- Apple Podcasts Removes 1,900 Glenn Beck Episodes From Platform, Then Restores Them Deadline
- Apple responds after Glenn Beck claims podcast was removed ‘with no explanation’ The Independent
- Glenn Beck falsely claims show ‘censored by Apple Podcasts’ Podnews
- They ‘Deplatformed Me!’ Glenn Beck Goes Off on Apple for Temporarily Pulling His Podcast Catalog, Bashes Company Chalking it Up to a ‘Trademark Dispute’ Mediaite
- Apple Says Removal of Glenn Beck Podcast Was Related to a Trademark Dispute That Has Since Been Resolved Variety
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Tag Archives: restores
Scientists show artificial tissue restores penile function in pigs
Scientists have developed an artificial tissue that successfully restored penile function in pigs and shows promise to one day be used on humans.
The ‘bionic penis’ effectively mimics a fibrous sheath of tissue that is necessary to maintain erections, called tunica albuginea, which pumps blood to the penis.
About half of men between the ages of 40 and 70 reportedly experience some form of erectile dysfunction, while an estimated five per cent suffer from Peyronie’s disease, which is thought to occur as a result of injury from sex.
Experts at the South China University of Technology in Guangzhou, China said the pigs involved in their study regained normal erection function with the help of the artificial tunica albuginea (ATA).
Scientists have developed an artificial tissue that successfully restored penile function in pigs and shows promise to one day be used on humans. The synthetic tissue effectively mimics a fibrous sheath of tissue that is necessary to maintain erections, called tunica albuginea
‘We largely foresaw the problems and results of the ATA construction process, but we were still surprised by the results in the animal experiments, where the penis regained normal erection immediately after the use of ATA,’ said study author Xuetao Shi, a researcher at the South China University of Technology.
‘The greatest advantage of the ATA we report is that it achieves tissue-like functions by mimicking the microstructure of natural tissues.
‘This design approach is not limited to the biomimetic design of tunica albuginea tissues but can be extended to many other load-bearing tissues.’
Shi said his team’s research had now turned to solving issues with male reproductive health, including erectile dysfunction, infertility, and Peyronie’s disease, a connective tissue disorder where scar tissue forms in the tunica albuginea, causing pain.
While many previous studies have focused on repairing the urethra, Shi said that less research had looked at restoring erectile function.
However, it is not the first time that researchers have tried to fix damaged tunica albuginea tissue.
The difference is that in the past, studies have looked at making patches from other tissues in a patient’s body, but the problem with this is their immune system often rejects them or complications occur.
Because their microstructures are different from that of natural tunica albuginea, it is also difficult for these patches to replace the natural tissue effectively.
To address this issue, the South China University of Technology researchers developed ATA based on polyvinyl alcohol, which has a curled fibre structure similar to that of the natural tissue.
As a result, the artificial material has biomechanical properties that mimic those of tunica albuginea.
The first thing researchers had to do was establish whether the synthetic material was toxic to any other tissues in the human body, as it is designed to remain in the body for a long time, and found that it should not be harmful.
They then tested the ATA in miniature pigs with injuries to their tunica albuginea.
The scientists found that patches made from the artificial tissue restored erectile function to such an extent that it was almost the equivalent of normal penile tissue.
They then analysed the artificial tissue a month on and found that it helped to achieve a normal erection after the penis was injected with saline.
‘The results one month after the procedure showed that the ATA group achieved good, though not perfect, repair results,’ said Shi.
The scientists found that patches made from the artificial tissue (bottom right) restored erectile function to such an extent that it was almost the equivalent of normal penile tissue (top left). Bottom left shows the penis following a tunica albuginea injury
Shi noted that in penile injuries the tunica albuginea is usually not the only tissue damaged.
Surrounding nerves and the corpus cavernosum, the spongy tissue that runs through the penis’ shaft, are often damaged as well, making repairs even more difficult.
‘Our work at this stage focuses on the repair of a single tissue in the penis, and the next stage will be to consider the repair of the overall penile defect or the construction of an artificial penis from a holistic perspective,’ Shi added.
He said his team now wants to investigate techniques to repair other tissues, including the heart and bladder.
In their paper, the researchers wrote: ‘ATA displays the capability to repair injuries and restore normal erectile function of the ATA-damaged penile tissue in a pig model.
‘Our study demonstrates that ATA has great promise for penile injury repair.
The study has been published in the journal Matter.
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Find out about how snakes have a clitoris too as scientists discover the erogenous zone in nine species for the first time
A study has also revealed that the human clitoris is even more sensitive than we thought and contains over 10,000 nerve fibres
Plus, dolphins also have sex for fun, as they too have functional clitorises that provide pleasure when stimulated
Twitter restores suicide prevention feature after Reuters report
NEW YORK, Dec 24 (Reuters) – Twitter Inc restored a feature that promoted suicide prevention hotlines and other safety resources to users looking up certain content, after coming under pressure from some users and consumer safety groups over its removal.
Reuters reported on Friday that the feature was taken down a few days ago, citing two people familiar with the matter, who said the removal was ordered by the social media platform’s owner Elon Musk.
After publication of the story, Twitter head of trust and safety Ella Irwin confirmed the removal and called it temporary. “We have been fixing and revamping our prompts. They were just temporarily removed while we do that,” Irwin said in an email to Reuters.
“We expect to have them back up next week,” she said.
About 15 hours after the initial report, Musk, who did not initially respond to requests for comment, tweeted “False, it is still there.” In response to criticism by Twitter users, he also tweeted “Twitter doesn’t prevent suicide.”
The feature, known as #ThereIsHelp, placed a banner at the top of search results for certain topics. It listed contacts for support organizations in many countries related to mental health, HIV, vaccines, child sexual exploitation, COVID-19, gender-based violence, natural disasters and freedom of expression.
Its elimination had led some consumer safety groups and Twitter users to express concerns about the well-being of vulnerable users of the platform.
