the doors would still be open. It is a school day, after all. My thinking was that perhaps I'd see a bulletin board or some student displays. I was also wondering if Dani was still young enough to be attending. Also, it could be a good chance to meet another neighbor.

Right when I closed the door of my car, a sudden downpour of rain covered the entire parking lot in a deluge. I could still see the setting sun shining brightly as I ran toward the front doors of the Academy. When I got under cover of the space between the row of columns at the front and the actual facade and doors of the building, I noticed that I was surprisingly dry. The soles of my shoes were wet, but only a drop or two on my shoulders and head. It was still coming down out there and the setting sun made a very dramatic rainbow.

I was lost in admiring the atmospheric phenomena when I heard the tapping behind me. My first thought was that it was the toenails of a little dog clacking on the stone floor, so I was looking down when I turned around. I almost jumped out of my skin seeing a thing that was about the size of the small dog I expected, but it had at least six legs and was mostly black.

I recovered my composure when I realized it was some sort of little robot. It stopped and an appendage on the top angled toward me. The glassy end suggested to me it was a camera. I waved.

A tinny voice came out of the thing, "Hi! Sorry to scare you! I'm Tina James and I teach robotics here at the Academy." A moment later one of the two double doors opened up and a woman walked out, holding an elaborate remote control in one hand and waving with the other.

"Tina James, I presume?"

"Yes, hi, sorry to have spooked you. Useful little thing here, my baby, this hexapod. So, may I help you with anything? Are you a parent of a student here?"

"My name is Serren Dyer and I'm staying in Windy Ridge for the month, looking up the history of an old friend," I said, holding out my right hand. "I'm pretty sure he was a substitute teacher here some years ago."

Tina clasped my hand in a polite but weak handshake and then asked, "What was his name? What did he teach?"

"Maurice Forrester, probably taught math and chemistry."

"The name is familiar, but I don't think I can place the face. I've only been with the Academy for half a dozen years," Tina replied.

"Mo passed away four years ago, so I'm not too surprised you didn't cross paths."

The rain had stopped and the sun was down. Tina had picked up her little hexapod robot, cradling it in her left arm while also holding the remote with her left hand. She extended her right hand to me again and said, "Nice to have met you. Good luck finding out about your friend. I'm sorry but I have papers to grade. Good night!"

She turned back to the door and went back into the building. I decided I'd had a long enough day and headed back to the cabin.

#the ghosts of windy ridge #writeblr #nanowrimo #over the mountain

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aion-rsa · 3 years ago

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Upcoming Jason Momoa Movies and TV Shows to Watch Out For

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Jason Momoa is everywhere. The former Game of Thrones actor is riding high after starring in the popular film Sweet Girl on Netflix, with Season 2 of his Apple TV+ series See set to start streaming this weekend and a key role in Denis Villeneuve’s hotly anticipated Dune adaptation on deck. Oh, and as the DCEU continues to shift and change, he’s still the only Arthur Curry, aka Aquaman, in sight. Not bad for a guy who got his start on Baywatch: Hawaii.

Things aren’t slowing down any time soon for Momoa. Besides the projects listed above, the actor has a few other big things planned down the road. If you just finished Netflix’s Sweet Girl and you’re looking for more Momoa in your life, here’s where you can expect to see the King of Atlantis next.

See Season 2

Streaming August 26

Apple TV+’s sci-fi dystopian series is set in a far-off future in which humanity collectively lost the sense of sight. Season 1 found Momoa’s Baba Voss reuniting with his sighted stepson Kofun (Archie Madekwe) after defeating Jerlamarel (Joshua Henry), another sighted man who had fathered kids like Kofun all while having a weird messiah complex.

In season 2, Momoa’s Baba will have to go toe-to-toe with another big bad preoccupied with the possibility of returning sight to the world, his brother Edo Voss, played by Dave Bautista. It’s clear from early looks of season 2 that there’s some bad blood between the hulking brothers, and with season 2 bringing in a new showrunner, Warrior‘s Jonathan Tropper, we can expect the action scenes to be even more explosive in year two.

Dune

In theaters and on HBO Max on Oct. 22

After a failed Alejandro Jodorowsky adaptation, and a polarizing one from David Lynch, Frank Herbert’s “unfilmable” science fiction classic, Dune, will once again hit theaters and streaming this October. Once slated for a Christmas time release, Denis Villenuve’s Dune aims to capture the scale of the epic novel, with huge battles and even larger sand worms.

In a packed cast that also includes Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Oscar Isaac, Rebecca Ferguson, Dave Bautista, and many more A-listers, Jason Momoa is playing Duncan Idaho, the swordmaster of House Atreides. Loyal to protagonist Paul, the ducal heir of House Atreides, Duncan is a mentor to Paul and an ambassador to the Fremen, the inhabitants of the the planet Arrakis.

There’s no telling if Villenuve’s Dune will make the hard science fiction of its source material palatable for a wide audience, but Momoa has had success in parts tied to beloved novels before, and there’s no doubt he’ll make Duncan Idaho into something memorable on screen.

Aquaman and the Last Kingdom

In theaters Dec. 16, 2022

Production has begun on the second Aquaman film, but the plot of the Jason Momoa-starrer mostly remains obscured in murky water. However, returning director James Wan has provided an intriguing update that references a cult classic 1960s Italian horror film as its main source of inspiration.

“Aquaman 2 is very heavily inspired by Planet of the Vampires,” Wan recently told Total Film. “You can take the boy out of horror but you can never take the horror out the boy.”

But does the cult-classic Mario Bava sci-fi film about spaceships haunted by mysterious alien lifeforms fit into the underwater superhero aesthetic of Aquaman? Wan thinks the fans will roll with it.

“Well, the first movie took a lot of people by surprise, right?” Wan said. “And that’s partially because they were not familiar with the comic book, which deals in this very lurid, strange world. People were taken aback that I didn’t throw all that stuff away and make a dark, heavy film. But I didn’t feel that would have been right for it. So, with the second film, I feel it will be easier for people to accept where we go because I’ve already laid the foundation.”

We’ll see exactly where Wan, Momoa, and company will go when Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom hits theaters on Dec. 16, 2022.

The Last Manhunt

Release Date TBD

Filming on this Western has been completed for some time, and the movie was set to premiere Aug. 27 at Pioneertown International Film Festival before the event was delayed by the surging COVID-19 Delta variant.

Jason Momoa exec produced and has a story credit on The Last Manhunt, which is based on true events. According to the synopsis, the film follows a Native American cowboy known as Willie Boy, who was chased into the hills by a sheriff’s posse in 1909 after Willie Boy fell in love with a woman named Carlota. Carlota’s father, a Chemehuevi shaman and local tribal leader, refused to let the young couple be together, and in a fatal confrontation, Carlota’s father was killed by an accidental gun shot and the young lovers fled to the sun enslaved Mohave desert.

The film was shot near where the actual events took place and local tribes were recruited to appear in the movie as extras or stand-ins. Momoa, who was originally onboard to direct but had to back out due to other commitment, was said to have fallen in love with the story and was insistent on getting the input of tribal members. The story was adapted to film once before in Robert Redford’s Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here.

The film stars Martin Sensmeier as Willie Boy, Mainei Kinimaka as Carlota, and Momoa appears In a brief role as Big Jim. Directed by Momoa’s See costar Christian Camargo, The Last Manhunt currently does not have a scheduled release date.

Slumberland

TBD 2022

From Hunger Games franchise director Francis Lawrence, Slumberland is a live-action adaptation of the comic book series Little Nemo in Slumberland by Winsor McCay. Taking a gender-flipped approach to the source material, Slumberland tells the story of a young girl (Marlow Barkley) who discovers a secret map to the dreamworld of Slumberland, and with the help of an eccentric outlaw, she traverses through dreams and flees nightmares, with the hope that she will see her late father again. Guess who will be playing that eccentric outlaw.

No, you’re not dreaming—that’s Jason Momoa with a full set of horns. Here’s a sneak peek behind the scenes at SLUMBERLAND, a new adventure story about an eccentric outlaw (Momoa) who guides a young hero (Marlow Barkley) through a secret dreamworld. Coming to Netflix in 2022. pic.twitter.com/QZIaQbk7HM

— NetflixFilm (@NetflixFilm) April 6, 2021

Momoa looks wonderful sporting big horns and extravagant outfit. His character, Flip, is described as a “nine-foot-tall creature that is half-man, half-beast, has shaggy fur, and long curved tusks.” They’ve certainly have got the man for the job.

Slumberland will also feature Weruche Opia, India de Beaufort, Kyle Chandler, and Chris O’Dowd rounding out the ensemble cast.

Cliffhanger

(TBD)

A female-led reboot of Sylvester Stallone’s Cliffhanger is in the works from director Iranian-American filmmaker Ana Lily Amirpour.

