HAL BRADY: Some things we don't want to forget - jacksonprogress-argus

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A Christian writer tells of his teaching experience: “I shall not forget some years ago when I was teaching at a boy’s school in Richmond, Va. I had just completed a rather involved discussion of the doctrine of the cross. At that point, a bright young lad rose to his feet and said, “Sir, I see what you are talking about, and I understand, but so what?”

Now, many of us have heard about the cross all our lives. We know it has something to do with life and death, love and hate, victory and defeat. Why, we’ve even formed a mental picture of a man dying on a cross. And Mel Gibson’s movie “The Passion of the Christ” enlarges that picture, but so what?

Since, for Christians, we are passing through the holiest of seasons, I want to share a few thoughts on the “so what” of the cross.

First, the cross reminds us of a high view of sin! A number of us grew up knowing that there were two kinds of sins. Sins of commission: deliberate acts of the will that prompt us to do things that God forbids. And then there are sins of omission: knowing the right thing but failing to do it.

When we would leave home, as teenagers, frequently our parents would say, “Remember who you are.” Without doubt, we knew what our parents were talking about. They were reminding us that we were their children and also children of God. And that meant we were to act and behave accordingly.

Now, did we always obey our parents’s will and God’s will? Of course not! You see, we too, were and are part of Paul’s assertion, “that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”

But the reality is that for the most part we grew up with a high view of sin. We had a basic understanding of sin, what it was and who it hurt.

However, today that is no longer true in our American culture. We no longer have a high view of sin, if indeed any view of sin at all. Perhaps Tony Evans, noted Dallas minister, makes the point when he says, “One reason we don’t have a high view of sin is that we have a low view of God. We have become comfortable living in an age that devalues God’s standard and makes acceptable that which He hates.”

But then there’s the cross! In that innocent man’s willingness to give his life for us, we see the terribleness of our sin. In His death, we see that we have disfigured the image of Christ that we were meant to display.

Second, the cross reminds us of the depth of God’s love! Imagine it this way. Suppose you are found guilty of a crime. You are in a courtroom in front of the judge, and he sentences you to death for your crime. This sentence is just. You are guilty, and the punishment for your crime is death.

But suppose that the judge is your father. He knows the law, he knows that your crime demands death.

However, he also knows love; he knows that he loves you too much to let you die. So in a wonderful act of love he steps down from the bench and removes his robe and stands by your side and says, “l’m going to die in your place.”

The cross is not simply the truth about the human condition; it’s also the truth about God. It is not simply a ghastly sight of a naked man dying in agony, but it is a dramatic revealing of who God is, deep down.

Third, the cross reminds us that there is a place of release! The late Rev. Henry Sloan Coffin, minister and one time president of Union Theological Seminary, explained, “To bewildered folk caught in life’s confusion, it is steadying and comforting to be shown the crucified.”

Now, my faith is definitely the faith of an empty cross, but somehow when I stand in a Catholic hospital and see the crucifix hanging on the wall I get the feeling that it belongs there. Why? Because somehow in the suffering of the cross we meet God where he met us in the midst of pain and tears. There is a place of release.

Yes, indeed, there are some things about that cross that we do not want to forget.

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The Link Lonk


April 01, 2021 at 02:03AM
https://www.jacksonprogress-argus.com/news/hal-brady-some-things-we-dont-want-to-forget/article_4a2adbc4-bb3c-58f3-890c-9005df05e2de.html

HAL BRADY: Some things we don't want to forget - jacksonprogress-argus

https://news.google.com/search?q=forget&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en

'We will never forget Israel's help' - JNS.org

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(March 31, 2021 / Israel Hayom) March 11, 2011 began as an ordinary winter day with gray skies for the 12,000 people living in the fishing village of  Minamisanriku. None of them knew that within several hours their world would be turned upside down, in the most destructive way imaginable.

At roughly 3 p.m., a massive earthquake was detected not far east of Japan, triggering an immediate severe tsunami warning for the residents of the coast. The people of Minamisanriku began gearing up for what may unfold. “This is a tsunami-prone area and that is why we have been well-drilled on this,” said Mayor Jin Sato.

Sato, together with his team, rushed to a tall building and began relaying orders to facilitate the evacuation of residents. The problem was that while the official warning spoke of a six-meter (20 feet) wave, the actual tsunami was almost three times higher. “It just went over our heads and ravaged the place; I was swept to a staircase and broke two ribs,” he recalls.

The waves hit with an unimaginable force, destroying the small wooden homes in its path, leaving behind a long trail of debris and despair. Only the cement buildings were left standing. “We lost 831 members of our small community, with 70 percent of the buildings razed to the ground. The rest were severely damaged,” says Sato. “The industrial area was gone; the municipality building all but disappeared from the face of the earth.”

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This was the worst calamity his town has ever been hit with. Things were on the verge of despair. Roads were either blocked or just destroyed; the power grid and cellular network were down, and the water supply was disrupted. Japan’s armed forces brought as much help as they could, but the terrified residents who had lost their homes faced a predicament of epic proportions.

Masafumi Nishizawa, a local physician, was the only medical doctor in the city’s evacuation center in the immediate aftermath. “Only after a week did more medical teams arrive, totaling 20 specialists; the problem was that all the medical facilities had been decimated. We had no equipment to examine people or to operate.”

The local leaders were eager for help, and this came from the other end of the world: Israel.

An Israel Defense Forces delegation was in the area some two weeks after the waves hit. It was the first foreign-relief delegation to arrive at the site. The government of Japan made any foreign assistance contingent on having the teams bring their own equipment, and Israel was the only country that could meet that requirement on such short notice.

The Japanese parliament also held a special session to issue the members of the Israeli delegation with a special permit that would allow them to treat the locals. Eventually, after passing through many hoops and dealing with many concerns, including worries over being exposed to radiation from the reactor in Fukushima that had undergone a meltdown, the delegation landed.

It comprised doctors, nurses, X-ray specialists and all the necessary equipment. They immediately began setting up a field hospital.

“We required that they be able to conduct tests, but we could not imagine that they would have so much equipment and be so skilled at what they do,” Nishizawa recalls in a conversation with Israel Hayom. “Their expertise was amazing, and they had everything up and running at record speed.”

