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baccarat tricks Crew members aboard the International Space Station celebrate the holiday season in a unique way while living and working at the orbiting laboratory. Each crew member, including the current Expedition 72, spends time enjoying the view of Earth from the space station, privately communicating with their friends and families, and sharing a joint meal with their expedition crewmates, while continuing experiments and station maintenance. As the first crew to spend Christmas in space and leave Earth orbit, Apollo 8 astronauts Frank Borman, James Lovell, and William Anders, celebrated while circling the Moon in December 1968. The crew commemorated Christmas Eve by reading opening verses from the Bible’s Book of Genesis as they broadcast scenes of the lunar surface below. An estimated one billion people across 64 countries tuned in to the crew’s broadcast. In 1973, Skylab 4 astronauts Gerald Carr, Edward Gibson, and William Pogue celebrated Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s in space, as the first crew to spend the harvest festival and ring in the new year while in orbit. The crew built a homemade tree from leftover food containers, used colored decals as decorations, and topped it with a cardboard cutout in the shape of a comet. Carr and Pogue conducted a seven-hour spacewalk to change out film canisters and observe the passing Comet Kohoutek on Dec. 15, 1973. Once back inside the space station, the crew enjoyed a holiday dinner complete with fruitcake, communicated with their families, and opened presents. After NASA launched the agency’s Hubble Space Telescope into Earth’s orbit in 1990, NASA sent a space shuttle crew on a mission, STS-61, to service the telescope. In 1993, NASA astronaut Jeffrey Hoffman celebrated Hanukkah after completing the third spacewalk of the servicing mission. Hoffman celebrated with a traveling menorah and dreidel. As NASA continued to support another Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission, the STS-103 crew celebrated the first space shuttle Christmas aboard Discovery in 1999. NASA astronauts Curtis Brown, Scott Kelly, Steven Smith, John Grunsfeld, and Michael Foale, along with ESA (European Space Agency) astronauts Jean-François Clervoy and Claude Nicollier enjoyed duck foie gras on Mexican tortillas, cassoulet, and salted pork with lentils. Smith and Grunsfeld completed repairs on the telescope during a spacewalk on Dec. 24, 1999, and at least one American astronaut has celebrated Christmas in space every year since. In November 2000, the arrival of Expedition 1 crew members, NASA astronaut William Shepherd and Roscosmos cosmonauts Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev, aboard the International Space Station, marked the beginning of a continuous presence in space. As the first crew to celebrate the holiday season at the laboratorial outpost, they began the tradition of reading a goodwill message to those back on Earth. Shepherd honored a naval tradition of writing a poem as the first entry of the new year in the ship’s log. For more than 24 years, NASA has supported a continuous U.S. human presence aboard the International Space Station, through which astronauts have learned to live and work in space for extended periods of time. As NASA supports missions to and from the station, crew members have continued to celebrate the holidays in space. Expedition 70 flight engineer NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli’s husband and daughters made a felt menorah for her to celebrate Hanukkah during her mission. Since astronauts can’t light real candles aboard the space station, Moghbeli pinned felt “lights” for each night of the eight-day holiday. A dreidel spun in weightlessness will continue spinning until it comes in contact with another object but can’t land on any of its four faces. Expedition 70 crew members recorded a holiday message for those back on Earth. The International Space Station is a convergence of science, technology, and human innovation that enables research not possible on Earth. The orbiting laboratory is a springboard for developing a low Earth economy and NASA’s next great leaps in exploration, including missions to the Moon under the Artemis campaign and, ultimately, human exploration of Mars. For more holiday memories aboard the International Space Station, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/gallery/holidays-on-the-space-station/ To learn more about the International Space Station, its research, and its crew, at: https://www.nasa.gov/station News Media Contacts: Claire O’Shea Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1100 claire.a.o’shea@nasa.gov Sandra Jones Johnson Space Center, Houston 281-483-5111 sandra.p.jones@nasa.govWhen Inter Miami were dumped out of Major League Soccer's playoffs in the first round, their former Spain international full-back Jordi Alba questioned the fairness of the post-season format. Miami had topped the Eastern Conference and