Speaking to Deadline, Amirpour said, “I instantly knew the elements of the story I wanted to tell. There’s a special place in my heart for an action-survival movie. I’ve always been attracted to the theme of mountain climbers who, like filmmakers, have a certain madness to them. I love genre and fantasy and in this type of survival film you’re playing with real fear.”

“We are setting out to create a thrill-ride on the mountain which taps into the primal side of an action movie, where you see what a person is capable of doing to survive in the most extreme situations, pushed to the limits,” she continued. “Add to that some high-stakes espionage and a badass female mountain climber as the lead and it becomes a truly epic reinvention of what made the original Cliffhanger movie so fun and so thrilling.”

There’s no word on casting for the female lead, but Momoa is said to be involved in the film, with at least a cameo planned for the actor. Momoa confirmed as much with a post on his Instagram.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Jason Momoa (@prideofgypsies)

Untitled Momoa-Dave Bautista Buddy Cop Movie

TBD

What started as a text exchange between two frequent co-stars has now become a public promise: we are going to get a Jason Momoa/Dave Bautista buddy cop film at some point.

After Bautista tweeted about the idea, Momoa took things even further by going on The Late Late Show with James Corden and expanding on the idea.

“[Bautista] literally texted me four days ago, going, ‘We need to do a buddy cop film,’” Momoa told Corden. “We love each other. We are on See and Dune together. And I said, ‘Absolutely.’ And he said, ‘Let’s do it in Hawaii.’ And I said, ‘Let’s do it. I have an idea.’ So it’s off to the races now. We’re doing it.”

“It sells itself, bro,” he continued. “Dave loves wearing Speedos. I love wearing board shorts. And both of us with our shirts off. He’ll be grumpy and I’ll be charming. Boom. It sells itself, bro. I have the hair. He doesn’t have hair. We cover all the demographics.”

Obviously this project is in a very early stage, but Momoa is right — this thing sells itself. Sign us up for opening day tickets, please!

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#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

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wallpaperpainter · 4 years ago

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10 Task View Windows 10 Rituals You Should Know In 10 | task view windows 10

Robotic action automation (RPA) startup UiPath today appear it has bankrupt a $225 actor allotment round, bringing its absolute aloft to over $1.2 billion. While the new annular is almost bisected the $568 actor UiPath aloft aftermost April, it catapults the New York-based company’s post-money appraisal to $10.2 billion, up from $7 billion in 2019 and $3 billion in 2018.

How to use Task View features on Windows 10 | Windows Central – task view windows 10 | task view windows 10

CEO Daniel Dines says the allotment will be acclimated to calibration UiPath’s belvedere and deepen its investments in “AI-powered innovation” as it expands its billow software-as-a-service (SaaS) offerings. The annular will additionally acceptable lay the background for approaching cardinal deals, afterward UiPath’s accretion of startups StepShot and ProcessGold aftermost October.

RPA — technology that automates monotonous, repetitive affairs commonly performed by animal workers — is big business. Forrester estimates that RPA and added AI subfields created jobs for 40% of companies in 2019 and that a tenth of startups now administer added agenda workers than animal ones. According to a McKinsey survey, at atomic a third of activities could be automatic in about 60% of occupations. That may be why Bazaar and Markets anticipates the RPA bazaar will be account $493 billion by 2022, with a admixture anniversary advance amount of 19%.

UiPath was founded in 2005 by Romanian administrator Marius Tîrcă and Dines, a above Microsoft software engineer. The aggregation was headquartered in Bucharest afore ambience up boutique in New York City and accretion to London; Bangalore; Paris; Singapore; Washington, D.C.; and Tokyo. UiPath grew its applicant abject from 100 barter in 2017 to over 5,000, with added than 750,000 users as of aftermost year. Moreover, UiPath says the solutions developed by its over 2,800-person workforce now automate tasks for added than 65% of the Fortune 500 and eight of the Fortune 10, including GE, Virgin Media, Airbus, Google, Autodesk, NASA, HP, Fujifilm, McCormick, DHL, Swiss Re, McDonald’s, and Equifax.

UiPath takes a multipronged access to RPA that begins with assignment discovery. The company’s action mining tech produces an “X-ray” of end-to-end desktop, web, text-based, business apps, email, IT, and appointment workflows by affairs log abstracts from absolute action systems, allowance assay basis account issues through recommendations, visualizations, tags, and KPIs. Assignment abduction is the abutting footfall in UiPath’s onboarding alternation and comes as advisers move through a assignment action they’d like to automate, demography screenshots and accretion abstracts like window names, titles, and descriptions afore affairs aggregate calm into a action analogue certificate or XAML file.

Task View – Wikipedia – task view windows 10 | task view windows 10

Task mining complements action mining and abduction by anecdotic and accumulation workflows. UiPath applies AI to map tasks to automation opportunities and aggravate out the best common patterns from the data, deeply recording metrics from whitelisted applications, including accomplish and beheading time. Thanks to AI-powered certificate compassionate capabilities, the belvedere can ingest, analyze, and adapt PDFs and images — alike those with handwriting, checkboxes, signatures, rotated or skewed elements, and low resolutions. When acclimated with UiPath’s Orchestrator product, assignment mining can be provisioned, deployed, triggered, monitored, measured, and tracked at every footfall from a browser or smartphone.

A able-bodied set of computer eyes algorithms underlies UiPath’s certificate compassionate features, which can admit and collaborate with on-screen fields and apparatus like Flash and Silverlight. Drawing on a neural arrangement with a aggregate of awning optical appearance acceptance and argument down-covered analogous with a multi-anchoring system, the Linux, Android, and Windows software robots powered by the algorithms can “see” basic desktop interfaces via Citrix, VMWare, Microsoft RDP, and VNC audience and accredit automations with activating elements like drop-downs and checkboxes.

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UiPath offers three kinds of robots: abounding robots that anticipate directions, abandoned robots that don’t crave animal intervention, and amalgam robots that accomplishment circadian tasks with the advice of abounding robots and leave the abandoned robots to abridge reports. From a dashboard dubbed Action Center and Insights, IT teams can appearance up to bags (or tens of thousands) of robots’ tasks and acknowledging abstracts and booty alleviative accomplishments in the accident of a bottleneck.

The assault affection of UiPath’s apartment is the Automation Hub, a aperture from which advisers can acquire rewards for accidental automations. It’s additionally area admins can see automations and ascendancy them from abstraction to production, leveraging an algorithm to assay tasks account automating. And it’s area associates of the C-suite can anticipate automation complication and aftereffect costs. UiPath Studio provides a toolset developers can use to almanac workflows, borrow prebuilt automation activities, accommodate third-party components, and allotment and reclaim components, with a amalgamation augment administrator that ensures compatible sources and workflow analyzer rules that authorize development paradigms.

Orchestrator facilitates these authoritative tasks with zero-touch provisioning, pluggable action credential stores, and the adeptness to add processes by abacus users to Active Directory groups. Another product, alleged AI Fabric, aids with AI and apparatus acquirements lifecycle management. Application AI Fabric, barter can acceptation their own models or accept from a library of prebuilt options, and they’re able to accumulate tabs on retraining and versioning through a assay apartment with drag-and-drop interfaces for assay planning, claim traceability, and birthmark reporting.

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Above: UiPath Studio for designing processes

UiPath’s assignment has acquired absorption during the coronavirus pandemic. The aggregation told VentureBeat that in Dublin, the Mater Hospital is application its RPA accoutrement to action COVID-19 testing kits, enabling the hospital’s onsite lab to accept after-effects in account and extenuative the nursing administration three hours per day, on average. In the U.S., the Cleveland Clinic leveraged a UiPath artefact to assassinate a alternation of accommodating assimilation tasks in 14-16 seconds, against the 2-3 account it took a human. UiPath additionally claims to accept assisted with U.S. government automation efforts about COVID-19, for instance allowance the Administration of Homeland Security use 500 bots to accomplish coronavirus-related abstracts analysis. Among added agencies, the Administration of Veterans Affairs is investigating how it ability administer RPA accoutrement to its environment.

UiPath ability accept drive on its ancillary — anniversary alternating acquirement hit $400 actor this year, an uptick from $300 actor in October 2019 and $25 actor three years ago. But it additionally has rivals in Automation Anywhere, which aftermost anchored a $290 actor advance from SoftBank at a $6.8 billion valuation. Within a amount of months, Blue Prism aloft over $120 million, Kryon $40 million, and FortressIQ $30 million. Tech giants accept additionally fabricated forays into the field, including Microsoft’s accretion of RPA startup Softmotive and IBM’s acquirement of WDG Automation.

