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Diplomatic Corps extends commendation to Bawumia for exemplary leadership during 2024 pollsThe Olympia Snowe Women’s Leadership Institute celebrated its 10th anniversary with a 500-person luncheon and an uplifting speakers program Dec. 11 at the Holiday Inn by the Bay in Portland. Since former U.S. Senator Olympia Snowe founded the Institute at the conclusion of her political career, more than 1,000 high school girls have entered the three-year mentorship program focused on finding their values, voice and vision. Longtime national and international news correspondent Cynthia McFadden, who grew up in Auburn and campaigned for Snowe as a 17-year-old, spoke at the first Institute luncheon a decade ago and enthusiastically returned for the anniversary. “The goal of the Institute, as I see it, is to allow young women make decisions about their lives from a position of strength, not fear,” she said. “This is the only program of its kind in the nation.” Since the inaugural class of 45 Olympia’s Leaders, the Institute has grown to serve more than 550 young women annually, supported by more than 200 volunteer mentors, at 38 high schools across all 16 Maine counties. In the past several years, Olympia’s Leaders have received free college credit and $2.8 million in Institute-exclusive or Institute-partnered scholarships. “At Lincoln Academy, the teachers try to choose students who have leadership potential but maybe don’t see it in themselves,” said Brynne Whitney, a Bangor Savings Bank vice president who volunteers in Newcastle. “I’ve watched my group grow tremendously, and now they’re doing amazing things in college.” Lily Bailey, a 2023 alum from Spruce Mountain High School in Livermore Falls, was born with a physical disability. “The Institute helped me realize and embrace my passion for disability advocacy,” she said. “Through the Institute, I learned that my voice is powerful. I feel that expanding the program is very important for many female-identifying individuals in high school who feel like their voices are not heard.” In response to Snowe’s statement that she would like to see the number of participants double, McFadden said, “I want this thing to be in every state in this country. I’d like to be part of trying to make that happen, and I hope there are others in this room that would too, because the challenges young women face are not unique to Maine.” In honor of the 10-year anniversary, McFadden pledged to visit as many of the school programs as possible over the next year, including her alma mater, Edward Little High School in Lewiston, and to make a financial gift each year for the next decade in honor of Snowe. Despite the luncheon not being a fundraiser — most of the tickets were complimentary — attendees followed McFadden’s lead, donating $30,000 in honor of leaders they admire. And McFadden found herself holding a pile of name tags. “All these women are giving me their names and telling me that they want to be involved with a national group,” she said, grinning. Amy Paradysz is a freelance writer and photographer based in Scarborough. She can be reached at amyparadysz@gmail.com . Comments are not available on this story. Send questions/comments to the editors. « Previous
Road Town, British Virgin Islands–(Newsfile Corp. – December 24, 2024) – In a significant move for cryptocurrency enthusiasts, LBank Exchange, a premier global digital asset trading platform, has announced the listing of TON Station (SOON) on December 22, 2024. The SOON/USDT trading pair ( https://www.lbank.com/trade/soon_usdt ) is available to users of LBank Exchange. SOON Listing Banner To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/8831/234896_319f78a534dbcab2_001full.jpg The crypto market has been suffering from the high-FDV, low-liquidity VC-backed tokens for so long, with retail investors having limited access and little control over the token’s price dynamics. In response to these challenges, TON Station presents a unique opportunity. By creating a platform where token ownership is more decentralized and transparent, TON Station aims to address the flaws of traditional VC-funded projects. Its low FDV and commitment to community-driven growth present a more equitable model for token distribution. TON Station: Redefining Blockchain Gaming with Community-Driven SOON Token and Transparent Economy TON Station (SOON) is a blockchain-based platform integrated with Telegram, designed to combine elements of GameFi and SocialFi. By enabling users to earn cryptocurrency rewards through social interaction and gaming activities, TON Station has created an ecosystem that is both engaging and rewarding. The platform was created by gaming trailblazers Sidus Heroes and EllioTrades’ SuperVerse and features partnerships with other leading Web3 projects. At the heart of this ecosystem is the SOON token, which serves as the primary means of exchange and reward. By leveraging Telegram’s massive user base, TON Station provides a seamless and rewarding experience for participants. TON Station features unique games designed to drive user engagement. It aims to be the largest and most efficient game distribution platform on Telegram. With a rapidly growing