Grand Opening of the Rees Jones "Woods" golf course announced at Boca Woods Country Club
Last week, Joel Bray turned 44. “That’s pretty old for a dancer,” he reflects. Over the past 12 months Bray has toured works across Australia and Europe, taken up a new role as associate artist at Geelong Arts Centre, and begun the creative process on a yet-to-be-announced project. Choreographers and dancers Alisdair Macindoe, Tra Mi Dinh and Joel Bray Credit: Arsineh Houspian “I’ve had a big dancing year, and my body’s quite tired – it doesn’t bounce back like it once did.” Instead of trying to hold onto something that is slipping away, however, he’s leaning into the changes to his body through a new work, Swallow . “I’ve really been exploring how I can work with ease and kind of with my age, rather than against my age – rather than trying to replicate how I once used to dance when I was younger and fitter.” Swallow is a means for Bray to explore a few different threads of his life. “A lot of my work is interested in the intersection of my identity as a Wiradjuri man with my identity as a queer man.” Joel Bray. Credit: Arsineh Houspian In his previous work, Homo Pentecostus , he explored how he adopted the Welcome Swallow as his totem – a thread he has picked up here. “She’s flirty and she darts around and she’s super social,” he explains. “ Swallow is really an exploration of birds, and the movement of birds, and my affection for this animal. But also I love a double entendre,” he adds with a laugh. “So I also enjoy the other meaning of swallow – and the work is very, very queer.” Bray’s work is one of three commissioned by Lucy Guerin Inc and UMAC (University of Melbourne Arts and Culture) for Pieces , an annual series where choreographers are given three weeks to come up with a 20-minute work. Pieces has been running since 2005, and over 19 years has grown from a program that originally only had space for 20 audience members, to being performed this year in Melbourne University’s Union Theatre. Lucy Guerin started Pieces in 2005. Credit: Arsineh Houspian “It’s one of my favourite programs that we do in the year,” says renowned Australian choreographer Lucy Guerin. One of the key things she highlights is not just the strength of the individual works, but the way they interact and connect with each other. “Each year the three works sit together, and sometimes they’re really, really different,” she says. “This year, it does feel like they’re a little more connected. So it’s always a surprise as to what the whole evening will be like, and what the kind of impression that the whole evening will give to the audience.” This year, Bray’s work is joined by “OK, bye!” by Alisdair Macindoe, a meditation on death and the afterlife, and Seven dances for two people by Tra Mi Dinh, an exploration of the significance behind the number seven. “OK, Bye!” began as a collaboration between Macindoe and his mother, concert harpist xanya mamunya, and is dedicated to her. “I grew up listening to her practicing in the lounge room my entire childhood,” Macindoe explains. “I think I became a dancer partly due to waking up in the morning to someone playing concert harp music.” The work marries music, dance and technology in surprising ways, perhaps most so through the self-playing instruments featured on stage. “[They] are all acoustic instruments that are played mechanically by some sort of, like, robotics or electronic mechanics that I’ve built myself in collaboration with a friend of mine who does the firmware,” explains Macindoe. Seven dances for two people , meanwhile – a duet with dancer Rachel Coulson – initially sprung from Dinh being drawn to the number seven. “It just comes up so many times again and again, across cultures, across place and time,” she says, pointing to constellations, musical notes and the number of colours in the spectrum. “It’s my favourite number, and I was really keen to have a bit of a play around with what the rhythmic structures of a seven can do to movement.” All three dancers are recipients of the Chloe Munro Bequest , which offered funds to 20 dancers and choreographers to use however they see fit. The impact of the funds can be seen in both overt and more quiet ways. For both Dinh and Bray, the funds meant that when faced with the crossroads of whether to keep pursuing dance as a career, they were given both the means and the confidence to continue. “It was an incredible boost for my own self-confidence in my practice,” says Dinh. “It’s almost impossible to describe how deeply the Munro fellowship has impacted my practice, and it does directly relate to this, because to build those acoustic instruments and robotics was something I was able to do,” says Macindoe. “What it means is I can dream bigger.” Pieces is at Melbourne University’s Union Theatre from November 28 to 30. The Booklist is a weekly newsletter for book lovers from Jason Steger. Get it every Friday .Oracle Corp. reported quarterly revenue in line with estimates, disappointing investors who have boosted the stock to a record high in recent weeks on enthusiasm for the company’s ascendant cloud business. The shares fell in extended trading. Share Market View All Nifty Gainers View All Company Value Change %Change Fiscal second-quarter revenue increased 9% to $14.1 billion, the company said Monday in a statement. Sales from Oracle’s closely watched cloud infrastructure business jumped 52% to $2.4 billion, in line with the growth projected by analysts. Oracle has long tried to find its footing in the lucrative industry of renting computing power and storage, which is dominated by much-larger rivals led by Amazon.com Inc.’s Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Corp. The recent success has been fueled by demand from artificial intelligence companies seeking to train their models and marquee customers like Uber Technologies Inc. and ByteDance Ltd.’s TikTok. Chairman Larry Ellison has focused particularly on Oracle’s ability to provide the