Competition and added headwinds affected UiPath to lay off 300 to 400 advisers (roughly 11% of its workforce) aftermost year in what it characterized as a move against efficiency. (It charcoal to be apparent whether the aggregation will move advanced with the antecedent accessible alms it reportedly planned for the abutting year or so.) UiPath’s competitors haven’t been allowed either — Automation Anywhere has let go of 10% of its workforce as it adapts to stronger appeal for billow casework motivated by the pandemic, and FortressIQ says the accepted bread-and-butter altitude has slowed the advance of its 70-person workforce.

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bigyack-com · 5 years ago

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Where’s Xi? China’s Leader Commands Coronavirus Fight From Safe Heights

WUHAN, China — President Xi Jinping strode onstage before an adoring audience in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing less than three weeks ago, trumpeting his successes in steering China through a tumultuous year and promising “landmark” progress in 2020. “Every single Chinese person, every member of the Chinese nation, should feel proud to live in this great era,” he declared to applause on the day before the Lunar New Year holiday. “Our progress will not be halted by any storms and tempests.” Mr. Xi made no mention of a dangerous new coronavirus that had already taken tenacious hold in the country. As he spoke, the government was locking down Wuhan, a city of 11 million people, in a frantic attempt to stop the virus spreading from its epicenter. Now, Mr. Xi faces an accelerating health crisis that is also a political one: a profound test of the authoritarian system he has built around himself over the past seven years. As the Chinese government struggles to contain the virus amid rising public discontent with its performance, the changes that Mr. Xi has ushered in could make it difficult for him to escape blame. “It’s a big shock to the legitimacy of the ruling party. I think it could be only second to the June 4 incident of 1989. It’s that big,” said Rong Jian, a writer about politics in Beijing, referring to the armed crackdown on Tiananmen Square protesters that year. “There’s no doubt about his control over power," he added, “but the manner of control and its consequences have hurt his legitimacy and reputation.” Mr. Xi himself has recognized what is at stake, calling the outbreak “a major test of China’s system and capacity for governance.” Yet as China’s battle with the coronavirus intensified, Mr. Xi put the country’s No. 2 leader, Li Keqiang, in charge of a leadership group handling the emergency, effectively turning him into the public face of the government’s response. It was Mr. Li who traveled to Wuhan to visit doctors. Mr. Xi, by contrast, receded from public view for several days. That was not without precedent, though it stood out in this crisis, after previous Chinese leaders had used times of disaster to try to show a more common touch. State television and newspapers almost always lead with fawning coverage of Mr. Xi’s every move. That retreat from the spotlight, some analysts said, signaled an effort by Mr. Xi to insulate himself from a campaign that may falter and draw public ire. Yet Mr. Xi has consolidated power, sidelining or eliminating rivals, so there are few people left to blame when something goes wrong. Updated Feb. 5, 2020 Where has the virus spread? You can track its movement with this map. How is the United States being affected? There have been at least a dozen cases. American citizens and permanent residents who fly to the United States from China are now subject to a two-week quarantine. What if I’m traveling? Several countries, including the United States, have discouraged travel to China, and several airlines have canceled flights. Many travelers have been left in limbo while looking to change or cancel bookings. How do I keep myself and others safe? Washing your hands is the most important thing you can do. “Politically, I think he is discovering that having total dictatorial power has a downside, which is that when things go wrong or have a high risk of going wrong, then you also have to bear all the responsibility,” said Victor Shih, an associate professor at the University of California San Diego who studies Chinese politics. Much of the country’s population has been told to stay at home, factories remain closed and airlines have cut service. Experts warn that the coronavirus could slam the economy if not swiftly contained. The government is also having trouble controlling the narrative. Mr. Xi now faces unusually sharp public discontent that even China’s rigorous censorship apparatus has been unable to stifle entirely. The death of an ophthalmologist in Wuhan, Dr. Li Wenliang, who was censured for warning his medical school classmates of the spread of a dangerous new disease in December, has unleashed a torrent of pent-up public grief and rage over the government’s handling of the crisis. Chinese academics have launched at least two petitions in the wake of Dr. Li’s death, each calling for freedom of speech. State media still portray Mr. Xi as ultimately in control, and there’s no sign that he faces a serious challenge from within the party leadership. The crisis, though, has already tainted China’s image as an emerging superpower — efficient, stable and strong — that could eventually rival the United States. How much the crisis might erode Mr. Xi’s political standing remains to be seen, but it could weaken his position in the longer run as he prepares to take a likely third term as Communist Party general secretary in 2022. In 2018, Mr. Xi won approval to remove the constitutional limits on his term as the country’s president, making his plan for another five-year term seem all but certain. If Mr. Xi comes out of this crisis politically insecure, the consequences are unpredictable. He may become more open to compromise within the party elite. Or he may double down on the imperious ways that have made him China’s most powerful leader in generations. “Xi’s grip on power is not light,” said Jude Blanchette, the Freeman Chair in China Studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “While the ham-fisted response to this crisis undoubtedly adds a further blemish to Xi’s tenure in office,” Mr. Blanchette added, “the logistics of organizing a leadership challenge against him remain formidable.” In recent days, despite a dearth of public appearances, state media have portrayed Mr. Xi as a tireless commander in chief. This week they began calling the government’s fight against the virus the “people’s war,” a phrase used in the official readout of Mr. Xi’s telephone call with President Trump on Friday. There are increasing signs that the propaganda this time is proving less than persuasive. The Lunar New Year reception in Beijing where Mr. Xi spoke became a source of popular anger, a symbol of a government slow to respond to the suffering in Wuhan. Mr. Xi and other leaders appear to have been caught off guard by the ferocity of the epidemic. Senior officials would almost certainly have been informed of the emerging crisis by the time national health authorities told the World Health Organization on Dec. 31, but neither Mr. Xi nor other officials in Beijing informed the public. Mr. Xi’s first acknowledgment of the epidemic came on Jan. 20, when brief instructions were issued under his name. His first public appearance after the lockdown of Wuhan on Jan. 23 came two days later, when he presided over a meeting of the Communist Party’s top body, the Politburo Standing Committee, which was shown at length on Chinese television. “We’re sure to be able to win in this battle,” he proclaimed. Back then, the death toll was 106. As it rose, Mr. Xi allowed other officials to take on more visible roles. Mr. Xi’s only appearances have been meeting foreign visitors in the Great Hall of the People or presiding over Communist Party meetings. On Jan. 28, Mr. Xi met with the executive director of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, and told Dr. Tedros that he “personally directed” the government’s response. Later reports in state media omitted the phrase, saying instead that Mr. Xi’s government was “collectively directing” the response. Since nothing about how Mr. Xi is portrayed in state media happens by accident, the tweak suggested a deliberate effort to emphasize shared responsibility. Mr. Xi did not appear on official broadcasts again for a week — until a highly scripted meeting on Wednesday with the authoritarian leader of Cambodia, Hun Sen. There is little evidence that Mr. Xi has given up power behind the scenes. Mr. Li, the premier in formal charge of the leadership group for the crisis, and other officials have said that they take their orders from Mr. Xi. The group is filled with officials who work closely under Mr. Xi, and its directives emphasize his authority. “The way the epidemic is being handled now from the top just doesn’t fit with the argument that there’s been a clear shift toward more collective, consultative leadership,” said Holly Snape, a British Academy Fellow at the University of Glasgow who studies Chinese politics. The scale of discontent and the potential challenges for Mr. Xi could be measured by repeated references online to the nuclear accident at Chernobyl. Many of them came under the guise of viewer reviews of the popular television mini-series of the same name, which is still available for streaming inside China. “In any era, any country, it’s the same. Cover everything up,” one reviewer wrote. The Soviet Union of 1986, however, was a different country than China in 2020. The Soviet state was foundering when Chernobyl happened, said Sergey Radchenko, a professor of international relations at Cardiff University in Wales who has written extensively on Soviet and Chinese politics. “The Chinese authorities, by contrast, are demonstrating an ability to cope, a willingness to take unprecedented measures — logistical feats that may actually increase the regime’s legitimacy,” he added. Mr. Radchenko compared Mr. Xi’s actions to those of previous leaders in moments of crisis: Mao Zedong after the Cultural Revolution or Deng Xiaoping after the Tiananmen Square crackdown. “He’s doing what Mao and Deng would have done in similar circumstances: stepping back into the shadows while remaining firmly in charge.” Chris Buckley reported from Wuhan, and Steven Lee Myers from Beijing. Claire Fu and Amber Wang contributed research. Read the full article

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mastcomm · 5 years ago

Text

Where’s Xi? China’s Leader Commands Coronavirus Fight From Safe Heights

“Every single Chinese person, every member of the Chinese nation, should feel proud to live in this great era,” he declared to applause on the day before the Lunar New Year holiday. “Our progress will not be halted by any storms and tempests.”

