The Galaxy S21 Ultra’s S Pen accessory lacks Bluetooth LE connectivity, which means that it lacks some features compared to the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra’s S Pen. During the Galaxy S21 Ultra’s launch, Samsung had also revealed that it is working on the S Pen Pro, which is bigger and features Bluetooth connectivity. However, the company had not revealed its full feature set. Now, some of its specifications have been revealed.
According to tipster Chun (@chunvn8888 on Twitter), the S Pen Pro features a 0.7mm tip, and it can sense 4,096 levels of pressure. Apparently, it can also be used with the Galaxy Z Fold 3 without damaging its foldable display. The special stylus is said to feature a USB Type-C port for charging. It can also be magnetically attached to some cases on the back of compatible Galaxy smartphones (similar to the Galaxy Tab S7’s S Pen). It is being rumored that the S Pen Pro will be priced around £70 (most probably without the case) in the UK.
Samsung has already revealed that it has created a special S Pen for the Galaxy Z Fold 3. However, it is not clear as to how it would be different than the S Pen Pro. We should get more information about both upcoming styli on August 11, 2021, when the Galaxy Z Flip 3 and the Galaxy Z Fold 3 would be officially unveiled.
Since the South Korean firm has confirmed that it won’t launch a new Galaxy Note device this year, if someone wants a brand new smartphone with S Pen compatibility, their best bet would be getting the Galaxy S21 Ultra or the Galaxy Z Fold 3 along with the option S Pen/S Pen Pro accessory.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average briefly fell 100 points Wednesday ahead of the Federal Reserve’s policy decision. Apple stock sold off despite strong earnings results late Tuesday, while Boeing surged after reporting its first quarterly profit since 2019. AMD surged past a new buy point in the wake of its quarterly earnings results.
X
Among Dow Jones leaders, Apple (AAPL) sold off more than 2.5% before cutting losses Wednesday, while Microsoft (MSFT) moved up 0.3% in today’s stock market. Both reported earnings late Tuesday. Meanwhile, Boeing (BA) and McDonald’s (MCD) reported ahead of today’s market open.
Tesla (TSLA) looked to cut into Tuesday’s 2% loss, rallying 0.3% Wednesday midday.
Among the top stocks to buy and watch, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Roku (ROKU) and Twitter (TWTR) are in or near buy zones.
Microsoft is an IBD Leaderboard stock. Roku is an IBD SwingTrader stock. AMD and Twitter were featured in this week’s Stocks Near A Buy Zone column.
Dow Jones Today: Fed Meeting
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.2% Wednesday, while the S&P 500 traded up 0.1%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite extended gains to 0.7% in midday trade.
U.S. Stock Market Today Overview
Index
Symbol
Price
Gain/Loss
% Change
Dow Jones
(0DJIA)
35024.77
-33.75
-0.10
S&P 500
(0S&P5)
4407.21
+5.75
+0.13
Nasdaq
(0NDQC )
14770.75
+110.18
+0.75
Russell 2000
(IWM)
218.46
+0.84
+0.39
IBD 50
(FFTY)
44.72
+0.23
+0.52
Last Update: 11:04 AM ET 7/28/2021
The Federal Reserve’s policy announcement is at 2 p.m. ET with Fed Chairman Jerome Powell to speak at 2:30 p.m. ET. The focus will be whether policymakers are accelerating deliberations over how and when to eventually reduce their easy-money policies amid hotter-than-expected inflation.
Among exchange traded funds, the Innovator IBD 50 (FFTY) traded up 1.4% Wednesday. Nasdaq 100 tracker Invesco QQQ Trust ETF (QQQ) moved 0.4% higher. Meanwhile, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) rose less than 0.1%.
Stock Market Rally Resumes
The Nasdaq and S&P 500 looked to rebound from Tuesday’s moderate losses. The S&P 500, Nasdaq and Dow hit record highs on Monday.
Monday’s Big Picture column commented, “Major stock market indexes cooled off on Tuesday, but a late-afternoon rebound softened some of the day’s losses. Overall, the action also reflected the challenges of investing in new breakouts following a big run-up from the end of last year’s swift bear market.”
