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psbank qlip There are few organizations that have had kicking problems like the Minnesota Vikings over the years. In 2024 Kwesi Adofo-Mensah drafted Will Reichard , and he had John Parker Romo in camp. That created a frustrating competition , but the results have been nothing short of exceptional. Now the team is in a predicament thanks to an embarrassment of riches. Where will Minnesota Vikings John Parker Romo wind up? The Minnesota Vikings moved on from veteran Greg Joseph this offseason. That meant they needed to find a new answer at the kicker position. Rather than go with a selection that likely won’t make the roster, they chose Will Reichard in the sixth round out of Alabama . The highly decorated college leg established himself quickly and was nearly perfect before hitting injured reserve with a quadriceps issue . He’s now on his way back . How badly did Rich Eisen want Will Reichard to miss this kick...? pic.twitter.com/LI0fWcB7VM John Parker Romo was brought back after being jettisoned during training camp and he has cemented his placed as a professional talent. The former big-leg in XFL action had made 11-of-12 kicks in a Vikings uniform, and he’ll certainly command a job once Minnesota goes back to their starter. The Vikings have seen quite a turn of events in having two competent kickers, but that means the backup is going to garner attention elsewhere. Vet move Jake McQuaide made sure to get the ball from @Romo_HKA ’s first NFL game-winning kick for him. pic.twitter.com/NgOERhlYUV That’s great news for John Parker Romo. He was unemployed for the first handful of weeks to start the season. With turnover at the position across the league, there are multiple opportunities, but where does he wind up? It has to be a team that is winning enough to value the position, and one that has an incumbent leg struggling at converting. Baltimore Ravens How wild is it to think that the Baltimore Ravens would replace a legend like Justin Tucker? Unfortunately the 35-year-old has converted on a career-low 70.4% (19-27) of his kicks this season . It may be getting late early, and a team with Super Bowl aspirations certainly can’t afford to have their special teams sink them. "That is concerning as it gets later in the year if I'm a Ravens fan." – Tony Romo on Justin Tucker missing another field goal pic.twitter.com/ynU0hr422F Romo would provide a fresh leg that could compete down the stretch. He’d immediately join another contender, and having kicked for the Vikings, he already knows him impactful each swing is. Atlanta Falcons Minnesota gets to see Younghoe Koo this weekend. The Atlanta Falcons are a fringe playoff team and plenty of that depends on the ability of quarterback Kirk Cousins. The former Georgia Southern kicker was sent packing by the Chargers in 2017 when he made just three of his first six kicks. Things have been much better since, but in 2024 the 30-year-old has made just 21-of-29 (72.4%) kicks. Quite a moment caught by @bkfox5sports after Falcons loss — kicker Younghoe Koo taps himself on the chest as he exits field, then team owner Arthur Blank puts his arm around Koo and talks with him as they walk off the field. pic.twitter.com/wZkqTCMqGM If Atlanta thinks they can benefit from a change at the position, another poaching from Minnesota makes sense. Koo made a Pro Bowl back in 2020, and has been a consistent talent for the Falcons, but things fall apart quickly. Los Angeles Rams Much like the Minnesota Vikings, the Los Angeles Rams drafted a kicker during the 2024 NFL Draft. They took Stanford’s Joshua Karty in the same round as Will Reichard and had hopes of him being a difference maker in year one. Through 12 games Karty has made just 16-of-21 (76.2%) kicks , and he is only 2-of-4 from 40-49 yards. Matthew Stafford has battled through his weapons being unavailable, but his special teams unit has let him down. Going into Week 11, NFL kickers had missed ONE field goal all season from 27 yards or less (99/100). We just had TWO misses in a span of two minutes • Joshua Karty (Rams): 26 (Shortest missed kick this season) • Dustin Hopkins (Browns): 27 pic.twitter.com/cK0cstJXqy If Sean McVay wants to give his veteran quarterback a short to make a postseason run, it will include winning on the fringes. Cutting ties with Karty would look similar to what Minnesota did with Carlson, but maybe there is a way to simply slide him to the side for a period of time. Philadelphia Eagles It’s disappointing to think that the Vikings could help out another good team, but that’s what the Eagles have in front of them. Philadelphia has a 10-2 record despite kicker Jake Elliot. The eight-year veteran has converted just 18-of-23 (78.3%) field goals this season. He is also 0-for-4 from beyond 50 yards. Jake Elliott MISSES From 44. pic.twitter.com/lEXKElkmrU If there is an opportunity for Nick Sirianni ’s team to improve, it seems to come through special teams. Moving on from Elliot would be substantial, but Romo has been a much more reliable option since taking over for Minnesota. There is a very real possibility that these two teams could meet in the playoffs. No matter what happens with the Vikings this time around, Romo should have zero ill will. Minnesota gave him an opportunity and he showcased his abilities. He should be kicking at he highest level for a winning team the rest of the way. This article first appeared on Minnesota Sports Fan and was syndicated with permission.World reacts to cease-fire deal in Lebanon

PNG trailblazer wants Pacific Cup to launch AFL careersQuestion: What albums should every guitarist listen to and why? Greg Koch - Guest Picker Recorded in 1964, this album has been essential listening for generations of guitarists. Going from the gut, I would say B.B. King’s would be something every guitar player should listen to as it is the well from where every other electric blues guitar player drank from—whether they know it or not. is another one, but is really the essence of what electric blues is all about. Another worthy choice is this live album from 1966 which features an incredible take on Willie Nelson’s “Night Life.” I would say playing slide in open tunings. I have been playing mostly standard tuning for the simple convenience of it, but nothing is quite as filthy as playing slide in open G or open E. I’ve been bringing out two guitars specifically for those two tunings and it’s been a lot of fun. Bret Boyer - Reader of the Month Recorded in a single take in 1971, Spence’s vocal style complemented his folky, angular guitar approach. If you’ve never listened to the Bahamian guitarist Joseph Spence, you are in for a treat. Joseph is such a unique guitar player and singer, and his music is the purest expression of joy I’ve heard on an album. Start with it’s a great reminder to have fun and be yourself. Hub Hildenbrand’s music is very personal and unlike anything I’ve heard on guitar. Check out the album . He even bows his 1953 archtop on two tracks. Hub draws deeply from non-Western music, with a strong influence from the oud tradition in his playing. His music is quiet, deeply reflective, and searching. Nick Millevoi - Senior Editor Steve Reich’s “Electric Counterpoint,” the original version performed by Pat Metheny. It shows that since the guitar is capable of anything, you might as well use it to do exactly what you want to do and have some fun. And for experimentalists, it’s a great reminder that there’s so much you can do using nice, tonal chords. The EHX Attack Decay has been delivering loads of inspiration lately. After buying one earlier this year, it hasn’t left my board. The premise is simple—create swells with controls for attack and decay speeds—which leaves so much to be discovered. Ted Drozdowski - Editorial Director Son House’s , because it’s a reminder that music is something elemental. It comes from the soil and is more deeply embedded in us than our own DNA. House’s performances are Heaven and Hell, doubt and surety, love and death. It’s that raw, true, and beautifully imperfect—poetry that breathes. Prog rock, thanks to recently experiencing the BEAT Tour and David Gilmour live in the same week. That reminded me of how sublime prog can be when it functions on an empathetic level first. My bedrock for prog remains . The picture associated with this month’s Dojo is one of my all-time favorites. Taken in 1916, it marks the collision of two diverging cultural epochs. Mountain Chief, the head of the Piegan Blackfeet Tribe, sings into a powered solely by spring-loaded tension outside the Smithsonian. Across from him sits whom I consider the patron saint of American —the great Frances Densmore. You can feel the scope and weight of the ancient culture of the American West, and the presence of the then-ongoing women’s suffrage movement, which was three years from succeeding at getting the 19th Amendment passed by Congress. That would later happen on June 4, 1919—the initiative towards granting all women of this country the right to vote. (All American citizens, including Black women, were not granted suffrage until 1965.) Densmore traversed the entire breadth of the country, hauling her gramophone wax cylinder recorders into remote tribal lands, capturing songs by the Seminole in southern Florida, the Yuma in California, the Chippewa in Wisconsin, Quinailet songs in Northern Washington, and, of course, Mountain Chief outside the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. Author of more than 20 books and 200 articles, she carefully preserved the rich cultural diversity of Native Americans with over 2,500 field recordings. Why am I writing about this? Firstly, to pay homage! Secondly, because it serves as a great reminder to seek and cultivate sound the studio