In part due to pressure from consumer safety groups, internet services including Twitter, Alphabet’s Google (GOOGL.O) and Meta’s Facebook (META.O) have for years tried to direct users to well-known resource providers such as government hotlines when they suspect someone may be in danger of harming themselves or others.
In her email, Twitter’s Irwin said, “Google does really well with these in their search results and (we) are actually mirroring some of their approach with the changes we are making.”
She added, “We know these prompts are useful in many cases and just want to make sure they are functioning properly and continue to be relevant.”
Eirliani Abdul Rahman, who had been on a recently dissolved Twitter content advisory group, said the disappearance of #ThereIsHelp was “extremely disconcerting and profoundly disturbing.”
Even if it was only temporarily removed to make way for improvements, “normally you would be working on it in parallel, not removing it,” she said.
Reporting by Kenneth Li in New York, Sheila Dang in Dallas, Paresh Dave in Oakland, and Fanny Potkin in Singapore; Editing by Daniel Wallis
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Elon Musk restores Donald Trump’s Twitter account
Trump’s account was repopulating with old tweets and followers Saturday night, though the former president had not tweeted immediately after being restored. He said Saturday he remained focused on his Twitter clone, Truth Social, signaling he would not return to the site right away.
Twitter users voted roughly 52 percent to 48 percent to restore Trump’s account, according to Musk’s unscientific and non-representative Twitter poll. Musk has put multiple pivotal decisions up to a vote from his Twitter feed, including, last year, on whether to sell 10 percent of his Tesla stock.
Musk had previously said he disagreed with the ban and intended to restore Trump. But after purchasing Twitter for $44 billion late last month, he had also promised to install a content moderation council to make such decisions — saying the process would likely take weeks.
Trump had more than 88 million followers before Twitter suspended him after Jan. 6, 2021, citing fears of violent incitement in the days after his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol in riots that left five dead and hundreds injured.
A former Twitter employee familiar with the process of account restoration, speaking on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution, said banned accounts can take up to a full day to be restored to their prior state.
Musk’s move, minutes after the conclusion of his poll, reversed one of the most consequential decisions in Twitter’s history. A self-described “free speech absolutist,” Musk has said permanent bans undermine Twitter’s role as an unrestricted haven for free expression.
The decision drew immediate criticism from the NAACP, which urged advertisers to pause all promotions on the platform Saturday night.
“In Elon Musk’s Twittersphere, you can incite an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, which led to the deaths of multiple people, and still be allowed to spew hate speech and violent conspiracies on his platform,” it said in a statement. “If Elon Musk continues to run Twitter like this, using garbage polls that do not represent the American people and the needs of our democracy, God help us all.”
In a tweeted letter the day he completed his $44 billion acquisition, Musk pledged not to make Twitter “a free-for-all hellscape” and said he bought the platform “because it is important to the future of civilization to have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner, without resorting to violence.”
Right-wing figures — including members of the former Trump administration and political personalities aligned with the former president — celebrated Musk’s decision, welcoming Trump back to the platform Saturday night.
Trump addressed Musk’s poll and the subject of his account during video-link remarks to the Republican Jewish Coalition conference on Saturday in Las Vegas.
He reacted coolly to the prospect of rejoining the site, reiterating previous remarks that he would rather focus his attention on his clone website, Truth Social.
“I don’t see any reason for it,” Trump said of returning to Twitter, alluding to the social media network’s reported problems with bots and declining engagement. “Truth Social has taken the place for a lot of people, and I don’t see them going back onto Twitter.”
While Trump took the opportunity to promote his own website, he said he appreciated the poll and welcomed Musk’s purchase.
“I like that he bought it, I’ve always liked him,” Trump said. “He’s a character, but I tend to like characters.”
If he returns, Trump’s reinstatement at the dawn of the 2024 presidential race could cement the platform again as a hyperpolarized political battleground.
Trump used Twitter to great effect to grip the news cycle and tear down opponents — not only in the years before running for president but on the campaign trail and, later, in the White House.
Though Trump has said he wouldn’t rejoin Twitter even if he was asked, some of his advisers told The Washington Post this spring that they doubted his commitment. Twitter was Trump’s most dominant megaphone, allowing him to reach an audience of tens of millions of followers with dozens of messages a day.
In Trump’s contract with Truth Social, he agreed he would make his posts exclusively available on Truth Social for eight hours before he could share them elsewhere, The Post has reported. The agreement offered exceptions for “political messaging, political fundraising or get-out-the-vote efforts,” which he could do anywhere at any time.
Researchers and activists have argued that reinstating Trump will embolden rule-breakers and neutralize Twitter’s most potent tool for reducing harassment and lies: suspending someone’s account.
This will “open up the floodgates to incredibly obnoxious behavior,” said Joan Donovan, a research director of Harvard’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy who has studied disinformation.
Trump’s reinstatement, she said, will not only help the former president drive the public conversation and influence the most popular medium for journalists and news junkies. It will also help centralize a political outrage movement that has scattered across smaller right-wing corners of the web.
“This brings us back to 2020, where Trump understands the power that what he says in public and on Twitter can create mass hysteria,” she said. “The people he’s mobilizing have not gone away. They feel as strongly as ever that something is rotten in the government, and they need an actual savior.”
Trump will rejoin a Twitter that looks very different than it did when he sent his first tweet, in 2009, to urge people to watch his brief appearance on “Late Night With David Letterman.”
Unlike his first time on Twitter, his audience will likely know what to expect from him. It remains to be seen whether he can recapture his old audience.
After his Twitter ban, Trump began posting messages onto a widely ignored blog that he discarded after 29 days due to its small readership.
Trump later signed on with a small team of co-founders to build a Twitter clone, Truth Social, that launched earlier this year and promised to become a “media powerhouse.”
But Trump has only 4 million followers on the site, and his messages there receive only a tiny fraction of his previous Twitter engagement and response. The start-up running it, Trump Media & Technology Group, has also been undermined by bitter infighting, federal investigations and increasing investor unease.