For more stock market commentary, check out IBD’s The Big Picture.
Stock Market ETF Strategy And How To Invest
Dow Jones Earnings: Boeing, McDonald’s
Boeing reported its first quarterly profit since 2019 early Wednesday, earning 40 cents per share on revenue of $17 billion. Boeing shares jumped over 5% in morning trade and are trying to retake their key 50-day line.
McDonald’s declined more than 2% despite reporting better-than-expected Q2 earnings and sales results. Shares remain in the 5% buy area past a 238.28 buy point in a flat base.
Stocks To Buy And Watch: AMD, Roku, Twitter
Chip giant Advanced Micro Devices is breaking out past a cup-with-handle base’s 95.54 buy point, according to IBD MarketSmith chart analysis. Shares advanced over 6% Wednesday in the wake of the company’s strong Q2 results.
AMD stock was featured in this week’s Stocks Near A Buy Zone column.
According to the IBD Stock Checkup, AMD stock shows a strong 97 out of a perfect 99 IBD Composite Rating. The IBD Composite Rating identifies stocks with a blend of strong fundamental and technical characteristics.
Friday’s IBD Stock Of The Day, Roku, gave up its double-bottom-with-handle’s 463.09 buy point amid Tuesday’s sell-off, according to IBD MarketSmith chart analysis, The 5% buy zone goes up to 486.24. Shares climbed 3% Wednesday midday and are trying to regain the entry.
Roku was added to IBD Leaderboard Friday. Per Leaderboard analysis, the stock topped a trendline entry around 431. Roku is also an IBD SwingTrader stock
Social media giant Twitter is trying to break out past a double-bottom-with-handle’s 72.17 buy point. Shares topped the entry on Friday following the company’s strong earnings results, but closed just below the entry. Shares moved up over 4% Wednesday, but remain below the entry.
IBD Live: A New Tool For Daily Stock Market Analysis
Tesla Stock
Tesla stock moved up less than 1% Wednesday, looking to retake some of Tuesday’s 2% loss. The electric-vehicle giant is again trying to find support around its long-term 200-day moving average. Another strong show of support at these levels would be bullish for the stock’s prospects.
On the downside, Tesla’s RS line remains far from its old highs. A lagging RS line is a sign of an underperforming stock relative to the broad market. Tesla stock remains about 27% off its all-time high, even as the major indexes reached record highs Monday.
On Jan. 25, Tesla stock hit a record high at 900.40, after climbing as much as 93% from a 466 buy point in a cup with handle.
Dow Jones Leaders: Apple, Microsoft
Among the top Dow Jones stocks, Apple narrowed its early decline to 1.2% Wednesday after crushing Wall Street’s targets for its fiscal third quarter thanks to stronger-than-expected iPhone sales.
The stock hit an all-time high on July 15 at 150. Apple stock remains out of the 5% buy zone from a 137.17 entry in a cup base, according to IBD MarketSmith chart analysis.
Software giant Microsoft rallied 0.3% early Wednesday after cruising past Wall Street’s targets for the June quarter and guiding higher for the current period.
Microsoft continues to trade solidly above a cup base’s 263.29 buy point. The stock is extended above the 5% buy zone, which goes up to 276.45.
Be sure to follow Scott Lehtonen on Twitter at @IBD_SLehtonen for more on growth stocks and the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
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MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – A giant video wall has collapsed at Hard Rock Stadium ahead of this weekend’s Rolling Loud music festival in Miami Gardens.
It is unclear whether any injuries occurred due to the collapse of the structure.
The video structure collapsed over what appears to be a stage.
At around 6 p.m., festival organizers were seen covering the structure in a giant black tarp. Around the same time, Rolling Loud released the following statement on Twitter:
“In case you see it on the news, a screen fell down at one of our stages. Nobody was hurt and it will be fixed before doors open tomorrow. The show goes on!”
In case you see it on the news, a screen fell down at one of our stages. Nobody was hurt and it will be fixed before doors open tomorrow. The show goes on!
— Rolling Loud (@RollingLoud) July 22, 2021
It is important to note no emergency or medical personnel have been seen in the immediate area, which may be a sign that no injuries occurred.