as well. We live in a time of great technological power and convenience. Every week a new sample pack, plugin, pedal, or software instrument hits the market. For all the joy that these offerings bring, they deprive us of the joy of creating our own instruments from scratch. This month, I’m advocating for you to make some field recordings of your own—nature, urban, indoor, outdoor, specific locations, animals, or anything that piques your interest! Bring the material back to the studio and make music with it! I’ll show you how to make your own sample libraries to use in your music. Tighten up your belts, a multipart Dojo is now open. What do you need to get started? Quite simply, you just need any device that is capable of recording. This can range from your cell phone to a dedicated r. The real question is: Do you want to use mics housed in handheld units or have more robust mic pres with the ability to power larger live/studio microphones using XLR connectors found with the larger units? Let’s look at three scenarios. The Cellular Approach The absolute easiest way to get started is with your cell phone. Take advantage of a voice-memo recording app, or use an app that records multitrack audio like GarageBand on iOS. Phone recordings tend to sound very compressed and slightly lo-fi—which might be exactly what you want. However, the method can also introduce unwanted noise artifacts like low-end rumble (from handling the phone) and phasing (moving the mic while recording). I recommend using a tripod to hold your phone still while recording. You might also want to consider using an external mic and some software to edit your sample recordings on the phone. I like using a Koala Sampler ($4.99) on iOS devices. Upgrade Me The next step up is to use a portable recorder. These have much better mic pres, and offer true stereo recording with pivoting mic heads. This can give you the added benefit of controlling the width of your stereo image when recording or helping isolate two sound sources that are apart from each other. You sacrifice the ability to easily edit your recordings. You simply import them into your computer and edit the recording(s) from there. Pro-Level Quality I would recommend this scenario if you want to record multiple sources at once. These devices also have SMPTE time code, 60+ dB of gain, phantom power (+48 volts), advanced routing, and a 32-bit/192 kHz sampling rate, so you’ll never have a distorted recording even when the meter gets unexpectedly pegged into the red from a loud sound source. I recommend the Zoom F8n Pro ($1099). Now you can use your microphones! Best Practices Try to safely record as close to the sound source as you can to minimize ambient noise and really scrub through your recordings to find little snippets and sound “nuggets” that can make great material for creating your own instrument and sample library—which we’ll explore next month! Namaste. There’s a visceral feeling that goes along with really cranking the gain. Whether you’re using a clean amp or an already dirty setup, adding more gain can inspire you to play in an entirely different way. Below are a handful of pedals that can take you from classic crunch to death metal doom—and beyond. The Viking king of shred guitar has distilled his high-octane tone into a simple, two-knob overdrive. Designed for going into an already dirty amp, this stomp offers clarity, harmonics, and more. Few pedals captured the sound of Swedish death metal like the HM-2. The go-to setting is simple—all knobs maxed out. Flip over to the custom mode for more tonal range, higher gain, and thicker low end. Voiced with an aggressive, heavy tone with a tight low end, this pedal offers +/- 14 dB of bass, a powerful noise gate, and an LED to let you know when the gate is on. Aimed to capture the sound of Mike Soldano’s flagship tube amp, the SLO uses the same cascading gain stages as the 100-watt head. It also has a side-mounted deep switch to add low-end punch. We chat with Molly about Sister Rosetta’s “immediately impressive” playing, which blends jazz, gospel, chromaticism, and blues into an early rock ‘n’ roll style that was not only way ahead of its time but was also truly rockin’. In the early ’60s, some of the British guitarists who would shape the direction of our instrument for decades to come all found themselves at a concert by . What they heard from Tharpe and what made her performances so special—her sound, her energy—must have resonated. Back at home in the U.S., she was a captivating presence, wowing audiences going back to her early days in church through performing the first stadium rock ‘n’ roll concert—which was also one of her weddings—and beyond. Her guitar playing was incendiary, energetic, and a force to be reckoned with. On this episode of , we’re joined by guitarist , who in addition to being a fantastic guitarist, educator, bandleader, and performing with , is a bit of a Sister Rosetta scholar. We chat with Molly about Sister Rosetta’s “immediately impressive” playing, which blends jazz, gospel, chromaticism, and blues into an early rock ‘n’ roll style that was not only way ahead of its time but was also truly rockin’. I love to learn, and I don’t enjoy history kicking my ass. In other words, if my instrument-making predecessors— , , Christian Martin, John Heiss, Antonio de Torres, G.B. Guadagnini, and Antonio Stradivari, to name a few—made an instrument that took my breath away when I played it, and it sounded better than what I had made, I wanted to know not just what they had done, but what they understood that I didn’t understand yet. And because it was clear to me that these masters understood some things that I didn’t, I would go down rabbit holes. I am not a violin maker, but I’ve had my hands on some of Guadagnini’s and Stradivari’s instruments. While these instruments sounded wildly different, they had an unusual quality: the harder you plucked them the louder they got. That was enough to push me further down the rabbit hole of physics in instrument making. What made them special is a combination of deep understanding and an ability to tune the instrument and its vibrating surfaces so that it produced an extraordinary sound, full of harmonics and very little compression. It was the beginning of a document we live by at called . My art is electric and acoustic guitars, amplifiers, and speaker cabinets. So, I study bridge materials and designs, wood species and drying, tuning pegs, truss rods, pickups, finishes, neck shapes, inlays, electronics, Fender/Marshall/ amp theories, schematics, parts, and overall aesthetics. I can’t tell you how much better I feel when I come to an understanding about what these masters knew, in combination with what we can manufacture in our facilities today. One of my favorite popular beliefs is, “The reason Stradivari violins sound good is because of the sheep’s uric acid they soaked the wood in.” (I, too, have believed that to be true.) The truth is, it’s never just one thing: it’s a combination of complicated things. The problem I have is that I never hear anyone say the reason Stradivari violins sound good is because he really knew what he was doing. You don’t become a master of your craft by happenstance; you stay deeply curious and have an insatiable will to learn, apply what you learn, and progress. What’s interesting to me is, if a master passes away, everything they believed on the day they finished an instrument in that instrument. These acoustic and electric guitars, violins, drums, amplifiers, speaker cabinets—they will all talk to you if you listen. They will you what their maker believed the day they were made. In my world, you have to be a detective. I love that process. I’ve had a chance to speak to the master himself. Leo , who was not a direct teacher of mine but did teach me through his instruments, used to come by our booth at NAMM to pay his respects to the “new guitar maker.” I thought that was beautiful. I also got a chance to talk to Forrest White, who was Leo’s production manager, right before he passed away. What he wanted to know was, “How’d I do?” I said, “Forrest, you did great.” They wanted to know their careers and contributions were appreciated and would continue. In my experience, great teachers throw a piece of meat over the fence to see if the dog will bite it. They don’t want to teach someone who doesn’t really want to learn and won’t continue their legacy and/or the art they were involved in. While I have learned so much from the masters who were gone before my time, I have also found that the best teaching is done one-on-one. Along my journey from high school bedroom to the world’s stages, I enrolled scores of teachers to help me. I didn’t enroll them. I tackled them. I went after their knowledge and experience, which I needed for my own knowledge base to do this jack-of-all-trades job called guitar making and to lead a company without going out of business. I’ve spent most of my career going down rabbit holes. Whether it’s wood, pickups, designs, metals, finishes, etc., I pay attention to all of it. Mostly, I’m looking backward to see how to go forward. Recently, we’ve been going more and more forward, and I can’t tell you how good that feels. For me, being a detective and learning is lifesaving for the company’s products and my own well-being. Sometimes it takes a few days to come to what I believe. The majority of the time it’s 12 months. Occasionally, I’ll study something for a decade before I make up my mind in a strong way, and someone will then challenge that with another point of view. I’ll change my mind again, but mostly the decade decisions stick. I believe the lesson I’m hitting is “be very curious!” Find teachers. Stay a student. Become a teacher. Go down all the rabbit holes.