community, the platform has gained traction with 7.2 million subscribers and 19 million miniapp users, USA, CIS, Europe and some emerging markets such as Nigeria and Bangladesh. Revenue is generated through a combination of game payment fees, advertisement views, affiliate programs, and paid placements within the platform. Additionally, TON Station promotes a deflationary model, with revenue allocated to regular buybacks of SOON tokens. The emphasis on transparency ensures that a large portion of the supply remains circulating in the market, benefiting the community rather than centralized entities. The SOON token is central to the TON Station platform, serving as both a utility and reward token. It is used by gaming companies to create quests, tournaments, and marketing campaigns, while external companies can also purchase SOON for marketing activities within the app. One of the key differentiators of the SOON token is its community-driven distribution model. Unlike many other tokens that are subject to lockups or vesting schedules, SOON offers immediate access to holders, allowing for a more fluid and transparent token economy. This setup eliminates the traditional bottleneck of locked tokens. SOON Tokenomics With a total supply of 70 billion tokens, SOON has a low FDV of $7.5 million at launch. The tokenomics model is notable for its simplicity and transparency: there are no vesting periods, no lockups, and no involvement from venture capitalists. The entire token supply is available since its listing day, with no restrictions on when users can access or trade their tokens. As part of its deflationary strategy, TON Station will buy back SOON tokens using a portion of its revenue. Learn More about TON Station: Website: https://tonstation.app/ X: https://x.com/tonstationlabs Telegram: https://t.me/+MU0Iw3DQkpw4ZDhi About LBank Founded in 2015, LBank is a top crypto exchange offering financial derivatives, asset management, and secure trading. With over 15 million users across 210+ regions, LBank ranks in the top 20 for spot trading and top 15 for derivatives trading globally, ensuring fund integrity and supporting global crypto adoption. Leveraging its acute market insight and expertise, LBank always takes the lead in spotting and listing Alpha altcoins. The platform was among the first to list popular gem coins like BONK, BOME, and FLOKI, as well as emerging favorites like NEIRO, MOODENG, GOATSEUS, and PNUT. Start Trading Now: lbank.com Community & Social Media: Telegram Twitter LinkedIn Instagram YouTube To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/234896 #distroVictor Wembanyama plays 1-on-1 chess with fans in New York
NEW YORK — There's a Christmas Day basketball game at Walt Disney World, featuring Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and Wemby. An animated game, anyway. The real game takes place at Madison Square Garden, where Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs face the New York Knicks in a game televised on ABC and ESPN and streamed on Disney+ and ESPN+. The special alt-cast, the first animated presentation of an NBA game, will be shown on ESPN2 and also stream on Disney+ and ESPN+. Madison Square Garden is a staple of the NBA's Christmas schedule. Now it merges with a bigger home of the holidays, because the "Dunk the Halls" game will be staged at Disney, on a court set up right smack in the middle of where countless families have posed for vacation photos. Why that location? Because it was Mickey Mouse's Christmas wish. "Basketball courts often have the ability to make a normal environment look special, but in Disney it can only turn out incredible," Wembanyama said in an ESPN video promoting his Christmas debut. The story — this is Disney, after all — begins with Mickey penning a letter to Santa Claus, asking if he and his pals can host a basketball game. They'll not only get to watch one with NBA players, but some of them will even get to play. Goofy and Donald Duck will sub in for a couple Knicks players, while Mickey and Minnie Mouse will come on to play for the Spurs. "It looks to me like Goofy and Jalen Brunson have a really good pick-and-roll at the elite level," said Phil Orlins, an ESPN vice president of production. Walt Disney World hosted real NBA games in 2020, when the league set up there to complete its season that had been suspended by the COVID-19 pandemic. Those games were played at the ESPN Wide World of Sports. The setting for the Christmas game will be Main Street USA, at the entrance of the Magic Kingdom. Viewers will recognize Cinderella's castle behind one baseline and the train station at the other end, and perhaps some shops they have visited in between. Previous alternate animated broadcasts included an NFL game taking place in Andy's room from "Toy Story;" the "NHL Big City Greens Classic" during a game between the Washington Capitals and New York Rangers; and earlier this month, another NFL matchup between the Cincinnati Bengals and Dallas Cowboys also taking place at Springfield's Atoms Stadium as part of "The Simpsons Funday Football." Unlike basketball, the players are helmeted in those sports. So, this telecast required an extra level of detail and cooperation with players and teams to create