The hip-hop music festival is back for the first time in two years. The music festival will span three days, with acts including A$AP Rocky, Travis Scott, and Post Malone.
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This story will updated as more information is available.
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Contact and soft capture confirmed at 7:35am ET. With four Crew-2 astronauts aboard, the @SpaceX Crew Dragon docked to the @Space_Station Harmony module’s space-facing port, moving from the forward port to free up a spot for the next @Commercial_Crew spacecraft to arrive. pic.twitter.com/Jej8VHdJ4oJuly 21, 2021
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NASA’s SpaceX Crew-2 astronauts on the International Space Station relocated the Crew Dragon spacecraft Endeavour ahead of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft arrival next weekend.
The relocation occurred on Wednesday (July 21), when NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Akihiko Hoshide and European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Thomas Pesquet moved Endeavour from the forward port of the space station’s Harmony module to the space-facing port.
The relocation maneuver took less than one hour to complete and the capsule re-docked at 7:35 a.m. EDT (1135 GMT), according to a statement from NASA.
Related: SpaceX’s Crew-2 mission to the International Space Station in photos
Moving Endeavour made room for NASA’s Boeing Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) mission, which is slated to launch to the space station on July 30 and arrive the next day. Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft will dock at Harmony’s forward port, marking the first time two different U.S. commercial crew spacecraft will be docked to the space station at the same time, according to the statement.
The OFT-2 mission will be Boeing’s second test flight attempt, designed to test the end-to-end capabilities of its Starliner spacecraft, including launch, docking, atmospheric re-entry and a desert landing in the western U.S. Boeing’s first Starliner test flight launched in December 2019, but the spacecraft did not reach the station as planned due to a series of technical problems.
“The uncrewed mission will provide valuable data about Boeing’s crew transportation system and help NASA certify Starliner and the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket for regular flights with astronauts to and from the space station,” NASA officials said in the statement.
Wednesday’s port relocation represented the second time this year that astronauts have had to shuffle spacecraft around at the space station. In April, NASA’s SpaceX Crew-1 astronauts completed the first commercial crew port relocation at the orbiting lab when they moved Crew Dragon Resilience ahead of the SpaceX Crew-2 arrival.
The SpaceX Crew-2 mission launched on April 23 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida and docked to the space station on April 24. The crew is targeting an early-to-mid November return to Earth and will splash down off the coast of Florida.
SpaceX’s next crew rotation mission, Crew-3, is slated to launch to the space station on Oct. 31. Crew-3 includes NASA astronauts Raja Chari, Tom Marshburn and Kayla Barron, and ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer. They will launch on a new Crew Dragon spacecraft from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for a six-month science mission at the orbiting lab. NASA and SpaceX have a total of six certified crew missions planned as a part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program, according to the statement.
Follow Samantha Mathewson @Sam_Ashley13. Follow uson Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
Eight Oakland City Council members will cast non-binding votes for a proposed $12 billion development and ballpark plan on Tuesday morning. An affirmative vote will simply keep the ambitious project alive, but a dissenting vote, the Oakland Athletics say, will kick-start the team’s relocation efforts.
Speaking roughly 22 hours before that crucial vote, A’s president Dave Kaval still didn’t know what to expect.
“Our future in Oakland is hanging in the balance,” Kaval said in an interview with ESPN on Monday afternoon, “and we are doing everything we can to get a ‘yes’ vote tomorrow on our plan and keep the A’s rooted in Oakland. But we don’t know if we’re gonna get a positive vote. There’s still a lot of areas we’re apart significantly with the city, and we go into the vote not knowing how it’s gonna play out.”
A two-decade-long process to secure a new stadium in the Bay Area has reached what Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred referred to as “the end” prior to last week’s All-Star Game. There have been unsuccessful proposals in San Jose, Fremont and multiple sites in Oakland, most notably around Laney College. Renovations of the current Coliseum site, where the A’s have played since 1968, have been deemed nonviable largely because of the team’s stated desire for a downtown location.
All that is seemingly left to prevent the A’s from leaving Oakland — and following the recent paths of the NBA’s Golden State Warriors and the NFL’s Las Vegas Raiders — is a 35,000-seat waterfront ballpark proposal within the Howard Terminal site in the Port of Oakland.