hardware and integrated software needed to handle powerful AI workloads. The stock slipped about 8% in extended trading after closing at $190.45. Expectations were high for Oracle headed into the results, with its stock jumping 81% this year. It was a “mixed quarter against elevated expectations,” wrote Rishi Jaluria, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets. Remaining performance obligations — a measure of bookings — were $97 billion as of the period ended November 30, a step down from $99.1 billion in the previous quarter. Earnings, excluding some items, were $1.47 a share. Analysts, on average, estimated $1.48, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Total cloud sales, including infrastructure and applications, was $5.9 billion. Analysts, on average, estimated $6 billion. That 52% growth in infrastructure sales suggests “strong expansion in AI workloads, both from direct and indirect clients,” wrote Anurag Rana, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. For the fiscal third quarter, revenue will increase about 8%, Chief Executive Officer Safra Catz said on a conference call after the results were released. Profit, excluding some items, will be $1.47 to $1.51 a share. Cloud revenue will rise about 24%, she said. All of those metrics missed analyst estimates. Still, executives remained bullish on company momentum. Oracle’s cloud “trains several of the world’s most important generative AI models because we are faster and less expensive than other clouds,” Ellison said in the statement. He added that Meta Platforms Inc. has signed an agreement to use Oracle’s cloud infrastructure to develop AI agents built on Meta’s Llama models. Capital expenditures, which are watched as a metric of data center investment, were $3.97 billion in the quarter. Analysts estimated $3.52 billion. Overall capital expenditures should double this fiscal year compared to the previous, Catz said. The company spent $6.87 billion in fiscal 2024, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Last week, a US Appeals Court federal court upheld a law that would ban TikTok in the US unless the social media company was sold by its Chinese parent company ByteDance Ltd. Oracle has warned investors that a ban on TikTok would hurt its financial results. Oracle executives didn’t comment on the conference call about TikTok’s situation.De'Vondre Campbell's mid-game quitting overshadowed the 49ers' offensive woes
WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump's pick for intelligence chief, Tulsi Gabbard, faced fresh scrutiny Monday on Capitol Hill about her proximity to Russian-ally Syria amid the sudden collapse of that country's hardline Assad rule. Gabbard ignored shouted questions about her 2017 visit to war-torn Syria as she ducked into one of several private meetings with senators who are being asked to confirm Trump's unusual nominees . But the Democrat-turned-Republican Army National Reserve lieutenant colonel delivered a statement in which she reiterated her support for Trump's America First approach to national security and a more limited U.S. military footprint overseas. “I want to address the issue that’s in the headlines right now: I stand in full support and wholeheartedly agree with the statements that President Trump has made over these last few days with regards to the developments in Syria,” Gabbard said exiting a Senate meeting. The incoming president’s Cabinet and top administrative choices are dividing his Republican allies and drawing concern , if not full opposition, from Democrats and others. Not just Gabbard, but other Trump nominees including Pentagon pick Pete Hegseth, were back at the Capitol ahead of what is expected to be volatile confirmation hearings next year. The incoming president is working to put his team in place for an ambitious agenda of mass immigrant deportations, firing federal workers and rollbacks of U.S. support for Ukraine and NATO allies. “We’re going to sit down and visit, that’s what this is all about,” said Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., as he welcomed Gabbard into his office. The president-elect announced other appointments Monday, including his lawyer Harmeet Dhillon for assistant attorney general for civil rights at the Justice Department and Mark Paoletta as the returning general counsel of the Office of Management and Budget. Meanwhile, Defense Secretary pick Hegseth appeared to be picking up support from once-skeptical senators, the former Army National Guard major denying sexual misconduct allegations and pledging not to drink alcohol if he is confirmed. The president-elect's choice to lead the FBI, Kash Patel , who has written extensively about locking up Trump's foes and proposed dismantling the Federal Bureau of Investigation, launched his first visits with senators Monday. “I expect our Republican Senate is going to confirm all of President Trump’s nominees,” said Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., on social media. Despite widespread concern about the nominees' qualifications and demeanors for the jobs that are among the highest positions in the U.S. government, Trump's team is portraying the criticism against them as nothing more than political smears and innuendo. Showing that concern, nearly 100 former senior U.S. diplomats and intelligence and national security officials have urged Senate leaders to schedule closed-door hearings to allow for a full review of the government’s files on Gabbard. Trump's allies have described the criticisms of Hegseth in particular as similar to those lodged against Brett Kavanaugh, the former president's Supreme Court nominee who denied a sexual assault allegation and went on to be confirmed during Trump's first term in office. Said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., about Hegseth: “Anonymous accusations are trying to destroy reputations again. We saw this with Kavanaugh. I won’t stand for it.” One widely watched