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2021 NBA All-Star Game: Five bold predictions, including Donovan Mitchell’s revenge MVP against Team LeBron

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It’s hard to get excited about NBA All-Star festivities when the players themselves have presented such strong opposition. But, as we’ve seen with sports across the globe during the past year, once the whistle blows or the first pitch is thrown, we tend to put all of the stress and concern aside for a couple of hours to enjoy the spirit of competition between the planet’s greatest athletes.

That will again be the case on Sunday, when the Skills Challenge, 3-Point Contest, Slam Dunk Contest and All-Star Game will all take place in a compressed schedule to promote the safety of those involved. Despite the players’ initial confusion and disapproval of holding an All-Star Game in the first place, most have expressed joy and gratitude for being selected, and none — to this point — has declined the invite.

It sets the stage for a star-studded evening that might have everyone clamoring to do this in one night for the rest of time. Here are five bold predictions from what could be the strangest All-Star “weekend” we’ll ever see.

Players like Mitchell — who has now earned multiple All-Star selections as a 6-foot shooting guard after being selected No. 13 overall — are fueled by disrespect, and the level of perceived slights pointed toward him and the Jazz’s direction is at an all-time high. Just this week, Mitchell has been fined $25,000 for publicly criticizing the refs for not giving Utah calls that other big market teams get (our Brad Botkin pointed out that the numbers don’t exactly support that assertion). The rant about the refs was followed almost immediately by LeBron James and Kevin Durant selecting Mitchell and his Jazz teammate Rudy Gobert with the last two picks in the All-Star draft, with James providing the fact that he never played with John Stockton and Karl Malone in video games as a bewildering reason for his choice.

All of this is a recipe for Mitchell to go hog wild on Sunday. He has a great skill set for the All-Star Game, hitting step-back 3s as effortlessly as he throws down highlight dunks. The fact that he’ll be playing against Team LeBron only makes him more likely to put in the extra effort to prove he deserves more respect from the national audience. And if LeBron is standing under the basket at any point when Mitchell has a runway to the paint, James will probably have a business decision to make to avoid getting dunked on, both literally and figuratively.

2. Bradley Beal’s conversations with fellow All-Stars will be blown way out of proportion

It’s almost become an All-Star Weekend tradition. A player on the trade block has a conversation or exchanges knowing glances with another superstar, and suddenly the rumors swirl. This season’s marquee transaction-related name is Bradley Beal, whom the Washington Wizards insist is not going to be traded, but is by far the most attractive potentially available star on the market. The interactions between All-Stars will be limited due to the compressed schedule, but surely Beal will share a conversation with someone like Stephen Curry, Joel Embiid and/or Jayson Tatum that will inevitably lead to rampant, irresponsible speculation.


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Unfortunately, we can’t disparage the rumor-mongers too much — the last two notable times this happened, once between Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant, and also between Anthony Davis and LeBron James, the stars actually did end up teaming up together. So maybe keeping an eye on Beal’s tete-a-tetes on Sunday is a worthwhile activity, after all.

3. Cassius Stanley will make a name for himself in the Dunk Contest

Stanley is my favorite to win the Dunk Contest but recent history dictates that the judges don’t always pick the player with the best dunks as the winner (*cough* Dwyane Wade *cough*). But I’ve been infatuated with Stanley’s athleticism ever since I saw him hit his head on the backboard while throwing down an alley-oop in the California high school championship game as a freshman. He became somewhat of a prep legend because of his bounce and continued to show it off in his only season at Duke last year.

This is eyeballs-at-the-rim stuff, and he looks to jump equally high off of one foot or two, which should increase the variety of dunks he’s able to attempt. Stanley has played exactly 23 minutes this season, so even Indiana Pacers fans may not know who he is at this point. That will change on Sunday with his dunk contest performance, which should at least give him a fighting chance with Shaquille O’Neal during the next round of “Who He Play For?”

4. The Elam Ending will once again make us think

The 2020 All-Star Game was the best we’d seen in years, and that was largely due to the implementation of the Elam Ending, where the clock is shut off in the final four minutes and instead teams play to a target score — usually by adding eight points to the score of the winning team. It eliminates the need for incessant end-of-game fouling that unrelentingly drags out every even semi-close game, and, like baseball, it provides the losing team with the sense that they’re never truly out of it.

Because of last year’s success, the NBA has decided to run back the Elam Ending for Sunday’s game, which will hopefully lead to another hotly contested, thrilling finish. If it works again, it will lead to many questioning why we don’t use the Elam Ending for every basketball game, a topic that our James Herbert recently discussed with Nick Elam himself. The ending just makes so much more sense than what we currently do at pretty much every level of basketball, so it will be interesting to see if another usage of it in the All-Star Game causes the league to contemplate shirking tradition and implementing the Elam Ending on a full-time basis at some point.