Some critics expect that Trump’s reinstatement on Twitter could further kneecap Truth Social, which had counted on Trump’s involvement as its key differentiator in an increasingly crowded marketplace of right-wing social networks, meme pages and message boards.
Trump had pledged to use Truth Social exclusively and was given 90 percent ownership in the start-up. Its investment partner, Digital World Acquisition, saw its stock fall to near-record lows on Thursday due to concerns over Trump’s Twitter return.
On Truth Social, Trump has continued to lie about widespread fraud in the election and share conspiracy theories related to QAnon, the jumble of bogus claims suggesting Trump is leading a secret resistance against a global cabal of child-eating Satanists.
“He’s been dog-whistling QAnon on Truth Social hoping to get mainstream media attention, just sending out all these conspiracy beacons to get momentum and energy around his name,” Donovan said. “But there’s nothing new about it. A lot will depend on the lengths he will be willing to go to … get attention.”
Astros-Mariners Game 2 live updates: Framber Valdez restores order
After a day off, the Astros-Mariners American League Division series has resumed with Game 2 today at Minute Maid Park. The Astros lead the best-of-5 series 1-0 after winning Game 1 8-7 on Yordan Alvarez’s dramatic, three-run walkoff homer.
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Return to normalcy
3:05 p.m. — It’s six Mariners hitters up and six down so far against Framber Valdez, who is looking like his 25-consecutive-quality-starts self. — Greg Rajan
Tossing zeroes
2:54 p.m. — Framber Valdez and Luis Castillo share Dominican heritage and similar hairstyles. Both men also easily retired the side in order in the first inning and struck out the opposition’s No. 2 hitter. Mariners rookie Julio Rodríguez and Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez, two batters known for their power, managed only weak contact in their at-bats. It’s early, but this game is shaping up to be a rubber match between Valdez and Castillo. — Danielle Lerner
The usual
2:53 p.m. — It was more of the same for Framber Valdez in the first inning.
The Astros’ No. 2 starter attacked Julio Rodríguez low and away, then got Rodríguez to ground out.
Balancing between 80 and 95 mph, Valdez followed with two more quick outs and Seattle recorded a zero in the initial inning of Game 2.
The Mariners scored a run in the first off Justin Verlander in Game 1 and three runs in the second. Valdez began Thursday’s follow up with his standard high-quality stuff. — Brian T. Smith
Hacking away
2:52 p.m. — After his first-inning groundout, Jose Altuve is now hitting .364 (39-for-107) this season on the first pitch. — Chandler Rome
Setting them down
2:41 p.m. — Framber Valdez retired dangerous Mariners rookie Julio Rodríguez, who terrorized the Astros in Game 1, to start Game 2, so that’s progress. He retires the side in order, including one strikeout. Astros are coming to bat not facing a deficit for the first time in the series. — Greg Rajan
Feeling blue
2:31 p.m. — Framber Valdez likes the Astros’ blue alternate jerseys, so they’re wearing them for Game 2. The Mariners are wearing their gray road uniforms after donning their blue alternates in Game 1. Don’t believe the Astros have worn a non-white uniform in a home playoff game since wearing their orange alternates in the infamous Game 7 of the 2019 World Series. — Greg Rajan
Alvarez meets fans
Dillon Harrell couldn’t believe his good fortune when he came away with Yordan Alvarez’s walkoff home run ball that ended Game 1 of the American League Division Series on Tuesday, but he didn’t feel like the ball belonged to him. He wanted to give it to Alvarez, “because that’s his baseball. He’s the one who hit it.”
Instead, Harrell was told Alvarez just wanted to meet him. Almost five hours before Game 2, Alvarez met Harrell and his family and told Harrell the ball is his.
“He told me, ‘No, that belongs to you because you got it.’ And he said, ‘I just wanted to sign it for you and take a picture with you,’” said Harrell, who also was given tickets to Thursday’s game. “He’s a real class act. The fact that he took some time to meet me on a day when I’m sure he’s got a lot on his mind right now. He’s the most loved man in Houston right now.
“You get star-struck when you see these guys on TV playing in a game, but when he walked around the corner, looked me in the eye, shook my hand, gave me a hug and had a conversation with us and showed some real interest … that’s just really cool, and above and beyond what I was expecting.” — Matt Young
Cool keepsakes
Game-used balls are among the memorabilia can be bought in one of Minute Maid Park’s gift shops on the outfield concourse.
Brent Zwerneman / staff1:58 p.m. — One of the cooler gift shops in Minute Maid Park is on the outfield concourse to the right and under the Coca-Cola sign.
For fans who aren’t lucky enough to catch a foul ball, they can buy game-used balls ranging from $25 to at least $100. Last year, for instance, I bought my lefty 8-year-old son a ball thrown by then-Astros lefthander Brooks Raley, and my righty 13-year-old son a ball thrown by Zack Greinke, one of his sports icons.
The exact pitch is marked on the hard plastic case, so fans can look up the ball they own and see it pitched or hit via the Internet, if they’re so inclined (we have that on our list of things to do). — Brent Zwerneman
Correa has high praise for Peña
1:53 p.m. — Appearing as a guest analyst on TBS’ pregame show, former Astros shortstop Carlos Correa had high praise for his successor Jeremy Peña and his role in Houston’s Game 1 win, calling Peña’s two-out single before Yordan Alvarez’s walkoff homer “the most important at-bat” of the ninth inning Tuesday.
Correa also recounted seeing Peña field and hit for the first time at spring training in 2021 before Correa’s final Astros season and thinking “Wow, this kid is good.”
Regarding the Astros’ decision to let Correa leave in free agency, he said he understood the business reasons for the move, specifically Peña being under team control at the MLB minimum while Correa was seeking in the neighborhood of $35 million a season.
“You know it’s an easy decision for the front office,” Correa said. “The Astros made a good decision. Jeremy Peña is going to be a superstar for a long time. I love to watch him play.”