Republican, Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa, herself a former Army National Guard lieutenant colonel and sexual assault survivor who had been criticized by Trump allies for her cool reception to Hegseth, appeared more open to him after their follow-up meeting Monday. “I appreciate Pete Hegseth’s responsiveness and respect for the process,” Ernst said in a statement. Ernst said that following “encouraging conversations,” he had committed to selecting a senior official who will "prioritize and strengthen my work to prevent sexual assault within the ranks. As I support Pete through this process, I look forward to a fair hearing based on truth, not anonymous sources.” Ernst also had praise for Patel — “He shares my passion for shaking up federal agencies" — and for Gabbard. Once a rising Democratic star, Gabbard, who represented Hawaii in Congress, arrived a decade ago in Washington, her surfboard in tow, a new generation of potential leaders. She ran unsuccessfully for president in 2020. But Gabbard abruptly left the party and briefly became an independent before joining with Trump's 2024 campaign as one of his enthusiasts, in large part over his disdain for U.S. involvement overseas and opposition to helping Ukraine battle Russia. Her visit to Syria to meet with then-President Bashar Assad around the time of Trump's first inauguration during the country's bloody civil war stunned her former colleagues and the Washington national security establishment. The U.S. had severed diplomatic relations with Syria. Her visit was seen by some as legitimizing a brutal leader who was accused of war crimes. Gabbard has defended the trip, saying it's important to open dialogue, but critics hear in her commentary echoes of Russia-fueled talking points. Assad fled to Moscow over the weekend after Islamist rebels overtook Syria in a surprise attack, ending his family's five decades of rule. She said her own views have been shaped by “my multiple deployments and seeing firsthand the cost of war and the threat of Islamist terrorism.” Gabbard said, “It's one of the many reasons why I appreciate President Trump’s leadership and his election, where he is fully committed, as he has said over and over, to bring about an end to wars.” Last week, the nearly 100 former officials, who served in both Democratic and Republican administrations, said in the letter to Senate leaders they were “alarmed” by the choice of Gabbard to oversee all 18 U.S. intelligence agencies. They said her past actions “call into question her ability to deliver unbiased intelligence briefings to the President, Congress, and to the entire national security apparatus.” The Office of the Director of National Intelligence was created after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to coordinate the nation’s intelligence agencies and act as the president’s main intelligence adviser. ___ Associated Press writer Stephen Groves contributed to this report.
Yoon's comment 'deeply upsetting'; reference to China in address may be to divert attention: expert
Apple Intelligence was first announced this June to much fanfare, and now it’s finally available via iOS 18.1 and iOS 18.2. But at least one early report say it’s not really changing the world. Here’s why that’s not a surprise, and it’s also very much not the last word. Early Apple Intelligence impact is underwhelming According to a recent survey , most iPhone users say Apple Intelligence adds ‘little to no value’ to their smartphone experience. There’s an important caveat, which is that this survey took place before iOS 18.2’s new AI features arrived. That said, I’m also not surprised. Why? Because by design, Apple Intelligence is meant to bring a slow drip of change that adds up over time. Major new product vs. iterative product enhancer When you think about most of the AI technology being produced by other companies, you’ll probably think about a specific AI product. For example, there are chatbots like ChatGPT and Gemini. Or AI-driven smart glasses and pins. Most companies are attempting to make a ‘major new product’ with AI. That’s not what Apple did, or even intended to do. Apple Intelligence is built into existing products as a simple enhancement. You could say it’s an ‘iterative product enhancer.’ Here are some examples: Apple’s Photos app already had a bunch of editing tools, but now it has Clean Up too . It already had search, but with AI that search feature is better than ever . Messages already had emoji, but now you can create custom Genmoji too. Spellcheck and autocorrect were already built into Apple’s systemwide keyboards, but now AI writing tools are available too. Notifications are a big part of our device use, and now they’re ( mostly ) better thanks to summaries . None of these features are game-changers on their own. But over time their impact will grow. Apple Intelligence will change your device use, whether you know it or not Because of the way Apple Intelligence is designed, being baked into existing apps and features, it’s inevitably going to change the way we use our devices. There’s not one show-stopper feature that changes the game forever. But there are a ton of little features, with more on the way, that will continue enhancing and altering our devices for years to come. The thing is, over time we probably won’t even realize what’s AI and what isn’t. We’ll just use a random feature on our iPhone, iPad, or Mac and benefit from it. We’re still in the very early days of Apple Intelligence, but its impact moving forward will be hard to dispute, because it will be tied so closely with the basic functionality of our everyday devices. What do you think of Apple Intelligence’s present or future impact? Let us know in the comments. Anker 100W charging brick for fast charging 6.6ft USB-C cable for longer reach AirPods Pro 2 (currently only $189, down from $249) MagSafe Car Mount for iPhone HomeKit smart plug 4-packFive9, Inc. Shareholder Notice: Robbins LLP Reminds Investors of the FIVN Class Action