5. The 3-Point Contest will be more exciting than the Dunk Contest

The main event of All-Star Saturday night has always been the Slam Dunk Contest, with mixed results over the last couple of decades. We’ve gotten epic showdowns between Dwight Howard and Nate Robinson, and 2016’s masterpiece from Aaron Gordon and Zach Lavine. But we’ve also had some unmitigated disasters, like Chris “Birdman” Andersen taking about 25 minutes to complete one of his dunks.

This year’s Dunk Contest has a couple of things working against it. First, the list of contestants — my affinity for Cassius Stanley notwithstanding — doesn’t exactly get the blood boiling. Second, the contest is at halftime of the All-Star Game, like a scrimmage between 9-year-olds played in the background while fans get refills on nachos and 64-ounce soft drinks.

The 3-Point Contest, by contrast, is comprised entirely of All-Stars, including Stephen Curry. Even with Devin Booker pulling out of the festivities, you’re getting another All-Star as his replacement in Mike Conley. The 3-point shot has become paramount in the modern NBA, and the league will continue the wrinkle it threw in last year by adding two shots from six feet behind the 3-point line, in keeping with the distance from which most of the participants regularly launch during games.

There’s almost always drama heading into the last rack of pretty much every round, and these are participants we actually care about, so it’s safe to say the 3-Point Contest will be more entertaining than the Dunk Contest.

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Technology

New AI ‘Deep Nostalgia’ brings old photos, including very old ones, to life

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An AI-powered service called Deep Nostalgia that animates still photos has become the main character on Twitter this fine Sunday, as people try to create the creepiest fake “video” possible, apparently.

The Deep Nostalgia service, offered by online genealogy company MyHeritage, uses AI licensed from D-ID to create the effect that a still photo is moving. It’s kinda like the iOS Live Photos feature, which adds a few seconds of video to help smartphone photographers find the best shot.

But Deep Nostalgia can take photos from any camera and bring them to “life.” The program uses pre-recorded driver videos of facial movements and applies the one that works best for the still photo in question. Its intended purpose is to allow you to upload photos of deceased loved ones and see them in “action,” which seems like a lovely idea.

Users have to sign up for a free account on MyHeritage and then upload a photo. From there the process is automated; the site enhances the image before animating it and creating a gif. The site’s FAQ says it does not provide the photos to any third parties, and on its main page a message reads “photos uploaded without completing signup are automatically deleted to protect your privacy.”

Naturally, the program has become something of a meme-generator on Twitter, with users trying to push the AI to its limit. An archaeologist used photos of ancient statues, and yes they included some with the blank eyes. Sorry in advance for the nightmare fuel (but hiiii there Alexander the Great):

Deep Nostalgia can only handle single headshots and can only animate faces, so you’re not going to be able to reanimate mummies to make it look like they’re walking (hey I wondered, OK?). You can upload five photos for free to the MyHeritage website for Deep Nostalgia treatment, after that you have to register for a paid account.

I wonder if perhaps there are some photos best left un-animated? I’m wary of uploading photos to any site, and I think the usual privacy cautions still apply. But if you’re going to try Deep Nostalgia brace yourself for a surreal experience. The AI is scarily good.

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World

Nigeria: 42 people including students abducted last week released

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The released group included 27 students, teachers and family members, the state government said in a statement at the time of the kidnapping.

The gunmen, wearing military fatigues according to witnesses, stormed the Government Science Secondary School Kagara on February 17. A student who died during the attack was named as Benjamin Habila.

The executive governor of Niger State, Abubakar Sani Bello, tweeted that those released have been received by the state government.

This comes as hundreds of schoolgirls were abducted in the early hours of Friday when armed men raided a state-run school in Zamfara State, northwest Nigeria.

The schoolgirls were taken from their hostels by gunmen who raided the Government Girls Secondary School in the town of Jangebe, a high-ranking government official with knowledge of the incident told CNN.

In December, at least 300 schoolboys were kidnapped by bandits in Katsina, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari’s home state. The students have since been released.
These incidents have raised questions about the safety of schools in parts of northern Nigeria.

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World

8 dead, including prison director, after Haiti jail break

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CROIX-DES-BOUQUETS, Haiti (AP) — A prison director was among at least eight people killed on Thursday after several inmates tried to escape from a prison in Haiti’s capital, a police officer and witnesses said.

The incident occurred in northeast Port-au-Prince at the Croix-des-Bouquets Civil Prison, which was built by Canada in 2012 and is known for a 2014 breakout in which more than 300 inmates escaped.

Residents in the area who declined to be identified out of concern for their safety told The Associated Press that they observed a group of heavily armed men start shooting at prison guards before the inmates began to flee.

Gunshots could still be heard from within the prison several hours after the shooting began.