The A’s made public proposals in April stating that they would privately finance the ballpark, which will cost an estimated $1 billion, while also providing $450 million in community benefits and arranging for an additional $11 billion in private investment to eventually build up the surrounding neighborhood. But the City of Oakland made a counter-proposal on Friday that Kaval said “lacks details and specifics and really doesn’t answer any of the questions that we have that need to be addressed to continue to move forward.”
The biggest issue stems from the $855 million the A’s have asked the city to pay in infrastructure improvements using taxes generated by the project. The A’s proposed two infrastructure financing districts to cover that cost, but the city rejected the proposal to create an additional district at nearby Jack London Square, leaving what Kaval estimated as a $352 million shortage that the A’s would have to cover.
“That’s an extraordinary sum of money,” said Kaval, who has been leading the A’s stadium efforts since joining the team in November of 2016. “And not having specificity is a key concern. There’s also concern about additional taxes that they’re putting on the project — condo transfer tax, a transportation tax that obviously push up the cost as well. Those are all items that are problematic. And we’ve been clear that the project can only do so much. We can’t solve all of Oakland’s problems, but we can do a lot to make this a better community and keep the A’s here for many generations to come. And that’s why we’re looking for an affirmative vote on our plan.”
The A’s need at least five council members to approve their plan, or four council members plus Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf. Kaval said there has been “continuing negotiations” over the weekend and into Monday but that the two sides “remain significantly apart.”
The Mayor’s Office declined to comment when reached by ESPN on Monday. Justin Berton, a spokesperson for Mayor Schaaf, released a statement saying: “The City and the A’s are continuing their dialogue today with the shared goal to make a world-class ballpark a reality. The City will continue to advocate for a proposal that supports and serves Oakland and our entire region, provides affordable housing, public parks, great jobs and other direct benefits for the community — all without risk to our Port, our taxpayers, or the City or County’s general funds.”
The A’s lease at what is now called RingCentral Coliseum expires after the 2024 season. If ultimately approved, the Howard Terminal ballpark wouldn’t be ready until 2027, leaving the A’s with a two-year gap to cover in Oakland.
In the meantime, team officials have continued exploring Las Vegas and its surrounding areas as an alternative. Kaval and A’s owner John Fisher have made three trips to South Nevada this year and plan to return there on Wednesday. Manfred said last week that it would be “a mistake” to refer to the Vegas option as a bluff, calling it “a viable alternative for a major league club.” A “no” vote on Tuesday — City Council members will meet at 9 a.m. PT — could trigger conversations with other potential relocation sites such as Portland, Nashville, Vancouver and Montreal, among others.
Kaval isn’t clear on whether the city would ultimately vote on the A’s plan, which was presented to Oakland officials at the start of 2021, or the city’s counter offer from Friday, adding that a “yes” vote on the latter would be “akin to a ‘no’ vote” because the team does not approve.
“In many ways we’re down to our last at-bat in Oakland,” Kaval said. “But if we get a win tomorrow, and an agreement we agree with, we can send it into extra innings and hopefully get the final victory in the fall.”
Positives were hard to find in the United States men’s national team’s 1-0 Gold Cup victory over Canada on Sunday in Kansas City, Kansas.
The win in the group stage finale meant the U.S. secured the top spot in Group B with a perfect 3-0-0 record. Practically speaking, and depending on results later on Sunday, it means the U.S. will likely avoid a matchup with Mexico prior to the final on Aug. 1.
But the Americans have to get there first, and based on Sunday’s performance against their neighbors to the north, that is by no means a foregone conclusion. Instead of offering a dynamic effort, the U.S. was second best, as Canada looked the more likely to score over the contest’s final 60 minutes.
– Gold Cup fixtures, results, schedule and more – Stream ESPN FC Daily on ESPN+ (U.S. only) – Don’t have ESPN? Get instant access
“There was a lot of suffering,” U.S. manager Gregg Berhalter said.
He later added, “Overall, we achieved our objective of the group phase, was the winner group, had the best goal difference in the group and we’re there. And now, all the focus is on the quarterfinals.”