As for his reported decision to opt out of his contract with Minnesota, Correa said he was letting agent Scott Boras handle business with the Twins and that he “would love to be back” in Minnesota. — Greg Rajan
Houston ties that bind for Mariners’ Servais
1:28 p.m. — Nearly 30 years ago as a student at Sam Houston State, I helped organize an Astros Caravan visit to Huntsville and the campus that included current Seattle Mariners manager Scott Servais, a young catcher with Houston at the time.
I’d also pitched for the Bearkats and worked for the school newspaper, The Houstonian, so I invited the Astros out to Holleman Field during a midweek practice late in the winter of 1993. Manager Art Howe graciously accepted, leading to one of the all-time memorable Bearkats practices.
Howe took one look at the pristine field the coaching staff and players worked so hard on under iconic coach John Skeeters and chuckled and said, “This is nicer than Kissimmee.”
Howe meant the field only, considering the Sam Houston dugout backed up to an old indoor gun range. The Astros held spring training in Kissimmee, Fla., at the time. I specifically remember Servais pulling aside the Sam Houston catchers and working with them in that brief but unforgettable visit — what a thrill for a bunch of grinders in the Southland Conference.
I brought up the long-ago visit to Servais before Thursday’s Game 2 of the American League Division Series in Minute Maid Park.
“The old Astros Caravans,” Servais said with a grin. “I made it all over the state of Texas back in the day. It’s usually the young players that got roped into doing it, jumping on a bus and meeting fans and young players and doing different things. That was part of the deal. It helps young players mature a little bit in dealing in that environment.
“We were all young at the time when I first started with the Astros.”
Servais, 55, was 24 at the time of the Sam Houston visit, so he wasn’t much older than the collegians he was working with.
“I started my career here, and bought my first home in Houston, in Sugar Land,” said Servais, who played in the Astrodome with the Astros from 1991-95 and in Minute Maid Park in 2001 prior to his retirement as a player. “My two older kids were born here, so there are a lot of ties to the area.” — Brent Zwerneman
Loaded for leverage
1:27 p.m. — The back of Houston’s bullpen is very well-rested. Perhaps too much so. Neither Ryan Pressly nor Ryne Stanek has pitched since Oct. 5. Setup man Héctor Neris last appeared a day before on Oct. 4. Houston anticipated the long layoff and had all of its relievers throw live batting practice sessions during their five-day wait for the Wild Card series winner. But, given manager Dusty Baker’s acknowledgement after Game 1 that his team looked “rusty,” it’s worth wondering if the same can be said for its most trusted relievers. — Chandler Rome
Diaz can catch up to heat
1:23 p.m. — Dusty Baker’s decision to start Aledmys Díaz today isn’t just rooted in Trey Mancini’s struggles. Yes, Mancini had a miserable September and finished hitless in Game 1, but Díaz is known around the sport for his ability to handle high velocity. It’s why the Astros see more value in Díaz as a bench bat, when he could ostensibly face a team’s hardest-throwing relievers late in a close game. Mariners starter Luis Castillo averages 97.1 mph with his four-seam fastball and 96.9 mph with his sinker. He gets unreal movement on both pitches — so it’s not the normal high velocity Díaz is used to seeing — but he is still a far better matchup here than Mancini. — Chandler Rome
How do Astros approach Castillo?
12:31 p.m. — Luis Castillo has allowed one run in 12 ⅔ career postseason innings. Seattle’s Game 2 starter was superb at Toronto in the recent Wild Card round, throwing 7 1/3 frames of scoreless fire. Regularly hitting 99 mph is part of Castillo’s repertoire. But the real art is in the late movement, which saw Blue Jays hitters wildly whiffing at offerings in the final moments before another ball smacked into a catcher’s glove.
How will the Astros handle Castillo’s attack?
“As a hitter, you’re preparing to swing at every pitch until you decide that it’s a ball,” Astros manager Dusty Baker said pregame Thursday. “At a 100 miles an hour, if you wait until the last second to swing, it’s already by you — there is no last second. You just try to hope that he comes over the plate, and if you get a pitch to hit, you hope you don’t miss it.”
Castillo is Seattle’s premier starting arm and was one of the biggest names moved at the trade deadline. Baker mentioned “controlled aggression” when describing the balance between attacking inside the box and being overly selective. If Castillo repeats his Wild Card form on Thursday, he will be one of the Astros’ toughest mound tests during the playoffs. Approach and pitch selection could define Game 2.
“Most of the time when you’re young, you’re either aggressive or passive,” Baker said. “I would rather take that aggressive person and try to make him a little bit passive and selective, than I would a guy that takes all the time and try and make him aggressive. That’s hard to do. When in doubt, like I tell my son: When in doubt, attack.” — Brian T. Smith
Why Maldonado, not Vázquez
11:12 a.m. — The calls for Christian Vázquez have begun again on social media. He never had a chance to start this game. Martín Maldonado’s ability to calm Framber Valdez down and handle the inevitable ups and downs of his starts make it mandatory that he catch Valdez. — Chandler Rome
Seattle leans to the right
11 a.m. — Unsurprisingly, the Mariners stacked their lineup with righthanded hitters against Houston southpaw Framber Valdez. The only personnel change from Game 1: Dylan Moore starting in left field over the lefthanded hitting Jarred Kelenic. Red-hot catcher Cal Raleigh — a switch-hitter who has better splits against righthanded pitching — moved down into the seven-hole. Seattle’s only two lefthanded hitters follow him: Adam Frazier hitting eighth and J.P. Crawford hitting ninth. — Chandler Rome
Here is the full Mariners lineup:
1. Julio Rodríguez, CF
2. Ty France, 1B
3. Eugenio Suárez, 3B
4. Mitch Haniger, RF
5. Carlos Santana, DH
6. Dylan Moore, LF
7. Cal Raleigh, C
8. Adam Frazier, 2B
9. J.P. Crawford, SS
Luis Castillo, RHP
Pair of changes for Game 2 lineup
10:39 a.m. — Astros manager Dusty Baker made two changes to his lineup for Game 2, starting Aledmys Díaz at designated hitter and Jake Meyers in center field, batting seventh and eighth in the order, respectively. Replacing Trey Mancini, who went 0-for-4 against the Mariners in Game 1, with one of the team’s hottest hitters in Díaz is an obvious decision. Center field is less so. On Wednesday, Baker said he thought Meyers had the best chance of Houston’s center fielders to hit Seattle starter Luis Castillo, despite Castillo’s proclivity to throw the type of high-velocity fastball Meyers has struggled against this year. — Danielle Lerner
Here is the full Astros lineup:
1. Jose Altuve, 2B
2. Jeremy Peña, SS
3. Yordan Alvarez, LF
4. Alex Bregman, 3B
5. Kyle Tucker, RF
6. Yuli Gurriel, 1B
7. Aledmys Díaz, DH
8. Jake Meyers, CF
9. Martín Maldonado, C
Framber Valdez, LHP
Must-see TV?
10:36 a.m. — Astros fans might want to watch today’s TBS pregame show, which will include guest analyst Carlos Correa, the former Houston star shortstop who signed with Minnesota as a free agent last season. The show begins at 1:30 p.m. Central. Correa also will be a guest on the postgame show following the Yankees/Guardians doubleheader nightcap. — Greg Rajan
‘What you dream of’
10:35 a.m. — TBS announcer Brian Anderson called an Astros walkoff homer in the postseason that he forgot about. But he won’t forget the experience of being on the air for Yordan Alvarez’s Game 1 home run anytime soon. He also discusses going to games at the Astrodome as a youth. — Greg Rajan
Luhnow still unapologetic
10:30 a.m. — Former Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow, who was suspended and subsequently fired after details of the team’s sign-stealing scheme came to light, told Sports Illustrated that he doesn’t have anything to apologize for, because he didn’t know his team wasn’t following the rules. He also says he has a 750-page manuscript telling his side of the story that he may publish one day. — Matt Young
Game 2 preview
• How Yordan Alvarez’s parents got to Minute Maid Park from Cuba
• Smith: Pitch to Yordan Alvarez? Why, it’s pure folly
• Solomon: These Astros have changed mindset for generation of fans
• How Astros pitching could line up for long series
• Framber Valdez relishes matchup with Dominican countryman Luis Castillo
• Astros’ Joe Espada interviews for Marlins, White Sox managerial jobs
• Mariners phenom Julio Rodriguez is the real deal
• Astros to make quick change in center field?
• Ex-Astros star Carlos Correa joins TBS’ Game 2 coverage team
• TBS’ Brian Anderson on Alvarez’s homer: ‘It’s what I dreamed of calling’
• Agony and ecstasy: Dueling radio calls of Alvarez’s walkoff HR
• Series primer: TV info, tickets and more
Game 1: Astros 8, Mariners 7
• On Yordan Alvarez and the anatomy of a comeback
• Smith: October, magic and Astros
• Solomon: A clubhouse full of heroes
• The importance of Yuli Gurriel’s resurgence
• Justin Verlander’s bump in the road
• Mariners will try to ‘flush it’ after collapse
• Five key moments
• How Game 1 unfolded
• Smith: More uncertainty in front office
• Maton done after punching locker
• History of Astros playoff walkoff wins
• Best photos from Game 1
Astros-Mariners ALDS preview
• How 9 pitches might determine World Series dreams
• Solomon: Astros in 4 is an easy choice
• Smith: Killer V’s are Astros’ most potent weapon
• How Astros and Mariners match up in ALDS
• Michael Brantley’s absence and trickle-down effect
• Upstart Mariners have Astros’ full attention
• Jose Altuve’s heart set on staying in Houston
• Astros’ Pete Putila leaving to be Giants’ GM
• Q&A: TBS’ Jeff Francoeur analyzes Astros-Mariners matchup
• Astros seek more offense from center field, leaving Dubón odd man out
• Illness puts Game 2 starter announcement on hold
• No lack of ill will between Astros, Mariners
• Series primer: TV, ticket info and much more
• Flashback: Revisiting playoff series of Astros’ golden age
• Podcast: Breaking down Astros vs. Mariners
Super Long-Distance NASA Fix Restores Voyager 1, Roughly 15 Billion Miles Away : ScienceAlert
The Voyager 1 space probe launched from Earth in September 1977, and is now around 23.5 billion kilometers (or 14.6 billion miles) away from home – and counting. But despite that mind-blowing distance, NASA scientists just carried out a repair job on the craft.
Since May, Voyager 1 has been sending back garbled information from its attitude articulation and control system (AACS), which is the part of the probe that ensures that its antenna is pointed towards Earth.
Although the rest of the probe continued to behave normally, the information it sent back about its health and activities didn’t make any sense. Through a switch in the way data is sent back from Voyager 1, the issue has now been fixed.
“We’re happy to have the telemetry back,” says Suzanne Dodd, Voyager’s project manager at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California.
Scientists were able to figure out that the spacecraft had begun transmitting data through an on-board computer that was known to have stopped working years ago. The NASA team commanded Voyager 1 to switch back to the correct computer for communications.
What we don’t know yet is why Voyager 1 decided to start switching up how it was sending data back to its home planet. The most likely explanation is a faulty command generated from somewhere else on the probe’s electronic systems.
That in turn suggests that there’s another problem somewhere else, otherwise the computer switch would never have been made. However, the Voyager 1 team is confident that the long-term health of the spacecraft isn’t under threat.
“We’ll do a full memory readout of the AACS and look at everything it’s been doing,” says Dodd. “That will help us try to diagnose the problem that caused the telemetry issue in the first place.”
Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 (which actually launched a month earlier than its twin) have traveled so far in 45 years that they’re now both beyond the point known as the heliopause, where the Sun’s solar winds can no longer be felt and space is officially regarded as interstellar.
Despite Voyager 1 shutting down some of its systems and losing some functionality in that time, and Voyager 2 needing some troubleshooting also, both the probes continue to report back to Earth – even though a message can take around two days to travel the required distance.