Among the first patients to be admitted to the hospital was Sato’s own staff, and he himself was given an X-ray. “They were courteous, they smiled, and I was very grateful to get treatment,” he says.

Despite the predicament and the relief at finally having their medical needs tended to, the Japanese, who only seldom have interaction with foreign medical teams, remained suspicious. The Israelis were worried animosity would develop.

“There were many elderly in the city who needed medical attention. When I heard that a foreign delegation was on its way, I was a bit worried, because there was concern that they would be terrified of having to be checked—amidst the chaos of this tragedy—by a foreigner, having not met a non-Japanese all their lives,” says Nishizawa, who worked with the Israelis all through their stay.

But these concerns were ultimately allayed, and the doctors—with the help of interpreters—engaged with the patients courteously and managed to imbue a sense of confidence that they were on their side, despite the cultural gap.

The Israelis won over the locals with various gestures that underscored just how dedicated they were to help them. “Pregnant women faced particular duress because they lacked proper equipment. They had to travel long distances just to get checkups or to give birth,” Nishizawa says. “But the Israeli delegation had a doctor trained in delivering babies, and after he had learned of the situation, he began making house calls, accompanied by a local female nurse. This level of dedication and their willingness to extend a helping hand to the community was really touching for me,” Nishizawa says with admiration.

Far away, but close at heart

On April 10, a month after the disaster, the delegation left Japan, having handed over a functioning field hospital to the local authorities. Today, a memorial stands on the grounds of the former facility, donated by Israel. The memorial is a testament not just to the horrific events of 2011, but also to the bond that was forged between the two nations in their wake.

In the decade that has passed, the city made tremendous strides in building new homes and commercial centers and in restoring parks and neighborhoods. The fishing industry also got back to business and provides employment to many locals.

But the gaping hole left by the tsunami in the hearts of the residents has remained. “Our biggest challenge is getting back up and recreating the sense of community,” says Sato. “Over the past 10 years, our community has seen crises many times, as people left to other places. We want them to come back and feel safe again; this is a daunting task.”

Despite the great loss of life and the hardship that has ensued in the years since, both Sato and Nishizawa can’t forget the tremendous bond that was created in its wake between the medical staff and the local residents. “Israel helped us so much after the disaster struck, and we are greatly indebted to it,” the mayor says. “Last year, we wrote a letter of thanks to all Israelis and had it sent to the Israeli embassy. Our people are very grateful for this; we will never forget Israel’s help.”

When Nishizawa speaks about his experience with the Israeli teams, he also mentions  Israel’s rapid pace of vaccinating its citizens against COVID-19. “This shows more than anything else what Israelis are capable of,” he says.

“I think that for many Japanese, Israel is considered to be some far-flung country; but for us, Israel—despite its being so far away and so different—will always be remembered as the first country that came to our rescue and gave us the feeling that we are connected to the rest of the world. Japan is an island nation, and our first inclination when disaster strikes is to handle things on our own; but Israel, rather than focus on its own problems, extended its outstretched hand, and we are tremendously thankful for its assistance.”

This article first appeared in Israel Hayom.

The Link Lonk


March 31, 2021 at 03:41PM
https://www.jns.org/we-will-never-forget-israels-help/

'We will never forget Israel's help' - JNS.org

https://news.google.com/search?q=forget&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en

Don't Forget About Patrick Mazeika This Season - metsmerizedonline.com

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Credit: Rhona Wise-USA TODAY Sports

After receiving disappointing results from the catcher position last season, the New York Mets made it a priority to acquire one of the top backstops in free agency and they did exactly that by signing catcher James McCann to a four-year, $40.6 million contract over the offseason.

By making this move, the Mets have finally filled a massive hole on their roster that’s needed to be addressed for the last several seasons, especially since it became very clear veteran Wilson Ramos wasn’t going to be a long-term solution or any solution for that matter.

As a result, this team won’t need to worry about who’s positioned behind home plate in 2021 as they’re in good hands with the 2019 AL All-Star serving as the everyday catcher.

Behind McCann, teammate Tomas Nido will serve as New York’s backup catcher once again and will be aiming to build off his promising 2020 campaign, which was cut short due to COVID-19. While it’s unclear as to how much playing time the 26-year-old backstop will receive this season, the coaching staff is expecting him to continue providing reliable defense whenever he’s called upon to come off the bench.

Considering taxi squads are returning for a second-straight season, the Mets’ squad will need to feature at least one catcher and rookie Patrick Mazeika could spend some time in that role, as he’s the only other catcher on the 40-man roster.

With former teammate Ali Sanchez traded to the St. Louis Cardinals before spring training opened, this move opened the door for Mazeika to take on a much larger role and he might finally make his major league debut after spending the last six seasons in the minors and at the alternate training site.

Though there’s a very good chance the 27-year-old will likely spend the majority, if not all, of this season on the taxi squad, injuries are destined to pop up over a 162-game schedule and that’s exactly how the former eighth-round selection could earn his opportunity in the big leagues.

Since McCann hasn’t played more than 118 games in a single season before, an increased workload could potentially make him more susceptible to injuries in 2021, especially since the catcher position is such a physically demanding job.

So what could Mazeika offer if he’s needed to serve as an injury/COVID-19 replacement?

Credit: Mary Holt-USA TODAY Sports

The 6′ 3″ catcher was primarily known for his offense throughout his collegiate career at Stetson University and he’s carried that narrative over to the Mets’ organization, allowing him to gradually climb through the minors thanks to his skills in the batter’s box.

But due to a lack of strength coming out of college, Mazeika struggled to hit the ball beyond the warning track in the minors, forcing him to become a reliable on-base threat, which certainly isn’t the worst scenario. Leaning on his plate discipline, strikeouts didn’t become a major issue for the offensive-first catcher in the early stages of his minor league career, resulting in high walks and hits totals.

Finding holes in the defense, the left-handed hitter posted a BABIP of at least .320 and a wRC+ of at least 139 at each of the first three levels he played at within New York’s minor-league system. In addition, he also generated a walk rate of at least 9.0% and didn’t produce a strikeout rate higher than 13.3% during that same span.

