Sunday, February 28, 2021
Tips for first-time runners in lockdown - BBC News
You're all Zoom-quizzed out. You've completed Netflix (again). And now you're looking for something new to do in lockdown.
Maybe, you've decided to take up running for the first time?
During the coronavirus lockdowns last year, fitness apps such as Strava and Freeletics recorded an increase in people using them.
But how should you get started? And what are some of the things you need to focus on?
Well, Radio 1 Newsbeat has been chatting to personal trainer Cara Meehan on the dos and don'ts of joining the world of runners.
Pace yourself
You might be tempted to go full speed from the start. But that's something you really shouldn't do, according to Cara, who says to "start slow".
"Don't compare yourself to anybody else. You'll have to stop, do a bit of walking and get overtaken by people, but that's absolutely fine."
"A lot of new runners go out full pelt, and then feel a bit rubbish about themselves, because they have to stop. But it's all about slowing the pace down so you can carry on longer."
Have a plan
"You're not going to be Mo Farah after a week of running," Cara says.
Instead, focus on creating a plan and committing "so you don't talk yourself out of it".
"New runners need to build up stamina."
"To start with, three runs a week would probably be ideal. Build it up. The first run you might do a road length and have a little rest halfway. Then the next time you might go a bit further and then rest. You have to keep the walking going too."
Avoiding injuries
Cara says shin splints "are a common injury" for new runners. So it's important to have your running gear sorted as that is one way to prevent injuries.
"The best thing you can do is invest in a proper running shoe. The trainers you wear to the supermarket just won't cut it."
And remember being told to stretch and warm up properly in P.E. lessons at school? Cara says that's essential.
"Start off running slowly, do a couple of minutes and then stop to do some stretches."
"When you get back home in the warmth, have a good hot shower, drink plenty of water and then do some more stretches. It's super important to lengthen those muscles."
Keep yourself fuelled
You need to make sure your body has the energy for running.
"Be hydrated. Get your fluids in so when you go for a run, especially shorter runs, you don't need to take water with you."
Cara adds when it comes to food, it's "a case of trial and error".
"It's about what's good for you. After running, I'd say have some carbs such as banana or a piece of toast with peanut butter and fats on there, just to refuel yourself. You need to repair those muscles."
Enjoy your surroundings
Running is hard, especially if you're just starting. So to keep at it, Cara says to make things enjoyable.
"Remember why you're doing it. If it's for your health or just to get out for the day, focus on that."
"Don't look at the time, just enjoy the surroundings, especially right now when you can't go out like normal. Have a look around, see what other people are doing and if you enjoy what you're doing you'll keep doing it."
Running safely in the dark
Physical exercise is key to keeping our mental health in check during lockdown, and it allows you to see your friends too.
Guidelines in England say you can exercise outdoors with members of your household or one person outside of it when you're on your own, as long as you socially distance.
But if you've got no option other than to start your running journey alone in the dark, here are some simple measures that can keep you safe if you're worried.
Saskia Garner is from the Suzy Lamplugh Trust, which campaigns to help reduce the risk of violence and aggression towards people.
"Our key piece of advice is for people to have a buddy - a trusted person they can tell their plans to, so if they were to not return home safely, someone will be alerted," she says.
She says runners should be careful with tracking apps - making sure privacy settings are in place so routes and regular exercises times are not visible.
She adds: "Stick to well-lit busy routes, somewhere you can call for help if you need it."
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March 01, 2021 at 08:28AM
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Tips for first-time runners in lockdown - BBC News
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Business owner overcomes past jail time, now runs thriving business - WKMG News 6 & ClickOrlando
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Marquis McKenzie, 30, said he’s living proof that anyone can overcome past mistakes and that second chances are real.
The father of three is now a successful business owner and nonprofit founder, who also advocates for returning citizens who once made mistakes like he did.
McKenzie was arrested at 15-years-old and spent two years behind bars for armed robbery. He told News 6 he’s not letting his conviction override his passion. He said he wants his story to be motivation for his own kids, and also for teens and juvenile offenders.
“I think all of my steps are ordained by God, and I think I had to go through this situation to be able to be a message to the current people going through the situation that I did,” McKenzie said.
He’s currently the chapter training and development manager for the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition (FRRC) under the leadership of Desmond Meade.
News 6 has featured Meade multiple times on his support for Amendment 4 and his organization’s success in paying off fines and fees for thousands of convicted felons so they could legally vote in Florida.
“I appreciate Desmond’s leadership. Ever since day one, he’s always told me to trust the process,” said McKenzie, who also spent time in Tallahassee in support of voting rights for returning citizens. “Desmond has been a tremendous great leader, never led me wrong and I encourage him to stay inspired because he keeps me inspired as well.”
Mckenzie told News 6 he finds satisfaction in helping returning citizens bounce back and better understand their rights.
“I love the grassroots and I feel so many people in our community have been lied to, mistreated, and we have to gain the community’s trust,” he said. “The only way to do that is to be on the ground. So, I wanted this year to be strictly about being right there on the ground in our communities, and this position allows me to do that.”.
