To join The Sleep Gate, individuals must commit to prioritizing their sleep and creating a cozy, comfortable environment conducive to relaxation. This may involve establishing a bedtime routine, investing in high-quality bedding and sleep accessories, and practicing mindfulness techniques such as meditation and deep breathing exercises.In the end, the Beijing team's loss was not just a result of poor team play or a lack of cohesion. It was a stark reminder of the importance of having a solid and reliable center, a player who can anchor the defense, control the paint, and provide scoring when needed. For Zhou Qi, it was a wake-up call to reevaluate his game, address his weaknesses, and make the necessary adjustments to regain his form.None
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Trae Young might be the NBA's biggest enigma. Young's fans can point to numbers and say he's an elite player. His detractors can point to numbers and say he's overrated. Both arguments have validity. To some, his cocky ways are endearing. To others, they're infuriating. This can't be argued: He's helping Atlanta author one of the season's surprise stories. The Hawks are in the NBA Cup semifinals, set to play Milwaukee on Saturday before the other semifinal between Oklahoma City and Houston. The title game is Tuesday night. “When we talk about Trae, the word I like to use is evolution,” Hawks coach Quin Snyder said. “And every player evolves. They just evolve in different ways. He's been an important part of our young guys' growth and being able to elevate them.” The Hawks haven't had a ton of big moments in Young's seven seasons. But he has shown a propensity for rising to the occasion: ousting New York in the 2021 playoffs, ousting the Knicks from the quarterfinals of this tournament to get to Las Vegas — and now comes another chance on national TV on Saturday, facing the Bucks with a chance to play for a trophy. “I feel like this team has been embracing the challenge each and every night from the beginning of the season,” Young said. “We haven’t looked too far ahead in any moment. We’re just taking it day by day. Even though early on in the season we may have had some struggles and some bumps in the road and some guys out, we stuck with the process and focus on each day." Here's part of the pro-Young argument: He's averaging 21 points and 12 assists something that only Magic Johnson and Isiah Thomas have done over a full season, and he's on pace to lead the league in assist average for the first time. Here's part of the anti-Young argument: Among the 220 players with at least 50 3-point attempts this season he ranks 189th at 30.8%, and of the 248 players with at least 100 field goal attempts this season he ranks 231st at 38.4%. Choose your side. They're both valid. But it's clear that Young — who made no secret that he was upset over not being picked for the team that won gold for USA Basketball at the Paris Olympics this past summer — is growing and maturing. “He’s doing a better job on both ends of the floor,” Bucks coach Doc Rivers said. “Defensively he’s figured out a way of keeping himself out of actions. I know that sounds easy. That’s hard to do, and he’s brilliant at it, he really is. ... He must be really studying the game on both ends of the floor, and you can see that in his play. And he’s earned the trust of his players. This team likes playing with him, that’s obvious. I couldn’t say that in the past, but now they love playing with him.” Hawks forward Jalen Johnson doesn't deny that point. “He’s so good, man,” Johnson said. "It’s crazy, like just seeing it in person and on TV prior to me playing with the Hawks and getting drafted by the Hawks, it was crazy just watching it. A guy that’s undersized, being able to score at will, being able to make any pass at will. And then next thing you know you’re his teammate and you’re on the receiving end of those passes. “Watching those clutch late game buckets, it’s a joy to watch. It’s a gift that he has that’s very special and not many people have had it at that elite of a level. It’s been great being his teammate. It’s been a blessing.” Saturday is an opportunity. The semifinals are the only games on the NBA calendar for that day; the title game Tuesday — which doesn't count in the standings — is the only game on the NBA slate that night as well. Young will have tons of eyeballs on him Saturday and would have tons more on him Tuesday if the Hawks find a way to win another big game against the Bucks. They're 3-1 against Eastern Conference-leading Cleveland and Boston already this season, 1-0 against Milwaukee. The potential is clear for the Hawks. The potential for Young has always been clear as well. Only now, it's starting to be realized. “The narrative about me not being able to do certain things or being too mad or frustrated about certain things is — I mean, just aren’t true,” Young said. "I think you’re just now being able to see like with the young team we have, just some of the different things we’ve been doing this year, I think just now you’re starting to kind of see it because the results are showing and we’re winning now. We’re here in this final four of the Cup, and it’s a big deal.” AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBACasella Waste Systems, Inc. Announces Offering of the Finance Authority of Maine Solid Waste Disposal Revenue Bonds
'Let's not panic': Canada picks up the pieces after ugly Latvia loss at world juniors
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — TCU leading scorer Frankie Collins will miss the rest of the season because of a broken bone in his left foot, the school said Friday. The 6-foot-2 senior guard, in his first season at TCU after spending the past two at Arizona State, is scheduled to have surgery Tuesday in Dallas. Collins leads the Horned Frogs (5-4) with 11.2 points and 4.4 assists per game. He also averages 4.4 rebounds per game. TCU said Collins broke his foot in the first half of its 83-74 loss to Vanderbilt last Sunday. He still played 35 minutes, finishing with six points and seven assists. Collins played 31 games as a freshman for Michigan's NCAA Sweet 16 team in 2021-22 before transferring to Arizona State. He started all 32 games last season for the Sun Devils, averaging 13.6 points, 4.4 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game. He could potentially get another college season through a medical redshirt. Arizona State is in its first Big 12 season. It will host TCU on Feb. 15. AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-pollAfter my spa treatment, I ventured into the dining area to sample some of the region's finest cuisine. The menu featured an array of delectable dishes, from steaming bowls of hand-pulled noodles to succulent braised pork belly, all prepared with fresh, locally sourced ingredients that showcased the rich and diverse culinary heritage of Northeast China.