accurate appearances of their faces and hairstyles. "So, this is a level of detail that we've never gone, that we've never done on any other broadcast," said David Sparrgrove, the senior director of creative animation for ESPN. Wembanyama, the 7-foot-3 phenom from France who was last season's NBA Rookie of the Year, looks huge even among most NBA players. The creators of the alternate telecast had to design how he'd look not only among his teammates and rivals, but among mice, ducks and chipmunks. "Like, Victor Wembanyama, seeing him in person is insane. It's like seeing an alien descend on a basketball court, and I think we kind of captured that in his animated character," said Drew Carter, who will again handle play-by-play duties, as he had in the previous animated telecasts, and will get an assist from sideline reporter Daisy Duck. Wembanyama's presence is one reason the Spurs-Knicks matchup, the leadoff to the NBA's five-game Christmas slate, was the obvious choice to do the animated telecast. The noon EST start means it will begin in the early evening in France and should draw well there. Also, it comes after ABC televises the "Disney Parks Magical Christmas Day Parade" for the previous two hours, providing more time to hype the broadcast. Recognizing that some viewers who then switch over to the animated game may be Disney experts but NBA novices, there will be 10 educational explainers to help with basketball lingo and rules. Beyond Sports' visualization technology and Sony's Hawk-Eye tracking allow the animated players to make the same movements and plays made moments earlier by the real ones at MSG. Carter and analyst Monica McNutt will be animated in the style of the telecast, donning VR headsets to experience the game from Main Street, USA. Other animated faces recognizable to some viewers include NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, who will judge a halftime dunk contest among Mickey and his friends, and Santa himself, who will operate ESPN's "SkyCam" during the game. The players are curious how the production — and themselves — will look. "It's going to be so crazy to see the game animated," Spurs veteran Chris Paul said. "I think what's dope about it is it will give kids another opportunity to watch a game and to see us, basically, as characters." Get local news delivered to your inbox!A social-media tribute to Coptic Christians. A billboard in Amish country. A visit to a revered Jewish gravesite. While Donald Trump’s lock on the is legendary, he and his campaign allies also wooed smaller religious groups, far from the mainstream. As it turned out, Trump won by decisive margins, but his campaign aggressively courted niche communities with the understanding that every vote could be critical, particularly in swing states. Voter surveys such as exit polls, which canvass broad swaths of the electorate, aren’t able to gauge the impact of such microtargeting, but some backers say the effort was worth it. Just one week before the election, Trump directed a post on the social-media platform X to Coptic Christians in the United States —- whose church has ancient roots in Egypt. He saluted their “Steadfast Faith in God, Perseverance through Centuries of Persecution and Love for this Great Country.” “This was the first time seeing a major U.S. presidential candidate address the community in this manner,” said Mariam Wahba, a Coptic Christian and research analyst with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington-based research institute. “It was really a profound moment.” She said many Copts share the conservative social views of other Christian groups in the Republican constituency, and they may already have been Trump supporters. But the posting reinforced those bonds. Coptic bishops sent the president-elect congratulations after his victory and cited their “shared social and family values.” Some Assyrian Christians — another faith group with Middle Eastern roots — similarly bonded with Trump, whose mispronunciation of created a viral video moment and drew attention to their support. Sam Darmo, a Phoenix real estate agent and co-founder of Assyrians for Trump, said many community members cited the economy, illegal immigration and other prominent voter issues. They echoed other conservative Christians’ concerns, he said, on issues such as abortion, gender identity and religious expression in public. But he said Trump supported various Middle Eastern Christians recovering from the Islamic State group’s oppressive rule. Darmo also credited Massad Boulos, father-in-law to Trump’s daughter Tiffany, for mobilizing various Middle Eastern Christian groups, including Chaldean Catholics, and other voters, particularly in Michigan, such as Muslims. “He brought all these minority groups together,” he said. “We’re hoping to continue that relationship.” But members of Middle Eastern-rooted Christian groups, and their politics, are far from monolithic, said Marcus Zacharia, founder of Progressive Copts, a program of Informed Immigrants, an organization that promotes dialogue on sensitive topics among such groups in the United States and Canada. He said many younger community members question Trump’s stances on issues such as immigration, and sense that