Mr. Xi made no mention of a dangerous new coronavirus that had already taken tenacious hold in the country. As he spoke, the government was locking down Wuhan, a city of 11 million people, in a frantic attempt to stop the virus spreading from its epicenter.

Now, Mr. Xi faces an accelerating health crisis that is also a political one: a profound test of the authoritarian system he has built around himself over the past seven years. As the Chinese government struggles to contain the virus amid rising public discontent with its performance, the changes that Mr. Xi has ushered in could make it difficult for him to escape blame.

“It’s a big shock to the legitimacy of the ruling party. I think it could be only second to the June 4 incident of 1989. It’s that big,” said Rong Jian, a writer about politics in Beijing, referring to the armed crackdown on Tiananmen Square protesters that year.

“There’s no doubt about his control over power,” he added, “but the manner of control and its consequences have hurt his legitimacy and reputation.”

Mr. Xi himself has recognized what is at stake, calling the outbreak “a major test of China’s system and capacity for governance.”

Yet as China’s battle with the coronavirus intensified, Mr. Xi put the country’s No. 2 leader, Li Keqiang, in charge of a leadership group handling the emergency, effectively turning him into the public face of the government’s response. It was Mr. Li who traveled to Wuhan to visit doctors.

Mr. Xi, by contrast, receded from public view for several days. That was not without precedent, though it stood out in this crisis, after previous Chinese leaders had used times of disaster to try to show a more common touch. State television and newspapers almost always lead with fawning coverage of Mr. Xi’s every move.

That retreat from the spotlight, some analysts said, signaled an effort by Mr. Xi to insulate himself from a campaign that may falter and draw public ire. Yet Mr. Xi has consolidated power, sidelining or eliminating rivals, so there are few people left to blame when something goes wrong.

Updated Feb. 5, 2020

Where has the virus spread? You can track its movement with this map.

How is the United States being affected? There have been at least a dozen cases. American citizens and permanent residents who fly to the United States from China are now subject to a two-week quarantine.

What if I’m traveling? Several countries, including the United States, have discouraged travel to China, and several airlines have canceled flights. Many travelers have been left in limbo while looking to change or cancel bookings.

How do I keep myself and others safe? Washing your hands is the most important thing you can do.

“Politically, I think he is discovering that having total dictatorial power has a downside, which is that when things go wrong or have a high risk of going wrong, then you also have to bear all the responsibility,” said Victor Shih, an associate professor at the University of California San Diego who studies Chinese politics.

Much of the country’s population has been told to stay at home, factories remain closed and airlines have cut service. Experts warn that the coronavirus could slam the economy if not swiftly contained.

The government is also having trouble controlling the narrative. Mr. Xi now faces unusually sharp public discontent that even China’s rigorous censorship apparatus has been unable to stifle entirely.

The death of an ophthalmologist in Wuhan, Dr. Li Wenliang, who was censured for warning his medical school classmates of the spread of a dangerous new disease in December, has unleashed a torrent of pent-up public grief and rage over the government’s handling of the crisis. Chinese academics have launched at least two petitions in the wake of Dr. Li’s death, each calling for freedom of speech.

State media still portray Mr. Xi as ultimately in control, and there’s no sign that he faces a serious challenge from within the party leadership. The crisis, though, has already tainted China’s image as an emerging superpower — efficient, stable and strong — that could eventually rival the United States.

How much the crisis might erode Mr. Xi’s political standing remains to be seen, but it could weaken his position in the longer run as he prepares to take a likely third term as Communist Party general secretary in 2022.

In 2018, Mr. Xi won approval to remove the constitutional limits on his term as the country’s president, making his plan for another five-year term seem all but certain.

If Mr. Xi comes out of this crisis politically insecure, the consequences are unpredictable. He may become more open to compromise within the party elite. Or he may double down on the imperious ways that have made him China’s most powerful leader in generations.

“Xi’s grip on power is not light,” said Jude Blanchette, the Freeman Chair in China Studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

“While the ham-fisted response to this crisis undoubtedly adds a further blemish to Xi’s tenure in office,” Mr. Blanchette added, “the logistics of organizing a leadership challenge against him remain formidable.”

In recent days, despite a dearth of public appearances, state media have portrayed Mr. Xi as a tireless commander in chief. This week they began calling the government’s fight against the virus the “people’s war,” a phrase used in the official readout of Mr. Xi’s telephone call with President Trump on Friday.

There are increasing signs that the propaganda this time is proving less than persuasive.

The Lunar New Year reception in Beijing where Mr. Xi spoke became a source of popular anger, a symbol of a government slow to respond to the suffering in Wuhan. Mr. Xi and other leaders appear to have been caught off guard by the ferocity of the epidemic.

Senior officials would almost certainly have been informed of the emerging crisis by the time national health authorities told the World Health Organization on Dec. 31, but neither Mr. Xi nor other officials in Beijing informed the public.

Mr. Xi’s first acknowledgment of the epidemic came on Jan. 20, when brief instructions were issued under his name. His first public appearance after the lockdown of Wuhan on Jan. 23 came two days later, when he presided over a meeting of the Communist Party’s top body, the Politburo Standing Committee, which was shown at length on Chinese television. “We’re sure to be able to win in this battle,” he proclaimed.

Back then, the death toll was 106. As it rose, Mr. Xi allowed other officials to take on more visible roles. Mr. Xi’s only appearances have been meeting foreign visitors in the Great Hall of the People or presiding over Communist Party meetings.

On Jan. 28, Mr. Xi met with the executive director of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, and told Dr. Tedros that he “personally directed” the government’s response. Later reports in state media omitted the phrase, saying instead that Mr. Xi’s government was “collectively directing” the response.

Since nothing about how Mr. Xi is portrayed in state media happens by accident, the tweak suggested a deliberate effort to emphasize shared responsibility.

Mr. Xi did not appear on official broadcasts again for a week — until a highly scripted meeting on Wednesday with the authoritarian leader of Cambodia, Hun Sen.

There is little evidence that Mr. Xi has given up power behind the scenes. Mr. Li, the premier in formal charge of the leadership group for the crisis, and other officials have said that they take their orders from Mr. Xi. The group is filled with officials who work closely under Mr. Xi, and its directives emphasize his authority.

“The way the epidemic is being handled now from the top just doesn’t fit with the argument that there’s been a clear shift toward more collective, consultative leadership,” said Holly Snape, a British Academy Fellow at the University of Glasgow who studies Chinese politics.

The scale of discontent and the potential challenges for Mr. Xi could be measured by repeated references online to the nuclear accident at Chernobyl. Many of them came under the guise of viewer reviews of the popular television mini-series of the same name, which is still available for streaming inside China.

“In any era, any country, it’s the same. Cover everything up,” one reviewer wrote.

The Soviet Union of 1986, however, was a different country than China in 2020.

The Soviet state was foundering when Chernobyl happened, said Sergey Radchenko, a professor of international relations at Cardiff University in Wales who has written extensively on Soviet and Chinese politics.

“The Chinese authorities, by contrast, are demonstrating an ability to cope, a willingness to take unprecedented measures — logistical feats that may actually increase the regime’s legitimacy,” he added.

Mr. Radchenko compared Mr. Xi’s actions to those of previous leaders in moments of crisis: Mao Zedong after the Cultural Revolution or Deng Xiaoping after the Tiananmen Square crackdown.

“He’s doing what Mao and Deng would have done in similar circumstances: stepping back into the shadows while remaining firmly in charge.”

Chris Buckley reported from Wuhan, and Steven Lee Myers from Beijing. Claire Fu and Amber Wang contributed research.

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rickhorrow · 5 years ago

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15+5+5 To Watch : 82619

15 TO WATCH/5 SPORTS TECH/POWER OF SPORTS 5: RICK HORROW’S TOP SPORTS/BIZ/TECH/PHILANTHROPY ISSUES FOR THE WEEK OF AUGUST 26

with Jacob Aere

The XFL unveiled the names and logos for the eight teams that will make up the rebooted league's first season when it begins play next February. The eight teams will be the Dallas Renegades, Houston Roughnecks, L.A. Wildcats, New York Guardians, St. Louis BattleHawks, Seattle Dragons, Tampa Bay Vipers, and DC Defenders. The names and logos of the eight XFL teams "make clear" what league Founder Vince McMahon has "emphasized from the beginning: Version 2.0 will be a lot less gimmicky and a lot more conservative than the original model," according to the Washington Times. DC Defenders President Erik Moses said, "With Vince McMahon's vision and genius in marketing, and the resources he has graciously provided us, if we can't get spring football to work, then it doesn't work." On Saturday, Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck shocked the pro football world when he abruptly announced his retirement from football at age 29. XFL Commissioner and Sport Business Handbook contributor Oliver Luck is the father of the NFL standout and Stanford grad. Don’t be surprised to see Andrew Luck joining the XFL in some business capacity.