Once Mazeika returned to Double-A Binghamton in 2018, he started trading most of his contact for power and utilized this same approach during the following season. But while his slugging metrics increased dramatically, earning him a ton of attention across the Eastern League, his ability to remain disciplined took a major step backward as he transformed into a boom or bust type of hitter.

In particular, the former Hatter slugged his way through the 2019 campaign, producing 25 doubles, 16 home runs (career-high), 69 RBIs, .182 ISO, 45.2% FB rate, a 116 wRC+ score and a slashing line of .245/.312/.426/.738 over his 462 plate appearances with the Rumble Ponies.

Digging deeper into his slugging metrics, the former Eastern League Player of the Week winner finished with the most RBIs, tied for the most doubles, the second-most home runs, the fifth-highest ISO, the seventh-highest slugging percentage, the ninth-highest OPS and wRC+ score, the 11th-highest fly ball rate and the 15th-highest average among all catchers in the Eastern League who earned at least 200 plate appearances, according to FanGraphs.com.

On the other hand, this all-or-nothing approach resulted in a 19.3% strikeout rate, 8.0% walk rate and a .271 BABIP in 2019, preventing Mazeika from performing as a well-rounded hitter. Still, if he cuts down his swing and learns to become less aggressive at the plate, the lefty slugger could provide some much-needed offense off the bench if he’s needed to fill in at some point this season.

Moving to his defensive capabilities, the Mets’ backstop has plenty of room to grow with the glove, as most experts consider him an average pitch framer who also needs to improve his blocking. As for his throwing ability, his lack of arm strength prevents him from gunning down runners effectively and his accuracy has also proven to be inconsistent at times.

Due to Mazeika’s struggles behind the plate, the club had him spend plenty of time working at first base during the 2019 campaign, compiling 429 2/3 innings at that position. Since he also worked 443 2/3 innings behind the dish, it seems manager Luis Rojas could utilize him at both spots if the versatile fielder works his way onto the 26-man roster in 2021.

With just one minor-league option remaining after this season, it’d be very beneficial for the Mets to discover what they have in Mazeika sooner rather than later, meaning they should promote him off the taxi squad if an opportunity presents itself at either first base or the catcher position.

While his expectations should probably be set fairly low, the Massachusetts native could surprise a ton of pitchers with his power swing, potentially allowing him to create a respectable amount of damage.

Based on these factors, the fanbase should keep a close eye on New York’s No. 3 catcher all season long, or they might be caught off guard if he earns an opportunity to suit up with the major league squad this summer. But even if he doesn’t, this team is much better prepared behind the plate than they were at any point last season, which is a major accomplishment for the front office.

The Link Lonk


March 31, 2021 at 10:08PM
https://metsmerizedonline.com/2021/03/dont-forget-about-patrick-mazeika-this-season.html/

Don't Forget About Patrick Mazeika This Season - metsmerizedonline.com

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Forget Voltswagen. Volkswagen Isn't Changing Its Name. - Barron's

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The prank was intended to highlight the launch of the company's new electric car, the ID. 4, as well as Volkswagen's plans for an all-electric future.

Ronny Hartmann / AFP via Getty Images

U.S. representatives of German auto giant Volkswagen finally confirmed they will not be changing the division’s name to Voltswagen, swapping the “k” for a “t” to illustrate the company’s commitment to an all-electric future.

Initial reports of the name change surfaced on CNBC and USA Today after a news release appeared, then disappeared, on the Volkswagen (ticker: VOW. Germany) U.S. media website on Monday.

The release appeared again on Tuesday, saying “More than a name change, Voltswagen is a public declaration of the company’s future-forward investment in e-mobility,” adding “the new name and branding symbolize the highly-charged forward momentum Voltswagen has put in motion, pursuing a goal of moving all people point-to-point with EVs.”

Also Tuesday, however, German VW officials told The Wall Street Journal the name change was a joke.

Wednesday, U.S. Volkswagen officials confirmed what their German counterparts said a day earlier. The joke was in the “spirit of April Fools’ Day” and done to highlight the launch of the company’s new electric car, the ID.4.

The ID. 4 starts at about $40,000 and still qualifies for a $7,500 U.S. federal tax credit. A Tesla (TSLA) Model 3 starts at around $37,000. Tesla, however, has sold too many EVs to qualify for the tax credit. There is a cap for each auto maker on the number of EVs that can get the credit.

That cap might change, however, given that President Joe Biden is due to discuss his infrastructure spending plan in a speech in Pittsburgh on Wednesday. Tesla stock gained almost 4% in Tuesday trading, partly in anticipation of the event. The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average, for comparison, both fell 0.3%.

Volkswagen shares did even better, rising more than 10% in overseas trading Tuesday. The EV joke might have played a role, but Volkswagen stock also caught a ratings upgrade to Buy on Monday from Jefferies analyst Philippe Houshois.

Tesla stock was up 0.6% in premarket trading Wednesday, while Volkswagen shares were 2.5% lower in German trading. Nasdaq Composite futures were up about 0.7%.

Write to editors@barrons.com

The Link Lonk


March 31, 2021 at 07:25PM
https://www.barrons.com/articles/forget-voltswagen-volkswagen-isnt-changing-its-name-51617193505

Forget Voltswagen. Volkswagen Isn't Changing Its Name. - Barron's

https://news.google.com/search?q=forget&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en

Elmhurst, Queens Church Looking For New Start Following Year To Forget Due To So Many Parishioners Lost To COVID-19 - CBS New York

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NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — Churches getting ready for socially distant Easter services are preparing for new beginnings.

On Tuesday, CBS2’s Jessica Layton visited a church in Elmhurst, Queens that is trying to move forward after suffering tremendous losses in the last year.

For months, the tolling of bells has collided with the screeching of sirens outside St. Bartholomew Parish Roman Catholic Church.

“This has really been a nightmare,” Father Rick Beuther said.

As a priest serving in one of the original epicenters of COVID-19, Beuther has seen so much sorrow.

“I think about like a tsunami. In the very beginning it was really tough, but the effects still remain here for us in Elmhurst,” Beuther said.

READ MORE: New Mural To Inspire Hope Unveiled At Elmhurst Hospital

St. Bart’s lost 80 members to the virus, including four in the last month. Father Beuther and Sister Lucy Mendez both battled COVID, too.

