jolibet fortune tree
jolibet fortune tree
Healthy corals are colorful and full of life. And under normal conditions, corals and algae depend on one another. The corals offer the algae protection and the photosynthesizing algae provide the coral with the components they need to make proteins and sugars. As waters warm, though, corals often bleach, which means they eject their algae. "The corals look white or sometimes black cause they've died," says Dakota McCoy , a biologist at the University of Chicago. "There's no fish around. It's way less biodiverse." However, "if you snorkel over a reef after a heat wave, other animals still look healthy," says McCoy. "They've still got their algae unlike the coral. It seems to take more to get them to bleach. So that's kind of a weird biological mystery." These seemingly healthy creatures include a clam-like mollusc called a heart cockle — the name coming from the shape of its shell. "These strange little clams are a little bit tougher than corals," says McCoy, "even though they host the same type of algae inside their cells that corals do." McCoy wanted to know why that might be. In a paper published in Nature Communications , she and her colleagues conclude that the structure of the heart cockle's shell operates as its own kind of fiber optic cables to channel light to the algae living inside it. It's a finding that may have both engineering and conservation implications. Stained glass in miniature McCoy and her colleagues began their investigation by shining LED lights through the heart cockles. "In a lot of shells, there [are] tiny little triangles where the light passes through. In some of the shells, it looks more like big zebra stripes. Some of the shells, they look like stained glass windows. So there's material there but light gets through." She wanted to know how the heart cockles render their shells transparent to get the light to their algal residents that depend on it. "Are they doing something more interesting than just letting light pass through?," she wondered. So she gathered some cockles from the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History and an online collector for a closer look. An instrument called a spectrophotometer, "can measure what color light passes through a little fragment of shell suspended in seawater by scanning over every wavelength of light from ultraviolet to infrared," McCoy explains. She and her colleagues found that the little windows in the heart cockle shells stream more than twice as much useful sunlight into their interiors for their algal tenants than harmful UV radiation. In addition, some individuals have mineral lenses beneath their little windows. "What they seem to do is condense light into a beam so that it's illuminating more deeply into the algae-rich tissue that's doing all the photosynthesis," says McCoy. The lens may also spread the light out "so you're not going to actually burn your [algae] or have too much light intensity," says Stanford University physicist Jennifer Dionne , who collaborated with McCoy. Natural fiber optics McCoy and Dionne then looked more closely at the shell's architecture. They knew it was made out of a kind of calcium carbonate, aragonite, a mineral that's usually opaque in coral skeletons or other clam shells. When those structures are examined under a microscope, McCoy says, "you see lots of big plates that are jumbled together and often arranged in a very sturdy brick-like manner." But when she used an electron microscope to study the mineral structure of the heart cockle shell, the calcium carbonate crystals were organized into long, super narrow fibers that were "all oriented the same direction as the direction that sunlight needs to travel to get into the shell," she says. Dionne instantly saw something familiar. "Here's a natural organism that is guiding light essentially via its own fiber optic bundles to basically help its symbionts harness sunlight," she says. "I think it might be one of the first examples in nature." The researchers say that structure could inspire tiny cameras with miniscule lenses or even improve fiber optic cable technology. "I think there's a lot we can learn about how biology handles light," says Dionne. University of Georgia cell biologist Mark Farmer wasn't involved in the research and was impressed with the paper. "It's difficult to balance the needs of a strong structural shell — which is of course the reason that clams make shells in the first place — with light transmission," he says. "So I think the fact that the cockles have solved effectively both problems with these fiber optics is the most significant finding." Farmer says the results may help explain why corals tend to bleach more readily than heart cockles, a phenomenon triggered by stress. While both organisms may be exposed to the stress of warming ocean temperatures, "by eliminating that additional stress of ultraviolet light, which can damage DNA, the cockles are perhaps less subject to the kind of stress that would lead to a bleaching event," says Farmer. McCoy agrees and believes that this difference could provide insights into how to help corals. "Can we think a little bit more about how heart cockles manage the light environment for their algae and maybe take inspiration from that to engineer new algae or new corals — a little bit more resilient, a little bit more robust?" she asks. McCoy sees in these shells more than a billion years of evolution — what she calls "product design honed by natural selection." "The heart cockle is a very cool story of how a living creature can manipulate light as well as many human engineers can," she says. "It's a beautiful example of a sustainable creature using solar energy in a very efficient way, thanks to an amazing natural evolved technology." Copyright 2024 NPR