SportsPro names U.S. Open defending champion Naomi Osaka the world’s most marketable athlete for 2019. The number one ranked WTA star, 21, Osaka is the second woman to top SportsPro’s annual list of the world’s 50 most marketable athletes after Eugenie Bouchard became the first in 2015. The first Asian to be ranked number one, Osaka has enjoyed a whirlwind year, winning both the 2018 U.S. Open and the 2019 Australian Open while building out a commercial portfolio that includes the likes of Nike, beauty company Shiseido, and automotive brand Nissan. Osaka is one of a record 16 female sports stars to be named in the tenth edition of SportsPro’s list, which comprises athletes from 16 sports and 18 countries. Manchester City and England soccer player Raheem Sterling is the highest new entry in the list at No. 2, and is joined in the top five by top NBA Draft pick Zion Williamson, USWNT co-captain Megan Rapinoe, and Paris Saint-Germain forward Kylian Mbappe. SportsPro’s list assesses athletes according to their marketing potential over the coming three-year period, taking into account criteria such as age, home market, crossover appeal, social media presence, charisma, and willingness to be marketed.

Ahead of the U.S. Open, Naomi Osaka has signed new marketing deals with BodyArmor, performance recovery brand Hyperice, and headphone company Muzik. Osaka “received equity stakes in all three emerging companies," according to Forbes. Muzik on Friday released a new headphone designed by Osaka that marks the "first celebrity signature line for the company." She will "receive royalties on the product, in addition to her equity stake." Meanwhile, Hyperice last week "launched marketing campaigns in Japan and the U.S. featuring Osaka as part of a multi-year deal." Osaka is "expected to be one of the faces" of the 2020 Tokyo Games due to her Japanese heritage, and Hyperice is "already mapping out marketing plans around the Games." Despite the new additions to her growing portfolio, no company is as "important to Osaka's brand and bank account as Nike." The apparel giant has unveiled a "collaboration with Japanese designer brand Sacai for an 11-piece collection,” and Osaka will have her "own Nike logo and athleisure line starting in 2020." Osaka also told Forbes that she is working on a project with LeBron James and his business partner Maverick Carter.

DraftKings and Tennis Channel partner in a deal that will incorporate the DFS site’s games into Tennis Channel’s U.S. Open programming. In Tennis Channel’s first foray into DFS, viewers will see DraftKings content beginning Monday with the start of the U.S. Open. Tennis Channel on-air talent will draft player lineups in accordance with DraftKings rules, give analysis, and review rosters from the previous day of play. Tennis Channel will also offer unique DraftKings contests via a special promo code. “It will be heavily integrated into the broadcast, which is certainly a different approach than any of the grand slams have taken up to this point,” DraftKings Chief Business Officer Ezra Kucharz told SportsBusiness Daily. The DraftKings-Tennis Channel deal is only for content during the U.S. Open, but Kucharz anticipates doing more work with the net and potentially other tennis broadcasters in the future. Kucharz also believes domestic tennis organizations are getting more comfortable with broadcasters integrating sports gambling content.

Sunday saw the FedEx Cup season come to a conclusion when the Tour Championship crowned Rory McIlroy, who earned $15 million for the win. Mike McCarley, NBC Sports Group President, Golf, talked to Cynopsis Sports about the playoffs and the year ahead. On measuring success: “The PGA Tour’s playoff system is now 12 years old and the true success of the new schedule and format should be measured over the next decade or more.” On the Playoffs: “Several years ago, we met with the Tour, East Lake Golf Club, and several sponsors: FedEx, Coke, and Southern Co. and discussed how to build this championship into what we all believed it could be. Out of that meeting, came our focus on expanding this week.” On golf’s schedule shift: “All of the changes to the golf schedule [were] designed to have the Playoffs culminate before football season. The fall becomes a showcase for the sport’s global nature with events worldwide with PGA Tour and LPGA’s swings in Asia, as well as marquee team events with the U.S. women looking to defend the Solheim Cup and the Tiger Woods captained U.S. team defending the Presidents Cup in Australia.”

This football season, Lowe’s will be “homegating.” Lowe’s has signed a new deal with the Dallas Cowboys and launched an online store with more than 10,000 NFL-licensed items of merchandise to activate its first season as an NFL sponsor. The online shop will support the broader concept of the season’s campaigns -- tailgating and so-called “homegating” -- as Lowe’s looks to become the supplier of all merchandise related to the game day fan experience. Products will include chairs, canopies, grills, rugs, wall art, flags, automobile decals, and more. The multiyear deal with the Cowboys comes along with a renewal of Lowe’s longstanding relationship with the Panthers. Both teams, along with the Eagles, helped Lowe’s produce a series of online videos, “NFL Homegating Makeovers by Lowe’s,” which follows three football-themed home makeovers in those markets. Lowe’s became the NFL’s official home improvement retail sponsor in January.

Super Bowl LIV to cost Miami-Dade municipalities nearly $20 million. Super Bowl LIV will cost three of Miami-Dade County's largest municipal governments nearly $20 million over time, as local governments have "spent or plan to commit" more than $15 million in "cash contributions to the host committee, security bills, municipal fee waivers and partial payments for parks improvements," according to the Miami Herald. The "costs of football fields and lighting improvements to Miami’s waterfront are being split between the NFL and government agencies." However, Miami-Dade County will pay another $4 million to the Dolphins for "attracting the game." Miami's Downtown Development Authority "plans to cover half of the $600,000 price tag for permanent LED lighting on the Baywalk" to accompany the "Super Bowl Live" attraction, while the NFL has "agreed to pay the other half." The bulk of Miami Beach's expenses associated with the game "are coming in the form of fee waivers" totaling $1.2 million. The city also is putting $350,000 toward a new $1 million football field for Rick’s alma mater Miami Beach Senior High School, an expense to be "split with the league and school district.”

Curry backs Howard golf. Warriors guard Stephen Curry traveled to Washington, DC last week to announce that he is "sponsoring the creation of men's and women's golf teams" at Howard University, bringing competitive golf to the school for the "first time in decades," according to the Washington Post. Curry will make a "seven-figure donation paid out over the next six years, aimed at giving Howard time to raise an endowed fund that would make the program self-sustainable." Howard previously competed in D-II golf, but this is "believed to be the first time Howard will have" a D-I golf program in the school’s 152-year history. Curry’s love of golf clearly rivals his love of basketball, as witnessed by his multiple entries in PGA Tour events and backing of the NBC summer TV series, “Holey Moley.” His donation to Howard, however, is all about paying that love of golf forward to the next generation of top level African American athletes.

MLS formally announces St. Louis as home to the league's 28th team. MLS Commissioner Don Garber, members of the St. Louis ownership group, and St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson last Tuesday shared in the announcement that the club is expected to begin play in 2022, according to SoccerAmerica. From a business standpoint, this is "really, really good for the city," as it is "essentially a major corporation moving to downtown." The St. Louis expansion franchise is the first in the league to have female majority ownership. The team will play in a new stadium in St. Louis’ Downtown West district that will feature 22,500 seats, each of which will be within 120 feet of the pitch and have a translucent canopy that will provide cover for fans. MLS currently has 24 teams, including rookie FC Cincinnati. David Beckham’s Inter Miami and a new Nashville club will kick off next year, with Austin FC set to open in 2021, before the St. Louis club make its debut.

All right, all right, all right. McConaughey invests in Austin FC. Austin FC announced last Friday that four local investors will join franchise CEO Anthony Precourt in the run-up to the new MLS team’s debut season in 2021, including actor Matthew McConaughey. According to the Austin American-Statesman, the group is led by Pixiu Investments Managing Partner Eduardo Margain, and also features Dell President and Chief Commercial Officer Marius Haas and Parsley Energy Founder, Chair and CEO Bryan Sheffield. McConaughey’s appearance at an LAFC match in May with LAFC Minority Owner Will Ferrell "sparked speculation" that he would join the Austin team. Austin FC has also set a "firm date" of September 5 for groundbreaking on their upcoming $242 million MLS stadium. McConaughey’s investment continues a string of celebrity MLS investors, including Ferrell and Seattle Sounders backers: rapper Macklemore, singer Ciara, and her husband Russell Wilson. The average MLS franchise is worth $240 million, according to Forbes.