He travels the state regularly, building partnerships through his FRRC role while also connecting with re-entry coordinators. He also speaks regularly with juvenile offenders who are incarcerated.
“With just being at a position to be able to sit at the table once when I was the one causing all the problems, but to have a seat at the table and be able to advocate for others, I value that,” McKenzie said. “I try to educate them about their voting rights, how important voting is.”
McKenzie also motivates young people through his nonprofit called CORE. The goal is to help them find jobs and not go back to jail. It also geared towards teaching entrepreneurship to at-risk youth.
“Think before you do anything. Because sometimes you may not have a second chance to come back to redeem yourself, and the consequences can sometimes cost you your life and freedom,” McKenzie said.
When McKenzie is not advocating for juvenile offenders or helping returning citizens get back on their feet, he’s running his business called Dirt Master, a commercial and residential cleaning company. He said his three kids, who also work with him, are his inspiration to keep going daily.
“I push them a lot, but to show them that sometimes people aren’t going to give you those opportunities until they see you’re ready for it,” McKenzie said. “I want them to be people people, despite your race. I want them to know that you have to treat everyone fairly.”
If you’d like to learn more about McKenzie’s non-profit or his cleaning business, you can visit www.TheDirtMasters.com or call 407-406-9640.
To read more about the FRRC, visit https://floridarrc.com/
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March 01, 2021 at 07:19AM
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Business owner overcomes past jail time, now runs thriving business - WKMG News 6 & ClickOrlando
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Georgia Senate passes bill to stop time changes - WTVM
“The farmers like Standard Time because they like more daylight in the mornings as a general rule, so when we were more of an agrarian society that made them happy. It’s back and forth, the tourism industry they like more daylight in the evenings, but the fact is, I’m not changing whether they have more daylight in the evening, I’m just changing the time, so the perception there,” Sen. Watson said.
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March 01, 2021 at 02:25AM
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Georgia Senate passes bill to stop time changes - WTVM
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Crypto Long & Short: How Coinbase Going Public Is Reshaping Trust in Markets - Yahoo Finance
Finally, what we’ve been waiting for: the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commisison has published Coinbase’s S-1, clearing the way for a direct listing on Nasdaq.
While some major details are still missing (most notably when they plan to list), we now have a glimpse into how a major crypto exchange works, what it’s worried about and just how much the market is growing.
The figures are indeed eye-opening: in the fourth quarter of 2020, the number of verified users on Coinbase’s platform reached 43 million after adding almost 45,000 new users a day. The average number of monthly transacting users grew by over 30% in the fourth quarter alone, to 2.8 million.
Also eye-opening is the inflow of institutional investors, something that we’ve talked about often in this column. Over the fourth quarter, institutional trading volume grew over 110% to $57 billion, while retail trading volume grew by almost 80%. The company services 7,000 institutional accounts.
The Coinbase filing gave everyone who works in this industry something to chew on. There was the bold vision, the numbers, the services overview, and some details on their recent acquisitions. There was even a nod to Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto, who was featured on the front page as a designated recipient of copies of the filing documents.
And for those interested in the future of work, the customary physical location of the filer was given as “Address not applicable,” with the footnote: “In May 2020, we became a remote-first company. Accordingly, we do not maintain a headquarters.”
Related: Google Finance Adds Crypto Data Tab
While there is much to enjoy in the filing, and no doubt much to continue to pick apart over the next few days, let’s take a step back and look at what this document is really about, and what it says about the future of capital markets. Deep down, it’s about the reshaping of trust.
Opening the books
One of the big steps forward for the industry is greater transparency as to the inner workings of a key infrastructure company.
With greater transparency comes greater trust. This is not the same as trust that Coinbase’s value will go up and up. It’s trust that there is a real business opportunity here, for investors and builders.
We’ve all experienced the dismissal from mainstream economists and investors that crypto is anything but hot air. We’ve all seen how market innovations are dismissed as trivial or even irritating. Yet with this hefty document, even the most skeptical of market observers will look at the numbers and realize that this business is substantial, and that crypto assets move significant amounts of money. What’s more, the market is attracting a growing user base that is generating meaningful profit margins.
With this filing, more traditional businesses will start to trust that crypto assets are here to stay, and are a market force to be reckoned with.
Sharing concerns
The filing also lists in detail the potential risks to Coinbase and to the industry as a whole. Any therapist will tell you that sharing your worries helps to diminish them. In finance, disclosing every risk you can think of makes good regulatory sense; it also helps them to seem more containable.
The risks listed by Coinbase include the usual caveats about the sensitivity of Coinbase’s income to the volatile nature of crypto markets, the possibility of cyber attacks and the threat of adverse regulation. It also includes some less talked-about risks such as the possibility of class action lawsuits, the loss of banking relationships and the reemergence of Satoshi Nakamoto in person.