conservatives sometimes tokenize them by focusing on the plight of persecuted Christians in the Middle East while neglecting wider issues of repression in countries there that the U.S. supports. He said there needs to be more informed dialogue across the political divide in these communities. “There is no more high time than these next four years to have that way of conducting conversations,” he said. Republicans also made an aggressive push for , particularly in the swing state of Pennsylvania, where they are most numerous at about 92,000 (many below voting age). The GOP has made similar efforts in the past, even though researchers have found that less than 10% of them typically vote, due to their separatism from society. But Republicans used billboards, mailers, ads and door-to-door campaigner to drive turnout in Lancaster County, home base to the nation’s largest Amish settlement. On Election Day, Amish voters Samuel Stoltzfus and his wife Lillian Stoltzfus said they were supporting Trump, citing their anti-abortion beliefs. “We basically look at it as murder,” Stoltzfus, 31, said outside a polling center in the Lancaster County community of New Holland, where dozens of other members of the local Amish community voted. Trump has wavered on the issue, dismaying some abortion opponents, though many have said Republicans still align more closely to their views. Stolzfus added: “Make America great again and keep the moral values,” he said. “Let’s go back to the roots.” Steven Nolt, a history professor at Elizabethtown College in Lancaster College who studies the Amish and their voting patterns, said that while it’s too early to say definitively without further research, he doesn’t see evidence of a larger turnout this year. Lancaster County as a whole — most of which is not Amish — is a GOP stronghold that Trump won handily, though both parties’ votes edged up from 2020, according to unofficial results posted by the Pennsylvania Department of State. Trump’s biggest increases were in urban or suburban areas with few Amish, while some areas with larger Amish populations generally saw a modest increase in the Trump vote, said Nolt, director of the college’s Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies. “Bottom line, percentage-wise, not much change in the parts of Lancaster County where the Amish live,” he said. Trump directly reached out to members of the Chabad Lubavitch movement, a prominent and highly observant branch of Orthodox Judaism. On Oct. 7, the anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel that triggered the Gaza war, Trump made a symbolically resonant the burial site of the movement’s revered late leader, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson. Wearing a yarmulke, the traditional Jewish skullcap, Trump, who has Jewish family members, brought a written prayer to the Ohel and laid a small stone at the grave in keeping with tradition. The site in New York City, while particularly central to Chabad adherents, draws an array of Jewish and other visitors, including politicians. About two-thirds of Jewish voters overall supported Trump’s opponent, Democrat Kamala Harris, according to AP VoteCast, a survey of more than 120,000 voters. But the Trump campaign has made a particular outreach to Orthodox Jews, citing issues including his policies toward Israel in his first administration. Rabbi Yitzchok Minkowitz of Chabad Lubavitch of Southwest Florida said it was moving for him to see images of Trump’s visit. “The mere fact that he made a huge effort, obviously it was important to him,” he said.
NEW YORK — There's a Christmas Day basketball game at Walt Disney World, featuring Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and Wemby. An animated game, anyway. The real game takes place at Madison Square Garden, where Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs face the New York Knicks in a game televised on ABC and ESPN and streamed on Disney+ and ESPN+. The special alt-cast, the first animated presentation of an NBA game, will be shown on ESPN2 and also stream on Disney+ and ESPN+. Madison Square Garden is a staple of the NBA's Christmas schedule. Now it merges with a bigger home of the holidays, because the "Dunk the Halls" game will be staged at Disney, on a court set up right smack in the middle of where countless families have posed for vacation photos. Why that location? Because it was Mickey Mouse's Christmas wish. "Basketball courts often have the ability to make a normal environment look special, but in Disney it can only turn out incredible," Wembanyama said in an ESPN video promoting his Christmas debut. The story — this is Disney, after all — begins with Mickey penning a letter to Santa Claus, asking if he and his pals can host a basketball game. They'll not only get to watch one with NBA players, but some of them will even get to play. Goofy and Donald Duck will sub in for a couple Knicks players, while Mickey and Minnie Mouse will come on to play for the Spurs. "It looks to me like Goofy and Jalen Brunson have a really good pick-and-roll at the elite level," said Phil Orlins, an ESPN vice president of production. Walt Disney World hosted real NBA games in 2020, when the league set up there to complete its season that