Twitter and Adidas bring back high school football series. Friday Night Stripes, the livestreaming series of high school football games on Twitter, is coming back for a second season later this month. According to Hashtag Sports, the show, which was created by Adidas, Intersport, and Twitter, debuted in 2018 and focused on broadcasting eight football games from high schools across the U.S. And it turned out to be quite a success. According to Twitter, Friday Night Stripes generated more than 32.6 million total views and had over 15.6 million live viewers tuning into the series. "The high school sports community on Twitter is not only massive, but extremely passionate and engaged," said T.J. Adeshola, Head of U.S. Sports Partnerships at Twitter. "Friday Night Stripes gives us the fantastic opportunity to showcase the future of sport—the culture, the lifestyle, the swagger—in an innovative way, directly to the timelines of fans all over the globe." Friday Night Stripes Season 2 is a prime example of Twitter's vision for sports video content on its site, an area in which it’s been heavily investing.

Ripken Baseball and ESPN's Wide World of Sports Complex announce a partnership that will bring elite youth baseball tournaments to Walt Disney World Resort beginning in 2020. The Ripken Experience at Walt Disney World Resort, according to SportsBusiness Daily, will include a "dazzling" opening ceremony for participants, whose ages will range from 6-18. Games will be played on 11 ballfields, six youth-sized fields equipped with lights for night games and five professional-sized fields, including The Stadium at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex, which hosted MLB Spring Training games for more than two decades. Players will have free time in the Disney parks to experience new attractions. Said Cal Ripken Jr., "Here at Disney, we might even have greater resources to bring the big-league experience to the kids...We quickly realized that most of the kids are not going to play big-league baseball, so we want to bring a big-league experience down to them." Ripken, founder and chairman of Ripken Baseball, as well as a Sport Business Handbook contributor, added that the partnership is a multiyear deal.

ISC has announced that COO Joie Chitwood III has resigned from his post, effective November 25, the first major departure amid ISC’s acquisition by NASCAR. Chitwood, noted SportsBusiness Daily, has been with ISC for a decade, having served as President of Daytona International Speedway during its $400 million renovation before stepping into the COO role, where he has overseen the operations of ISC’s 13 tracks. Chitwood is one of ISC executives identified in public filings as having substantial stock in the company, which should provide a windfall after NASCAR’s $2 billion acquisition of ISC closes, which is expected by year’s end. Sources have been anticipating departures from ISC’s leadership in the coming months; SportsBusiness Journal last month reported that ISC President John Saunders has also been mentioned as someone who could leave the company after the acquisition closes. After the acquisition is complete, NASCAR’s leadership is expected to have greater oversight of track operations under the newly combined company.

MLB FoodFest returns for a second helping. MLB FoodFest presented by Budweiser returned to New York September 21-22 on Fifth Avenue near Bryant Park. The event's second installment on the East Coast -- it also took place in Los Angeles earlier this year -- provides all 30 teams an opportunity to designate one food item to represent their team and community. Each ticket grants access to the space for a designated two-hour block and can only be secured online prior to arrival at the venue. Among the most popular food items are the Mariners' toasted grasshoppers, the Pirates' pulled pork pierogi hoagie, the Red Sox' hot lobster rolls, and for dessert, the D-backs’ Churro Dogs. Most of last week’s menu featured concoctions new to the New York event, including the local team and ballpark representatives with the Mets Bases Loaded Dog and the Yankees Shrimp Po’Boy. This time around, attendees also had access to new interactive elements, such as a Home Run Derby Virtual Reality experience and an MLB FoodFest merchandise shop.

This bowl naming deal is no flake. Kellogg's Frosted Flakes brand will be the "title sponsor of the newly-named Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl," with the multiyear partnership "marked by Tony the Tiger being the first mascot to lend his name to a college football bowl game," according to the El Paso Times. The sponsorship agreement between the Sun Bowl Association and Frosted Flakes was "brokered by Denver-based Impression Sports & Entertainment." Tony the Tiger is "returning the Sun Bowl to its inaugural mission -- helping kids play sports -- something that hasn't been a focus since the birth of the Sun Bowl." The Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl in 2019 will "align with Tony's 'Mission Tiger' initiative, raising awareness and funds for at-risk middle school sports programs through a multiyear partnership with nonprofit DonorsChoose.org" SI.com opined that the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl is "easily the greatest bowl name and sponsorship deal since the Popeyes Bahamas Bowl" 2014-2016. My take? It’s Grrrreat!

Top Five Tech

Barstool Sports now earns one-third of its revenue through podcasts. According to Variety, the oft-criticized media outfit has been able to leverage its loyal audience to expand into the world of podcasting, which now represents a sizable and growing piece of its business. Three years ago, the company featured just three podcasts, but now it has more than 30 audio shows and ranks as the sixth largest U.S. podcast publisher with 6.75 million unique listeners in July 2019 — putting it ahead of rivals including ESPN. Podcasting is a very high-margin business and far more cost-effective than TV production, and Barstool has inked sponsorship brands for several of its podcasts, including with Roman, SeatGeek, Starbucks, FanDuel, and Square’s Cash App. The raunchy media company can’t find a spot in television due to their questionable commentary, but podcasting has allowed the company to go a step beyond its competitors in the audio space – and soon could have huge advertising impacts when Nielsen begins to rate audio programs.

ESPN launches the long-awaited ACC Network. ACCN went live last Thursday with a two-hour edition of "All-ACC," the channel's flagship studio show. This Thursday, No. 1 Clemson will host Georgia Tech as the network's first marquee live broadcast. Conference networks have become enormous moneymakers this decade, so the launch of ACCN will help the ACC close the financial gap with leagues like the SEC and Big Ten, who have surged ahead. The SEC Network has around 59 million subscribers and $230 million in annual revenue. The Big Ten Network has 55 million subscribers and $160 million in annual revenue. “Over a decade, those numbers would mean more than $2.3 billion (after ESPN takes its half) in revenue for the SEC, [and] more than $1.6 billion (after Fox takes its half) for the Big Ten," notes The Athletic. The Big 12 is now the only Power Five league without its own stand-alone conference network — though it's nearly all-in with ESPN.

ESPN introduces a Player Impact Rating segment for college football players with an augmented reality segment on the network. According to NewscastStudio, the segment and ranking system is part of a multi-year deal with Sony’s PlayStation as the official gaming and virtual reality sponsor for the metric. The new feature will rate real college football players on a zero to 100 scale, just like a Playstation video game and similar to the iconic Madden video game series. ESPN’s announcement about the rating states it accounts for the player’s time on and off the field plus the skills of both teammates and opponents. To introduce its new rating system, ESPN produced a virtual studio and augmented reality segment that places its on-air talent inside of a streamlined rendition of a football stadium. This move is a direct tie between esports and on-field sports and should bring a new system of evaluation to previously under the radar football players.

Estars has launched a new interactive, free-to-play gaming platform with more than $20 million in prizes for 2019. According to European Gaming, Estars is the leading production company for esports and video games and has ramped up their Major Events prize pool for the rest of 2019. On Estars, users are able to compete and connect with their favorite games, players, streamers, and teams through free prediction-based contests. To play, users enter contests and select their predicted outcomes to enter to win prizes. Estars is available on all mobile and desktop web browsers across 46 U.S. states and the age to play is just 16 years old with the chance to win prizes requiring users to be 18 years old. After users select their picks, they can watch the matches live on Estars to see how their selections are performing in real-time – a perfect testing ground for later large scale esports betting.

Los Angeles Overwatch League teams join city's sports rivalries. Los Angeles' "newest rivalry took a big step toward joining its more established brethren" last weekend when Overwatch League franchises L.A. Gladiators and L.A. Valiant faced off in the "Battle for L.A." at The Novo at L.A. Live. According to the Los Angeles Times, the Novo is a "2,400-seat performance venue that will serve as the home of the Valiant next season" as the OWL "moves into the home markets of its 20 teams." Beginning next year, teams will "move into their home markets and into their home arenas," and the "Battle for L.A." provided "the first glimpse of what that will look like" in L.A. The city is "further solidifying itself as the epicenter of esports." And when the new Los Angeles Stadium at Hollywood Park complex opens, don’t be surprised to see some sort of esports presence there as well.

Power of Sports Five

The World Surf League helps the coral reef crisis. In another act of environmentalism, WSL has joined Glowing Glowing Gone, a global campaign advocating for greater funding and action for coral reef conversation by highlighting the global danger signaled by fluorescing corals. According to gcmag, the collaboration features a complete takeover of the Tahiti Pro Teahupo’o presented by Hurley event branding to incorporate the exact colors of fluorescing corals. The glowing coral phenomenon, called fluorescing, is one of the most visual indicators of the climate crisis and the existential threat to entire ecosystems such as coral reefs as the color change means the coral are trying to protect themselves from heating waters. Until recently, the phenomenon has gone largely unnoticed. WSL gives back to its event locations and is even offsetting the carbon footprint of the entire Tahitian event, including air travel, while supporting Coral Gardeners, a youth-led non-profit organization that is actively restoring coral reefs in the area.