Airing in public everything we think could go wrong in our industry will assuage mainstream concern that we’re blind to the dangers of untested technologies, new financial instruments and the lure of the quick profit. It broadcasts that we know, and yet we still believe that these markets are necessary.
It boosts trust in our industry and in the overall integrity of the main market participants.
Market power
The reshaping of trust is also obvious in Coinbase’s decision to use the direct listing approach. This bypasses much of the IPO rigmarole, in that the company lists by selling already existing shares on the market. This means that there is no need for a roadshow to drum up institutional interest, no expensive fees to underwriters, no shareholder dilution.
It is also appropriate for a company steeped in a decentralized ethos, even if it runs a centralized business. In an IPO, the initial trading price is decided on by a group of investment bankers who balance declared institutional interest with the company’s desire to get the highest price possible (and the advisers’ fondness for higher fees). In a direct listing, the market decides.
It is almost a pity, though, that Coinbase chose to forgo the crypto education opportunity that a roadshow to institutions would have offered. Just imagine the investment committees of mutual funds, pension funds, etc., getting a masterclass in crypto assets and their markets.
A further effect of Coinbase’s direct listing decision is the message it sends to other businesses in the industry also contemplating taking advantage of soaring prices and volumes. Investment banks are no doubt already fielding a flood of incoming requests for meetings, and the next few months will most likely see other well-known crypto companies, and probably even some more obscure ones, follow a similar path.
More companies making public their accounts will lead to even greater industry understanding, which enhances trust.
Phase 2
Zooming out even further, the Coinbase move delineates where we are in the arc of crypto impact on capital markets.
Those of us that work in the crypto industry have been saying for some time that crypto markets will influence traditional markets more than most currently realize.
What’s becoming clearer now is that it will happen in phases. Right now, we’re in the assets phase, where the value propositions and price potential of cryptocurrencies and tokens dominate the mindshare of traditional market participants. Companies that help investors onboard and manage their crypto holdings have center stage. We will also see traditional players tiptoe into the crypto pool to harness some of the attention-grabbing action for their clients.
This first phase is about the assets themselves, and facilitating access to them.
The next phase will be how assets move.
Coinbase hints at this in the S-1 document when it discusses traditional assets that move on blockchains. Included in the outlines growth strategy is: “Tokenize new assets.” The section goes on: “We will invest in infrastructure and regulatory clarity to pave a path for the digitization of more traditional financial assets to help pave the path for new assets to be represented as crypto assets.”
It is worth remembering that Coinbase has participated in the funding rounds of several start-ups building security token infrastructure.
Some had hoped that Coinbase would set an example and come to market via a security token. Progress is being made, but the security token market is still too illiquid and immature to support such an ambitious step. Interest is building, however, supported by recent market events that have laid bare the inefficiencies of current capital market plumbing.
And Coinbase did bury deep in the S-1 text a hint that it might consider issuing blockchain tokens in the future, with the following statement: “We may issue shares of capital stock, including in the form of blockchain tokens, to our customers in connection with customer reward or loyalty programs.”
This is yet another way in which the Coinbase listing is about trust. The eventual migration of capital markets to blockchain-based systems, nudged along by the issuance of new security-like assets as well as tokenized securities, could push trust in capital markets back to a healthy level.
With its S-1 filing, Coinbase is not just pushing for a new type of trust in crypto markets. It is possibly also setting the stage for a new type of trust in capital markets more broadly. This is a mammoth ambition, but one that both crypto market practitioners and capital markets observers can get behind.
CHAIN LINKS
Payments giant Square has purchased an additional 3,318 BTC for $170 million, bringing its holding up to 8,027 BTC. It also revealed that its allocation of 4,709 BTC to its treasury holdings in October 2020 cost approximately $50 million. That holding is now worth over $250 million. TAKEAWAY: This highlights the complex issues surrounding treasury allocations to bitcoin, a growing trend among innovative companies worried about the impact of fiat debasement. Should treasury holdings be a speculative bet? What happens when the value appreciation exceeds the company’s revenue? How should this be reflected in accounting? Interesting to note that RBC increased its price target for Square for 2021, in part due to a 69% jump in 2021 bitcoin revenue.
Square wasn’t the only company adding to its BTC holdings this week. MicroStrategy revealed the purchase of another 19,452 BTC for $1.026 billion in bitcoin. TAKEAWAY: Funds for this purchase came from a $1.05 billion convertible debt offering, and have leverage the firm even more to the BTC price.
Asset manager CoinShares has launched a physically backed Ethereum ETP on the Swiss SIX exchange with the ticker “ETHE.” TAKEAWAY: Following on the heels of CoinShares’ bitcoin ETP launch in January, this underscores the growing investor interest in ETH.
Crypto asset manager CoinShares also released the CoinShares Gold and Cryptoassets Index Lite (CGI), a decentralized finance (DeFi) token designed for institutional investors. The token’s value is based on two equally weighted “wrapped” crypto assets – wrapped bitcoin (WBTC) and wrapped ether (WETH) – and the firm’s wrapped gold token, wDGLD. TAKEAWAY: If you read last week’s newsletter, you’ll know that I think institutional interest in DeFi is worth watching. This token makes that even easier, not only because it can be tracked, but also because it provides a relatively convenient on-ramp for investors considering exposure. This is not really tracking “hard core” DeFi innovation, but it’s a start.