When asked what she had prayed for during what has been difficult last 12 months, Mendez said, “I pray for hope.”

COVID VACCINE

Holy Week has been a time to reflect on the loss and hope for brighter days.

“As we get ready to celebrate Easter once again, we celebrate it really with new eyes, and a new appreciation of the gift of life,” Beuther said.

FLASHBACK: First Responders Offer A Special Thank You To Front-Line Workers At Elmhurst Hospital

Last year, services were all virtual. This year, the parish is preparing for in-person Easter masses with precautions. Every other pew is roped off.

“We believe this is a good distance in between people. We bring Holy Communion to people,” Beuther said.

Masks must be worn and there will be sanitizer at every entrance.

READ MORE: Archdiocese Of New York Holds In-Person And Virtual Palm Sunday Services

When asked if he has noticed more people turning to their faith during the pandemic, Beuther said, “Yes, incredibly so. Just to have so many people with us here last Sunday proved it.”

Around 3,600 worshippers showed up for Palm Sunday services. Mendez said the church is expecting 4,000 for Easter.

“During difficult times people tend to be closer to God. He gives us hope,” Mendez said.

It’s a celebration of new beginnings for a parish that’s endured so much pain.

The diocese is also urging special precautions for Good Friday, including no individual veneration or kissing of the cross. It is also recommending each church prepare bottles of holy water that can be left for the faithful to take.

CBS2’s Jessica Layton contributed to this report

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March 31, 2021 at 10:50AM
https://newyork.cbslocal.com/2021/03/30/elmhurst-queens-church-looking-for-new-start-following-year-to-forget-due-to-so-many-parishioners-lost-to-covid-19/

Elmhurst, Queens Church Looking For New Start Following Year To Forget Due To So Many Parishioners Lost To COVID-19 - CBS New York

https://news.google.com/search?q=forget&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en

Forget Union Station. The Oscars should be held at the Music Center - Los Angeles Times

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When the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced this year’s Oscar nominees on March 15, it also let drop that it was mixing things up on the venue front: Instead of staging the entire 93rd Academy Awards ceremony at the Dolby Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard, nominees, presenters and their guests will attend a more intimate — and socially distanced — supper club-style event at Union Station in downtown Los Angeles on April 25. The 3,400-seat Dolby Theatre, located inside the Hollywood & Highland shopping mall, which has hosted the Oscars since 2002, will instead be used to broadcast additional show elements. All that florid interpretive dance has to go somewhere.

And so does L.A. traffic. Which brings me to the first question raised by the move: What will the Academy Awards — known for establishing a Baghdad-like green zone around the perimeter of Hollywood & Highland in the days and weeks prior to the ceremony — do to L.A.'s most important public transit hub? Union Station, after all, is where Amtrak, MetroLink, the Gold, Red and Purple Lines meet, along with a plethora of bus lines, including Greyhound, Megabus, LAX Flyaway, not to mention the untold number of local buses that connect downtown with the rest of the city. Places like Union Station are how working people — the ones who can’t Zoom it in during a pandemic — get to their jobs.

The historic ticket concourse at Union Station will serve as a site for the 93rd Academy Awards.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

A press release issued by Metro at the time of the announcements states that the agency will be “working hard to minimize disruptions around Union Station” and that no “bus or rail closures due to the event” are expected. But as urbanism writer Alissa Walker notes in a story in Curbed, “Anyone who has been there during a film shoot, navigating closed-off entrances and heavily patrolled detours, knows, it will end up negatively impacting people who rely on transit.”

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She suggests holding the ceremony at Dodger Stadium. I have a better idea: Stage it at the Music Center.

Located a mere seven blocks from Union Station (just in case someone is interested in taking Amtrak to the Academy Awards), the site located over three city blocks is practically designed to host a socially distanced event made up of a variety of components, be it performances, presentations, speeches or dead-people montage.

As far as fresh air goes, the Music Center is stocked. The complex is home to a gleaming 36,000-square-foot outdoor space that was recently refurbished to the tune of $41 million by the architectural firm Rios Clementi Hale Studios (now known simply Rios). The hilltop Jerry Moss Plaza, located between the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and the Mark Taper Forum, not only offers wonderful views of City Hall and downtown, it is fully tricked out for events, with two massive LED screens (currently showing short films about L.A.) as well as tie-downs for party tents of all sizes — all of it built-in and ready to go.

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Also built-in: data and fiber optic cables that connect the site to the outside world, including the four performance spaces that call the Music Center home. These include the Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Ahmanson Theatre, the Mark Taper Forum and the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. The Music Center also manages cultural programming for Grand Park, which means its staffers know their way around an outdoor event — like the regular Dance DTLA nights and the annual (in non-COVID-19 times) New Year’s Eve parties that draw close to 75,000 attendees with music and light shows.

The Music Center has programmed the annual New Year’s Eve LA party in Grand Park in downtown L.A., with live music, DJs and 3D light shows.

(Music Center)

Moreover, just last week, the Music Center announced it was the first performing arts organization in the country to receive a UL “healthy building” verification, representing a high standard of air quality at all four venues.

So, imagine if you will an Oscars in which Leslie Odom Jr., a nominee for original song, performs “Speak Now” from “One Night in Miami” on the Taper’s intimate, half-moon stage. Imagine projecting clips from the best picture contenders against Frank Gehry’s sinuous Disney Hall (like the wild projections staged by artist Refik Anadol during the L.A. Phil’s 100th anniversary gala in 2018). And imagine — imagine — all the florid interpretive dance numbers you could feature on the stage of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, a setting that comes pre-loaded with Oscars history. The theater, after all, was the site of the Academy Awards for three decades starting in 1969.

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It’s an only-in-L.A. combination of architectural and show biz history.

Artist Refik Anadol projected “WDCH Dreams” on the Disney Hall building in 2018.

(Carolina A. Miranda / Los Angeles Times)

This is not to say that Union Station isn’t pretty great. I can totally see why the academy chose it as a location for the Oscars.

The station is breathtaking. And as a frequent user of Amtrak and the Gold Line, I never cease to marvel at John and Donald Parkinson’s graceful Mission Revival building, which was completed in 1939 and has recently undergone a $4.1 million restoration. With its beamed ceilings, hand-painted tiles and bronze chandeliers, the place has an air not of harried rail center, but of a baroque Spanish cathedral. It is pure ceremony.

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Still, choosing Union Station feels like a glaring missed opportunity. Not only is the Music Center set up for an event like the Oscars — in a place that doesn’t inconvenience thousands of passengers daily — its role as a performing arts venue would have allowed the Academy to show solidarity with cultural spaces that have been shuttered, not to mention economically crushed, by the pandemic.

Hollywood, this place that is in L.A. but is generally not of it, could have visibly expressed its support for local theater and music and dance — areas of the performing arts that not only frequently work their way into film, but also consistently feed it. (Three of the year’s most nominated movies, , after all, began life as stage plays: Kemp Powers’ “One Night in Miami...,” August Wilson’s “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” and Florian Zeller’s “The Father.”)

Instead, the Academy is honoring the work of filmmakers and performers in ... a train station. One to which all of the celebrities will no doubt arrive in their limos.

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It will be lovely, no doubt. But in a culture where the arts remain beleaguered and a regular target for politicians, it sure would have been nice to see a telecast that not only highlighted film, but all of the ancillary areas of culture that help sustain it.

For that, however, we may have to wait until the next pandemic.

The Link Lonk


March 31, 2021 at 02:40AM
https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2021-03-30/forget-union-station-the-oscars-should-be-held-at-the-music-center

Forget Union Station. The Oscars should be held at the Music Center - Los Angeles Times

https://news.google.com/search?q=forget&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en

Forget video meetings, email is still your most essential business tool. But it can be a menace, too - TechRepublic

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We're still relying on good old-fashioned email when it comes to getting the job done, according to a new survey. But it's not without its downsides.

Workers feel more productive using email, and actively dislike video meetings, Egress found.

Image: iStock/JelenaDanilovic

Remote workers have had more choice than ever when it comes to communications software in 2021, but there's one tool that they keep coming back to: email.

The last 12 months have seen a huge uptake in remote working and productivity software, which has kept businesses and their employees connected during the pandemic.

Must-read cloud

The rapid rise of video conferencing is often used as an example of how digital channels have become essential to day-to-day work, yet new research from email security company Egress suggests that we're still relying on fast, easy and familiar technologies when we want to get real work done.

In a survey of 500 IT leaders and 3,000 remote workers in the UK and US, 55% said email was the channel they used the most while working from home, followed by chat apps (27%) and text-based platforms, such as WhatsApp and SMS (20%).

Use of email has also grown faster than other platforms, the survey found: 85% of respondents said they were using email more while working remotely than they had prior to the pandemic, compared to video-conferencing software (77%) and chat apps like Microsoft Teams (77%).

SEE: TechRepublic Premium editorial calendar: IT policies, checklists, toolkits, and research for download (TechRepublic Premium)

Key to this is that remote workers felt email was most conducive to their work. Just under half (46%) of respondents said they felt most productive using email, compared to chat apps (28%) and WhatsApp/SMS (19%).

Comparatively, while video conferencing may have been the 'breakout' channel during the pandemic, Egress's survey found that nearly one-third (29%) of respondents actively disliked using it . It also indicated that workers are reluctant to use WhatsApp and other SMS-style channels in a work setting – 22% of respondents said they disliked using these channels, compared to 19% of those who cited email.

While technology has kept us connected throughout the pandemic, extended bouts of living and working in the same location have made it more difficult to switch off at the end of the day. The assumption that employees are sitting near to their computer and are, therefore, contactable at all times has intensified an "always-on" culture , which has blurred boundaries between employees' work and home lives.

But not everything about email is good. Egress found email was the biggest culprit when it came to disrupting work-life balance. Forty-six percent of remote workers said they felt pressure to respond to emails out of hours, compared to 41% who didn't.

SEE: Video teleconferencing do's and don'ts (free PDF) (TechRepublic)

Egress pointed out that email doesn't require both parties to be online at the same time, such as apps like Zoom or Teams, making it easier to respond to work-related issues outside of work hours. Younger workers, and in particular Millennials, found it most difficult to switch off from work, the survey found.

A year after the big switch to home working, many are still struggling with the same inadequate work environments that they had in March 2020. Only 28% of respondents have sole access to a home office, with the majority of workers (42%) sharing their workspace with another person.

Egress found that there were differences between sectors. Legal professionals were significantly more likely to be working in a shared space (36%), which the software company pointed out had potential implications for client confidentiality.

Richard Mortimer, chief people officer at Egress, said challenges around shared workspaces had been a sticking point for younger remote workers over the past 12 months. "While for some employees, remote working has been a welcome break from the office and the daily commute, for others it has been a different story," he added.

"With many organizations now contemplating what the future looks like in terms of returning to the office, it's important that all employees' voices are heard."

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The Link Lonk


March 30, 2021 at 03:49PM
https://www.techrepublic.com/article/forget-video-meetings-email-is-still-your-most-essential-business-tool-but-it-can-be-a-menace-too/

Forget video meetings, email is still your most essential business tool. But it can be a menace, too - TechRepublic

https://news.google.com/search?q=forget&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en

A Neuroscientist’s Poignant Study of How We Forget Most Things in Life - The New Yorker

forget.indah.link

Any study of memory is, in the main, a study of its frailty. In “Remember,” an engrossing survey of the latest research, Lisa Genova explains that a healthy brain quickly forgets most of what passes into conscious awareness. The fragments of experience that do get encoded into long-term memory are then subject to “creative editing.” To remember an event is to reimagine it; in the reimagining, we inadvertently introduce new information, often colored by our current emotional state. A dream, a suggestion, and even the mere passage of time can warp a memory. It is sobering to realize that three out of four prisoners who are later exonerated through DNA evidence were initially convicted on the basis of eyewitness testimony. “You can be 100 percent confident in your vivid memory,” Genova writes, “and still be 100 percent wrong.”