had been suspended by the COVID-19 pandemic. Those games were played at the ESPN Wide World of Sports. The setting for the Christmas game will be Main Street USA, at the entrance of the Magic Kingdom. Viewers will recognize Cinderella's castle behind one baseline and the train station at the other end, and perhaps some shops they have visited in between. Previous alternate animated broadcasts included an NFL game taking place in Andy's room from "Toy Story;" the "NHL Big City Greens Classic" during a game between the Washington Capitals and New York Rangers; and earlier this month, another NFL matchup between the Cincinnati Bengals and Dallas Cowboys also taking place at Springfield's Atoms Stadium as part of "The Simpsons Funday Football." Unlike basketball, the players are helmeted in those sports. So, this telecast required an extra level of detail and cooperation with players and teams to create accurate appearances of their faces and hairstyles. "So, this is a level of detail that we've never gone, that we've never done on any other broadcast," said David Sparrgrove, the senior director of creative animation for ESPN. Wembanyama, the 7-foot-3 phenom from France who was last season's NBA Rookie of the Year, looks huge even among most NBA players. The creators of the alternate telecast had to design how he'd look not only among his teammates and rivals, but among mice, ducks and chipmunks. "Like, Victor Wembanyama, seeing him in person is insane. It's like seeing an alien descend on a basketball court, and I think we kind of captured that in his animated character," said Drew Carter, who will again handle play-by-play duties, as he had in the previous animated telecasts, and will get an assist from sideline reporter Daisy Duck. Wembanyama's presence is one reason the Spurs-Knicks matchup, the leadoff to the NBA's five-game Christmas slate, was the obvious choice to do the animated telecast. The noon EST start means it will begin in the early evening in France and should draw well there. Also, it comes after ABC televises the "Disney Parks Magical Christmas Day Parade" for the previous two hours, providing more time to hype the broadcast. Recognizing that some viewers who then switch over to the animated game may be Disney experts but NBA novices, there will be 10 educational explainers to help with basketball lingo and rules. Beyond Sports' visualization technology and Sony's Hawk-Eye tracking allow the animated players to make the same movements and plays made moments earlier by the real ones at MSG. Carter and analyst Monica McNutt will be animated in the style of the telecast, donning VR headsets to experience the game from Main Street, USA. Other animated faces recognizable to some viewers include NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, who will judge a halftime dunk contest among Mickey and his friends, and Santa himself, who will operate ESPN's "SkyCam" during the game. The players are curious how the production — and themselves — will look. "It's going to be so crazy to see the game animated," Spurs veteran Chris Paul said. "I think what's dope about it is it will give kids another opportunity to watch a game and to see us, basically, as characters." Get local news delivered to your inbox!
Victor Wembanyama went to a park in New York City and played 1-on-1 with fans on Saturday. He even lost a couple of games. Not in basketball, though. Wemby was playing chess. And this wasn't on a whim: He knows how to play and even brought his own chess set. Before the San Antonio Spurs left New York for a flight to Minnesota, Wembanyama put out the call on social media: “Who wants to meet me at the SW corner of Washington Square park to play chess? Im there,” Wembanyama wrote. It was 9:36 a.m. People began showing up almost immediately. Washington Square Park is a known spot for chess in New York — Bobby Fischer among others have famously played there, and it's been used for multiple movie scenes featuring the game. Wembanyama was there for an hour in the rain, from about 10-11 a.m. He played four games, winning two and losing two — he told Bleacher Report afterward that both of the losses were to professional chess players — before departing to catch the Spurs' flight. Wembanyama had been trying to get somewhere to play chess for the bulk of the team's time in New York — the Spurs played the Knicks on Christmas and won at Brooklyn on Friday night. The schedule never aligned, until Saturday morning. And even with bad weather, he bundled up to make it happen. He posed for photos with a couple of dozen people who showed up, braving a morning of cold rain to play chess with one of the NBA's biggest stars. “We need an NBA players only Chess tournament, proceeds go to the charity of choice of the winner,” he wrote on social media after his chess trip was over. Wembanyama is averaging 25.2 points and 10.1 rebounds this season, his second in the NBA after winning rookie of the year last season. The Spurs play at Minnesota on Sunday. ___ AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA Tim Reynolds, The Associated Press