The game started out brightly enough, with Shaquell Moore converting Sebastian Lletget’s low centering feed just 20 seconds into the match. The U.S. rode that momentum for the next 15 minutes, with James Sands’ hybrid role — playing center-back in defense but stepping into midfield when in possession — causing some difficulty for Canada.
Coming out of a hydration break in the 30th minute, Canada seized control and the majority of possession thereafter. Certainly the loss of defender Walker Zimmerman to injury 10 minutes in didn’t help matters for the U.S., especially considering that Zimmerman is one of the few veteran players on the team. But the same fate befell Canada striker Ayo Akinola in the first half, with Cyle Larin joining Akinola on the sidelines just eight minutes into the second half. And yet the Canadian midfield had the upper hand, with Tajon Buchanan looking especially dangerous, no matter where he lined up.
“I thought the U.S. were able to cause [our] back five problems,” Canada manager John Herdman said. “Obviously, Gregg [Berhalter] had put some work in to just put Lletget in positions that were difficult for us.
“But I think we adapted at the water break, and we were able to shift into a 4-4-2 in that three-box, three attacking and started to take control of the game.”
It must be said that the U.S. back line held up reasonably well over the course of the match, though it benefited from some lenient refereeing from Adonai Escobedo. Goalkeeper Matt Turner was called on to make three saves. Miles Robinson put in a Man of the Match performance, with Sam Vines and Sands also impressing. Robinson put out numerous fires throughout the match, showing off his ability to defend one-on-one.
“I think Miles has taken us [to] the next step, and now it’s about a knockout game,” Berhalter said. “Can he recover now, and then in a knockout game, can he repeat that same type of performance.”
Sands’ passing out of the back caught the eye, though there were moments in transition when he had difficulty recovering.
But the lasting image of the day was one of the U.S. chasing the match, and over the last hour, Canada (405 attempted passes in that span, per ESPN Stats & Information research) had a sizable edge in possession over the U.S. (263 passes attempted).
At one point, Berhalter cited the hot weather as a reason for the U.S. team’s struggles, explaining that “decision-making under these conditions, you get stressed.”
He also mentioned that the Americans had to manage the game for the remaining 89 minutes after Moore’s goal. Not to belabor the point, but the conditions were the same for both teams, and a 1-0 lead after 20 seconds put the U.S. in a position where they could dictate the tempo. Granted, the onus was on Canada to commit numbers forward, but that should have offered the U.S. some transition opportunities.
So why the difficulties? The link play of Gyasi Zardes and Daryl Dike was subpar, though the same could be said for the quality of passes into them. This was also a day when the U.S. simply struggled to win the ball back once possession was lost. The U.S. didn’t have much success in terms of the grittier aspects of the game. That was illustrated by the U.S. losing out to Canada in terms of tackle percentage (33.3%), duels (44.1%) and aerials (36.4%).
More than anything, the match was reflective of the relative inexperience of the group. It’s one thing to go up against Martinique. It’s quite another to compete against a Canada side that looks more and more like a team on the rise.
“We have a young, sometimes naive, innocent group; guys that haven’t played in too many CONCACAF games that are difficult,” U.S. midfielder Cristian Roldan said. “The refereeing is different; the competition is different. So, we have to be savvier in the way we close out games.”
The U.S. now has a week to prepare for the quarterfinals, which will see it play Costa Rica or Jamaica. Neither will be an easy out.
The Canada match marked the second time in three games that the U.S. had difficulty facing a physical opponent with attacking elements that could threaten. This young U.S. squad is learning lessons on the fly, and it can gain confidence that it is doing so while recording victories.
The Americans will be pushing for that to continue into the knockout stages.
A selection of WNBA All-Stars might have historic bragging rights by the end of August.
Team WNBA upset Team USA, 93-85, in the 2021 WNBA All-Star Game at Michelob Ultra Arena in Las Vegas on Wednesday night. The national team is going for a record seventh consecutive gold at the Tokyo Olympics and rarely loses, even in exhibition matchups.
The league doesn’t typically hold an official All-Star Game in an Olympic year, but did so in a unique format for the run-up to the Tokyo Olympics. The 12 members of Team USA were automatic WNBA All-Stars and 12 more WNBA players were voted in to compete against them.