the overall regular season standings with a record points tally a performance which earned them the 'Supporters' Shield'. But there would be no title battle against the best in the West for Lionel Messi and Company after they contrived to lose two matches in their best-of-three series against an Atlanta United team which finished ninth in the East and 20th in the overall standings. "I think this format is a bit unfair. It has been done for many years but I think it should be the champion of one conference against the champion of the other, to make it as fair as possible," Alba said. Alba's comments prompted much debate among MLS fans and plenty of accusations of sour grapes but they did serve to highlight that this year's playoffs, if not MLS's playoffs in general, would certainly not be a battle of the best versus best. Defending champions Columbus Crew, who finished second in the Supporters' Shield race, were also eliminated in the first round, adding to the sense that the knockout phase of the season is very much a competition of its own. So on Saturday, after the international break disrupted the flow of the post-season, the Conference semi-finals, will see a "Hudson River Derby" between two New York teams who couldn't finish in the top 10 in the regular season. New York City, Manchester City's sister club, have home-field advantage after finishing in 13th spot while the New York Red Bulls travel from New Jersey, having ended up in 16th place. The 'home field' isn't actually NYCFC's usual home of Yankee Stadium, which is being used for a college football game, but Citi Field, home of New York's other baseball club, the Mets. Later on Saturday, in the Western Conference, 2022 MLS Cup winners and last year's beaten finalists, Los Angeles FC, are at home to the Seattle Sounders. That fixture feels much more like the kind of playoff game that was expected -- LAFC finished top of the West while Seattle were fourth. LAFC faces the Sounders for the fourth time in an elimination match over the last 13 months, having defeated Seattle in the 2023 Western Conference semifinals, the 2024 Leagues Cup quarterfinal and the 2024 US Open Cup semifinal. Each of those matches was hosted by Seattle. LAFC, with former France stars in goalkeeper Hugo Lloris and striker Olivier Giroud, enter the encounter unbeaten in their last 10 meetings with the Sounders, with their last loss to Seattle coming in a 2-0 defeat in 2021. On Sunday, surprise package Atlanta, with their 40-year-old goalkeeper Brad Guzan having impressed so many with his heroics against Miami, will return to Florida to take on Orlando City, who finished fourth in the East. Atlanta won at Orlando on the last day of the regular campaign, a victory that allowed them to sneak into the wildcard round but which also completed a home and away double for the Georgia side. "Obviously, in Major League Soccer, anything can happen," said Orlando coach Oscar Pareja. "Our responsibility is to play one game at a time. This one, we're going to be ready for sure," he added. The weekend rounds off with Los Angeles Galaxy hosting Minnesota United who, under former Manchester United assistant coach Eric Ramsay, came through a best-of-three series against higher-ranked Real Salt Lake. The Galaxy start as favourites but, as this season has shown in abundance, that counts for little. "We know they are a top team at this level with top individual players who are very difficult to beat at home but...I feel that if we are a good version of what we have been over the last 10-12 games... I certainly won't be painting it as a one sided game," said Ramsay. sev/js

CM for implementing Singapore’s governance model in Sindh During his meeting with Stanford University’s Executive Director Bill Burnett on Thursday, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah discussed governance, education, human development and enhancing public services, emphasising the importance of creating a service structure focused on solving public problems by improving governance. The meeting held at the CM House was a brainstorming session attended by provincial ministers Sharjeel Memon, Dr Azra Pechuho, Nasir Shah, Saeed Ghani, Jam Khan Shoro, Sardar Shah and Jam Ikramullah Dharejo, CM’s Principal Secretary Agha Wasif, provincial secretaries, IBA Karachi Executive Director Dr Akbar Zaidi and other representatives, including Azam Ali, Junaid Aziz, Abira and Usman Nazir. The CM said his government has set improving governance as a top priority. Burnett shared insights from his work on Singapore’s civil service reforms, and highlighted the potential of modern technology in governance. “Digital platforms can provide immediate solutions to public issues and simplify access to services,” he said, and also pointed out the pervasive use of mobile phones in Pakistan as an opportunity for developing digital tools. Acknowledging the challenges of Karachi’s traffic, Burnett observed: “While there’s room for improvement, addressing human behaviour like reckless driving and illegal parking is equally important.” The CM expressed a desire to implement successful governance models like Singapore’s in Sindh. “We need an effective and robust system to deliver public services efficiently.” Burnett proposed a modern civil service model for Sindh, and stressed the importance of leveraging technology to improve governance. The CM underscored the value of education and its role in empowering communities. “Knowledge is power, and it’s crucial to focus on educational advancement.” Burnett also appreciated public-private partnership projects in Sindh, highlighting their role in economic development. “Driving economic growth requires the active involvement of the private sector.” He emphasised the importance of attracting global talent. He proudly shared that 41 scholars from Sindh, educated abroad, have become faculty members at Stanford University. The meeting reinforced the Sindh government’s commitment to digital transformation, education and innovative governance to address public challenges effectively. It concluded with a mutual agreement on enhancing collaboration between Stanford University, IBA Karachi and the Sindh government.Steven Sinofsky was right: It wasn't enough for Microsoft to just port Windows to Arm, the mobile chip architecture behind Android and Apple's iPhone and Android. For this new platform to succeed, Microsoft would have to aggressively remove legacy code, develop a modern apps platform, invent versatile new form factors, and attract developers and customers to something new that offered a bridge to the PC past. And it would have to happen in just three years. In the end, Sinofsky and the software and hardware teams he oversaw were thwarted by a combination of factors. The most problematic, perhaps, came from within. Windows RT was undermined from its inception when the Microsoft Office team, then distracted by making versions of its apps for Apple's iPad, refused to fully support the new app platform, called Metro. It was immediately clear that this decision would send a message to Microsoft's customers and, as important, to developers: If Microsoft didn't support this new platform fully, why should they? And so he did the only thing he could do: He compromised. Instead of being an entirely new system that could take advantage of the rich capabilities of its Windows foundation but on more reliable and efficient devices, RT was instead a confusing version of the traditional Windows 8 product for PCs that only ran on Arm devices and couldn't even run Windows desktop apps. It looked identical to Windows 8. But it wasn't he same. Consumers, businesses, and developers would predictably reject it entirely. But RT's defeat wasn't solely on the Office team. RT was also undermined by the shifting dynamics in personal computing, in which the PC, somewhat ironically, was no longer the most personal device people used. It was undermined by Intel's anticompetitive business practices. It was undermined by hubris, as the Windows team, consumed by its success with Windows 7 and, before that, the Office ribbon, was convinced it could hit another home run. And it was undermined by time. Three years simply wasn't long enough to orchestrate this many changes. But it was also undermined by apathy and fatigue. As customers embraced smartphones for personal, entertainment, and casual tasks, they conversely dug in their heels with the PC, a tool that was increasingly just for work. They were no longer interested in innovation or change, but simply wanted familiar tools to keep working. Sinofsky's teams--Windows and Surface, the latter of which pioneered hybrid tablet PC devices that transformed between different usage "postures"--wanted to "reimagine Windows from the chipset to the experience" to better position Windows against mobile platforms. Microsoft's customers and partners were far less interested in this shift. The world had changed, was changing in real time as Microsoft moved from Windows 7 to Windows 8 and RT. When Windows 8 and RT arrived in late 2012, they were met by a stone wall of resistance and even disdain. Sinofsky and the ... With technology shaping our everyday lives, how could we not dig deeper? Thurrott Premium delivers an honest and thorough perspective about the technologies we use and rely on everyday. Discover deeper content as a Premium member. Paul Thurrott is an award-winning technology journalist and blogger with 30 years of industry experience and the author of 30 books. He is the owner of and the host of three tech podcasts: with Leo Laporte and Richard Campbell, , and with Brad Sams. He was formerly the senior technology analyst at Windows IT Pro and the creator of the SuperSite for Windows from 1999 to 2014 and the Major Domo of Thurrott.com while at BWW Media Group from 2015 to 2023. You can reach Paul via , or . Join the crowd where the love of tech is real - become a Thurrott Premium Member today! Sign up for our new free newsletter to get three time-saving tips each Friday

NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch made a round of administrative appointments Thursday, naming new heads to the department’s public information and technology bureaus. Tisch named Delaney Kempner as the new Deputy Commissioner of Public Information, replacing controversial top spokesman Tarik Sheppard . Kempner has spent the last four years as director of communications for New York State Attorney General Letitia James. Kempner will not start until Jan. 13. In the interim, Assistant Commissioner Carlos Nieves will serve as acting DCPI, officials said. Sheppard will be put back in uniform and assigned a leadership role in the department, law enforcement sources said. Other appointments include Kristine Ryan as Deputy Commissioner of Management and Budget — marking the second time she has been in this role — and Yisroel Hecht as the department’s new Deputy Commissioner of Information Technology. Hecht is currently serving as Deputy Commissioner of Infrastructure Management for the New York City Office of Technology and Innovation. Tisch named Alex Crohn as Deputy Commissioner of Strategic Initiatives and Steven Harte as Deputy Commissioner of Support Services. “This group of skilled and experienced leaders will answer the public call to transform NYPD technology, modernize our fleet, and elevate the department’s voice to make Courtesy, Professionalism, and Respect central to our communication and interaction with the people we serve,” Commissioner Tisch said Thursday. “New Yorkers should have every confidence that these appointments make their police department stronger, our service better, and our city safer.” In one of his last acts as DCPI, Sheppard attended a luncheon at police headquarters for local media Thursday, where he thanked the press and his staff for getting out important information and sharing the NYPD’s story with the public. He pointed to the arrest of accused CEO killer Luigi Mangione as an example of how DCPI and the press worked together to distribute images of the gunman, which ultimately led to his arrest. Sheppard was considered one of the most visual, outspoken, and sometimes volatile public information commissioners in the department’s recent history He was often front and center at press conferences and was seen wearing a bullet-resistant vest at high-profile operations such as when the NYPD cleared the Columbia University campus of protesters. He also defended NYPD executives’ controversial use of social media to blast reporters and legislators they disagree with. During the New York Marathon last month, while he was temporarily reassigned as former Interim Police Commissioner Thomas Donlan’s Chief of Staff, Sheppard got into a public shouting match with the NYPD’s top cop . Nearby NYPD officers had to separate the two men, witnesses said. Tisch was sworn in as NYPD commissioner on Nov. 25. One of her first acts in office was to name longtime aide Ryan Merola, who had worked with her at the Department of Sanitation and other agencies, as her chief of staff .

PGA drops Vegas from next year's autumn scheduleBolsonaro's coup indictment postponed by Brazil's top prosecutor, sources sayBOISE, Idaho (AP) — Freshman wide receiver George Dimopoulos threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Dane Pardridge on the first play of double overtime and Jordan Hansen ended the game on a fourth-down sack to give Northern Illinois a 28-20 victory over Fresno State on Monday in the Idaho Potato Bowl. Dimopoulos, who played quarterback in high school, also converted the two-point conversion when he passed it to quarterback Josh Holst for his second completion of the season. Holst, a freshman walk-on, was making just his third start at quarterback as NIU was without starter Ethan Hampton, who entered with 1,600 yards and 12 touchdowns to go with six interceptions. Holst completed 18 of 30 passes for 182 and two touchdowns for Northern Illinois (8-5). He was also intercepted on the first play of the game. Both teams missed a 35-yard field goal in the final three minutes of regulation, including Dylan Lynch’s third miss of the game on the final play to send it to overtime. Fresno State started overtime with a touchdown when Bryson Donelson was left wide open out of the backfield to haul in a 9-yard touchdown pass. NIU needed five plays, and a defensive holding penalty, to score as Holst found Grayson Barnes for a 3-yard touchdown. Donelson finished with 15 carries for 82 yards and a touchdown for Fresno State (6-7). He added three catches for 28 yards and another score. Dual-threat quarterback Joshua Wood was 16 of 23 for 180 yards and a touchdown. Mac Dalena made six catches for 118 yards to help go over 1,000 yards for the season. Fresno State was without 14 players, including starting quarterback Mikey Keene after he transferred to Michigan. Two top-three receivers, Jalen Moss and Raylen Sharpe, also did not play as the Bulldogs were forced to use five new starters. ___ Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up . AP college football: and