Businesses in Springfield, Holyoke and Northampton are among 180 getting shares of $26 million from the state’s Cannabis Social Equity Trust Fund . The Cannabis Control Commission provides free technical assistance through its own Social Equity Program. The program helps cannabis entrepreneurs in communities that have been disproportionately harmed by past marijuana prohibition. Grants range from $25,000 to $500,000 in four tiers based on whether the recipient has a license or is applying for one. Companies in Tier 1 are just entering the cannabis industry and receive up to $25,000. Stories by Jim KinneyBeyond evangelicals, Trump and his allies courted smaller faith groups, from the Amish to ChabadTaller people have naturally much more leverage and proprioception than smaller people. The problem with weight classes is that they ignore skeletal mass. For example Conor McGregor was much taller than Jose Aldo when Aldo got defeated in 13 seconds. Likewise Khabib had a much wider upper body frame than McGregor when Khabib won their contest. Perhaps there's a more subjective element for putting similar sized contestants together. Maybe boxing partially bypasses the issue of height by prolonging the fights through softer hand gloves. MMA is a dangerous sport yet from a mental health perspective self-harm is tolerable. MMA isn't much more dangerous than other extreme sports like rock climbing. The aggressive symbolism of MMA isn't very helpful to law-and-order even though the same could be said about alcohol and social deprivation. Overall I support Conor McGregor in his enthusiasm for representing Ireland even if there are one or two question marks over the sport in general. Perhaps other Irish athletes in rugby or soccer are too media-shy in comparison to Mr. McGregor. Maybe athletes in team sports fail to take the initiative when it comes to representing their working class backgrounds in community activities. Conor's quick knockout of Aldo isn't too embarrassing for Aldo given that projectile warfare and gun duels can cause deaths in milliseconds. The way Conor McGregor’s career “kickstarted” in his late 20s was inspirational for older adults in other sports to keep working on reflexes. One way to distinguish combat sports from gladiator contests is that you could theoretically let the fight happen and wait until afterwards to jail and arrest them. What machismo forgets with mutual combat is that both parties might be so irrelevant that society can afford to arrest them where slight amorality can defeat immorality. Let's see when he is drooling and absent minded in his early 50s. Lumpy Talbot said: Let's see when he is drooling and absent minded in his early 50s. Click to expand... Perhaps one way McGregor resonates is with his temporary tension against his parents when he was opting to do a risky career in MMA instead of apprenticeships where they eventually reconciled after a few verbal confrontations. Paradoxically any physical pushing against his father toughened him up for his MMA career. This helps to explain celebrity worship syndrome where celebrities can be the exception that prove the rule as if our parents truly could be that negligent were truly destined to be a superstar!
XGIMI is known for having a full range of projectors, whether you want to use them at home or on the go. During Black Friday 2024, you can upgrade your home entertainment with a new XGIMI projector at special prices. XGIMI MoGo 3 Pro: a portable 1080p projector The MoGo 3 Pro is one of the most recent additions to the XGIMI lineup, and I’ve been using it for a few months now (I promise there’s a full review coming soon). Roughly the size of a large coffee mug, this projector is perfect for on-the-go entertainment. Its 1080p resolution and 450 lumens of brightness combine to deliver an enjoyable viewing experience for movie nights with friends and family. The MoGo 3 Pro comes equipped with dual 5W Harman/Kardon speakers, but what sets it apart is its ability to function as a standalone Bluetooth speaker. This means you can stream music directly from your phone without needing to activate the projector’s lens. In terms of design, the MoGo 3 Pro features a built-in stand with 130° of adjustment. Like other XGIMI projectors, it offers hassle-free setup with autofocus and auto keystone correction for intelligent image adjustment. I recently used mine to build my own karaoke machine by plugging an Apple TV and microphones into it, and it worked great. Its compact form-factor makes it easy to take anywhere safely. While the regular price of the XGIMI MoGo 3 Pro is $449, you can buy it for $399 during Black Friday . XGIMI also offers a stand sold separately that doubles as a power bank, allowing you to use the projector unplugged. XGIMI Horizon Ultra: one of the best 4K projectors I reviewed the XGIMI Horizon Ultra here on 9to5Mac earlier this year , and I’m still amazed by this projector. The Horizon Ultra can project 4K images with a very high level of brightness, making it ideal for setting up your own home cinema. The images are sharp, bright and have vivid colors. With the XGIMI Horizon Ultra 4K , you don’t have to worry about connecting external speakers to it, because the projector has its own speakers – and they’re quite good. Inside, there are two 12W speakers each from Harman Kardon with DTS Sound technology for a surround experience. If you