Many of us are moving away from traditional downspouts. They clog with leaves and they can be unsightly. Instead, lots of homeowners are embracing rain chains and rain barrels as alternative methods of water management. However, it isn't clear which is best for your yard. Rain chains look good, but they can't always handle a lot of water, and while rain barrels are practical, they can be pretty ugly. This is all you need to know about the pros and cons of the two systems of water management - and whether or not you should combine the two into one effective method of collecting rainwater. Benefits of a rain chain Rain chains were invented in Japan as a kind of earthquake-proof pipe. Instead of a hollow pipe, the chain uses water's surface tension to move it from a roof to the ground. Where downspouts made of metal or PVC can warp and crack in an earthquake, rain chains sway with the tremors, so they won't break. This also makes rain chains a good option in high winds, because debris flying into the chain won't break or damage it. Cheap rain barrels made out of PVC can easily crack and warp. Rain chains are also much less maintenance than downspouts because they can't clog with leaves or other debris. On top of that, rain chains look a lot better than downpipes and most rain barrels. They make a relaxing sound in the rain and they can be stylized to suit your garden aesthetic in a way that a boring white PVC downspout can't match. This is a a simple, modern rain chain. Made of weather-proof aluminum, this chain is perfect for more contemporary homes. More bohemian homes might prefer this copper chain, designed to look like little umbrellas. The copper will oxidize over time, developing a beautiful blue patina. This simple chain works well for most homes; sleek enough for modern homes but unobtrusive enough that it won't look out of place for more traditional exteriors. Drawbacks of a rain chain Rain chains are poor at handling large amounts of water, so while they're good in light rain and high winds, they're bad at handling heavy rain storms. Part of the reason why they're poor in storms is because they aren't efficient - they create a lot of splashback because the water isn't contained in a single pipe. This can spill on a patio and create a slip hazard or saturate the ground with too much water. Like downspouts and rain barrels, rain chains have other drawbacks in cold climates. Rain chains can freeze solid if wet weather is followed by freezing temperatures, and while this is often fine, the weight of the ice can pull the chain out of its fixings and damage your gutters or walls. On top of that, backed-up ice can stop water from flowing down from the roof, which can be dangerous. Because rain chains don't direct water into gutters and away from your home, they can cause minor damage to walls and patios. The repeated splashback can cause algae to bloom on PVC siding, or warp the material. Benefits of a rain barrel Every dedicated gardener will benefit from a rain barrel. They offer a reliable, convenient water supply that's perfect for your plants. After the initial installation, they're free to run, providing free water that can lower your utility bills. This water isn't treated with any chemicals, so if you live somewhere where you can't trust the municipal water, the rain barrels will provide chemical-free water. Even if you can trust the water, rain barrels are a good backup. Barrels with downspouts can also be an aesthetic improvement on simple downspouts. The best are made to look like rustic barrels for a more traditional look, while more modern barrels can be sculptural vase shapes. Most are topped with a planter too, so you can hide necessary but ugly features like a downspout amongst beautiful flowers. This clever rain barrel looks more like a neat piece of pottery than a water container. It also has a planter on the top to further disguise it. This barrel is a good way to maintain a rustic look. It appears to be an old-fashioned whiskey barrel, but it's made of plastic, so it's far cheaper than buying a true wood rain barrel. If you have polyrattan furniture, try this batrrel. It's printed with a wicker effect so it will match the furniture on your patio. Drawbacks of a rain barrel Rain barrels are more regulated than rain chains. Some HOAs have rules about rain chains but they're usually allowed. Many HOAs outright ban rain chains, and more importantly, some municipalities regulate them too. There are restrictions on rainwater harvesting in California, Nevada, Ohio, and Texas, and