MONTREAL — Police say they've arrested several people following an anti-NATO protest that included two car fires and left some businesses with smashed windows. Montreal police say they made at least three arrests following a demonstration that began late afternoon Friday. Police say that during the march, smoke bombs were deployed, metal barriers were thrown into the street and windows of businesses and at the convention centre were smashed. Delegates from NATO member states and partner countries are in Montreal this weekend to discuss issues including support for Ukraine, climate change and the future of the alliance. The protest was planned by the groups Divest for Palestine and the Convergence of Anti-Capitalist Struggles, who did not immediately respond to requests for comment Saturday. Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly condemned the protests in a Saturday morning post on social media platform X, saying that "rioting is not peaceful protest and has no place in Montreal or anywhere in Canada." "Those who spread hate and antisemitism, use violence, loot and destroy property must be condemned and held accountable," she added. Police spokesperson Manuel Couture says the demonstrators were completely dispersed at around 7 p.m. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 23, 2024. The Canadian PressSocial Security now pays out more money than it brings in, so payments rely largely on a trust fund built up by the Social Security Administration. That fund is projected to run out of money by the mid-2030s, which has led politicians in both parties to debate how Social Security should change to avoid a shortfall. Prior to the election, the Harris campaign claimed then-candidate Donald Trump would cut Social Security, but President-elect Donald Trump has promised he will protect the program. Pam and other VERIFY readers sent us emails asking if Trump can unilaterally change or even end Social Security. Can the president change Social Security? Bankrate U.S. Treasury Social Security Act Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB) Society of Actuaries Social Security Administration No, the president cannot change Social Security. The president cannot unilaterally change Social Security, including how it’s funded, how much it pays beneficiaries or how it’s taxed. Congress can, however, make changes to Social Security, and the president can make suggestions to Congress. “Social Security’s tax rate and benefits are set by law,” Bankrate says. “So to tweak them, Congress must first change the law, and the president then needs to sign it.” Social Security falls into a part of the federal budget called mandatory spending, according to the U.S. Treasury . Mandatory spending does not require an annual vote by Congress; instead, existing laws mandate the spending and determine how much should be spent each year. In this case, the Social Security Act requires the government to provide payments to beneficiaries based on the amount of money they’ve earned and other factors, the Treasury says. The law, last amended in 2019, will continue to determine how much beneficiaries are paid and therefore how much the government spends on Social Security each year until the law is amended again. Though the president can’t change Social Security on their own, they can propose changes to Congress. Since Republicans will have majorities in the Senate and House of Representatives in the next Congress, they may vote to amend the law per Trump’s proposals. Other laws and policies may also impact Social Security’s finances, even if they don’t directly pertain to Social Security. These include some executive actions the president can do without Congressional approval. For example, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB) says mass deportations may negatively impact Social Security’s finances because it would reduce the number of immigrant workers paying into the trust fund. Trump has proposed eliminating income tax on Social Security payments, which would also require Congress to pass legislation. The CRFB, the Tax Policy Center and the Tax Foundation all project that the proposal would make Social Security run out of money sooner because those taxes fund future Social Security payments. Additionally, the president can remove the current Commissioner of Social Security and appoint a new one, the Society of Actuaries says. The Commissioner of Social Security is responsible for administering Social Security programs, but does not have the individual power to change how Social Security works. Yes, elected officials picked for Trump's cabinet will have to resign before taking new role What we can VERIFY about Trump’s plan to close the U.S. Department of Education Yes, Trump will have the authority to pardon Jan. 6 rioters The VERIFY team works to separate fact from fiction so that you can understand what is true and false. Please consider subscribing to our daily newsletter , text alerts and our YouTube channel . You can also follow us on Snapchat , Instagram , Facebook and TikTok . Learn More » YouTube Snapchat Instagram Facebook TikTok Text: 202-410-8808

Mysterious 16th century Tower of London prisoner’s graffiti solved for the first time

No. 11 Tennessee crushes UTEP to enhance CFP chancesWestern Forest Products Inc. ( OTCMKTS:WFSTF – Get Free Report ) shot up 4.7% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $0.28 and last traded at $0.28. 17,100 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 38% from the average session volume of 27,587 shares. The stock had previously closed at $0.27. Western Forest Products Stock Up 4.7 % The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $0.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $0.33. About Western Forest Products ( Get Free Report ) Western Forest Products Inc operates as an integrated softwoods forest products company in Canada, the United States, Japan, China, Europe, and internationally. It is involved in timber harvesting, sawmilling logs into specialty lumber, value-added lumber and glulam remanufacturing, and wholesaling purchased lumber. Read More Receive News & Ratings for Western Forest Products Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Western Forest Products and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter .

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