Women’s esports get a boost from NBA 2K League. According to Polygon, the NBA 2K League held a development camp specifically for women last week, specifically to increase the number of women players in an esports series. The camp began August 20 at the NBA 2K League Studio in Queens and brought 15 of the top women competing in NBA 2K to play against and learn from players and coaches in the current NBA 2K League season. The NBA 2K League currently has only one woman among its 21 teams: Chiquita “Chiquitae126” Evans of Warriors Gaming Squad, the esports affiliate of the Golden State Warriors. Although Evans’ selection in the NBA 2K League draft this year earned her a nomination for “Best Esports Moment” at this year’s ESPY awards, there is a need to diversify the NBA 2K League and organizers are headed in the right direction.

Golf in Boise raising millions for local charities. According to CBS Idaho News, the Albertsons Boise Open raised a record $1.5 million for charity on its first night alone and had five more days to grow that total. Through the Tyson Foods TICKETS Fore CHARITY program, 100% of tournament ticket sales are given directly to Boise area charities. Some players who've come through Boise on their way to the PGA Tour include Justin Thomas, Matt Kuchar, Rickie Fowler, Ernie Els, Jim Furyk, Bubba Watson, Xander Schauffele, and Gary Woodland. As a testament to the event’s golf prowess, this year alone, 29 of the 50 PGA Tour events were won by players who played at the Albertsons Boise Open in the past. The event has provided over $25 million in charity since the inaugural Albertsons Boise Open in 1990 and has a chance to expand its record for the most ever raised in a year.

16-year-old Angel More swims 28 miles around Manhattan for charity. Angel More has become the youngest woman to complete the 20 Bridges Swim, and she finished it in just nine hours. More swims for Children International, a non-profit that helps lift children out of poverty around the world. She has raised more than $55,000 so far, but hopes to raise $1 million for a scholarship fund to support 5,000 teens who want to further their education in high school, college, or technical school. More isn’t a stranger to record-breaking as she became one of the youngest girls to climb Mount Kilimanjaro when she was 10 years old, and last year the marathon swimmer successfully swam across the Catalina Channel. More’s next goal is the English Channel – the only challenge left before she completes open water swimming’s Triple Crown, and is doing it all in the name of bettering other’s education.

Minnesota Timberwolves’ Jordan Bell aims to erase MS. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the first annual Jordan Bell celebrity basketball game benefiting the Race to Erase MS was held at the Walter Pyramid on the campus of California State University Long Beach. The game featured such other NBA stars as Karl Anthony Towns, Lonzo Ball, and JaVale McGee. All proceeds from the game were donated to the Center Without Walls program, a coalition of leading multiple sclerosis researchers from the country’s top universities who are collaborating to find a cure and treatments for the disease. It’s a cause that is very personal for Bell, as his girlfriend was diagnosed with the disease last November. The event is sure to grow with time, and Bell’s personal tie to the cause should enable its message and impact to grow even larger.

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newssplashy · 6 years ago

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Opinion: The iGen Shift: Colleges must change to reach the next generation

They are, of course, superconnected. But on their terms. Which is why college-bound iGens (Gen Zers, if you prefer) present a challenge to the grown-ups on campus eager to reach and teach them.

Consider orientation season. Katie Sermersheim, dean of students at Purdue University, has a mother lode of information and resources to share (including wellness initiatives and a new mindfulness room). But getting iGen’s attention?

“It can be frustrating slash extra challenging to figure out how to get the word out, whatever that word is,” Sermersheim said. “I do get discouraged.”

A generation that rarely reads books or emails, breathes through social media, feels isolated and stressed but is crazy driven and wants to solve the world’s problems (not just volunteer) is now on campus. Born from 1995 to 2012, its members are the most ethnically diverse generation in history, said Jean Twenge, psychology professor at San Diego State University.

They began arriving at colleges a few years ago, and they are exerting their presence. They are driving shifts, subtle and not, in how colleges serve, guide and educate them, sending presidents and deans to Instagram and Twitter.

They are forcing course makeovers, spurring increased investments in mental health — from more counselors and wellness messages to campaigns drawing students to nature (hug a tree, take a break to look at insects) — and pushing academics to be more hands-on and job-relevant.

They are a frugal but ambitious lot, less excited by climbing walls and en suite kitchens than by career development.

Most critically, they expect to be treated as individuals. Students raised amid the tailored analytics of online retailers or college recruiters presume that anything put in front of them is customized for them, said Thomas Golden of Capture Higher Ed, a Lexington, Kentucky, data firm. He sees group designations evolving into “segments of one.”

Students want to navigate campus life, getting food or help, when it is convenient for them. And, yes, on their mobile devices or phones. “It’s not really technology to them,” said Cory Tressler, associate director of learning programs at Ohio State University, noting that the iPhone came out when most were in grade school.

It is why Ohio State this year, rather than battle device use, issued iPads to 11,000 incoming students. The school designated 42 fall courses “iPad required” (21 more will be added in the spring) and is building an app that in addition to maps and bus routes has a course planner, grades, schedules and a Get Involved feature displaying student organizations.

In the works is more customization, so when students open the app it knows which campus they are enrolled at, their major and which student groups they belong to.

Speaking to students on their terms just makes sense, said Nicole Kraft, a journalism professor at Ohio State who takes attendance via Twitter (she has separate hashtags for each of her three courses). She posts assignments on Slack, an app used in many workplaces. And she holds office hours at 10 p.m. via the video conference site Zoom, “because that is when they have questions.”

Kraft does not use email for class, except to teach students how to write a “proper” one. “That is a skill they need to have,” she said.

While these students are called “digital natives,” they still must be taught how to use devices and apps for academic purposes, Kraft said. She’s had students not know that they could use Microsoft Word on an iPad. “We make a lot of assumptions about what they know how to do.”

Campuses have been slow to recognize that this age group is not millennials, version 2.0.

“IGen has a different flavor,” said Twenge of San Diego State University and author of “iGen: Why Today’s Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy — and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood — and What That Means for the Rest of Us.”

It is tricky to define a large part of the population. But Twenge said big data sets revealed broad psychological patterns shared by those coming of age amid defining social, cultural and economic events.

The difference between growing up in the prosperous 1990s versus seeing family members lose jobs and homes during the 2008 recession alters one’s perspective, she said. It is why iGens are so focused on debt and insist they get skills and experiences that will lead to a career.

The prevalence of school shootings and domestic terrorism has also shaped them.

“This generation defies the stereotypes of young adults,” in terms of risk-taking, Twenge said. They are “more receptive to messages around safety” and less eager to get driver’s licenses, and they come to college “with much less experience with sex and alcohol.”

They are also more cautious when it comes to academics, fear failure and have learning preferences distinct from millennials, said Corey Seemiller, professor at Wright State University and co-author of “Generation Z Goes to College,” who queried 1,200 students on 50 campuses.

“They do not like to learn in groups,” favor videos over static content and like to think about information, then be walked through it to be certain they have it right.

“They want a model” and then to practice, said Seemiller, who posts samples when assigning a paper. “I’ll say, ‘Let’s look through them and see what works.'” Having grown up with public successes and failures online, she said, students are hungry to have a big impact, yet “worry they will not live up to that expectation.”

And despite their digital obsession, Seemiller’s research shows this generation favors visual, face-to-face communication over texting. They are not always good at live social interaction, but they crave it. “They want authenticity and transparency,” she said. “They like the idea of human beings being behind things.”

As a generation that “has been sold a lot of stuff,” said Seemiller, iGens are shrewd consumers of the tone and quality of communication. That’s pushing colleges to focus not only on what they say but also how they say it.

Which is what orientation leaders and staffers in Princeton’s office of the dean of undergraduate students — known on social media as ODUS — have tried to master in the way they welcome the Class of 2022.

A brainstorming session in March generated what became a Princetified cover of Taylor Swift’s “22,” a video with orientation leaders and ODUS staff members as extras, a cappella groups singing the score and Nicolas Chae, a sophomore, directing.

Cody Babineaux, an incoming freshman from Lafayette, Louisiana, whose video of his acceptance to Princeton has 4.6 million Twitter views, appreciated it, especially the Harvard shirt sniffed and tossed out in the first 20 seconds. “It was hilarious,” he said. “It didn’t try too hard.”

Getting student attention and keeping it matters to administrators trying to build excitement for campus events but also in prodding students about housing contracts and honor codes. “We are an office that enforces university standards. We can’t be firing off,” said Thomas Dunne, deputy dean of undergraduate students. “But you have to be animated and human-sounding. Our voice is very personal.”