The spacecraft have sent back images from close to Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto, and in recent years have carried on recording and analyzing the weird and wonderful experiences they’re having out in space.
Voyager 1 hasn’t triggered its ‘safe mode’ routine, which suggests it doesn’t detect anything faulty, and the signal from the spacecraft hasn’t weakened. All being well, it can continue reporting back for many years to come.
“We’re cautiously optimistic, but we still have more investigating to do,” says Dodd.
You can keep track of the probe on the Voyager Mission Status website.
NASA Restores Contact With CAPSTONE Spacecraft – Prepares for Trajectory Correction Maneuver
The Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment, or CAPSTONE, is a CubeSat that will fly a unique orbit around the Moon intended for NASA’s future Artemis lunar outpost Gateway. Its six-month mission will help launch a new era of deep space exploration. Credit: NASA Ames Research Center
Mission operators have re-established contact with 
CAPSTONE communicates with Earth via NASA’s Deep Space Network.
In the meantime, the CAPSTONE team is still actively working to fully establish the root cause of the issue. Ground-based testing suggests the issue was triggered during commissioning activities of the communications system. The team will continue to evaluate the data leading up to the communications issue and monitor CAPSTONE’s status.
The mission team, led by Advanced Space, initially re-established contact with CAPSTONE at 9:26 a.m. EDT (6:26 a.m. PDT) on July 6. The signal confirmed that CAPSTONE was in the expected location, as predicted based on data from CAPSTONE’s initial contacts on July 4. The team started recovery procedures and began receiving telemetry data from the spacecraft at 10:18 a.m. EDT (7:18 a.m. PDT).
After its launch on June 28, CAPSTONE orbited Earth attached to Rocket Lab’s Photon upper stage, which maneuvered CAPSTONE into position for its voyage to the Moon. Photon’s engines fired seven times over the first six days at key moments to raise the orbit’s highest point to around 810,000 miles (1,300,000 km) from Earth before releasing the CAPSTONE CubeSat on its ballistic lunar transfer trajectory to the Moon.
Pixar’s Lightyear Restores Same-Sex Kiss After Don’t Say Gay Uproar
On March 9, LGBTQ employees and allies at Pixar Animation Studios sent a joint statement to Walt Disney Company leadership claiming that Disney executives had actively censored “overtly gay affection” in its feature films. The stunning allegation — made as part of a larger protest over the company’s lack of public response to Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill — did not include which Pixar films had weathered the censorship, nor which specific creative decisions were cut or altered.
But in at least one case, the statement appears to have made a significant difference.
According to a source close to the production, Pixar’s next feature film, “Lightyear” — starring Chris Evans as the putative real-life inspiration for the “Toy Story” character Buzz Lightyear — does feature a significant female character, Hawthorne (voiced by Uzo Aduba), who is in a meaningful relationship with another woman. While the fact of that relationship was never in question at the studio, a kiss between the characters had been cut from the film. Following the uproar surrounding the Pixar employees’ statement and Disney CEO Bob Chapek’s handling of the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, however, the kiss was reinstated into the movie last week.
The decision marks a possible major turning point for LGBTQ representation not just in Pixar films, but in feature animation in general, which has remained steadfastly circumspect about depicting same-sex affection in any meaningful light.
To be sure, there are several examples of forthright LGBTQ representation in feature animation created for an adult audience, including in 1999’s “South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut,” 2007’s “Persepolis,” 2016’s “Sausage Party,” and 2021’s “Flee.” But in a G or PG rated animated movie, the pervasive approach has been to tell, not show — and only barely at that. Arguably the most high-profile LGBTQ character in an animated studio feature to date — Katie (Abbi Jacobson), the teenage lead of “The Mitchells vs. the Machines,” produced by Sony Pictures Animation and released by Netflix — is the exception that proves the rule: This explicit fact of Katie’s identity is only fully revealed in the final moments of the film when her mother makes a passing reference to her girlfriend.
In Pixar’s 27-year history, there have been just a small handful of unambiguous LGBTQ characters of any kind. In 2020’s “Onward,” a one-eyed cop (Lena Waithe), who appears in a few scenes, mentions her girlfriend. In 2019’s “Toy Story 4,” two moms hug their child goodbye at kindergarten. And 2016’s “Finding Dory” features a brief shot of what appears to be a lesbian couple, though the movie’s filmmakers were coy about defining them that way at the time. The most overtly LGBTQ project in Pixar’s canon is a 2020 short film, “Out,” about a gay man struggling with coming out to his parents — which the studio released on Disney Plus as part of its SparkShorts program.
But according to multiple former Pixar employees who spoke with Variety on the condition of anonymity, creatives within the studio have tried for years to incorporate LGBTQ identity into its storytelling in ways big and small, only to have those efforts consistently thwarted. (A spokesperson for Disney declined to comment for this story.)
In Pixar’s 2021 release, “Luca,” two young sea monsters who appear human when on land, Luca (Jacob Tremblay) and Alberto (Jack Dylan Grazer), build a profound friendship with each other that many interpreted as a coming out allegory — the New York Times’ review of the film was headlined “Calamari by Your Name.” The film’s director, Enrico Casarosa, even told The Wrap that he “talked about” the potential of Luca and Alberto’s friendship being romantic in nature. But he quickly added that “we didn’t talk about it as much” because the film focuses “on friendship” and is “pre-romance.”
“Some people seem to get mad that I’m not saying yes or no, but I feel like, well, this is a movie about being open to any difference,” Casarosa added.
According to two sources who spoke with Variety, however, the “Luca” filmmakers also discussed whether the human girl who befriends Luca and Alberto, Giulia (Emma Berman), should be queer. But the creative team appeared to be stymied by how to do it without also creating a girlfriend for the character.
“We very often came up against the question of, ‘How do we do this without giving them a love interest?’” says one source who worked at the studio. “That comes up very often at Pixar.”