The police officer who confirmed the killing of the prison director to the AP, and declined to be identified because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said authorities were preparing to raid the prison and described the inmates as armed and dangerous.

At the time of the 2014 breakout, the prison held 899 inmates, some 130 over its capacity.

During Thursday’s incident, one escapee, 37-year-old Jhon Hippolyte, was shot in the back. He told the AP that he was serving a sentence for murder and was in the infirmary when he noticed everybody running and decided to join them.

AP journalists saw the bodies of at least seven men along streets near the prison. They had been shot. Their identities were not immediately available, and it wasn’t clear if they were inmates or who had killed them.

Video captured by residents shows one police officer leading a group of men tied together with a rope. It wasn’t immediately clear if they were inmates.

Authorities could not be immediately reached for comment.

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US

Senate parliamentarian rules against including minimum wage in Covid relief bill

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While Democrats had pushed for the increase to be included — and leadership expressed its disappointment in the ruling Thursday evening — its removal may actually make it easier to pass the bill, senior Democratic sources believe, because it’ll avoid a messy fight over whether to strip it out of the bill and whether to compromise.

“President Biden is disappointed in this outcome, as he proposed having the $15 minimum wage as part of the American Rescue Plan,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement. “He respects the parliamentarian’s decision and the Senate’s process.”

For now, far from being a defeat, the ruling is viewed as clearing the way for the bill’s passage in the Senate, a Biden administration official told CNN.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday evening the provision will remain in the House bill on which the chamber is voting Friday. However, the parliamentarian ruled that the increase to $15 per hour did not meet a strict set of guidelines needed to move forward in the Senate’s reconciliation process. That means that the House will pass its bill, the Senate will have to strip the minimum wage provision out, and then eventually the House will have to pass that bill again at the end of the process.

But the ruling likely makes it easier for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to get his members in line behind the bill since the rise in the minimum wage had been a key sticking point for moderates like Sens. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Joe Manchin of West Virginia.

There are no viable options to use the procedures in the Senate to keep the wage hike in the bill.

White House officials, cognizant of the potential math problem with Senate Democrats if the minimum wage increase were in the final package, had been counting on the provision being stripped, the administration official told CNN.

While there had been discussions about what would occur if it weren’t, President Joe Biden’s top advisers were fairly certain it would come out — something Biden himself alluded to several times publicly.

The parliamentarian’s ruling takes a significant potential hurdle out of play, officials acknowledged. While Biden will make a push to pass a standalone increase, officials know it has no path in the Senate due to Republican — and Democratic — opposition.

“We are deeply disappointed in this decision,” Schumer said in a statement following the ruling. “We are not going to give up the fight to raise the minimum wage to $15 to help millions of struggling American workers and their families. The American people deserve it, and we are committed to making it a reality.”

The parliamentarian’s decision marks the end of a multi-weeks effort by Senate Budget Chairman Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont, to include the provision in the relief bill.

“I strongly disagree with tonight’s decision by the Senate Parliamentarian,” Sanders said in a statement Thursday evening. “The (Congressional Budget Office) made it absolutely clear that raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour had a substantial budgetary impact and should be allowed under reconciliation. It is hard for me to understand how drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge was considered to be consistent with the Byrd Rule, while increasing the minimum wage is not,” Sanders added, referring to the rule — named after the late Sen. Robert C. Byrd — that prohibits including “extraneous” measures as part of the budget process that Democrats are employing to send the Covid-19 relief package to Biden’s desk by early March.

In the House, progressive Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York told CNN earlier this week that she would still support the Covid relief package if the parliamentarian were the one to remove the minimum wage provision, but not if politicians had been the ones to take it out. For Ocasio-Cortez, members of her own party removing or lowering the minimum wage would have made the bill fall apart. Rep. Ilhan Omar, a progressive Democrat from Minnesota, echoed those sentiments.

Senate parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough, a little known but powerful Senate official, had been thrust into the spotlight this week, with Democrats eager to see whether the minimum wage increase would survive in the President’s relief package. MacDonough is the first woman to serve in the role of Senate parliamentarian — a nonpartisan role — since that position was created in the 1930s.

This story has been updated with additional details.

Annie Grayer and Phil Mattingly contributed to this report.

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Science

Scientists Discover ‘Ingredients For Life’ in 3.5 Billion-Year-Old Rocks in Australia

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Researchers have discovered organic molecules trapped in incredibly ancient rock formations in Australia, revealing what they say is the first detailed evidence of early chemical ingredients that could have underpinned Earth’s primeval microbial life-forms.

 

The discovery, made in the 3.5-billion-year-old Dresser Formation of Western Australia’s Pilbara Craton, adds to a significant body of research pointing to ancient life in this part of the world – which represents one of only two pristine, exposed deposits of land on Earth dating back to the Archean Eon.

In recent years, the hydrothermal rock of the Dresser Formation has turned up repeated signals of what looks to be the earliest known life on land, with scientists discovering “definitive evidence” of microbial biosignatures dating back to 3.5 billion years ago.

Now, in a new study, researchers in Germany have identified traces of specific chemistry that could have enabled such primordial organisms to exist, finding biologically relevant organic molecules contained inside barite deposits, a mineral formed through various processes, including hydrothermal phenomena.

“In the field, the barites are directly associated with fossilised microbial mats, and they smell like rotten eggs when freshly scratched,” explains geobiologist Helge Mißbach from the University of Cologne in Germany.

“Thus, we suspected that they contained organic material that might have served as nutrients for early microbial life.”

Barite rock from the Dresser Formation. (Helge Mißbach)

While scientists have long hypothesised about how organic molecules could act as substrates for primeval microbes and their metabolic processes, direct evidence has to date proven largely elusive.

To investigate, Mißbach and fellow researchers examined inclusions within barites from the Dresser Formation, with the chemically stable mineral capable of preserving fluids and gases inside the rock for billions of years.

 

Using a range of techniques to analyse the barite samples – including gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, microthermometry, and stable isotope analysis, the researchers found what they describe as an “intriguing diversity of organic molecules with known or inferred metabolic relevance”.

Among these were the organic compounds acetic acid and methanethiol, in addition to numerous gases, including hydrogen sulfide, that could have had biotic or abiotic origins.

(Mißbach et al., Nature Communications, 2021)

Above: The Barite rock, indicating close association to stromatolites.

While it may be impossible to be sure of the precise links, the close proximity of these inclusions within the barite rock and adjacent organic accretions called stromatolites suggests that the ancient chemicals, once carried inside hydrothermal fluids, may have influenced primeval microbial communities.

“Indeed, many compounds discovered in the barite-hosted fluid inclusions … would have provided ideal substrates for the sulfur-based and methanogenic microbes previously proposed as players in the Dresser environment,” the researchers write in their study.

In addition to chemicals that may have acted as nutrients or substrates, other compounds found within the inclusions may have served as ‘building blocks’ for various carbon-based chemical reactions – processes that could have kickstarted microbial metabolism, by producing energy sources, such as lipids, that could be broken down by life-forms.

“In other words, essential ingredients of methyl thioacetate, a proposed critical agent in the emergence of life, were available in the Dresser environments,” the team explains.

“They might have conveyed the building blocks for chemoautotrophic carbon fixation and, thus, anabolic uptake of carbon into biomass.”

The findings are reported in Nature Communications.

 

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Technology

Google resumes updating iPhone apps, including YouTube

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The vast majority of Google’s iOS apps have not been updated since early December. A trio of smaller Google applications saw new versions towards the end of last month, while YouTube for iPhone and iPad was just updated this evening.

Following the last YouTube release (15.49.4) on December 7th, iPhone owners this evening are seeing version 15.49.6. The release date is officially February 13th, making for a very odd weekend update by Google. As usual, the YouTube team continued with its practice of using generic release notes:

Fixed bugs, improved performance, drank way too much coffee 

While it’s normal for tech companies to pause work over the winter holidays, updates usually resume by mid-January. Some speculated the lack of releases was due to app nutrition labels, but YouTube filled out the App Privacy section long before this update today.

In fact, the YouTube family (Music, TV, and Studio), save for Kids, was updated with the Apple requirement in early February. Google publicly stated its commitment to add labels, and the current count is at over a dozen apps:

As Google’s iOS apps are updated with new features or to fix bugs, you’ll see updates to our app page listings that include the new App Privacy Details. These labels represent the maximum categories of data that could be collected—meaning if you use every available feature and service in the app. 

The YouTube update comes as iPhone owners earlier this week encountered a “This app is out of date” message when attempting to sign-in with a Google Account. There was no actual security issue, and the warning was quickly removed.

Hopefully, other Google app updates will follow soon. The latest Chrome for iOS is notably 24 days late, though feature parity was not lost given the server-side update nature of most Google services. For example, the Google app got a major redesign of how Search results are displayed last month.

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Check out 9to5Google on YouTube for more news:

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Entertainment

Ranking the ads, including Cheetos, Jeep and more – The Athletic

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A good Super Bowl commercial — a good commercial, period — does four things well: It’s funny, it’s memorable, it compels you to buy the product, and it leaves you with a more favorable view of the brand.

Jake Ciely has been fantasy baseball’s top ranker twice and fantasy football’s top ranker once. But does that apply to commercials? We’re about to find out.

Feel free to dump on poor Jakey in the comments. He has very strong feelings on some of these. Important note: Movie trailers don’t count. Apologies, but that’s a different category and we can’t go there.

(And hey, if you love rankings — and who doesn’t? — check out our 2021 fantasy baseball, updated fantasy basketball and “way too early” fantasy football rankings)

The Top 10 Super Bowl commercials

1. GM: No Way Norway

Will Ferrell, Kenan Thompson and Awkwafina make this pretty good, especially Ferrell, but it’s the Scandinavian stinger joke that really got me laughing. I’m declaring this The Best Commercial of the Night.

Nando: I can’t disagree. This was fantastic.

2. Frito Lay: Super Bowl

So this might sit at No. 1 all night! Nope. But it was fun while it lasted! This spot aired before the game even started. Marshawn Lynch. Peyton Manning. Could have sat there silent for 30 seconds and been terrific. Simply amazing. “Don’t be scared of the ball,” and “C’mon, we’re friends,” were great with Lynch narration topping it all.

3. Cheetos: It Wasn’t Me

Okay, I immediately knew this was going and laughed … immediately. I’m an Ashton Kutcher fan, and the new lyrics and ending (won’t spoil the joke)… very well done.

Nando: I liked the Flat Matthew one so much better.

4. Doritos 3D: Flat Matthew

This has crazy “Twilight Zone” vibes, mixed with Judge Doom from “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” And it works! It’s funny, it’s memorable — the coffee shop scene where he’s initially invisible is fantastic. I assume this will be many people’s favorite commercial this year. Even the disclaimer, “Do not attempt if you’re a 3D person,” was subtly funny.

People’s Choice — Jeep featuring Bruce Springsteen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2XYH-IEvhI

As much as we love our Frito-Lay brands and Will Ferrell, we cannot deny that the rest of the world loves the Bruce Springsteen commercial. Perhaps a little too much, but who are we to judge? We’re awarding this our First Annual People’s Choice Super Bowl Commercial Award For Excellence (PCSBCAFE). Congratulations, Jeep!

5. M&M’s: Sorry

Mocking gender reveals, “Karen” and more, this was pretty good. Not top of the heap, but good for a laugh.

Nando adds: We (my wife and I, not Jake and I) finally caved and started watching “Schitt’s Creek” — with everyone selling it warning you have to get through the first two seasons until it gets really good — and I have to say I get the hype. It’s “Parks & Rec”-sy. I just hope Eugene Levy doesn’t get too overexposed.

6. Tide: Jason Alexander Get Stepped On, etc.

Bonus laughs for the ’80s TV music bed (“Believe It or Not”). The changing faces of Alexander were pretty funny, though, might be more memorable for how weird he looked at the end (looked de-aged).

Nando: I don’t think Jake got the “Seinfeld” tie-in with the song! Would that have pushed it to No. 5?

7. Uber Eats: Wayne’s World

From Nando: “The commercial itself was just OK, but I love everything Wayne’s World — “NOTTT!!”, Tia Carrere, not saying the 2 or 1 when you count someone into a TV shot — and despite it kind of being mailed in, I loved seeing them back on my screen.” As for me, it was simply fun to see them back, but honestly, it would have ranked higher with the one before the Super Bowl, which was better …

8. Sam Adams: Horses

The visual of the person getting horse hip-checked through the window made me laugh, and for whatever reason, every time I hear, “Your cousin, from Bos … ton,” I will chuckle.

9. Bud Light: Legends (Avengers)

Good for chuckles and a trip down Bud Light commercial memory lane. Real Men of Genius guy! But, how do you leave out, “On your left!”?

Nando: This is possibly No. 2 for me. Hearing “Yes I am” again was so great. And “I loved you man” in past tense. And the guy who sang “Mister Vending Machine Repairmannnn.” I watched that three times in a row.

10. LYRIQ: ScissorHandsFree

Do half the people watching the Super Bowl remember “Edward Scissorhands”? This is another callback commercial for ’90s (ish) kids). I feel like this hits a specific group, and fortunately, I was in it, because it was amusing. Not roll on the floor laughing but amusing, especially with Winona Ryder doing reprising her role.

HONORABLE MENTION

Michelob Ultra: Happy

It wasn’t funny, but it did have a very cool aesthetic to it; the part where it switched to live video (Anthony Davis playing chess) was a fun twist from an initial feeling of “here comes a serious artsy commercial,” and I generally like watching an ad where I recognized everyone. Plus, always going to get my vote when using A Tribe Called Quest’s “Can I Kick It?”

Tracy Morgan for Rocket Mortgage — “Pretty Sure”

Flat-out funny and it seems like a pretty expensive one to make. Love everything Tracy Morgan does. In fact, “30 Rock” is one of the most underrated shows. Everyone sweats “The Office”, but you don’t see that same reverence for “30 Rock.”

Craig Robinson Pizza Hut

Total nostalgia play, and I’m not even sure this is technically a “Super Bowl commercial,” because it’s six days old on YouTube and it seems to lack that big-ness, but it aired after the team intros and I thought it was clever and fun. And man, you cannot find those Pizza Hut lampshades anywhere on eBay. This didn’t make the final Top 10, but anything with Craig Robinson (I watched and enjoyed “Ghosted” on FOX a few years ago) works for me.

Paramount+

Patrick Stewart hasn’t aged since 1990, a few good laughs, SpongeBob again, but seriously, ANOTHER streaming service?!

Nando: Yeah but “Yellowstone” is so awesome

Bud Light Seltzer Lemonade

Helped us laugh at the misery of what was 2020, and I especially appreciated the MLB cardboard cutouts getting involved. Side note though, man, “hard” seltzer might have been the biggest beneficiary of 2020 … enough!

Skechers: Max Cushioning

Meh. Does buying these shoes come with a certification for being a dad or mom?

Jimmy John’s: King of Cold Cuts

Some real laughable moments, but “Jimmy’s John’s” got repetitive. I actually laughed most at the warning, “Do not attempt,” when lighting the billboard on fire. Uh, no kidding, folks.

The Worst Super Bowl commercials

Hellmann’s Mayo

Wasn’t funny, and seeing a chocolate cake suggesting using mayo made me legitimately sick to my stomach.

Pringles: Stranded Astronauts

Not memorable. How do I know? I mentioned it, and people I was with didn’t even remember it airing. The stacking flavors commercial peaked and was only good with Bill Hader.

Oatly


It was definitely memorable, but for all the wrong reasons. Woof. I guess it was supposed to be “bad,” and props to the CEO, I guess? But it’s not going to make me want to buy Oatly. Internally, this may win the award for this year’s worst.

Klarna: Tiny Horses, Four Payments

I struggled to even understand what the selling point was or remember who it was for because it wasn’t funny and the CGI was some of the worst I’ve ever seen.

The Feel Good collection

Ford: Finish Strong

Anheuser-Busch: Let’s Grab a Beer

Indeed: The Rising

Toyota: Jessica Long Story

Guinness: Joe Montana GOAT

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Sports

NFL Rumors: Bears rumored to be including Nick Foles in potential trade package for Carson Wentz

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Windy City Gridiron contributor Brandon Robinson caught a lot of attention on Friday when he tweeted that the Chicago Bears have the top trade offer out on Carson Wentz. Robinson expanded further on what he’s been hearing about the Philadelphia Eagles quarterback’s future during a Saturday morning appearance on 670 The Score with Joe Ostrowski.

First, Robinson talked about what the Bears’ offer for Wentz looks like.

OSTROWSKI: Do the Bears still have the top offer for Carson Wentz?

ROBINSON: Not from my source. The last time I spoke with my source is when I tweeted that [original report]. But from what I’ve heard from other people who I trust, they still have the top offer. And I just don’t think that’s changing at all.

OSTROWSKI: After your report, the rest of the afternoon and into the evening, there were subsequent reports, just a lot of different stuff was thrown out there about said offer. What is the Bears’ offer for Wentz?

ROBINSON: So, from what I understood, they had — originally, they had a second and a couple of other picks attached to it. But that was before the Colts came over the top and offered even more. I’m not exactly sure what they offered, but I assume that it was two twos. So, I’m assuming that the Bears are probably offering right now, No. 20 [in the 2021 NFL Draft] and future picks, which is probably a third-round pick in 2022.

OSTROWSKI: You think the first-round pick would be the only one from the 2021 draft? Is that your guess?

ROBINSON: If they added in another pick, it would probably be like a fifth- or sixth-round pick. It wouldn’t be anything substantial.

Later, he mentioned that Eagles Super Bowl MVP Nick Foles could be involved in the deal.

OSTROWSKI: […] I’ll say this, what they did a year ago with Foles? Certainly not this route. So at least they’re changing the process a little bit. With Foles it looked like, ‘Let’s just get an average quarterback and we’ll be okay because we have an elite defense.’ Like you said, low floor, but a high ceiling still for Wentz.

ROBINSON: From what I understand is, the [Bears are] trying to get Foles out of [Chicago] with this deal. […] And that probably has to do more with Wentz and basically how he’s a diva than it has to do with the cap. […] With the perception I have heard from Wentz, there’s no way that [Foles being on the team] could possibly happen.

Robinson also got into the Bears’ motivation for making the trade.

OSTROWSKI: There were a lot of reports near the tail end of the season about Wentz and Pederson. And then they fire Pederson and then they bring in a Frank Reich guy, so you can kind of connect the dots and say ‘OK, they’re going to try to make this work with Wentz.’ What do you know about Wentz’s personality and what he’s like to deal with? Because Doug Pederson does not seem like a very tough guy to get along with. He kind of goes with the flow and he was sick of listening to his bosses by the tail end there.

ROBINSON: Right. So, what I found out recently is that apparently not everyone is aware of how Wentz is acting, and they still think that he’s this guy from North Dakota that’s even-keeled and all of this. But when actually he’s the exact opposite. He’s a complete diva in that locker room who’s completely uncoachable under that staff and wants nothing to do in that organization. And if he was anybody else, like, say, Lamar Jackson, or Russell Wilson, or Cam Newton — you see where I’m going with this? He would be getting criticized over and over again.

OSTROWSKI: I don’t think the viewing public has any idea. I think they see him on the field, and he was terrible in 2020, and he may seem like a bit of a crybaby at times on the sideline or during games. But yeah, I don’t think people think that. Okay, so why do the Bears want him?

ROBINSON: The Bears want him … it’s because the organization still believes — and I know this for a fact — that he still has generational talent. And the fact that he has generational talent and they have a quarterback coach who worked with Wentz, had a great relationship with Wentz, unlike the reports that were out there, and his best years were under John DeFilippo, they think they can have some resurgence in his career. Because, really, he had an awful year. But when you consider how much distaste he had for the coaching staff and him literally doing his own thing on the field, calling his own plays and calling his own shots, anybody that knows anything about football and how it works, you would expect him to play bad. So they think if they can get everything right with him, and move forward with the situation, they can get his career back on track.

A lot to unpack here, so let’s get to some thoughts in bullet-point form:

  • Doesn’t sound like the Eagles will be getting multiple first-round picks for Wentz. But it seems like at least one is in play. How do you feel about No. 20, a 2022 third-round pick, and Foles for Wentz?

Poll

Grade this trade proposal: Carson Wentz for Bears’ 2021 first-round pick (No. 20), Bears’ 2022 third-round pick, and Nick Foles?

  • 50%

    A

    (927 votes)

  • 28%

    B

    (532 votes)

  • 11%

    C

    (208 votes)

  • 3%

    D

    (73 votes)

  • 5%

    F

    (104 votes)



1844 votes total

Vote Now

  • Not transcribed here but Robinson and Ostrowski talked about Bears ownership mandating Matt Nagy and Ryan Pace to win now. They’re really desperate. It would make sense, then, that they’d be the team to give up the most for a risky bet like Wentz.
  • Pace hasn’t exactly been the best quarterback evaluator! Significant investments in Mike Glennon, Mitchell Trubisky, and Foles. What does it say about Wentz that he’s seemingly the next apple of Pace’s eye?
  • Foles back in Philly?! I can see it happening from the standpoint that the Eagles would view it as making the Wentz trade more sellable to fans. ‘Who wouldn’t be happy about seeing our Super Bowl hero come home?’
  • Definitely can’t see the Bears having both Wentz and Foles on their roster. The two quarterbacks have a great personal relationship but the professional dynamic just doesn’t seem tenable for Wentz, who would once again have to worry about Foles potentially replacing him.
  • I think the Eagles trading for Foles both does and doesn’t make sense.
  • On one hand, Foles is probably willing to restructure his contract to make it easier for the Eagles to take him back. He obviously loves Philly. Foles has the right temperament to be a backup. And maybe he could even be a good long-term starter for the Eagles since he inexplicably plays much better here than everywhere else.
  • On the other hand, the Eagles have talked about how they need to get younger and away from nostalgia. Bringing back Foles goes against that messaging. The presence of Foles seems like a potential distraction for whichever young starter (Jalen Hurts or a pick high in the 2021 NFL Draft) the Eagles are moving forward with. And Foles’ long-term starter viability is in serious doubt after we’ve seen him get outplayed by Gardner Minshew and Mitchell Trubisky in consecutive seasons.
  • Maybe this is all moot and a different team ends up being the one to make the strongest offer. With word that a Wentz deal is “close” to happening, I suppose we’ll see as soon as this week.

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Science

Four Exoplanets – Including a Super-Earth Planet – Discovered by High School Students

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A five-planet system around TOI-1233 includes a super-Earth (foreground) that could help solve mysteries of planet formation. The four innermost planets were discovered by high schoolers Kartik Pinglé and Jasmine Wright alongside researcher Tansu Daylan. The fifth outermost planet pictured was recently discovered by a separate team of astronomers. Artist rendering. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The high schoolers turned scientists published their findings this week, thanks to a research mentorship program at the Center for Astrophysics; Harvard and Smithsonian.

They may be the youngest astronomers to make a discovery yet.

This week, 16-year-old Kartik Pinglé and 18-year-old Jasmine Wright have co-authored a peer-reviewed paper in The Astronomical Journal describing the discovery of four new exoplanets about 200-light-years away from Earth.

The high schoolers participated in the research through the Student Research Mentoring Program (SRMP) at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian. Directed by astrochemist Clara Sousa-Silva, the SRMP connects local high schoolers who are interested in research with real-world scientists at Harvard and MIT. The students then work with their mentors on a year-long research project.

“It’s a steep learning curve,” says Sousa-Silva, but it’s worth it. “By the end of the program, the students can say they’ve done active, state-of-the-art research in astrophysics.”

Pinglé and Wright’s particular achievement is rare. High schoolers seldom publish research, Sousa-Silva says. “Although that is one of the goals of the SRMP, it is highly unusual for high-schoolers to be co-authors on journal papers.”

With guidance from mentor Tansu Daylan, a postdoc at the MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, the students studied and analyzed data from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). TESS is a space-based satellite that orbits around Earth and surveys nearby bright stars with the ultimate goal of discovering new planets.

The team focused on TESS Object of Interest (TOI) 1233, a nearby, bright Sun-like star. To perceive if planets were orbiting around the star, they narrowed in on TOI-1233’s light.

“We were looking to see changes in light over time,” Pinglé explains. “The idea being that if the planet transits the star, or passes in front of it, it would [periodically] cover up the star and decrease its brightness.”

To the team’s surprise, they discovered not one but four planets orbiting around TOI-1233.

“I was very excited and very shocked,” Wright says. “We knew this was the goal of Daylan’s research, but to actually find a multiplanetary system, and be part of the discovering team, was really cool.”

Three of the planets are considered “sub-Neptunes,” gaseous planets that are smaller than, but similar to our own solar system’s Neptune. It takes between 6 and 19.5 days for each of them to orbit around TOI-1233. The fourth planet is labeled a “super-Earth” for its large size and rockiness; it orbits around the star in just under four days.

Daylan hopes to study the planets even closer in the coming year.

“Our species has long been contemplating planets beyond our solar system and with multi-planetary systems, you’re kind of hitting the jackpot,” he says. “The planets originated from the same disk of matter around the same star, but they ended up being different planets with different atmospheres and different climates due to their different orbits. So, we would like to understand the fundamental processes of planet formation and evolution using this planetary system.”

Daylan adds that it was a “win-win” to work with Pinglé and Wright on the study.

“As a researcher, I really enjoy interacting with young brains that are open to experimentation and learning and have minimal bias,” he says. “I also think it is very beneficial to high school students, since they get exposure to cutting-edge research and this prepares them quickly for a research career.”

The SRMP was established in 2016 by Or Graur, a former postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Astrophysics |Harvard & Smithsonian. The program accepts about a dozen students per year with priority given to underrepresented minorities.

Thanks to a partnership with the City of Cambridge, the students are paid four hours per week for the research they complete.

“They are salaried scientists,” Sousa-Silva says. “We want to encourage them that pursuing an academic career is enjoyable and rewarding–no matter what they end up pursuing in life.”

Reference: “TESS Discovery of a Super-Earth and Three Sub-Neptunes Hosted by the Bright, Sun-like Star HD 108236” by Tansu Daylan, Kartik Pinglé, Jasmine Wright, Maximilian N. Günther, Keivan G. Stassun, Stephen R. Kane, Andrew Vanderburg, Daniel Jontof-Hutter, Joseph E. Rodriguez, Avi Shporer, Chelsea X. Huang, Thomas Mikal-Evans, Mariona Badenas-Agusti, Karen A. Collins, Benjamin V. Rackham, Samuel N. Quinn, Ryan Cloutier, Kevin I. Collins, Pere Guerra, Eric L. N. Jensen, John F. Kielkopf, Bob Massey, Richard P. Schwarz, David Charbonneau, Jack J. Lissauer, Jonathan M. Irwin, Özgür Bastürk, Benjamin Fulton, Abderahmane Soubkiou, Benkhaldoun Zouhair, Steve B. Howell, Carl Ziegler, César Briceño, Nicholas Law, Andrew W. Mann, Nic Scott, Elise Furlan, David R. Ciardi, Rachel Matson, Coel Hellier, David R. Anderson, R. Paul Butler, Jeffrey D. Crane, Johanna K. Teske, Stephen A. Shectman, Martti H. Kristiansen, Ivan A. Terentev, Hans Martin Schwengeler, George R. Ricker, Roland Vanderspek, Sara Seager, Joshua N. Winn, Jon M. Jenkins, Zachory K. Berta-Thompson, Luke G. Bouma, William Fong, Gabor Furesz, Christopher E. Henze, Edward H. Morgan, Elisa Quintana, Eric B. Ting and Joseph D. Twicken, 25 January 2021, The Astronomical Journal.
DOI: 10.3847/1538-3881/abd73e

Pinglé, a junior in high school, is considering studying applied mathematics or astrophysics after graduation. Wright has just been accepted into a five-year Master of Astrophysics program at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.



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