The U.S. team will play exhibitions against Australia and Nigeria in Vegas before heading to the Games. Both teams feature current WNBA talent in Liz Cambage and potentially Chiney and Nneka Ogwumike, though Nneka’s bid for Nigeria has reportedly been denied.
Allie Quigley won her third consecutive 3-point contest title at halftime and ahead of the fourth quarter, the current U.S. national team honored the gold-medal-winning team of 1996.
Ogunbowale leads WNBA over Olympic team
Dallas Wings guard Arike Ogunbowale led all scorers in her first All-Star Game with 26 points, showing she’s likely to lock in a spot on the 2024 Olympic team. She was 5-for-10 from 3-point range and looked from the jump like she was gunning for MVP.
Connecticut Sun center Jonquel Jones, who noted ahead of the game she wanted those bragging rights of beating the national team, finished with her standard double-double of 18 points and 14 rebounds. She also had four assists and three steals.
“I’m going to be like 85, talking to my grandkids, and I’ll be like, ‘Yeah, back in 2021, we beat the gold-medal team, so technically I won a gold medal,'” Jones said of wanting to win in the days before the game.
Atlanta Dream first-time All-Star Courtney Williams came up clutch on both ends in the fourth quarter, scoring 15 points off the bench on 7-for-8 shooting for Team WNBA.
The trio along with first-time All-Star Brionna Jones helped the team pull away in the middle of the fourth. Jonquel Jones hit a 3-pointer to match first-time Olympian Chelsea Gray’s 3, tying it at 71-71. Williams made a 10-footer and Brionna Jones laid one in on an assist from Sun teammate Jones.
Breanna Stewart broke the streak with a jumper for USA, but Ogunbowale drilled a 3-pointer and-1 falling out of bounds to fire up the All-Stars, 79-73. Back-to-back layups by Williams and another Ogunbowale 3 helped them pull even farther ahead at 86-78 with 3:42 left despite small buckets by USA.
They outscored Team USA, 27-19, in the fourth.
All-Star Game of rare defense
The All-Star Game experienced historic line movement by bookmakers ahead of tipoff, a signifier that it was expected to be a more tightly defended contest than was typical. The game total opened at 251.5 at BetMGM and dropped to 191.5.
Candace Parker, who had five points, five rebounds and five assists in her sixth All-Star Game, knew what was up early.
Though it wasn’t the stiff defense and strong rebounding typical of regular-season games, both sides contested shots and made it tough to get good looks. It really heated up, particularly under the basket, in the fourth quarter of a tie game. And everyone, including All-Star Liz Cambage, had their popcorn out.
Team USA center Brittney Griner scored a team-high 17 points with only three rebounds and two assists. Stewart scored 12, going 3-for-7 from 3-point range, with six rebounds. And Sylvia Fowles came off the bench to add 12.
Team WNBA held narrow lead throughout
The two All-Star teams swapped the lead four times in the first half and were tied six times. Team WNBA held the slim 44-43 advantage at halftime with Ogunbowale scoring 12 points on 5-for-9 shooting while “live tweeting” the action in her time off the court.
Jonquel Jones had eight points, sinking both of her 3-pointers in the first quarter, and six rebounds.
3-point contest: Allie Quigley three-peats, says she’ll retire from contest
Chicago Sky guard Allie Quigley won the 3-point contest for a third consecutive All-Star Game, but it wasn’t without great competition.
Jonquel Jones, the 6-foot-6 center, came to play. Jones knocked down nearly every shot in the first round, missing only five shots, and made it to the final with 27 points. She’s a 43.7% (31-for-71) 3-point shooter this season.
Quigley got into the final with 28 points after a mid-round review bumped it up a point. Seattle Storm guard Jewell Loyd went first and made 18 points, followed by the New York Liberty’s Sami Whitcomb with 26 points.
In the final, Quigley won her third consecutive title with a calm 26-point performance, enough on the final rack to edge out Jones’ 24. She made nine of her final 10 to take the title and said afterward it would be her last competition — though we’ll see if that holds next summer. Boos rained down from fans in Vegas when she told ESPN’s Holly Rowe.