CI Global Asset Management, a subsidiary of a firm overseeing more than $230 billion in assets, filed a preliminary prospectus for CI Galaxy Bitcoin ETF (BTCX), which, if approved, would be Canada’s third bitcoin ETF. TAKEAWAY: Given the strong demand for the Purpose Bitcoin ETF in its early days of trading (when the BTC price wasn’t falling), this is possibly just the beginning of a stream of ETFs listed on Canadian stock exchanges. As the bitcoin ETF market starts to get populated in Canada, we could also start to see some more diverse approaches, such as offering investors exposure to a basket of assets.
A February survey of 30,000 people over the age of 18 conducted by Piplsay, a global consumer research platform, found that 25% of Americans surveyed hold crypto assets, with a further 27% saying that they plan to invest this year. TAKEAWAY: These results are in line with similar surveys carried out recently by Grayscale Investments (a subsidiary of DCG, also parent of CoinDesk) and Bitwise, and underscore the receding likelihood that the U.S. government would attempt to ban bitcoin. Rather, the more extensive the mainstream interest in bitcoin, the more regulated services will step in to service this market, and the more comfortable regulators will get with pending issues.
During the market sell-off on Monday, ETH traded as low as $700 (a more than 50% drop) on crypto exchange Kraken. TAKEAWAY: This highlights that, even though market liquidity has improved dramatically over the years, there could still be issues of order books drying up in the face of high volume and uncertainty.
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March 01, 2021 at 05:02AM
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Crypto Long & Short: How Coinbase Going Public Is Reshaping Trust in Markets - Yahoo Finance
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Roanoke moviemaker shoots short film in and around the Star City - WSLS 10
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ROANOKE, Va. – The Star City isn’t necessarily known for movie stars, but an aspiring filmmaker from Roanoke decided to capture his hometown on camera.
Michael Fleming directed the short thriller film “Parallax,” which premiered at the Grandin Theatre earlier this month. Fleming shot the nine-minute film on a $300 budget in the Roanoke area, mostly at the Shell gas station on Electric Road near Tanglewood Mall.
This was Fleming’s first film, and he is now submitting his movie to several film festivals. He hopes it helps people realize Roanoke has an under-the-radar creative community.
“You don’t see very many films being made in Roanoke, even short films,” Fleming said. “We’re able to put our city on the map and say, ‘Hey, this is Roanoke, Virginia.’ It’s a little bit crazy of a story, but we have people here who like film and are passionate about it.”
Fleming hopes to premiere the film on YouTube and Vimeo next month. You can watch the trailer for the film at this link.
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March 01, 2021 at 06:58AM
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Roanoke moviemaker shoots short film in and around the Star City - WSLS 10
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Golden Globes 2021: What to Expect and Highlights - The New York Times
“Mank,” David Fincher’s black-and-white tale of Old Hollywood, is nominated for six trophies at Sunday’s Golden Globe Awards, the most of any film. It has been available for viewing on Netflix since Dec. 4.
Seen it yet?
That’s OK. Neither have a lot of people in Hollywood.
What about “The Father,” about the devastation of dementia? It is a contender for best drama and three other prizes. Or perhaps “The Mauritanian,” set at Guantánamo and vying for two Globes in acting categories? Or the twice-nominated “Judas and the Black Messiah,” about Black political radicals in the 1960s? It actually received a national release in theaters (about 1,900 of the operating ones) this month.
Seen any of them?
Well, I don’t know what to tell you. Pretend like you have at least heard of a couple.
In a year when almost all of the nominated films have bypassed theaters because of the pandemic, the Globes — the biggest-tent awards show there is, given its dual focus on film and television — may feel rather small. Nominees have struggled to get noticed. For many people, including some in Hollywood, it is hard to care about little golden thingamabobs at a time when the coronavirus is still killing roughly 2,000 Americans on most days.
“The stakes have never been lower,” Tina Fey, returning to host the ceremony with Amy Poehler, has been saying in deadpan Globe ads.
Who said nobody in Hollywood is honest? Here are some other things to consider before the ceremony begins on Sunday at 8 p.m. Eastern:
The traditional engine of the Golden Globes, a colossal red carpet, will not exist this time around. The honorees will all be at home. (Accepting trophies from mansions and luxury hotel rooms, tonally fine. Preening for hours for photographers while draped in diamonds and couture gowns, apparently not.) Fey will host the Globes from the Rainbow Room in New York, with Poehler stationed at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif. A smattering of frontline and essential workers have been invited to attend in person, but the usual ostentatious supper has been scuppered.