in some counties, you need a permit to harvest rainwater. Rain barrels need a lot of maintenance, and if you live somewhere that sees freezing temperatures you need to winterize your rain barrel . If you don't, the rain barrel will crack and break. Rain barrels are better are coping with storms than rain chains, but can still overflow. In summer, rain barrels can be the perfect breeding ground for mosquitos, so you might see a lot of bug bites. The stagnant water is also a magnet for algae, which can create a gross smell that stops you from hosting guests on your patio. Can you combine the two? A good way to get the best of both worlds is to combine the two. You can run a rain chain into a rain barrel - and it's actually easier to install a rain barrel this way than to collect water from a downspout. Rachel Bull, Head of Gardens at H&G, says 'Unlike a downspout, where you have to saw off chunks of the pipe and fit a diverter, you can just put a barrel underneath a rain chain and the water will flow straight in, and unlike a traditional rain barrel, there's no danger of debris from the roof ending up in the barrel.' However, all of the above drawbacks hold true here, too. This is a less efficient way of collecting rainwater than a rain barrel connected to a traditional downspout, so you'll collect less water than you could. Rachel is a gardening editor, flower grower and floral designer. Her journalism career began on Country Living magazine, sparking a love of container gardening and wild planting. After more than a decade writing for and editing a range of consumer, business and special interest titles, Rachel became editor of floral art magazine The Flower Arranger . She then trained and worked as a floral designer and stylist in London for six years, before joining the Homes & Gardens team. In the end, rain chains and rain barrels are good options for gardeners with relatively low levels of rain water. But neither option is perfect - there's a host of rain chain mistakes to avoid as you set one up.
As we await President-elect Donald Trump's second term, speculation about his impact on our finances is rampant. Americans are trying to parse his rhetoric on the campaign trail with the realities of the government as they decide how to plan for their future. Here are the top five questions I've received about how to invest amid another Trump presidency: Will Congress make changes that affect retirement plans? While it wasn't a major topic in this election, Trump has said in the past he doesn't support changes to the 401(k) retirement account, which is shaped by a tax deduction. The Republican platform for 2024 doesn't propose any changes, either, so this won't likely be a priority for the GOP-controlled Congress. Experts, however, have speculated that tax-advantaged retirement accounts might become a target for countering the costs of extending tax cuts Trump signed in his first term. Congress could attempt to balance the budget by eliminating the 401(k) tax deduction or lowering the limit on the amount you can contribute and deduct for tax purposes. Republicans have also shown antagonism toward ESG funds, which consider how environmental, social and governance factors impact a company's profits. The Labor Department during Trump's first term issued a rule that had a chilling effect on workplace retirement plans that included ESG funds, a limitation that's proven costly for retirement account administrators. The rule was reversed under President Joe Biden, but Trump could reinstate it and have the support of a Republican-led Congress to enact legislation that limits ESG factors in investing beyond 401(k)s. How will market performance impact retirement savings? A surge in stock prices is typical after a presidential election, according to Goldman Sachs Research's recent forecast. We saw that when the S&P 500 climbed to a record high on Nov. 6. We need your help to stay independent Subscribe today to support Salon's progressive journalism But the firm's... Dana Miranda
Townsquare Capital LLC Makes New Investment in Molina Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:MOH)
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Philadelphia 76ers forward Paul George has a bone bruise on his left knee and will miss two games, the team said Thursday. The 76ers said George did not suffer any structural damage when he injured the same knee that he hyperextended during the preseason in Wednesday night's loss at Memphis. The game marked the first time this season the All-Star trio of George, Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey started a game together. George will miss home games Friday against Brooklyn and Sunday against the Los Angeles Clippers, his former team. A nine-time All-Star, the 34-year-old George will be evaluated again on Monday. Wednesday's 117-111 loss to the Grizzlies dropped the Sixers to 2-12, the worst record in the NBA headed into Thursday night's games. George signed a four-year, $212 million contract with Philadelphia after five seasons with the Clippers. He has averaged 14.9 points in eight games this season. Embiid has been out with injuries, load management rest and a suspension, while Maxey was sidelined with a hamstring injury. An expected contender in the Eastern Conference, the Sixers haven't won since an overtime victory against Charlotte on Nov. 10. AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba
YPSILANTI, Mich. (AP) — On a damp Wednesday night with temperatures dipping into the 30s, fans in sparsely filled stands bundled up to watch Buffalo beat Eastern Michigan 37-30 on gray turf. The lopsided game was not particularly notable, but it was played on one of the nights the Mid-American Conference has made its own: A weeknight. “A lot of the general public thinks we play all of our games on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, not just some of them in November,” MAC Commissioner Jon Steinbrecher said in a telephone interview this week. “What it has done is help take what was a pretty darned good regional conference and has given it a national brand and made it a national conference.” When the conference has played football games on ESPN or ESPN2 over the last two seasons, the linear television audience has been 10 times larger than when conference schools meet on Saturdays and get lost in the shuffle when viewers have many more choices. The most-watched MAC game over the last two years was earlier this month on a Wednesday night when Northern Illinois won at Western Michigan and there were 441,600 viewers, a total that doesn’t include streaming that isn’t captured by Nielsen company. During the same span, the linear TV audience has been no larger than 46,100 to watch two MAC teams play on Saturdays. “Having the whole nation watching on Tuesday and Wednesday night is a huge deal for the MAC,” Eastern Michigan tight end Jere Getzinger said. “Everybody wants to watch football so if you put it on TV on a Tuesday or Wednesday, people are going to watch.” ESPN has carried midweek MAC football games since the start of the century. ESPN and the conference signed a 13-year extension a decade ago that extends their relationship through at least the 2026-27 season. The conference has made the most of the opportunities, using MACtion as a tag on social media for more than a decade and it has become a catchy marketing term for the Group of Five football programs that usually operate under the radar in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and New York. Attendance does tend to go down with weeknight games, keeping some students out of stadiums because they have class or homework and leading to adults staying away home because they have to work the next morning. “The tradeoff is the national exposure,” Buffalo coach Pete Lembo said. “You know November nights midweek the average fan is going to park on the couch, have a bowl of chips and salsa out in front, and watch the game from there." When the Bulls beat Ball State 51-48 in an overtime thriller on a Tuesday night earlier this month, the announced attendance was 12,708 and that appeared to be generous. There were many empty seats after halftime. “You watch the games on TV, the stadiums all look like this,” Buffalo fan Jeff Wojcicki said. “They are not packed, but it’s the only game on, and you know where to find it.” Sleep and practice schedules take a hit as well, creating another wave of challenges for students to attend class and coaches to prepare without the usual rhythm of preparing all week to play on Saturday. “Last week when we played at Ohio in Athens, we had a 4-four bus ride home and got home at about 3:30 a.m.,” Eastern Michigan center Broderick Roman said. “We still had to go to class and that was tough, but it's part of what you commit to as an athlete.” That happens a lot in November when the MAC shifts its unique schedule. During the first two weeks of the month, the conference had 10 games on Tuesdays and Wednesdays exclusively. This week, there were five games on Tuesday and Wednesday while only one was left in the traditional Saturday slot with Ball State hosting Bowling Green. Next week, Toledo plays at Akron and Kent State visits Buffalo on Tuesday night before the MAC schedule wraps up with games next Friday and Saturday to determine which teams will meet in the conference title game on Dec. 7 in Detroit. In all, MAC teams will end up playing about 75% of their games on a Saturday and the rest on November weeknights. When the Eagles wrapped up practice earlier this week, two days before they played the Bulls, tight end Jere Getzinger provided some insight into the effects of the scheduling quirk. “It's Monday, but for us it's like a Thursday,” he said. Bowling Green coach Scot Loeffler said he frankly has a hard time remembering what day it is when the schedule shift hits in November. “The entire week gets turned upside down,” Loeffler said. “It’s wild, but it’s great for the league because there’s two days a week this time of year that people around the country will watch MAC games.” AP freelance writer Jonah Bronstein contributed to this report. Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here . AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-footballThe 2024 byelections tell a tale of local mightWWMVIP Is Redefining Financial Contract Management And Trading
jolibet fortune tree
Healthy corals are colorful and full of life. And under normal conditions, corals and algae depend on one another. The corals offer the algae protection and the photosynthesizing algae provide the coral with the components they need to make proteins and sugars. As waters warm, though, corals often bleach, which means they eject their algae. "The corals look white or sometimes black cause they've died," says Dakota McCoy , a biologist at the University of Chicago. "There's no fish around. It's way less biodiverse." However, "if you snorkel over a reef after a heat wave, other animals still look healthy," says McCoy. "They've still got their algae unlike the coral. It seems to take more to get them to bleach. So that's kind of a weird biological mystery." These seemingly healthy creatures include a clam-like mollusc called a heart cockle — the name coming from the shape of its shell. "These strange little clams are a little bit tougher than corals," says McCoy, "even though they host the same type of algae inside their cells that corals do." McCoy wanted to know why that might be. In a paper published in Nature Communications , she and her colleagues conclude that the structure of the heart cockle's shell operates as its own kind of fiber optic cables to channel light to the algae living inside it. It's a finding that may have both engineering and conservation implications. Stained glass in miniature McCoy and her colleagues began their investigation by shining LED lights through the heart cockles. "In a lot of shells, there [are] tiny little triangles where the light passes through. In some of the shells, it looks more like big zebra stripes. Some of the shells, they look like stained glass windows. So there's material there but light gets through." She wanted to know how the heart cockles render their shells transparent to get the light to their algal residents that depend on it. "Are they doing something more interesting than just letting light pass through?," she wondered. So she gathered some cockles from the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History and an online collector for a closer look. An instrument called a spectrophotometer, "can measure what color light passes through a little fragment of shell suspended in seawater by scanning over every wavelength of light from ultraviolet to infrared," McCoy explains. She and her colleagues found that the little windows in the heart cockle shells stream more than twice as much useful sunlight into their interiors for their algal tenants than harmful UV radiation. In addition, some individuals have mineral lenses beneath their little windows. "What they seem to do is condense light into a beam so that it's illuminating more deeply into the algae-rich tissue that's doing all the photosynthesis," says McCoy. The lens may also spread the light out "so you're not going to actually burn your [algae] or have too much light intensity," says Stanford University physicist Jennifer Dionne , who collaborated with McCoy. Natural fiber optics McCoy and Dionne then looked more closely at the shell's architecture. They knew it was made out of a kind of calcium carbonate, aragonite, a mineral that's usually opaque in coral skeletons or other clam shells. When those structures are examined under a microscope, McCoy says, "you see lots of big plates that are jumbled together and often arranged in a very sturdy brick-like manner." But when she used an electron microscope to study the mineral structure of the heart cockle shell, the calcium carbonate crystals were organized into long, super narrow fibers that were "all oriented the same direction as the direction that sunlight needs to travel to get into the shell," she says. Dionne instantly saw something familiar. "Here's a natural organism that is guiding light essentially via its own fiber optic bundles to basically help its symbionts harness sunlight," she says. "I think it might be one of the first examples in nature." The researchers say that structure could inspire tiny cameras with miniscule lenses or even improve fiber optic cable technology. "I think there's a lot we can learn about how biology handles light," says Dionne. University of Georgia cell biologist Mark Farmer wasn't involved in the research and was impressed with the paper. "It's difficult to balance the needs of a strong structural shell — which is of course the reason that clams make shells in the first place — with light transmission," he says. "So I think the fact that the cockles have solved effectively both problems with these fiber optics is the most significant finding." Farmer says the results may help explain why corals tend to bleach more readily than heart cockles, a phenomenon triggered by stress. While both organisms may be exposed to the stress of warming ocean temperatures, "by eliminating that additional stress of ultraviolet light, which can damage DNA, the cockles are perhaps less subject to the kind of stress that would lead to a bleaching event," says Farmer. McCoy agrees and believes that this difference could provide insights into how to help corals. "Can we think a little bit more about how heart cockles manage the light environment for their algae and maybe take inspiration from that to engineer new algae or new corals — a little bit more resilient, a little bit more robust?" she asks. McCoy sees in these shells more than a billion years of evolution — what she calls "product design honed by natural selection." "The heart cockle is a very cool story of how a living creature can manipulate light as well as many human engineers can," she says. "It's a beautiful example of a sustainable creature using solar energy in a very efficient way, thanks to an amazing natural evolved technology." Copyright 2024 NPR
Many of us are moving away from traditional downspouts. They clog with leaves and they can be unsightly. Instead, lots of homeowners are embracing rain chains and rain barrels as alternative methods of water management. However, it isn't clear which is best for your yard. Rain chains look good, but they can't always handle a lot of water, and while rain barrels are practical, they can be pretty ugly. This is all you need to know about the pros and cons of the two systems of water management - and whether or not you should combine the two into one effective method of collecting rainwater. Benefits of a rain chain Rain chains were invented in Japan as a kind of earthquake-proof pipe. Instead of a hollow pipe, the chain uses water's surface tension to move it from a roof to the ground. Where downspouts made of metal or PVC can warp and crack in an earthquake, rain chains sway with the tremors, so they won't break. This also makes rain chains a good option in high winds, because debris flying into the chain won't break or damage it. Cheap rain barrels made out of PVC can easily crack and warp. Rain chains are also much less maintenance than downspouts because they can't clog with leaves or other debris. On top of that, rain chains look a lot better than downpipes and most rain barrels. They make a relaxing sound in the rain and they can be stylized to suit your garden aesthetic in a way that a boring white PVC downspout can't match. This is a a simple, modern rain chain. Made of weather-proof aluminum, this chain is perfect for more contemporary homes. More bohemian homes might prefer this copper chain, designed to look like little umbrellas. The copper will oxidize over time, developing a beautiful blue patina. This simple chain works well for most homes; sleek enough for modern homes but unobtrusive enough that it won't look out of place for more traditional exteriors. Drawbacks of a rain chain Rain chains are poor at handling large amounts of water, so while they're good in light rain and high winds, they're bad at handling heavy rain storms. Part of the reason why they're poor in storms is because they aren't efficient - they create a lot of splashback because the water isn't contained in a single pipe. This can spill on a patio and create a slip hazard or saturate the ground with too much water. Like downspouts and rain barrels, rain chains have other drawbacks in cold climates. Rain chains can freeze solid if wet weather is followed by freezing temperatures, and while this is often fine, the weight of the ice can pull the chain out of its fixings and damage your gutters or walls. On top of that, backed-up ice can stop water from flowing down from the roof, which can be dangerous. Because rain chains don't direct water into gutters and away from your home, they can cause minor damage to walls and patios. The repeated splashback can cause algae to bloom on PVC siding, or warp the material. Benefits of a rain barrel Every dedicated gardener will benefit from a rain barrel. They offer a reliable, convenient water supply that's perfect for your plants. After the initial installation, they're free to run, providing free water that can lower your utility bills. This water isn't treated with any chemicals, so if you live somewhere where you can't trust the municipal water, the rain barrels will provide chemical-free water. Even if you can trust the water, rain barrels are a good backup. Barrels with downspouts can also be an aesthetic improvement on simple downspouts. The best are made to look like rustic barrels for a more traditional look, while more modern barrels can be sculptural vase shapes. Most are topped with a planter too, so you can hide necessary but ugly features like a downspout amongst beautiful flowers. This clever rain barrel looks more like a neat piece of pottery than a water container. It also has a planter on the top to further disguise it. This barrel is a good way to maintain a rustic look. It appears to be an old-fashioned whiskey barrel, but it's made of plastic, so it's far cheaper than buying a true wood rain barrel. If you have polyrattan furniture, try this batrrel. It's printed with a wicker effect so it will match the furniture on your patio. Drawbacks of a rain barrel Rain barrels are more regulated than rain chains. Some HOAs have rules about rain chains but they're usually allowed. Many HOAs outright ban rain chains, and more importantly, some municipalities regulate them too. There are restrictions on rainwater harvesting in California, Nevada, Ohio, and Texas, and in some counties, you need a permit to harvest rainwater. Rain barrels need a lot of maintenance, and if you live somewhere that sees freezing temperatures you need to winterize your rain barrel . If you don't, the rain barrel will crack and break. Rain barrels are better are coping with storms than rain chains, but can still overflow. In summer, rain barrels can be the perfect breeding ground for mosquitos, so you might see a lot of bug bites. The stagnant water is also a magnet for algae, which can create a gross smell that stops you from hosting guests on your patio. Can you combine the two? A good way to get the best of both worlds is to combine the two. You can run a rain chain into a rain barrel - and it's actually easier to install a rain barrel this way than to collect water from a downspout. Rachel Bull, Head of Gardens at H&G, says 'Unlike a downspout, where you have to saw off chunks of the pipe and fit a diverter, you can just put a barrel underneath a rain chain and the water will flow straight in, and unlike a traditional rain barrel, there's no danger of debris from the roof ending up in the barrel.' However, all of the above drawbacks hold true here, too. This is a less efficient way of collecting rainwater than a rain barrel connected to a traditional downspout, so you'll collect less water than you could. Rachel is a gardening editor, flower grower and floral designer. Her journalism career began on Country Living magazine, sparking a love of container gardening and wild planting. After more than a decade writing for and editing a range of consumer, business and special interest titles, Rachel became editor of floral art magazine The Flower Arranger . She then trained and worked as a floral designer and stylist in London for six years, before joining the Homes & Gardens team. In the end, rain chains and rain barrels are good options for gardeners with relatively low levels of rain water. But neither option is perfect - there's a host of rain chain mistakes to avoid as you set one up.
As we await President-elect Donald Trump's second term, speculation about his impact on our finances is rampant. Americans are trying to parse his rhetoric on the campaign trail with the realities of the government as they decide how to plan for their future. Here are the top five questions I've received about how to invest amid another Trump presidency: Will Congress make changes that affect retirement plans? While it wasn't a major topic in this election, Trump has said in the past he doesn't support changes to the 401(k) retirement account, which is shaped by a tax deduction. The Republican platform for 2024 doesn't propose any changes, either, so this won't likely be a priority for the GOP-controlled Congress. Experts, however, have speculated that tax-advantaged retirement accounts might become a target for countering the costs of extending tax cuts Trump signed in his first term. Congress could attempt to balance the budget by eliminating the 401(k) tax deduction or lowering the limit on the amount you can contribute and deduct for tax purposes. Republicans have also shown antagonism toward ESG funds, which consider how environmental, social and governance factors impact a company's profits. The Labor Department during Trump's first term issued a rule that had a chilling effect on workplace retirement plans that included ESG funds, a limitation that's proven costly for retirement account administrators. The rule was reversed under President Joe Biden, but Trump could reinstate it and have the support of a Republican-led Congress to enact legislation that limits ESG factors in investing beyond 401(k)s. How will market performance impact retirement savings? A surge in stock prices is typical after a presidential election, according to Goldman Sachs Research's recent forecast. We saw that when the S&P 500 climbed to a record high on Nov. 6. We need your help to stay independent Subscribe today to support Salon's progressive journalism But the firm's... Dana Miranda
Townsquare Capital LLC Makes New Investment in Molina Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:MOH)
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Philadelphia 76ers forward Paul George has a bone bruise on his left knee and will miss two games, the team said Thursday. The 76ers said George did not suffer any structural damage when he injured the same knee that he hyperextended during the preseason in Wednesday night's loss at Memphis. The game marked the first time this season the All-Star trio of George, Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey started a game together. George will miss home games Friday against Brooklyn and Sunday against the Los Angeles Clippers, his former team. A nine-time All-Star, the 34-year-old George will be evaluated again on Monday. Wednesday's 117-111 loss to the Grizzlies dropped the Sixers to 2-12, the worst record in the NBA headed into Thursday night's games. George signed a four-year, $212 million contract with Philadelphia after five seasons with the Clippers. He has averaged 14.9 points in eight games this season. Embiid has been out with injuries, load management rest and a suspension, while Maxey was sidelined with a hamstring injury. An expected contender in the Eastern Conference, the Sixers haven't won since an overtime victory against Charlotte on Nov. 10. AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba
YPSILANTI, Mich. (AP) — On a damp Wednesday night with temperatures dipping into the 30s, fans in sparsely filled stands bundled up to watch Buffalo beat Eastern Michigan 37-30 on gray turf. The lopsided game was not particularly notable, but it was played on one of the nights the Mid-American Conference has made its own: A weeknight. “A lot of the general public thinks we play all of our games on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, not just some of them in November,” MAC Commissioner Jon Steinbrecher said in a telephone interview this week. “What it has done is help take what was a pretty darned good regional conference and has given it a national brand and made it a national conference.” When the conference has played football games on ESPN or ESPN2 over the last two seasons, the linear television audience has been 10 times larger than when conference schools meet on Saturdays and get lost in the shuffle when viewers have many more choices. The most-watched MAC game over the last two years was earlier this month on a Wednesday night when Northern Illinois won at Western Michigan and there were 441,600 viewers, a total that doesn’t include streaming that isn’t captured by Nielsen company. During the same span, the linear TV audience has been no larger than 46,100 to watch two MAC teams play on Saturdays. “Having the whole nation watching on Tuesday and Wednesday night is a huge deal for the MAC,” Eastern Michigan tight end Jere Getzinger said. “Everybody wants to watch football so if you put it on TV on a Tuesday or Wednesday, people are going to watch.” ESPN has carried midweek MAC football games since the start of the century. ESPN and the conference signed a 13-year extension a decade ago that extends their relationship through at least the 2026-27 season. The conference has made the most of the opportunities, using MACtion as a tag on social media for more than a decade and it has become a catchy marketing term for the Group of Five football programs that usually operate under the radar in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and New York. Attendance does tend to go down with weeknight games, keeping some students out of stadiums because they have class or homework and leading to adults staying away home because they have to work the next morning. “The tradeoff is the national exposure,” Buffalo coach Pete Lembo said. “You know November nights midweek the average fan is going to park on the couch, have a bowl of chips and salsa out in front, and watch the game from there." When the Bulls beat Ball State 51-48 in an overtime thriller on a Tuesday night earlier this month, the announced attendance was 12,708 and that appeared to be generous. There were many empty seats after halftime. “You watch the games on TV, the stadiums all look like this,” Buffalo fan Jeff Wojcicki said. “They are not packed, but it’s the only game on, and you know where to find it.” Sleep and practice schedules take a hit as well, creating another wave of challenges for students to attend class and coaches to prepare without the usual rhythm of preparing all week to play on Saturday. “Last week when we played at Ohio in Athens, we had a 4-four bus ride home and got home at about 3:30 a.m.,” Eastern Michigan center Broderick Roman said. “We still had to go to class and that was tough, but it's part of what you commit to as an athlete.” That happens a lot in November when the MAC shifts its unique schedule. During the first two weeks of the month, the conference had 10 games on Tuesdays and Wednesdays exclusively. This week, there were five games on Tuesday and Wednesday while only one was left in the traditional Saturday slot with Ball State hosting Bowling Green. Next week, Toledo plays at Akron and Kent State visits Buffalo on Tuesday night before the MAC schedule wraps up with games next Friday and Saturday to determine which teams will meet in the conference title game on Dec. 7 in Detroit. In all, MAC teams will end up playing about 75% of their games on a Saturday and the rest on November weeknights. When the Eagles wrapped up practice earlier this week, two days before they played the Bulls, tight end Jere Getzinger provided some insight into the effects of the scheduling quirk. “It's Monday, but for us it's like a Thursday,” he said. Bowling Green coach Scot Loeffler said he frankly has a hard time remembering what day it is when the schedule shift hits in November. “The entire week gets turned upside down,” Loeffler said. “It’s wild, but it’s great for the league because there’s two days a week this time of year that people around the country will watch MAC games.” AP freelance writer Jonah Bronstein contributed to this report. Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here . AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-footballThe 2024 byelections tell a tale of local mightWWMVIP Is Redefining Financial Contract Management And Trading
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