Forgetfulness is our “default setting,” and that’s a good thing. The sixty or so members of our species whose brains are not sieves have their own diagnosis: highly superior autobiographical memory, or hyperthymesia. While the average person can list no more than ten events for any given year of life, people living with H.S.A.M. “remember in excruciatingly vivid detail the very worst, most painful days of their lives.” The most studied case concerns Solomon Shereshevsky, an early-twentieth-century Russian journalist who, like Borges’s Funes the Memorious, “felt burdened by excessive and often irrelevant information and had enormous difficulty filtering, prioritizing, and forgetting what he didn’t want or need.” Desperate to empty his mind, Shereshevsky practiced, with some success, various visualization exercises: he’d imagine setting fire to his memories or picture them scrawled on a giant chalkboard and then erased. (He also turned to the comforts of the bottle and died of complications from alcoholism, although Genova doesn’t mention this.)

An efficient memory system, Genova writes, involves “a finely orchestrated balancing act between data storage and data disposal.” To retain an encounter, deliberate attention alone will get you most of the way there. “If you don’t have Alzheimer’s and you pay attention to what your partner is saying, you’re going to remember what they said.” (Distracted spouses, take note.) Also, get enough sleep. (An exhausted Yo-Yo Ma once left his eighteenth-century Venetian cello, worth $2.5 million, in the trunk of a New York City yellow cab.) Other strategies include leaning on external cues, such as checklists—every year, U.S. surgeons collectively leave hundreds of surgical instruments inside their patients’ bodies—chunking information into meaningful units, and the method of loci, or visualizing information in a familiar environment. Joshua Foer employed the latter device, also known as a “memory palace,” to win the 2006 U.S. Memory Championship.

The business of “motivated forgetting” is more complicated. Genova advises aspiring amnesiacs to avoid anything that might trigger an unwanted memory. “The more you’re able to leave it alone, the more it will weaken and be forgotten,” she writes. Easier said than done, especially with respect to the recurring, sticky memories that characterize conditions such as P.T.S.D. Here, Genova points to promising therapies that take advantage of the brain’s natural tendency to edit episodic memories with every retrieval. In the safe keeping of a psychiatrist’s office (and sometimes with the benefit of MDMA), a patient deliberately revisits the painful memory “with the intention of introducing changes,” revising and gradually overwriting the panic-inducing memory with a “gentler, emotionally neutral version of what happened.” Not quite “Eternal Sunshine,” but if it works, it works.

Genova, a neuroscientist by training, has spent most of her working life writing fiction about characters with various neurological maladies. Her novel “Still Alice,” from 2007, centered on a Harvard psychology professor who is diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s. In “Remember,” her first nonfiction work, Genova assures her readers that only two per cent of Alzheimer’s cases are of the strictly inherited, early-onset kind. For most of us, our chances of developing the disease are highly amenable to interventions, as it takes fifteen to twenty years for the amyloid plaque that is mounting in our brains to reach a tipping point, “triggering a molecular cascade that causes tangles, neuroinflammation, cell death, and pathological forgetting.” What do those interventions look like? Genova’s guidance is backed by current science, but is mostly just parental: exercise, avoid chronic stress, adopt a Mediterranean diet, and enjoy your morning coffee—but not so much as to compromise deep sleep, which is when “your glial cells flush away any metabolic debris that has accumulated in your synapses.”

One of the more interesting studies that Genova cites followed six hundred and seventy-eight elderly nuns over two decades, subjecting them to all manner of physical and cognitive tests. When a nun died, her brain was collected for autopsy. Curiously, a number of the nuns whose brains showed plaques, tangles, and shrinkage exhibited “no behavioral signs” of Alzheimer’s disease. The researchers theorized that these nuns had a high degree of “cognitive reserve”; they tended to have more years of formal education, active social lives, and mentally stimulating hobbies. Even as many old neural pathways collapsed, they were paving “new neural roads” and taking detours along as-yet undamaged connections, thereby masking, if not postponing, the onset of the disease. All pretty straightforward. Now all we have to do is build a society in which everyone has the time and resources for adequate sleep, exercise, nutrition, self-care, and a few good hobbies.

The Link Lonk


March 30, 2021 at 05:00PM
https://www.newyorker.com/recommends/read/a-neuroscientists-poignant-study-of-how-we-forget-most-things-in-life

A Neuroscientist’s Poignant Study of How We Forget Most Things in Life - The New Yorker

https://news.google.com/search?q=forget&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en

Forget April Fool's Day – Celebrate “4/01(k) Day” Instead - Business Wire

forget.indah.link

RADNOR, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Most Americans may know why the chicken crossed the road, but according to research from Lincoln Financial Group, nearly 60% of retirement plan participants say they are not on track with their savings¹. This April Fool’s Day, let’s put the jokes aside and celebrate “4/01(k) Day” instead, and ensure you don’t fall for one of these common misconceptions.

According to a recent survey of U.S. employees², people saving for retirement are confused about several key areas, including how much to save, how to prioritize paying off debt vs. savings and rollovers. The celebration of 4/01(k) Day starts with a simple true/false quiz:

“Saving enough to meet the employer match is enough to keep me on track for a comfortable retirement.”

(Most likely) False! An employer match (if offered) is a good place to start, but if you really want to make sure you have enough of a nest egg to retire when and how you want, a good rule of thumb is to save at least 10 to 15 percent of your salary.

“Paying down my student loan debt as quickly as possible is more important than saving for my retirement.”

True…or False. While you should not delay saving for retirement, it’s a good idea to speak with a financial professional to determine how to strategize paying off debt while also planning for your future. You can also use free tools like this debt calculator to help you make a plan for paying off your debt.

“I’ve thought about moving money from an old employer’s 401(k) into my current employer’s 401(k), but it seems like it would be too much of a hassle.”

False! While it is important to consider all options of your 401(k) platform prior to making a decision, the process for a rollover is typically very easy and brings multiple benefits. Instead of tracking investment selections, performance or statements for multiple accounts, for example, you’ll only have to monitor a single account.

But here’s the punch line — while there are still plenty of misconceptions when it comes to saving for retirement, nine in 10 of those surveyed are no fool when it comes to prioritizing their future, and disagree with this statement: “Saving for retirement is not my top priority because I’ll have plenty of time to save for retirement in the future once I am earning a higher income.”

This is great news, as delaying saving for retirement can have a big impact due to the value of compound interest.

“Our research shows that while participants understand the importance of saving for retirement and see it is a top financial priority, there is still a need for ongoing education to help them achieve their financial goals,” said Aaron Moore, senior vice president, retirement plan client engagement, Lincoln Financial Group. “By leveraging high-touch, personalized service, combined with access to dynamic digital tools, we can help participants save for the retirement they envision.”

Employers can also help their employees by offering financial wellness tools. Lincoln Financial’s financial wellness solution, WellnessPATH, can help savers create a holistic picture of their finances, so they can better manage competing financial priorities. The tool helps participants evaluate how they are doing in four key areas: saving, debt, spending and protection, so that they can learn how to make better decisions and take action to improve their financial health.

For more resources, tools and calculators, visit LincolnFinancial.com/retirement.

About Lincoln Financial Group

Lincoln Financial Group provides advice and solutions that help people take charge of their financial lives with confidence and optimism. Today, more than 17 million customers trust our retirement, insurance and wealth protection expertise to help address their lifestyle, savings and income goals, and guard against long-term care expenses. Headquartered in Radnor, Pennsylvania, Lincoln Financial Group is the marketing name for Lincoln National Corporation (NYSE:LNC) and its affiliates. The company had $303 billion in end-of-period account values as of December 31, 2020. Lincoln Financial Group is a committed corporate citizen included on major sustainability indices including the Dow Jones Sustainability Index North America and FTSE4Good. Dedicated to diversity and inclusion, we earned perfect 100 percent scores on the Corporate Equality Index and the Disability Equality Index, and rank among Forbes’ World’s Best Employers, Best Large Employers, Best Employers for Diversity, and Best Employers for Women, and Newsweek’s Most Responsible Companies. Learn more at: www.LincolnFinancial.com. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram. Sign up for email alerts at http://newsroom.lfg.com.

¹ 2019 Lincoln Retirement Power® Participant Study
² Retirement Savings Plan Perceptions & Misconceptions Among U.S. Employees, Lincoln Financial and CivicScience (2020)

LCN-3509035-032521

The Link Lonk


March 30, 2021 at 09:02PM
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210330005170/en/Forget-April-Fool%E2%80%99s-Day-%E2%80%93-Celebrate-%E2%80%9C401-k-Day%E2%80%9D-Instead

Forget April Fool's Day – Celebrate “4/01(k) Day” Instead - Business Wire

https://news.google.com/search?q=forget&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en

Press: Forget bipartisanship — it's dead! | TheHill - The Hill

forget.indah.link

You can’t blame Joe BidenJoe BidenThe Hill's Morning Report - Biden officials brace for worst despite vaccine data Congress looks to rein in Biden's war powers Democrats seize on voting rights; GOP cries foul MORE. He’s not the only one. We all do it: Yearn for the “good old days.” You know, those golden days, pre-pandemic and still not so long ago, when you could just hop on a plane without going through all the security hassle with TSA, walk into an office building without having to show your ID, or drive down Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House.

Fuggedaboutit! Those golden days are never coming back. And neither is Joe Biden’s golden day, the one he keeps waxing eloquently about: reaching across the aisle and working with Republican senators to get big things done. Yes, it was once possible. We remember teamwork by Orrin HatchOrrin Grant HatchPrivatization of foster care has been a disaster for children Remembering Ted Kennedy highlights decline of the Senate Senate GOP faces retirement brain drain MORE and Teddy Kennedy, Tom Daschle and Trent Lott, John McCainJohn Sidney McCainThe F-35 may be unsalvageable Remembering Ted Kennedy highlights decline of the Senate Future of the GOP? The art, promise — and lesson — of politics MORE and Russ Feingold, even (god forbid) Joe Biden and James Eastland.

But those days are long gone. Message to Joe Biden: It may be fun to reminisce about or tell your grandchildren about, but forget about bipartisanship. It’s dead. It’s gone. And it ain’t never coming back. For two simple reasons.

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One. It’s 13 years since Biden’s been in the Senate, and the Senate’s totally changed since then. That old Senate Biden thrived in doesn’t exist anymore. Only 31 of today’s senators served with him. Which means two-thirds of senators never worked with him and don’t really know him.

Second reason. Two words: Mitch McConnellAddison (Mitch) Mitchell McConnellMcConnell urges GOP men to get vaccinated: 'No good argument not to' Alaska commissioner launches GOP challenge to Murkowski Bottom line MORE. Even though he once served, and reportedly got along, with Biden, McConnell, too, changed once he became Republican leader: from a let’s-get-things-done go-getter to a block-everything-we-can deal-breaker. He alone has turned the world’s most deliberative body into the graveyard for any and all legislation. He even embraces the nickname “The Grim Reaper.” His entire agenda: offer nothing, oppose everything.

Think about it. What alternative ideas have Republicans put forward on health care, COVID-19, the economy, immigration, climate change, gun safety, or any other issue? None! They’ve simply opposed the Affordable Care Act, universal background checks, the Dreamers Act, and the $1.9 trillion stimulus without offering any plan of their own. At their 2020 convention, Republicans didn’t even adopt a party platform — in effect, saying we don’t stand for anything except Donald TrumpDonald TrumpThe Hill's Morning Report - Biden officials brace for worst despite vaccine data Trump launches 'the official website of the 45th President' Judge rules Ohio professor can sue university over not using student's preferred pronoun MORE.

In fact, the only initiative today with a “Republican” brand are efforts in 43 states to make it harder for people to vote. This is Mitch McConnell’s Republican Party. Where not one Republican senator to date has condemned Georgia’s new law making it a crime to offer a glass of water to someone standing in line to vote.

Sure, it’s nice for Joe Biden to dream about bipartisanship. But he also has to accept reality. It takes two to do the bipartisanship dance. And today’s gang of Republicans will never take the floor. They won’t even let the music start. They’ve adopted the same goal for Joe Biden they did for Barack ObamaBarack Hussein Obama5 immediate migration management steps for Kamala Harris Obama family matriarch dies in Kenya Panetta's assessment of Biden's first days MORE: prevent him from achieving anything by blocking everything he puts forward — even if supported by a majority of Americans.