want to take your home entertainment experience to the next level and have a proper place to put a projector, the XGIMI HORIZON Ultra 4K is certainly worth it. Watching movies or even a concert like Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour with a 4K projector is much cooler and more immersive than on my TV – especially when I have guests at home. I feel like I have my own movie theater in my living room. Typically, the XGIMI Horizon Ultra costs $1,699, but you can buy it on Black Friday for $1,399 – a discount of $300. More from XGIMI XGIMI has many other excellent projectors available at discounted prices during Black Friday. You can check out some of the deals below: XGIMI MoGo 2: from $399 to $229 XGIMI MoGo 2 Pro: from $499 to $349 XGIMI Horizon: from $999 to $699 XGIMI Horizon Pro: from $1.299 to $899 XGIMI Elfin Flip (new): from $399 to $279 XGIMI Halo+ (new): from $799 to $679 You can find more information on the official XGIMI website .Mickey, Minnie, Goffy and WembyEagles QB Kenny Pickett expects to be ‘ready to go’ vs. Cowboys
The New York Knicks are no strangers to playing on Christmas Day. But few of their holiday games have come with the anticipation that accompanies Wednesday's clash against the San Antonio Spurs. The Knicks will look to remain hot, while second-year Spurs superstar Victor Wembanyama will play at Madison Square Garden for the second time in his career Wednesday afternoon. Both teams were off Tuesday after playing on Monday night. The Knicks beat the visiting Toronto Raptors 139-125 and the Spurs' late comeback fell short in a 111-106 loss to the host Philadelphia 76ers. The lopsided victory was the latest evidence a new mix is starting to gel for the Knicks, who have won four straight and have gone 9-2 since Nov. 29 to move into third place in the Eastern Conference. Karl-Anthony Towns, who was acquired from the Minnesota Timberwolves on Oct. 2, and OG Anunoby shared the team lead with 31 points each on Monday night. "It's great vibes right now," the Knicks' Josh Hart said. "So we've just got to make sure we continue to bring that to the game." Anunoby became the fifth different player in the last 11 games to at least share the team lead in scoring. The only player to pace the Knicks in scoring in consecutive games over that span is Towns, who scored 23 points in a 121-106 win over the Orlando Magic on Dec. 3 and 27 points two nights later in a 125-101 victory over the Charlotte Hornets. "We're a very talented team, so it could be anyone's night, for sure," Anunoby said. Few players in the NBA are as talented as Wembanyama, the versatile 7-foot-3 star who already has collected three triple-doubles in 95 NBA games. Wembanyama earned Western Conference Player of the Week honors last week after collecting 72 points, 14 blocks, 13 rebounds and eight assists in a pair of wins. "He has helped put us in a lot of cool positions, especially this year," Spurs point guard Tre Jones told the San Antonio Express-News. Wembanyama finished with 26 points, nine rebounds and eight blocks Monday, when the Spurs overcame a nine-point fourth-quarter deficit to take a pair of late leads. Wembanyama missed a potential go-ahead 3-pointer with 2:08 left for San Antonio, which went ahead once more at 103-102 before the 76ers ended the game on a 9-3 run. The loss was just the second in the last six games for the Spurs, who are in ninth place in the Western Conference but just 1 1/2 games behind the sixth-place Los Angeles Clippers in the race for the final guaranteed playoff spot. San Antonio has missed the playoffs in each of the last five seasons. While Wembanyama struggled in his first game in New York on Nov. 8, 2023 (14 points on 4-of-14 shooting), his breakout game against the Knicks in San Antonio on March 29 -- when he had 40 points and 20 rebounds in a 130-126 overtime victory -- has increased the intrigue surrounding the Christmas meeting. "The first time I'm going to play on Christmas," Wembanyama told the Express-News. "I'm super excited." The Knicks will be playing on Christmas Day for the fourth straight season and an NBA-high 57th time overall. They improved to 24-32 on the holiday last Dec. 25 with a 129-122 win over the Milwaukee Bucks. The Spurs are playing on Christmas Day for the first time since 2016, when they beat the Chicago Bulls 119-100 to improve to 6-5 all-time on the holiday. --Field Level Media
Chess grandmaster Magnus Carlsen returns to a tournament after a dispute over jeans is resolved NEW YORK (AP) — Top ranked chess player Magnus Carlsen is headed back to the World Blitz Championship on Monday. That's after its governing body agreed to loosen a dress code that got him fined and denied a late-round game in another tournament for refusing to change out of jeans. The International Chess Federation president said in a statement Sunday that he’d let World Blitz Championship tournament officials consider allowing “appropriate jeans” with a jacket, as well as other "minor deviations” from the dress code. Carlsen quit the World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships on Friday. He said Sunday he would play — and wear jeans — in the World Blitz Championship. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings.