Petticoat Alley: London’s Forgotten Women’s Clubs JamesHoare Thu‚ 05/02/2024 - 11:09

Marcus Outzen‚ a former quarterback for the Florida State Seminoles‚ passed away Tuesday

If you’ve been keeping tabs on the nostalgia rock scene‚ aka bands from the ’70s and ’80s‚ go‚ Frontiers Records has it on lock. Acts like George Lynch‚ L.A. Guns‚ Heavens Edge‚ Michael Sweet‚ Marty Friedman‚ and dozens more are pouring records into the hard rock and heavy metal scene via Frontiers. So‚ like it‚ love it‚ or hate it‚ Frontiers is here to stay. Moreover‚ in many ways‚ they’ve been vital to reviving so many careers that had gone dormant. And at the heart of it all is Giancarlo Florida‚ a longtime musician and lover of all things rock‚ The post An Interview with Giancarlo Florida‚ Songwriter for Frontiers Records appeared first on ClassicRockHistory.com.

In a normal year‚ May 1 is known as National College Decision Day‚ the deadline for students to commit to enrolling at a college‚ guided in part by their financial aid awards. But the Biden administration’s disastrous rollout of a new financial aid application has left tens of thousands of families in the dark about their students’ future and prompted several universities to push back their enrollment deadlines. As of April 19‚ completed FAFSA applications were down nearly 30%. At best‚ it means many students and parents don’t know how much it will cost to attend college in the fall. Even worse‚ it may lead frustrated young people to skip college altogether. The Free Application for Federal Student Aid is a notoriously cumbersome form that all prospective college students must fill out if they want federal loans or grants. Previously more than 100 questions long‚ FAFSA’s current crisis can be traced to 2020‚ when the FAFSA Simplification Act dropped the number of questions on the form to about 40. Ironically‚ because of the Biden administration’s incompetence‚ the simplification has led to massive complications and confusion for families this year as they apply for college. Focused on other priorities‚ the Biden administration failed to update the FAFSA website before October‚ when most students start applying. In fact‚ the “improved” FAFSA website didn’t go live until the end of December‚ and even then‚ only in 30-minute increments. This was presumably so that the department could meet the statutory deadline for release‚ as Inside Higher Ed reported. When the website finally became available in a more final form in January‚ the Department of Education still wasn’t processing applications or relaying students’ financial information to colleges. It said it’d be able to do that by mid-March. President Biden’s FAFSA Chief Steps Down With the May 1 deadline now here‚ the Biden administration is still running behind‚ prompting the bureaucrat in charge of the new form to resign last week. But it’s students and their families who are paying the real price of this debacle. Couple that reality with what families are now seeing at America’s universities—protests featuring ugly displays of antisemitism—and it appears that higher education is experiencing the same “Zoom moment” that K-12 schools experienced during COVID-19. Parents now see up close what schools are teaching and the values they relay. All of this is the perfect recipe for a significant decline in college enrollment this year. That might not be such a bad thing. Far too many students feel that pursuing higher education is their only option for success‚ and if this FAFSA debacle ushers in a much-needed course correction‚ that would be a welcome silver lining. But for those students still pursuing traditional higher education‚ this academic limbo is maddening. Colleges Push Back Enrollment Deadlines Colleges are trying to adjust‚ and many have extended their decision deadlines‚ some as far out as July. Department of Education officials had to explain the disastrous rollout in congressional hearings‚ more of which should come soon. All of this is yet another reminder of the pitfalls of the federal government’s involvement in higher education. Today‚ the federal government originates and services most student loans. But the Department of Education wasn’t designed as a bank‚ nor Uncle Sam as a lender. And it’s clear the agency isn’t up to the task. The FAFSA debacle conjures up memories of the disastrous rollout of the Obamacare portal a decade ago. As dual trainwrecks of the FAFSA rollout and antisemitic university protests play out simultaneously‚ there’s no better time for Congress to cut off the open spigot of federal funds to universities and protect future American students. Originally published by USA Today The post Biden Botched Financial Aid Rollout. And It’s Parents and Students Who Are Paying the Price. appeared first on The Daily Signal.

No‚ It's Not the Babylon Bee

Say hello to the potato bug. These giant flightless insects are also known as Jerusalem crickets‚ which is interesting because they are neither potatoes‚ bugs‚ nor crickets.Jerusalem crickets span two genera‚ meanwhile the name “potato bug” can refer to a Jerusalem cricket‚ a roly-poly‚ or a Colorado potato beetle. So it seems these massive arthropods are baffling in all sorts of ways. Let’s break it down.What is a Jerusalem cricket&;#63;The Jerusalem cricket isn’t a true cricket‚ and though it's nicknamed the potato bug‚ it isn't a true bug either. Potato bug is the nickname given to two genera of Jerusalem crickets‚ Ammopelmatus and Stenopelmatus. The Jerusalem cricket bite is not venomous‚ and is mostly harmless – but it can hurt a fair bit.  The Jerusalem cricket bite is so impressive that Montana Field Guide recommends you don't keep them in a mesh bag because they'll chew right through it. The potato bug isn't messing around.Image credit: Matthias Blume‚ CC BY-SA 4.0‚ via Wikimedia CommonsA lack of venom isn't to say potato bugs don’t pack a punch‚ however‚ as their bites can draw a little blood‚ which is quite impressive for any insect. Then there's the fact that their nymphs are violent cannibals...Did you say cannibals&;#63;According to a 2017 paper‚ Jerusalem crickets of the Stenopelmatus genus have an appetite for their own kind when they’re nymphs. As metamorphosizing insects‚ they begin as eggs‚ and then develop into nymphs‚ before becoming adults. By their account‚ the Battle Royale between the mid-stage is quite something. “S. talpa nymphs are cannibalistic‚ and the cannibalism was violent‚” they wrote.And the cannibal action doesn’t end there. A 2008 study learned the hard way that Jerusalem crickets aren’t opposed to eating each other when one of their male subjects ate a smaller female. Females also get in on the cannibalistic action‚ occasionally eating males shortly after copulation.What is a potato bug&;#63;Roly-poly‚ ladybug‚ bee – what do all these names have in common&;#63; They identify a group of animals‚ but not a single specific species. The same is true of nicknames like daddy long legs (which aren’t poisonous‚ by the way)‚ and the potato bug‚ which can be one of three distantly related critters.We’ve already covered the Jerusalem cricket‚ then you have the Colorado potato beetle‚ which started in North America and has since spread‚ becoming a very tricky and expensive pest affecting potato crops worldwide. Then there's Armadillidium vulgare‚ the common pill bug‚ which is also sometimes called the potato bug. Then again‚ given how many names there are for woodlice‚ you might as well call it Ian.

The black hole information paradox is one of those physics problems that can keep scientists up at night. It strikes at the heart of one of the crucial problems in modern physics: the fact that we can’t reconcile general relativity and quantum mechanics. And it is all black holes’ fault.Both quantum mechanics and general relativity are pinnacles of human knowledge and ingenuity. Truly‚ we should be very proud of ourselves and how well we understand the universe. Still‚ the two do not work together very well‚ and when it comes to certain extreme objects or events‚ they break down – and that is a big problem. The black hole information paradox is one of these cases.In both classical and quantum physics‚ information about the properties of a system allows us to determine the state in the past and in the future. Black holes appeared to be an exception to that. In the 1970s‚ British physicist Stephen Hawking realized that the properties of a black hole depend on just a handful of global parameters: its mass‚ electric charge‚ and angular momentum. And that’s not all. Once they're not actually feeding‚ black holes lose energy in the form of what is now called Hawking radiation‚ which according to his original calculations‚ was independent of the initial state. The expression &;quot;a black hole has no hair&;quot; comes from this.The Hawking radiation would have no past‚ and anything falling into a black hole would suddenly have no future. Information falling into a black hole would be irretrievably lost. This would be a massive problem for physics if it were the case – but it is believed that information is indeed saved and gets out of a black hole. What physicists are uncertain about is how it gets out.So black holes definitely have hair‚ but we don’t know if it’s a stubble or a Dolly Parton-style do&;#33; Ok‚ a blonde wig might be an exaggeration‚ but terms like the &;quot;fuzzball resolution&;quot; and the &;quot;soft-hair solution&;quot; (from Hawking and collaborators) have been proposed to solve this paradox. But there is no single agreed-upon solution yet.The different ideas are a major focus in physics because they might reveal possible ways to make quantum mechanics and relativity work together – not just in black holes‚ but across the whole universe. Some researchers claim that it is possible to solve it without any new physics‚ which is exciting on the one hand but a bit disappointing on the other.All “explainer” articles are confirmed by fact checkers to be correct at time of publishing. Text‚ images‚ and links may be edited‚ removed‚ or added to at a later date to keep information current.