ODUS has become an active presence on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter with a vibe that winks, pokes, weaves in memes and slang terms like BAE (before anyone else) and on fleek (flawlessly styled), and applies hashtags with wit (a free ice cream for dropping by the ODUS office with dance moves worthy of Dean Dunne? #GetServed, #GameOfCones).

Dunne, whose Facebook page began as a student prank without his knowledge more than a decade ago, leans on staff members who include 20-somethings. One, Ian Deas, who favors Snapchat, identifies student “influencers,” following them on Facebook and Instagram.

In posts, he looks for “those trendy phrases that help us stay in the conversation.” When ODUS staff members respond to student posts, it amplifies their reach. “When we are being interactive, our stuff pops up in other people’s feeds” and drives curiosity about “who is behind the voice.”

Being social on social media attracts students who might tune out official communication. Babineaux said he and his friends noted when college posts sounded “goofy” or “like your grandfather trying to say swag.”

He also notices that his generation is criticized “because we are always on our phones,” which gets interpreted as being disconnected. In fact, he said, “we just have more connection with everyone all the time.”

It is also how students like Babineaux learn and get information.

“Social media has helped me get a lot more prepared for Princeton,” he said, adding that he has scrolled through old posts of campus (“I have never seen snow”) and watched videos, including of graduation. “I thought, ‘That will be on my Instagram page in four years.'”

——From Nature to Instagram

By Laura Pappano

Innovative ways that some colleges and universities are engaging their iGen students.

GET DOWN WITH NATURE

At Wellesley College, Suzanne Langridge, director of the new Paulson Ecology of Place Initiative, invited students to look at insects and to adopt trees. Students need technology, but Langridge wants them to “connect more deeply to each other and to a sense of place.”

PHOTOS OR IT DIDN’T HAPPEN

So what if the college president hauls boxes on the day freshmen move in? Without images, it’s a rumor. Which is why John Swallow, president of Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin, will be dressed to help come Sept. 2. He’ll want pictures for his Instagram. He joined the site in September and runs it himself (with advice from his daughter). #picsoryoudontexist

MENTAL WELLNESS

Last fall, Ohio State University opened the Stress Management & Resiliency Training Lab. During 40-minute sessions, students learn mindfulness and deep-breathing techniques to lower anxiety while hooked up to a biofeedback monitor so “they can see in real time how their body reacts to reducing stress,” said Damon Drew, a graduate associate who helps run the lab.

TEACHING IGENS

Daniel Guberman of Purdue’s Center for Instructional Excellence has worked with colleagues to help professors revamp 400 courses to be more engaging, include video and choice for students to show what they know. College is no longer “about identifying the best students,” he said, but presuming “all of these students are here because they are capable of succeeding.”

TOOLS, NOT AMENITIES

The country club era is over as students are “more acutely aware of who is paying for that,” said Raymond Maggi, an architect who has built more than 20 student life projects on college campuses over the past decade. That means shared, fluid and public spaces for tutoring and meeting. Libraries need cafes, he said, and academic departments need lounges with “comfortable seats and cafe tables” with writable surfaces.

source http://www.newssplashy.com/2018/08/opinion-igen-shift-colleges-must-change_4.html

#News

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clusterassets · 7 years ago

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New world news from Time: Competitive Video Gaming Could Be the Newest Olympic Sport. Here’s What It Would Look Like

The space could pass for a TV control room at any major sporting event. A few dozen workers were wearing headsets, looking at a maze of computer screens. A producer barked directions. But here, footsteps away from the frigid beach in the coastal South Korean city of Gangneung—which is hosting figure skating, hockey and other arena ice events at the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in PyeongChang—NBC wasn’t covering curling. Instead ESL, a company that organizes competitions in e-sports, or competitive video gaming, was streaming the semi-finals of a tournament hosted by Olympic sponsor Intel on the Olympic Channel.

The stakes were particularly high, and not just for the competitors. The International Olympic Committee is considering adding e-sports to the Olympic Games. Yes, video games may soon be an Olympic sport, and two days before the Feb. 9 Opening Ceremonies in PyeongChang, e-sports were getting a trial run.

One control room screen displayed seven different camera angles honed in on Mikolaj Ogonowski — screen name “Elazer” — of Poland, and Canadian Sasha “Scarlett” Hostyn, the lone woman in this pre-Olympic tournament. They were playing StarCraft II, a science fiction strategy game. Two of the shots showed close-ups of a hand of each player, their fingers pounding on a key board like a caffeinated court reporter. “For e-sports fans, watching someone’s fingers move that quickly,” says Mark Cohen, senior vice president of live events and experiences at ESL, “is like watching Usain Bolt run.”

E-sports, which started their rise in 1990s internet cafes of South Korea, are now a $1.5 billion business, according SuperData research. The best players can make millions; tournaments fill arenas around the world. In 2017 people worldwide watched over 266 million hours of professional e-sports competitions involving Dota 2, a popular battle game, on Twitch, the streaming service that Amazon purchased for nearly $1 billion back in 2014. (Twitch also streamed the ESL/Intel StarCraft II event in Gangneung). The NBA will launch its own e-sports league in May.

Intel/ESLSasha “Scarlett” Hostyn of Canada competes in the Intel Extreme Masters e-sports tournament in Gangneung, South Korea on February 7, 2018.

Amid all this growth, the concept of video games in the Olympics does not sound as crazy as it would have just a few years ago. One challenge for the e-sports advocates: to the uninitiated, games like StarCraft II are much more difficult to follow than, say, curling. Still, Olympic organizers are on a permanent quest to draw younger audiences, and an e-sports competition might outrage your uncle but appeal to millions of engaged, digitally-connected video game fans.

“There’s really no question in my mind that e-sports will be in the Olympics,” says Michael Lynch, head of consulting at Nielsen Sports and Entertainment. Lynch, who used to run Visa’s global sponsorship marketing business, including its Olympics efforts, thinks China — an e-sports power — could push to add competitive gaming to the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, which will be held in Beijing. “It’s not a question of if,” says Lynch, “but of when.”

Read more: The Varsity Sport of the Virtual World

The South Korea event had the trappings of a major athletic competition, minus a crowd of spectators: since Intel only signed as an IOC sponsor in June of 2017, the organizers couldn’t secure a larger venue. So they held the tournament at a wedding hall near the Gangneung coast. But the Olympic rings appeared in the backdrop of the slickly-produced pregame show, no small feat given how closely the IOC guards that trademark. One of the analysts mapped moves on a telestrator. An Intel rep discouraged the media from asking the competitors questions prior to the games, as if they were superstitious pitchers in the dugout before their start. “Please don’t interact with the players,” she said.

Some e-sports stars have trainers, psychologists, and even nutritionists — a sound body can help players focus in front of their screens. “E-sports has all the qualities of a regular Olympic sport,” says gamer Sean “Probe” Kempen, 21, of Australia, who lost in the round of 16 in South Korea. “You need mental skill and physical skill. The physical skill is harder to see, but it’s there,” says Kempen. E-sports requires muscle memory, and hand-eye coordination, to move pieces around the screen and take down your opponent. Kempen, who’s 5’7″ and 121 pounds, compares a gamer twitching a keyboard to the swing of a tennis racket. “The different between a high-level player, and an extremely high level player, is mechanical skill,” he says. “Being quicker than your opponent makes a big difference.”

E-sports is only getting more competitive. “People don’t know that we train five, eight, 15 hours a day,” says Aleksandr “Bly” Svusuyk, of the Ukraine. “One mistake can cost me money and fame.” At 29, Svusuyk calls himself “a grandpa” in the e-sports world. He also points out that he’s married, contrary to the perception that people spending 15 hours a day playing video games must be averse to social interaction.

The reality is that the world’s best video gamers will carry more clout, with more people, than the skeleton gold medalist at the 2018 PyeongChang Games. The Olympics may need e-sports more than e-sports needs the Olympics. “We’re going to keep growing anyway,” says Kempen. “If the Olympics happens, they happen. We have the audience already.”

If the e-sports tournament in Gangneung were an actual Olympic event, fans around the world would have been treated to a monumental upset. “Oh my God, this is pure madness!” the play-by-play announcer said as Sasha “Scarlett” Hostyn beat Yoo Jin “sOs” Kim of South Korea. Kim is the second all-time leading money winner in StarCraft II history — he’s made almost $500,000 in prizes —and Scarlett downed him on his home turf. “I thought I had no chance,” says Hostyn, who won the $50,000 first-place check. “Going in, I was very scared of him.” After the victory, Hostyn chugged some cider with her friends. One day, she might be heading to a podium too, to be draped in gold.

February 08, 2018 at 07:05PM ClusterAssets Inc., https://ClusterAssets.wordpress.com

#Time #world #news #ClusterAssets #ClusterAsset #Cluster Asset Inc.#ClusterAssets Inc.

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newssplashy · 6 years ago

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