My precise view

https://ift.tt/2V0kBej TOKYO — Alice Dearing has an afro, a voluminous puff nearly impossible to protect in most swimming caps. Her hair shrinks if it gets wet. And the chlorine? The chemicals in a pool can cause severe damage that requires substantial time and money to treat. The first Black female swimmer on Britain’s Olympic team uses the the Soul Cap, an extra-large silicone covering designed specifically to protect dreadlocks, weaves, hair extensions, braids, and thick and curly hair. But Dearing has been forbidden from using the cap in her Olympic debut next week in the women’s 10k marathon swi [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] FINA, which oversees international competitions in swimming, rejected the application from the British makers of the Soul Cap for use in the Tokyo Games, citing no previous instance in which swimmers needed “caps of such size and configuration.” It also wondered if the cap could create an advantage by disrupting the flow of water. On social me

https://ift.tt/3igRaxq Elaine Thompson-Herah knew she had it won, the 100-m race on Saturday night at the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo, Japan. So the defending 100-m Olympic champion pointed at the scoreboard before the finish, just like fellow Jamaican, Usain Bolt, did at the 2008 Beijing Games. Her final time in the race was 10.61 seconds, a new Olympic record, breaking Florence Griffith-Joyner’s 10.62 mark from the 1988 Olympics. It was the second-fastest 100-m time in history. If she hadn’t pointed, could Thompson-Herah have broken Flo-Jo’s world record mark, 10.49 seconds, that was also set in 1988? [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] “Most definitely, if I wasn’t celebrating,” Thompson-Herah said after the race. Did she regret it at all? “No. No. No. No.,” said Thompson-Hearh, the Jamaican flag still draped over her shoulder from her victory lap. A gold medal and Olympic record was good enough; and it was a celebration to remember. Jamaica swept the 100-m race on Saturda

https://ift.tt/3zVsBfj WASHINGTON — The Russian hackers behind the massive SolarWinds cyberespionage campaign broke into the email accounts of some of the most prominent federal prosecutors’ offices around the country last year, the Justice Department said. The department said 80% of Microsoft email accounts used by employees in the four U.S. attorney offices in New York were breached. All told, the Justice Department said 27 U.S. attorney offices had at least one employee’s email account compromised during the hacking campaign. The Justice Department said in a statement Friday that it believes the accounts were compromised from May 7 to Dec. 27, 2020. Such a timeframe is notable because the SolarWinds campaign, which infiltrated dozens of private-sector companies and think tanks as well as at least nine U.S. government agencies, was first discovered and publicized in mid-December. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] The Biden administration in April announced sanctions , inc

https://ift.tt/3yi3d2P SAITAMA, Japan — Kevin Durant is now the leading men’s scorer in U.S. Olympic basketball history. Durant made a 3-pointer in the second quarter Saturday night against the Czech Republic to give him 337 points in his Olympic career, passing Carmelo Anthony. Anthony scored 336 points in his four Olympics. Durant is playing for the third time. He was the Americans’ leading scorer in both 2012 and 2016, scoring 30 points in the gold-medal game both times. He wasn’t off to a strong start in Japan but was already up to 11 points midway through the second quarter. Durant has scored in double figures in all of his 19 appearances in the Olympics. Durant is still a long way from the top scorers in Olympic history. Brazil’s Oscar Schmidt scored 1,093 points and Andrew Gaze of Australia had 789. Both of them appeared in five Olympics. Pau Gasol of Spain and Luis Scola of Argentina are currently playing in their fifth and own the third and fourth spots.  

7-year-old girl helps raise money for homeless veterans: ‘Help home first’ Jade Britt, 7, from Marietta, Georgia, raised $700 to make care packages for veterans who are homeless in her community. via FOX NEWS https://ift.tt/3rK241y

https://ift.tt/377kWya On her most challenging day of competition in a career filled with them, Katie Ledecky thought about her grandparents. The 24-year-old American with a record haul of world championship medals had just finished a disappointing fifth in the 200 meter freestyle at the Tokyo Olympics. In about an hour, she was due to dive back into the pool for the final of the 1,500m freestyle— a grueling test of stamina and resolve. Somehow she had to wash off the loss and reset for the mile-long swim to come. “I went blank a little, and was trying to find some positive things to get me moving forward,” Ledecky said. “The easiest thing for me to think about are my grandparents; my two grandmothers are still alive, but we lost my two grandfathers quite a few years ago. It makes me really happy to think about them; they are the four toughest people I know. I knew if I was thinking about them during the race I wasn’t going to die, and that I wasn’t going to have a bad swi

https://ift.tt/378sUXI Simone Biles has withdrawn from the event finals for vault and uneven bars at the Tokyo Olympics. USA Gymnastics announced the news in a statement on July 31, adding that Biles will continue to be evaluated to determine if she will compete in the women’s floor exercise and balance beam finals. The floor exercise will take place on Aug. 2 and the balance beam final will be held on Aug. 3 After further consultation with medical staff, Simone Biles has decided to withdraw from the event finals for vault and the uneven bars. She will continue to be evaluated daily to determine whether to compete in the finals for floor exercise and balance beam. pic.twitter.com/kWqgZJK4LJ — USA Gymnastics (@USAGym) July 31, 2021 Biles pulled out of the team and individual all-around competitions , citing the need to focus on her mental health . She has also shared that she is experienced the “ twisties ,” a condition in which gymnasts lose their sense of orientation