Honoring 1996 Team USA
The 1996 Atlanta Olympics were a pivotal one for women’s athletics and marked the first of the basketball team’s six consecutive Olympic golds.
That team was honored between the third and fourth quarters of the All-Star Game, and players received flowers from the current members of Team USA. Among the ’96 players in attendance were Team WNBA co-coach Lisa Leslie and ESPN analyst Rebecca Lobo.
First-time Olympian Napheesa Collier’s fiancé, Alex Bazzell, shared a sweet set of photos and tweet showcasing what the connection between 1996 and the 2020-21 team means.
The 1996 team also wrote cards for the 2020 team, as shared by Rowe.
The 1996 Olympic Games and Team USA helped usher in the WNBA, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary season this year.
A section of Jerusalem’s city wall built some 2,700 years ago and mostly destroyed by the Babylonian army in 586 BCE was uncovered by archaeologists in the City of David National Park, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced Wednesday.
The massive structure – some 5 m. wide – was built on the steep eastern slope leading to the city, just a few dozen meters away from the Temple Mount.
Probably the steepness of the area preserved the structure from destruction during the Babylonian conquest – a vivid account of which is offered in the Bible – since the invading army likely accessed the city from an easier path.
“By the ninth day [of the fourth month] the famine had become acute in the city; there was no food left for the common people. Then [the wall of] the city was breached. (…) On the seventh day of the fifth month—that was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon—Nebuzaradan, the chief of the guards, an officer of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. He burned the House of the LORD, the king’s palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem; he burned down the house of every notable person,” reads the last chapter of the book of II Kings.
The walls of the city of Jerusalem in the days of the First Temple. (Credit: SHALOM KVELLER – COURTESY CITY OF DAVID ARCHIVES)
For the archaeologist, uncovering the remains was very emotional, as revealed by Dr. Filip Vukosavović of the Ancient Jerusalem Research Center, a co-director of the excavation with Dr. Joe Uziel and Ortal Chalaf on behalf of the IAA.
“When we exposed the first part of the wall, an area about 1 m. per 1 m. large, I immediately understood what we had found,” he said. “I almost cried.”
Indeed, the remains not only present an incredible testimony into centuries of life in Jerusalem and their tragic end, but they also solved a decades-long archaeological mystery.
During excavations in the area led by British archaeologist Kathleen Kenyon in the 1960s and by archaeologist Yigal Shiloh in the 1970s, remains of a massive wall were unearthed in two different spots of the slope. However, since the two structures did not appear to be connected, most scholars did not believe that they were part of a city wall, whose presence was described in the Bible but still needed to be proven by archaeological evidence.
“Now we can say with certainty that the city wall did exist, at least on the eastern slope,” Vukosavovic said.
Because the eastern slope represented the most difficult way to access Jerusalem, it is safe to assume that also the rest of the city was surrounded by a wall, he added.
A stamp seal which bears the name “Tsafan” in ancient Hebrew script. (Credit: KOBY HARATI/CITY OF DAVID)
“The city wall protected Jerusalem from a number of attacks during the reign of the kings of Judah, until the arrival of the Babylonians who managed to break through it and conquer the city,” said Vukosavović, Uziel and Chalaf.
Excavation directors: Dr. Joe Uziel, Ortal Kalaf, and Dr. Filip Vukosavovic are standing by the exposed section of the wall. (Credit: KOBY HARATI/CITY OF DAVID)
While the newly uncovered section still has to be dated independently (“We are working on getting some radiocarbon dating,” Vukosavović noted), the other two sections were built around the 8th century BCE, in a period also known as the First Temple Period.
Behind the remains of the wall, the ruins of some houses are still visible.
“In one, we found ashes that we believe date back to the Babylonian invasion,” said Vukosavović.
Remains of destruction discovered near the wall from previous excavations. (Credit: ELIYAHU YANAI/CITY OF DAVID ARCHIVES)
In addition, the archaeologists uncovered multiple artifacts that offer a glimpse into the daily life of Jerusalem when the wall was still standing, and after its fall in 586 BCE: fragments of pots, pans and other vessels, seal impressions, some of them carrying inscriptions – for example “lamelech,” “to the king” which was usually featured on jars used to collect taxes. A small Babylonian seal stamp made in stone was also found.
“Maybe it was dropped by one of the soldiers, or maybe it belonged to a Jerusalemite who liked Babylonian-style objects, or maybe it dates back to a later period and was owned by those who lived in the city after its destruction,” Vukosavović remarked.
While the wall on the eastern slope remained standing – to the point that centuries later it would be used as a foundation for new buildings – Jerusalem was burned down, the Temple destroyed, and the Jews draws into exile.
Something similar would happen again some 500 years later, when the city was thriving again, this time at the hands of the Romans. Once again it was the 9th of Av – which this year will fall on Sunday.
To this day, Jews all over the world fast and mourn the loss of Jerusalem, commemorating these days of war and destruction millennia ago that the ancient white stones uncovered by the archaeologists witnessed.
Column Looking back over the last 40 years of computing, it’s hard to imagine how things could have been different. When Steve Jobs travelled up the Valley in late 1979 to visit Xerox PARC, he found the missing piece of the puzzle that had eaten away at him ever since Woz hacked together the first Apple I: how to make a computer that everyone could use.
The genius computer scientists at PARC had solved that problem with WIMP: windows, icons, menus, pointer. Add in a high-resolution display, an operating system built upon components written in the spiffy object-oriented Smalltalk programming language, plus a high-speed network interface to connect all of the systems together, and, well, that’s pretty much all of modern computing, even today.
Xerox got pre-IPO shares of Apple; Jobs found a path forward – but one that would take years to bring to bear fruit. By July 1981, the two firms felt comfortable enough to ink a partnership agreement that looked like a bit of marketing fluff at the time – each promised only to promote the other’s products – but which quickly changed the world.
CHICAGO – Jeep is updating one of its smallest SUVs with new technologies and a redesigned interior ahead of the brand’s push into electric vehicles.
New features on the 2022 Jeep Compass include active emergency braking and blind-spot monitoring as standard safety technologies as well as optional 10-inch interior screens and an available driver-assist highway system.
The compact Compass SUV is the brand’s best-selling vehicle globally. The new model is scheduled to arrive in North American showrooms starting at $24,995 – $500 more than the current model – in the fall.
Jim Morrison, Jeep’s head of North America, said the added features and refreshed design are meant to make the Compass “even more desirable” in the growingly competitive small SUV segment.
Many of the updates were focused on the interior design and technology of the vehicle, while the exterior features minor changes to better match other SUVs in Jeep’s lineup.
“Our goal was to raise consumer expectations of what a compact SUV interior should look and feel like,” said Chris Benjamin, Jeep’s North American director of interior design.
The vehicle, which is produced at a plant in Mexico, is powered by a 2.4-liter, four-cylinder engine connected to a six- or nine-speed automatic transmission. The fuel economy of the vehicle is 25 mpg combined, including 22 mpg in the city and up to 31 mpg highway.
The Compass is an important SUV to Jeep. It is a gateway vehicle alongside the smaller Renegade SUV that tend to attract new and younger buyers to the brand.
Jeep is set to unveil the 2022 Compass on Wednesday at the Chicago Auto Show. Its debut comes less than a week after its parent company, Stellantis, promised to invest about $35.5 billion into vehicle electrification. The investment includes an all-electric Jeep in every SUV segment, executives said.
Jeep currently only offers a plug-in hybrid electric version of its Wrangler SUV in the U.S. It also has announced plans for a PHEV of its Grand Cherokee later this year.
PHEV versions of the Compass and Renegade SUVs are currently available in Europe. But Jeep has not said those versions will come to the U.S.
PHEVs combine plug-in battery technology with traditional internal combustion engines, while EVs are exclusively powered by batteries and electric motors. Jeep is calling its electrified vehicles “4xe” models, a play on the brand’s off-road reputation combined with electrification.
Stellantis was formed through a $52 billion merger between Fiat Chrysler and PSA Groupe in January. It has 14 brands including Jeep, Ram, Opel, Fiat, Peugeot and Maserati.