It’s unclear why a studio that has imbued multi-dimensional life into everything from plastic toys to the concepts of sadness and joy would be stumped by how to create an LGBTQ character without a love interest. But it also appears Pixar has had difficulty incorporating queer representation even as part of the background. Multiple sources told Variety that efforts to include signifiers of LGBTQ identity in the set design of films located in specific American cities known for sizable LGBTQ populations — namely, 2020’s “Soul” (in New York City) and 2015’s “Inside Out” (in San Francisco) — were shot down. One source said that a rainbow sticker placed in the window of a shop was removed because it was deemed too “distracting.”
Other sources said same-sex couples were also removed from the background from these films, though a studio insider insists they do appear in “Soul.” (A review of the film by Variety noted a few examples of two women sitting or standing in close proximity with each other in shots that last less than a second, but the nature of their relationship is ambiguous.)
What is most troubling is how this censorship apparently manifested at the studio. The March 9 statement by Pixar employees states that “Disney corporate reviews” were responsible for the diminution of LGBTQ representation at Pixar — which would include the tenure of Chapek’s predecessor as CEO, Robert Iger. It’s why Pixar employees say they found Chapek’s assertion in a March 7 company-wide memo that the “biggest impact” Disney can make “is through the inspiring content we produce” so galling.
“Nearly every moment of overtly gay affection is cut at Disney’s behest, regardless of when there is protest from both the creative teams and executive leadership at Pixar,” the statement says. “Even if creating LGBTQIA+ content was the answer to fixing the discriminatory legislation in the world, we are being barred from creating it.”
But none of the sources who spoke with Variety could cite first-hand knowledge of Disney executives directly cutting LGBTQ content from specific Pixar features. Instead, the examples from “Luca,” “Soul” and “Inside Out” were purportedly driven either by the individual movie’s filmmaking team or by the studio’s own leadership. Effectively, Pixar engaged in self-censorship, say these sources, out of an abiding belief that LGBTQ content wouldn’t get past Disney review because Disney has needed the films to play in markets traditionally hostile to LGBTQ people: namely China, Russia, much of West Asia and in the American South.
Indeed, the inclusion of a one-eyed lesbian cop in “Onward” was enough to ban the film in Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia; and the version released in Russia swapped the word “girlfriend” with the word “partner.”
All of which makes the decision to restore the same-sex kiss in “Lightyear” — the first Pixar film due to open in movie theaters rather than on Disney Plus since 2019 — that much more meaningful for the studio and its employees, especially the ones who risked breaching Pixar’s decades-long near impenetrable silence about internal matters in their March 9 statement.
For Steven Hunter, the director of the short film “Out,” that effort was particularly important. While he is no longer at Pixar and couldn’t speak to any specific instances of censorship there, he said it was still “nerve-wracking” speaking out about the company at all. But with LGBTQ equal rights under threat by a sudden raft of state-level legislation, the importance of visibility in storytelling was too great for him to stay silent.
“I stand by my colleagues,” Hunter told Variety. “I’m really proud of those folks for speaking up. We need that. We need Mr. Chapek to understand that we need to be speaking up. We can’t assume that these laws that they’re trying to put in place aren’t hurtful and bigoted and, frankly, evil. We are not going away. We’re not going back in the closet.”
Gran Turismo 7 PS5, PS4 Patch Restores Servers After 24 Hours, Polyphony Digital Comments on Microtransactions
Gran Turismo 7’s servers have been restored after an unexpected and unprecedented 24 hours of downtime. Due to the PlayStation 5 and PS4 exclusive requiring an Internet connection in order to save gameplay progress, the entire experience was largely unplayable over the past day. The new update, which weighs in at 354.5MB, brings the release back online.
Here are the patch notes, from Polyphony Digital:
- Fixed an issue wherein the lineup of cars would not appear in the Used Cars and Legend Cars dealerships
- Fixed an issue wherein in some cases the game would not progress to the World Map, making it impossible to play
Series creator Kazunori Yamauchi has also commented on the outage: “Immediately before the release of the 1.07 update, we discovered an issue where the game would not start properly in some cases on product versions for the PS5 and PS4. This was a rare issue that was not seen during tests on the development hardware or the QA sessions prior to the release, but in order to prioritize the safety of the save data of the users, we decided to interrupt the release of the 1.07 update, and to make a 1.08 correctional update. This is the reason for the delay. My sincere apologies for the late report to everyone.”
That makes sense, but we’d argue communication could have been better over the 24 hours the entire game was offline.
Furthermore, it’s not the only concern that fans have with Gran Turismo 7 right now: in-game currency rewards were adjusted with the 1.07 update, raising questions about microtransactions in the £70/$70 release.
Yamauchi had the following to say: “In Gran Turismo 7 I would like to have users enjoy lots of cars and races even without microtransactions. At the same time the pricing of cars is an important element that conveys their value and rarity, so I do think it’s important for it to be linked with the real world prices. I want to make Gran Turismo 7 a game in which you can enjoy a variety of cars lots of different ways, and if possible would like to try to avoid a situation where a player must mechanically keep replaying certain events over and over again.”
He continued: “We will in time let you know the update plans for additional content, additional race events, and additional features that will constructively resolve this. It pains me that I can’t explain the details regarding this at this moment, but we plan on continuing to revise Gran Turismo 7 so that as many players as possible can enjoy the game. We would really appreciate it if everyone could watch over the growth of Gran Turismo 7 from a somewhat longer term point of view.”
Frankly, it’s a terrible statement, and it’s such a shame to see a release so warmly received fall into these obvious traps just two weeks removed from its release. Gran Turismo 7 is a fantastic racing game with some of the best content in the series’ illustrious history, but acting like adjustments to the in-game economy are intended to convey the “value and rarity” of real cars is a ridiculous statement.
Sadly, mere days after launching a critically acclaimed game, Polyphony Digital will now have to work hard in order to save face and restore this release’s reputation. A true unforced error!
Supreme Court Restores Alabama Voting Map That a Court Said Hurt Black Voters
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday reinstated an Alabama congressional map that a lower court had said diluted the power of Black voters, suggesting that the court was poised to become more skeptical of challenges to voting maps based on claims of race discrimination.