Certainly not helping matters, the 78th Golden Globes arrive amid a renewed sense that the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the scandal-prone group that bestows the awards, needs a dramatic overhaul. The 80-some voting members have long been painted as out of touch and faintly corrupt, including by their own hosts; Ricky Gervais referred to them as “vegetables” during last year’s live broadcast. But recent news reports have revealed brutal infighting and a questionable fixation on compensation.
The group has no Black members, The Los Angeles Times discovered.
But the awards machinery must grind on: Too much money is at stake. NBC pays $60 million a year for broadcast rights. Studios and streaming services will spend millions of dollars to publicize Globe wins, in part because balloting for the more prestigious Academy Awards begins on Friday. (Oscar nominees will be announced on March 15. The Oscars ceremony, delayed because of the pandemic, will take place on April 25.)
If nothing else, Nielsen ratings for this most unusual Globes telecast will help set expectations for the pandemic-retrofitted Academy Awards. The Globes attracted about 18.3 million total viewers last year, when “1917” and “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood” collected the top movie prizes and Billy Porter caused an online traffic jam by wearing his version of the Bjork swan dress. In contrast, when the Globes became a humdrum news conference in 2008 because of a screenwriter’s strike, only 5.8 million people tuned in.
In other words, razzmatazz matters.
Netflix was humiliated at the Globes last year. The streaming giant sashayed into the ceremony with a leading 34 total nominations and left … with one film award (Laura Dern won best supporting actress for “Marriage Story”) and one television honor (Olivia Colman, lauded for “The Crown”). Instead, voters mostly stuck with old-guard choices.
Expect this go-round to be different, in part because most traditional movie studios have been crippled by the pandemic. Netflix has 42 nominations, and two of its films, “Mank” and “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” are vying for best drama, the most prestigious award. No streaming service has ever won in this category.
If “Chicago 7” wins, boosting its Oscar chances, Paramount Pictures will have some egg on its face: The 109-year-old studio offloaded the film to Netflix over the summer.
Among the remaining best drama nominees, the Hollywood establishment is best represented by “Nomadland,” which stars Frances McDormand as a van dweller. “Nomadland” comes from the art-film powerhouse formerly known as Fox Searchlight (now just Searchlight, reflecting a change in corporate ownership). “The Father” and “Promising Young Woman,” also from traditional film companies, round out the nominees.
In another first, the Globe for best comedy or musical will almost assuredly go to a streaming service. According to the prognosticators at Gold Derby, an awards predictions site, the comedy or musical race is a tossup between “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” (Amazon) and “Hamilton” (Disney+). Also nominated are “Palm Springs” (Hulu), “The Prom” (Netflix) and Sia’s “Music,” a woefully misguided video-on-demand release.
The TV categories are something of an afterthought at the Globes, which draws its power from proximity to the Oscars. The foreign press association has tried to rectify the imbalance in recent years by rallying behind shows that have yet to pop. Globe voters, for instance, helped “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” and “Transparent” gain wider attention. (On the other hand, the less said about their early support for “Mozart in the Jungle,” the better.)
“Ted Lasso,” a fish-out-of-water sports comedy on Apple TV+, is expected to benefit this year. The freshman series could win the Globe for best comedy, allowing the H.F.P.A. to one-up the Emmys and appear forward-thinking: Apple has yet to win a truly huge prize on Hollywood’s marquee awards circuit. Adding to the moment, Jason Sudeikis, who stars in “Ted Lasso,” may pick up a Globe for his performance.
As soon as nominations were announced on Feb. 3, the foreign press association was harshly criticized for overlooking films with mostly Black casts, including Spike Lee’s “Da 5 Bloods.” The ceremony could bring fresh outrage — especially if strong contenders like Daniel Kaluuya, an acting nominee for “Judas and the Black Messiah,” or John Boyega, nominated on the television side for his supporting performance in “Small Axe,” leave without any hardware.
“One Night in Miami,” a fact-based drama about a meeting of four Black luminaries, received three nominations, including for Regina King’s directing and Leslie Odom Jr.’s portrayal of Sam Cooke. The film’s best hope, however, may be in the song category, where its contemplative “Speak Now,” sung and co-written by Odom, drew a nod.
Chadwick Boseman is the runaway favorite to win a posthumous Globe for his lead performance in “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.” But voters could veer toward Anthony Hopkins (“The Father”), an eight-time nominee and never a winner, although he did receive a lifetime achievement Globe in 2006.
Carey Mulligan has the best actress edge for her raw-nerved revenge-seeker in “Promising Young Woman.” But honoring her would deny Viola Davis glory for her tour-de-force “Ma Rainey” performance. The H.F.P.A. could also go with McDormand, although she won the best actress Globe in 2018, and the press association usually likes to spread its love around.
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March 01, 2021 at 07:11AM
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Golden Globes 2021: What to Expect and Highlights - The New York Times
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Tom Ford Shows Dangerously Short Shorts in 'Casual Extravagant' Fall Lineup - WWD
During this mostly digital fashion season, designers have gotten creative with format, making narrative short films, enlisting model personalities, big-name directors and “Saturday Night Live” celebrities to present and make noise with their collections.