https://ift.tt/2UZCA4A Distance is where Katie Ledecky feels at home. There’s no one better at powering through the long (and tedious) races, and Ledecky reaffirmed that with a decisive win in the 800-m freestyle, the event that started her Olympic experience back in 2012. The win capped off Ledecky’s Tokyo Olympics; it was her last individual after racing four freestyle distances—the 200 m, 400 m, 800 m and 1,500 m—and medaling in three events. Days earlier, she made history by winning the first women’s 1,500-m ever raced at an Olympics—and she did it about an hour after swimming the 200-m freestyle. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] In typical Ledecky fashion, she pulled out ahead of the field after the first turn, and never gave up the lead. Rowdy Gaines, Olympic champion and NBC commentator, tells TIME that no one is better than Ledecky at finding “fresh water”—meaning she’s far enough ahead of the pack that she’s not wasting energy battling anyone’s wake or splash. L

https://ift.tt/3fd3IDK The 100-m butterfly had been largely dominated by Michael Phelps at the Olympics since 2004. Now it’s Caeleb Dresse l’s turn. Dressel won the race at 49.45 on Saturday in Tokyo, nabbing his third gold medal of the Summer Games and breaking his own world record by .05 seconds. Keeping to himself in a corner of the ready room before the race, Dressel didn’t sit in the chair reserved for him, choosing to stand off to the side. A self-described “loner” and “weirdo,” Dressel prefers not to talk to many people at meets, but talked to himself as he walked onto the deck to cheers from his fellow Team USA swimmers. It’s a strategy that’s worked well for him. The only swimmer who went under 50 seconds in qualifying, Dressel led from the start, holding off rising star Kristof Milak of Hungary, who won the gold in the 200-m butterfly earlier. Dressel, however, owns the 100-m distance , and popped off the blocks with one of the fastest reactions times of .60 secon

Creating Sustainable Change in Downtown San Francisco By Shayda Haghgoo Rendering of 6th Street between Market and Howard Streets When planning for new projects in Downtown San Francisco, the SFMTA must look at potential sites through multiple lenses:   How did previous planning decisions that funnel traffic through the Tenderloin to freeway onramps in SoMa influence existing street conditions?   How can we leverage quick-builds and capital streetscape projects now to make the streets safer not only today, but far into the future as well?  This dual-pronged approach allowed the SFMTA to address immediate safety issues along 6th and Taylor streets while collaborating with San Francisco Public Works to bring capital improvements to these corridors.  6th and Taylor streets are  among the 13%  of city streets that account for 75% of severe traffic injuries and fatalities  known as the Vision Zero high-injury network. The communities that live along these corridors largely con

Creating Sustainable Change in Downtown San Francisco By Samantha Serafica Rendering of 6th Street between Market and Howard Streets When planning for new projects in Downtown San Francisco, the SFMTA must look at potential sites through multiple lenses:   How did previous planning decisions that funnel traffic through the Tenderloin to freeway onramps in SoMa influence existing street conditions?   How can we leverage quick-builds and capital streetscape projects now to make the streets safer not only today, but far into the future as well?  This dual-pronged approach allowed the SFMTA to address immediate safety issues along 6th and Taylor streets while collaborating with San Francisco Public Works to bring capital improvements to these corridors.  6th and Taylor streets are  among the 13%  of city streets that account for 75% of severe traffic injuries and fatalities  known as the Vision Zero high-injury network. The communities that live along these corridors largely 

https://ift.tt/3yfcRU7 On July 20, California filed an explosive workplace discrimination and harassment lawsuit against Activision Blizzard, publisher of immensely popular video games including World of Warcraft , Overwatch , and the Call of Duty franchise. It has resulted in a shockwave of response from employees, other games studios and players. The lawsuit alleges a “frat bro” culture was allowed to flourish in the office, creating an environment in which women were sexually harassed and discriminated against in advancement and compensation decisions. Activision Blizzard is one of the largest video game publishers in the world, owning studios who have created and released some of the most popular titles over the past decade. Its 2016 acquisition of Candy Crush publisher King , expanded its audience by millions more . As of this year, the holding company has 435 million monthly active users worldwide and reported a net revenue of over $2 billion in the first quarte

https://ift.tt/3fdGe1v Before this week, many people knew Katie Ledecky as one of the most dominant names in swimming for the last decade. So they might have been surprised by the success of Australia’s 20-year-old Ariarne Titmus during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, who has now bested Ledecky twice to snatch gold medals. In Tokyo, Titmus’ rivalry with Ledecky has been one of the most captivating parts of the Tokyo swimming program. The rivalry between the two star swimmers dates back to the 2019 world championship, when Titmus became the first woman to beat Ledecky at the international level. They’ll have one more chance to race in Tokyo, this time in the 800-m freestyle on July 31. She isn’t the favorite this time, however. Ledecky is undefeated in the 800 m, holding the fastest 24 times in the event’s history as well as the world and Olympic records, which she set during her winning race at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics . [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Titmus, who gre

https://ift.tt/3zYNXIR Last January, Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas responded with audible groans when their album, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? , was awarded Album of the Year at the Grammys. “We didn’t make this album to win a Grammy… we didn’t think we would win anything ever,” Finneas, who produced the album, told the crowd in a sheepish acceptance speech . “We stand up here confused and grateful.” Eighteen months later, the pair has returned to a much bigger audience and much higher expectations, as Eilish’s sophomore album, Happier Than Ever , arrives on all streaming platforms. Eilish, at just 19, is one of the most adored pop stars in the world, a seven-time Grammy winner and the subject of her own documentary ( The World’s A Little Blurry on Apple TV). And in its first day, the 16-track Happier Than Ever (Interscope) immediately shot to the top of Apple Music’s albums chart in the U.S. and many other countries; the album sees her expanding