The vote was 5 to 4, with Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. joining the court’s three liberal members in dissent.
The Supreme Court’s brief order, which included no reasoning, was provisional, staying a lower court’s decision while the case moves forward. The justices said they would hear Alabama’s appeal of the lower court’s ruling, but they did not say when.
Both the stay and the decision to hear the case indicated that the court is open to weakening the role race may play in drawing voting districts for federal elections, setting up a major new test of the Voting Rights Act in a court that has gradually limited the reach of the law in other contexts.
The dispute in Alabama is part of a pitched redistricting battle playing out across the country, with Democrats and Republicans alike challenging electoral districts as unlawful gerrymanders. Those challenges have mostly been filed in state courts, meaning the Supreme Court is unlikely to intervene.
Civil rights leaders and some Democrats say the redistricting process often disadvantages growing minority communities. Republican state officials say the Constitution allows only a limited role for the consideration of race in drawing voting districts.
If the court follows its usual practices, it will schedule arguments in the Alabama case for the fall and issue a decision months later, meaning that the 2022 election would be conducted using the challenged map.
Alabama has seven congressional districts and its voting-age population is about 27 percent Black. In the challenged map, Black voters are in the majority in one district. The lower court, relying on the Voting Rights Act, had ordered the State Legislature to create a second district in which Black voters could elect a representative of their choice.
In a concurring opinion on Monday, Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, joined by Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., said that “the stay order does not make or signal any change to voting rights law.” It was necessary, he wrote, because the lower court had acted too soon before a coming election.
“When an election is close at hand, the rules of the road must be clear and settled,” Justice Kavanaugh wrote. “Late judicial tinkering with election laws can lead to disruption and to unanticipated and unfair consequences for candidates, political parties and voters, among others.”
What to Know About Redistricting and Gerrymandering
“It is one thing for a state on its own to toy with its election laws close to a state’s elections,” he wrote. “But it is quite another thing for a federal court to swoop in and redo a state’s election laws in the period close to an election.”
In dissent, Chief Justice Roberts said the lower court in the Alabama case had “properly applied existing law in an extensive opinion with no apparent errors for our correction.”
Still, he wrote, the Supreme Court’s precedents “have engendered considerable disagreement and uncertainty regarding the nature and contours of a vote dilution claim.”
The correct solution, the chief justice wrote, would have been to agree to hear the state’s appeal — but not to grant a stay in the meantime.
“The practical effect of this approach,” he wrote, “would be that the 2022 election would take place in accord with the judgment of the district court, but subsequent elections would be governed by this court’s decision on review.”
In a separate dissent, Justice Elena Kagan said the majority had gone badly astray.
“It does a disservice to the district court, which meticulously applied this court’s longstanding voting-rights precedent,” she wrote. “And most of all, it does a disservice to Black Alabamians who under that precedent have had their electoral power diminished — in violation of a law this court once knew to buttress all of American democracy.”
She added that the lower court had acted well before the next primary election, in late May, and the general election, in November.
“Alabama is not entitled to keep violating Black Alabamians’ voting rights just because the court’s order came down in the first month of an election year,” she wrote.
Justices Stephen G. Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor joined Justice Kagan’s dissent.
In earlier decisions, the Supreme Court effectively gutted Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, which had required federal approval of changes to state and local voting laws in parts of the country with a history of racial discrimination, and cut back on Section 2 of the law, limiting the ability of minority groups to challenge voting restrictions.
The Alabama case also concerns Section 2, but in the context of redistricting.
Section 2 bars any voting procedure that “results in a denial or abridgment of the right of any citizen of the United States to vote on account of race.” That happens, the provision goes on, when, “based on the totality of circumstances,” racial minorities “have less opportunity than other members of the electorate to participate in the political process and to elect representatives of their choice.”
In November, Alabama’s Legislature, which is controlled by Republicans, redrew the state’s seven-district congressional map to take account of the 2020 census. It maintained a single district in which Black voters make up a majority.
How U.S. Redistricting Works
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What is redistricting? It’s the redrawing of the boundaries of congressional and state legislative districts. It happens every 10 years, after the census, to reflect changes in population.
That district has long elected a Democrat, while the state’s other six districts are represented by Republicans.
After the map was challenged by Black voters and advocacy groups, a unanimous three-judge panel of the Federal District Court in Birmingham ruled last month that the Legislature should have fashioned a second district “in which Black voters either comprise a voting-age majority or something quite close to it.”
The unsigned decision was joined by Judge Stanley Marcus, who ordinarily sits on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, in Atlanta, and was appointed by President Bill Clinton; and by Judges Anna M. Manasco and Terry F. Moorer, both appointed by President Donald J. Trump.
The panel found that voting in the state is racially polarized and that it would be possible to draw “a second reasonably configured district” to allow Black voters to elect their favored candidates.
The panel ordered the Legislature to submit new maps within two weeks and said it would appoint an independent expert to do so if the deadline was not met. Primary elections are scheduled for May.
Alabama officials asked the Supreme Court for an emergency stay. They said that the panel’s ruling would result in “massive disruption” of the state’s elections and that “Alabamians will suffer the constitutional harm of being assigned to racially segregated districts.”
“It will result,” they wrote, “in a map that can be drawn only by placing race first above race-neutral districting criteria, sorting and splitting voters across the state on the basis of race alone.” The panel’s ruling, they added, “is premised on the noxious idea that redistricting begins and ends with racial considerations.”
In response, lawyers for Greater Birmingham Ministries, the Alabama State Conference of the N.A.A.C.P. and several voters said there was ample time and no risk of confusion.
“The primary is still over four months away, and the election itself over 10 months away,” they wrote. “No election has ever been held under the challenged plan — so there is no risk of voter confusion.”
In a separate response, lawyers for a second set of voters said that “granting a stay would do a severe disservice to the public interest by rendering unlawful plans functionally immune from challenge during the first election of a redistricting cycle,” signaling to states “that they get a free pass on their plans so long as they delay enactment until it is too late for courts to provide relief.”