But not Tom Ford, out here in Hollywood; he let his clothes do the talking, releasing men’s and women’s look books without fanfare Sunday morning, a date that had to be rescheduled because he had an outbreak of the virus in his workroom.
Sometimes, he’s only human.
“Fashion, like the rest of our lives, has been in a kind of suspended animation,” he wrote in his collection notes of trying to figure out what people would want to wear after spending a year in sweats.
His answer? “A more casual way to be extravagant” — stripped down but unmistakably Tom in its wink to sex and nod to ultra-luxury.
Less looks and more pieces, this collection felt tactile and intimate. Perhaps being liberated from the runway stage can be a good thing. And if not totally accessible, because Ford’s metier is solidly aspirational, the clothes at least seem relatable in how they projected attitude as a person’s best style asset, and tapped into the trends of comfort, whether that be a designer hoodie, special lingerie or a power parka. “I mean, who doesn’t want to be a badass — especially after being trapped at home for a year?” the designer wrote.
While much of the American fashion industry has gotten on board with size inclusivity, the Wallis Simpson quote “You can never be too rich or too thin” did run through my mind zeroing in on jutting hipbones. But for a certain set, Simpson’s words still ring true; I was reminded of it Friday when I was at lunch at the Polo Lounge and a praying mantis type in gold jeans tottered past my table. She looked chic-as-hell in what could have been Tom Ford, but I can’t imagine she’d eaten since 1967.
So there were dangerously skimpy leather shorts and microminis, jeans practically bleached to X-rays with the perfect crease in the leg and fringe at the ankle, both with little gold chain details at the waist. They looked cool, paired with a snuggly slouchy mohair sweater in a rich caramel hue, or a rose gold denim jacket (like jeans jewelry, which Ford did way back at Gucci).
The volume on top, twiggy on bottom silhouette played out in a ginormous down-filled black velvet parka over bare legs, and a plush military coat over Tom Ford logo cashmere underwear, Edie Sedgwick-like. “This looks very cool if you are comfortable with your body and have the right under pieces,” Ford wrote, adding the styling tip that tights and skintight pants would achieve the same effect.
The lingerie theme carried through on a gorgeously engineered, puff-sleeved black lace and fishnet blouse that had real attitude over jeans, and a tangerine dream of a baby-doll dress with high neck, full sleeves, and curlicue lace playing peekaboo at the bust and waist. I could imagine it at some fabulous Bel Air dinner party — even a dinner party of two.
He urged men to get dressed again, too, but not black tie. Rather, Ford referenced the attitude of ‘60s dressy-casual (Sam Cooke came to mind seeing the trim pants and loafers, maybe because I just saw the terrific “One Night in Miami”) and ‘80s punk (Paul Simonon of the The Clash with his rebel gaze and glossy leather jackets was on the designer’s mood board).
Nobody makes a velvet jacket like Ford, and this season there were lots and they were easier — an emerald green quilted velvet slim-cut bomber jacket, for one (this shape was good in glossy leather, too), and a denim-blue velvet single-breasted blazer with matching pants, no tie. The colors were amazingly vivid throughout. And for pure luxe, how about a white shearling zip-front jacket, cashmere turtleneck and jeans? Sleek and clean.
Luxe lounge at its best, smoking robes came in tropical floral velvet worn with ikat blot pajama pants and tassel loafers. Still at home, but make it Tom Ford style.
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Tom Ford Shows Dangerously Short Shorts in 'Casual Extravagant' Fall Lineup - WWD
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Changes at Steak n Shake result in short-term pain for chain owned by S.A’s Biglari Holdings - San Antonio Express-News
Struggling restaurant chain Steak n Shake, the centerpiece of San Antonio-base Biglari Holdings Inc.’s collection of businesses, is in an “era of radical transformation,” according to its leader.
In a letter to Biglari Holdings shareholders released Saturday, Chairman and CEO Sardar Biglari said part of the shift underway at Steak n Shake has cost it about half its revenue.
Steak n Shake is forsaking costly table service for a self-order model where customers order their meal at a kiosk.
“By eliminating the unprofitable business our dining rooms generated, we effectively reduced revenue by one half,” Biglari said. “Yet Steak n Shake’s labor now runs at around 29% of net sales (down from 38.5 percent), albeit at a lower sales volume. The dining room with table service was undoubtedly a revenue center, but it was not a profit center.”
Steak n Shake reported $344.3 million in revenue last year, a nearly 55 percent drop from 2018 when it posted $760.5 million in revenue. It generated $595 million in revenue in 2019. The chain registered an operating loss of $4.6 million last year, down from $18.6 million in 2019.
Biglari expressed confidence that Steak n Shake’s conversion to a “bona fide quick-service restaurant chain” will return it to profitability this year.
While the decision to transition to the new service model was done before COVID-19, he said the virus “hastened the inevitable.”
Biglari limits his communications with shareholders to just twice a year — in the annual shareholders letter and at the company’s annual meeting where attendees can to pose questions to him for a few hours or so.