The Yomiuri Shimbun 6:00 JST, November 22, 2024 The harmful effects of generative artificial intelligence (AI) are widespread, causing confusion and chaos. This is the first installment in a series examining how society should deal with the situation. * * A fabricated video went viral on social media the day before the Nov. 5 U.S. presidential election. The video was created to look like a report from CBS News and said the Federal Bureau of Investigation was advising people to “vote remotely” due to a potential terrorist attack. Taking the situation seriously, the FBI released a statement on Nov. 5 reading, “This video is not authentic and does not accurately represent the current threat posture or polling location safety.” The video appeared to have been created with artificial intelligence by a group with links to Russia and was immediately deleted. At the end of October, a fake video clip was posted in which a man posing as an election committee staff member sifted through mail-in ballots from the swing state of Pennsylvania and ripped up votes cast for Republican candidate Donald Trump one after another, murmuring “F—ing Trump!” U.S. and European media reflected on the unprecedented scale of disinformation and conspiracy theories circulating online in the election, and forces hostile to the United States increased their interference. As the voting day approached, groups linked to Russia, China and others were said to have stepped up their interference by posting a succession of fake images and videos. “The easiest way for foreign governments to win in an information operation is to sow chaos,” Bret Schafer, a senior fellow of the U.S. research organization Alliance for Securing Democracy, said. Shafer added that Russia tried to support Trump, who is friendly toward the country. “As domestic turmoil deepens [due to disinformation], the United States is forced to focus on internal issues, leaving less attention and resources to address international affairs,” Schafer said. The rapid technological improvement of generative AI has made it possible to instantly create a large number of elaborate fake images and videos, resulting in countless bits of unconfirmed information that denigrates rival candidates being sent from various camps, political parties and supporters via social media. The expansion of online echo chambers, in which people only hear from those whose opinions match their own, is said to have further divided the country. President Joe Biden’s administration pledged to develop legislation to regulate AI, but it was not in time for the presidential election. Twenty states have passed state laws regulating AI, and some states have banned the spread of election-related false information created with AI, but the effect was limited. Tim Harper, a senior policy analyst of the citizens group Center for Democracy & Technology, urged active implementation of a federal regulatory regime. “There are definitely solutions that the United States at the federal level can and should put in place to better protect elections from the spread of misinformation and disinformation from deceptive, manipulated AI content,” Harper said. In Japan, fake videos were spread around the time the campaign for the House of Representatives election that kicked off on Oct. 15. In the videos, voices apparently generated by having AI learn to mimic voices of former prime ministers were making anti-Liberal Democratic Party remarks. One of them uses what is apparently AI-generated audio mimicking former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s voice to introduce more than 120 people — mainly LDP members — as “candidates who should lose” with such comments as “full of greed.” The fake voice urged people to “vote them down.” The clip got more than 30,000 views on YouTube and spread on X, formerly Twitter. In another video, a voice that appeared to have been generated by having AI learn to imitate that of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was discussing the relationship between candidates and the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, commonly known as the Unification Church. The videos came with a note stating that none of those comments were made by the prime ministers, but the posters apparently intended to enhance the videos’ credibility by using former prime ministers’ voices. Before the start of the campaign, the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry on Oct. 11 requested 14 social media companies, including Meta Platforms Inc. — which manages Facebook — and X Corp., to take measures against false information on the internet. An official said the ministry “had not confirmed large-scale dissemination of false information,” but there are no provisions in the Public Offices Election Law specifically about generative AI, and no full-scale discussion has been underway for regulations. In September last year, fake recordings emerged on the messaging app Telegram, which features a high degree of confidentiality, two days before Slovakia’s general elections. The recordings were purported to be conversations of pro-European liberal Progressive Slovakia (PS) party leader Michal Simecka discussing a plan to manipulate votes. It was later revealed that the audio was an AI-generated fake, but the recordings had already gone viral on other social media. The PS came second in the election, and a left-wing party that opposed military support for Ukraine took power. The recordings were spread by mainly pro-Russian politicians. “It really represents a threat to democracy,” PS member Jan Hargas said of generative AI. “I think that’s why I believe that it’s a warning sign for the elections to come in the future.”
Yext to Announce Third Quarter Fiscal Year 2025 Financial Results on December 9, 2024In an alarming case of privacy violation and illegal data collection, a man has been arrested for allegedly acquiring personal information from over 400 cellphones and using it to profit by selling lucky bags online. The suspect, whose identity has not been disclosed by the authorities, reportedly earned a monthly income exceeding ten thousand dollars from his illicit activities.Winter Transfer Window is Approaching: Challenges for Real Madrid and Manchester City in Securing Suitable Players from La Liga