The struggles at Steak n Shake have dragged down Biglari Holdings’ results. The parent company lost $38 million, or $110.05 per Class A share, on $433.7 million in revenue last year. That compares with earnings of $45.4 million, or $131.64 share, on $668.8 million in revenue in 2019.
Steak n Shake accounts for almost 80 percent of Biglari Holdings’ revenue.
The restaurant chain also is transitioning company-operated units to single-unit franchises. The number of company-operated units shrank to 276 at the end of last year from a peak of 417 in 2016. Fifty-seven of the 276 were closed as of Dec. 31, but Steak n Shake intends to reopen most of them.
The new franchise arrangement calls for a franchisee to make a $10,000 initial investment. The franchisee also is assessed a fee of up to 15 percent of sales and 50 percent of profits.
As of the end of last year, 86 company-operated units were converted to single-unit franchises. Steak n Shake had received roughly 35,000 applications to operate a franchise — meaning only 0.25 percent were accepted, Biglari said. The franchisees earned on average about $161,000 last year.
Biglari has boasted that Steak n Shake has churned out $300 million to its parent company over much of the last decade, fueling Biglari Holdings’ growth.
Biglari Holdings, though, dipped into its capital to pay Steak n Shake’s $153 million in debt that was coming due March 19. There has been speculation that Steak n Shake would seek bankruptcy if was unable to refinance the debt or pay it off.
The parent company’s decision to pay the debt will result in a major reduction in cash and investments on its balance sheet at the end of this quarter, Biglari said. It has about $118 million in cash and investments as of Dec. 31.
“Today, the entire enterprise — the holding company and its operating businesses — is devoid of debt,” Biglari said in his letter.
In a Thursday note, credit-rating agency S&P Global Rating said the absence of significant debt for Steak n Shake provides it “time and flexibility to execute its turnaround plan.”
Biglari Holdings’ other operating businesses include two insurance companies, an oil company and men’s magazine Maxim.
Maxim kicked up $1.8 million in earnings to Biglari Holdings last year, Biglari said, up from $742,000 in 2019. That’s despite revenue remaining flat at about $4.1 million.
Biglari Holdings’ best-performing business is First Guard Insurance Co., an underwriter of commercial truck insurance. First Guard earned $9.6 million before taxes on about $31 million in revenue last year. By comparison it earned $7.1 million before taxes on $30.1 million in revenue in 2019.
Biglari wants to use Biglari Holdings’ earnings to purchase other insurance companies, but he said “identifying and purchasing an insurance gem is not easy.”
Investment losses of $29.6 million from Biglari Holdings’ stake in two partnerships called The Lion Fund accounted for the bulk of the parent company’s loss last year. Biglari said the yearly fluctuation in the value of the investments makes those figures meaningless for analytical purposes.
The Lion Fund owns 8.7 percent of Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Inc., its biggest investment.
Biglari Holdings’ Class A shares rose $1.04 to close at $585.54 Friday, while it Class B shares fell $3.34 to $117.14.
pdanner@express-news.net
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Changes at Steak n Shake result in short-term pain for chain owned by S.A’s Biglari Holdings - San Antonio Express-News
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Worrying about your child’s COVID-era screen time? Here’s what you need to know - WHYY
Almost a year since the first coronavirus lockdown, little is known about exactly how remote learning and social distancing are affecting children across the globe. However, researchers in several countries have found one common thread among students surveyed and studied throughout the pandemic: Children say they spend more time staring at screens.
That’s hardly surprising under the circumstances, but the broader consequences of such a rapid, unprecedented, and widespread increase in screen time among children are still to be determined. Prior to the pandemic, too much screen time for kids was linked with higher rates of childhood obesity, bad sleep, and depression. But for now, while virtual activities are still inescapable, experts say there’s no need for concerned parents to panic as long as they keep a few things in mind.
“Not all screen time is the same, and so certain screen time is better than others,” said Jason Lewis, a psychologist for the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
Lewis suggests that parents create healthy developmental checklists for children, including engagement in schoolwork, extracurricular activities, and socializing with friends in a manner complying with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines.
“The specifics of that are obviously going to look different now than they would have pre-COVID, but you still want to use that same structure,” he said. “You think about, OK, how can they use screens to fulfill that? So instead of spending all that time playing games or watching YouTube, maybe they do it to sort of learn a new hobby, or build some sort of skill whether it be art or music, or something like that. So it may not be able to significantly cut down the overall time, but you can sort of shape the time and make the most of it.”
Dr. Meghan Owenz, a psychologist and associate professor at Penn State Berks, said there’s nothing inherently wrong with time spent in front of a screen. Striking a balance between quantity and quality is what matters.
“It’s really important to distinguish between school-based screen time and recreational screen time,” Owenz said. “We don’t necessarily have the research to show that school-based screen time would be problematic.”
When it comes to recreational screen time, Owenz said it doesn’t take much for kids to develop a habit of reaching for a laptop over Legos.
“The thing about recreational screen time is that it’s really, really easy. So it feels fun for all of us to watch a show or play a video game. And there’s no barrier to it,” she said. “Programs are designed persuasively. So they’re designed to try to keep your kid engaged, not necessarily with an effort to harm, but just within an effort to make the game or to make the program really engaging. And so it’s hard for kids to turn it off.”
Owenz runs a website and Facebook page dedicated to screen-free parenting, and suggests family board games, COVID-safe outside play, and a useful mnemonic device as helpful tools parents can apply to combat possible vision and posture issues that may result from too much sedentary time with screens.
“We use the acronym S.P.O.I.L. — for Social-activities, Play-based activities that are freely chosen by the child, Outdoor activities, Independent work and chores that the child participates in, and Literacy-based activities where the child is reading or being read to, or listening to an audio podcast or audio book,” she said.
Another major component to building, maintaining, and monitoring healthy screen-time habits, and your child’s overall well-being during the pandemic, is sleep.
“Set a bedtime and adhere to it,” said Katherine Dahlsgaard, a licensed cognitive and behavioral psychologist in private practice based in Philadelphia. “Teenagers are going to bed later, and they’re sleeping more during the pandemic, we have good data on that. And that may actually be a good thing.”
One positive outcome of remote learning at home, according to Dahlsgaard, is that children no longer need to catch a bus or a train to make it to school on time. That makes getting a good night’s sleep easier.
“We have a nation of teenagers that is chronically under-slept. So it would make sense that teenagers … get up later now because their commute time to virtual learning is 12 seconds,” Dahlsgaard said. “However, I think parents are using good judgment, which is if you have a teenager staying up until 2 or 3 or 4 in the morning, well, that’s too much screen time.”
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February 28, 2021 at 08:12PM
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Worrying about your child’s COVID-era screen time? Here’s what you need to know - WHYY
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Brooklyn Librarian Becomes Unlikely Star With Her Bilingual Story Time - NPR
Tenzin Kalsang's in-person story times in Tibetan and English on were held at the Williamsburgh branch of the Brooklyn Public Library system. Brooklyn Public Library's Facebook Page/Screenshot
When Brooklyn librarian Tenzin Kalsang's story time for kids — in which she reads in both Tibetan and English — moved online last year, she was so nervous she couldn't sleep the night before.
"I was like, oh, my goodness, how am I going to do this?" she said. "When I get shy, my face turns really red."
Kalsang was used to reading stories in person at the Brooklyn Public Library.
But she did it. Kalsang set up a colorful corner of her apartment complete with potted plants and kid's books like "Llama llama red pajama" open and on display. Just like they would be on library shelves. She then turned the camera on herself and streamed her stories live on Facebook.
"Hello, good morning everyone!" she greeted viewers as they logged on.
Her story times soon attracted viewers from around the world, from countries as far away as Australia and Switzerland.
Like almost everything these days, libraries are having to move their services online. Books can be reserved and picked up in person, movies streamed and other offerings like career counseling and ESL classes attended virtually.
Since the pandemic hit the Brooklyn Public Library has been offering a number of bilingual story times online including ones in Russian, Spanish and Chinese.
But Kalsang's have been a huge hit. One has been viewed twenty thousand times. That's like selling out Madison Square Garden. For a library story time, that's fall off your chair success.
Still, Kalsang was right to be nervous the first time. She had a pretty tough audience to impress. Like Tsojung Yerutsang, a precocious 9-year-old with shoulder-length hair, a pink t-shirt with a heart and one dimple.
"Well, first I honestly thought it was for babies," she said. And even if not, she worried it would be below her level, she said, "because you know, in like American reading levels, I'm very high. Like above my class, like not to brag or anything."
Kalsang's bilingual story time has appealed especially to families like Tsojung's, among the tens of thousands of refugees from Tibet who scattered around the globe following the 1950 Chinese invasion of Tibet.
Activists say China is trying to destroy Tibetan culture and fear their language will be lost.
"Without language, culture cannot survive. I'm worried she will lose our culture," Tsojung's mother Tsering, a traditional Tibetan herbal healer, said about her daughter.
Tibetan-American Tsojung Yerutsang, 9, celebrating Tibetan New Year Tsering Yerutsang/ Tsering Yerutsang
"I want to teach her, but it's not easy. She has to go to school. Everything is English, and her friends and everyone speak English." Tibetans are a minority her mother explains. She says even at the library finding a book in Tibetan isn't possible.
As for Tsojung - she says Kalsang's story time has made her feel closer to Tibetan culture.
"I really like to watch her now. It's very educational. She does, like one page in English. And then she reads the page again, in Tibetan. It's really nice."
Kalsang says bilingual story times signal to people that libraries celebrate diversity. And fourth-grader Tsojung agrees that's an important goal.
"I think everyone's country should be remembered and shared to everyone, because then we can all be remembered," she says.
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February 28, 2021 at 05:00PM
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Brooklyn Librarian Becomes Unlikely Star With Her Bilingual Story Time - NPR
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