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Biden must know. Bipartisanship is dead. It’s foolish to think this gang of Republicans will ever come around. They won’t. Biden’s only option is to barge ahead with Democratic votes only, if necessary. And, of course, that means, first, reforming or gutting the filibuster.

“I got elected to solve problems,” Biden declared in his first presidential news conference last week. And he’s right. Unfortunately, not one single Republican senator, and too few House Republicans, share that same dedication. The only way for Biden to solve problems is to go it alone.

Press is host of “The Bill Press Pod.” He is author of “From the Left: A Life in the Crossfire.”

The Link Lonk


March 30, 2021 at 06:15PM
https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/545500-press-forget-bipartisanship-its-dead

Press: Forget bipartisanship — it's dead! | TheHill - The Hill

https://news.google.com/search?q=forget&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en

Baylor's Kim Mulkey has wild March Madness take: 'Forget the COVID tests' at Final Four - Yahoo Sports

forget.indah.link

Kim Mulkey and Baylor exited the NCAA women's basketball tournament on Monday after a heartbreaking loss to No. 1 UConn.

On her way out, though, Mulkey offered up a novel opinion: The NCAA, she said, should "dump the COVID testing" prior to the Final Four.

The NCAA has created two bubble-like atmospheres for March Madness in 2021: One for the women in San Antonio, another for the men in Indianapolis. While there, players, coaches and staffers are all tested daily for COVID-19.

Mulkey, who tested positive for COVID during the season, thinks that should change ahead of the Final Four. She wasn't asked about COVID testing at her postgame news conference. She veered off subject on her own.

“You know, I want to say this to all of ya," she began. "I don't think my words matter, but, after the games today and tomorrow, there's four teams left, I think, on the men's side and the women's side. They need to dump the COVID testing.

"Wouldn’t it be a shame to keep COVID testing, and then you got kids [testing] positive or something, and they don't get to play in the Final Four? So you need to just forget the COVID tests and let the four teams that are playing in each Final Four go battle it out.”

Baylor coach Kim Mulkey is not one to hold back opinions. (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)

Positive tests have knocked one team out of March Madness thus far. The VCU men had multiple cases ahead of their first round game, and were forced to forfeit it. Nobody on the men's side nor the women's side has tested positive since.

The point of daily testing, of course, is to prevent any potential COVID infections from spreading throughout a team and its travel party, or to an opposing team.

The NCAA has never given any indication that it would consider ending the daily testing regimen at any point in the tournaments.

The women's Final Four begins Friday. The men's Final Four begins Saturday.

More from Yahoo Sports:

The Link Lonk


March 30, 2021 at 09:21AM
https://sports.yahoo.com/kim-mulkey-covid-testing-ncaa-tournament-022102224.html

Baylor's Kim Mulkey has wild March Madness take: 'Forget the COVID tests' at Final Four - Yahoo Sports

https://news.google.com/search?q=forget&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en

Forget Fitbit — Peloton could be developing a smartwatch - Tom's Guide

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Only time will tell, but a recent spate of acquisitions by Peloton could mean that the maker of stationary bikes and other exercise equipment has plans to develop its own fitness-focused smartwatch. 

As reported by Bloomberg and Wareable, Peloton late last year picked up three companies — Atlas Wearables, Aiqudo, and Otari — whose technologies could be used to create a watch that complements Peloton's burgeoning fitness equipment empire. 

Atlas Wearables specializes in tracking movements when lifting weights as well as other isometric exercises; Otari makes an interactive training mat, and Aiqudo helps integrate digital assistants into devices.

Despite their bulkiness, Atlas Wearables' devices offer tracking that is more precise than other smartwatches; For instance, Atlas' watches track your movement while weightlifting, and compare them to their algorithms to more accurately measure your activity. Other smartwatches with activity tracking for weightlifting often rely on more basic metrics, such as heart rate.

As intriguing as a Peloton smartwatch sounds, this technology could also be incorporated into a something like a smart workout mirror, along the lines of the Tonal or Mirror. It would more closely follow Peloton's current line of fitness equipment, and its high-tech nature would certainly reflect Peloton's pedigree.

It's far too early to speculate when we might see something from the fruits of these acquisitions — the deals were only completed in December — but it could represent a strong diversification of Peloton's offerings, especially for those who want to add weight training to their workout routine. 

The Link Lonk


March 30, 2021 at 04:16AM
https://www.tomsguide.com/news/forget-fitbit-peloton-could-be-developing-a-smartwatch

Forget Fitbit — Peloton could be developing a smartwatch - Tom's Guide

https://news.google.com/search?q=forget&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en

Forget the Falling Stock Market -- These 2 Stocks Are Flying Higher Monday - Motley Fool

forget.indah.link

The stock market got off to a slow start on Monday morning, moving lower as investors await more signs of how the broader economy is doing. Many market participants are anxious about what Friday's latest figure on employment will say, especially in light of ongoing nervousness about the pace of COVID-19 immunizations and the high expectations that Wall Street has about a likely economic boom in 2021.

As of 11 a.m. EDT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES:^DJI) was down 138 points to 32,935. The S&P 500 (SNPINDEX:^GSPC) lost 29 points to 3,946, and the Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQINDEX:^IXIC) was lower by 154 points to 12,984.

Yet even as the broader market fell, a couple of stocks were posting gains based on strategic moves. Fly Leasing (NYSE:FLY) is likely to stop being a publicly traded company in the near future, but Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (NASDAQ:HMHC) took a slightly different tack that should benefit shareholders in the years to come.

Image source: Getty Images.

Fly gets snapped up

Shares of Fly Leasing jumped 27%. The aircraft-leasing specialist got an offer it couldn't refuse, and the resulting offer shows just how optimistic investors are about the likelihood of a full recovery in the commercial-aerospace industry.

Carlyle Aviation Partners, which is part of private-equity giant Carlyle Group, made a $2.36 billion offer to buy out Fly Leasing. Under the terms of the deal, Fly Leasing shareholders will receive $17.05 per share in cash, which is 29% above where the stock closed Friday.

Fly Leasing has 84 aircraft in its fleet, along with seven aircraft engines. It counts more than three dozen airlines among its renters, scattered across 22 different countries around the world. Fly CEO Colm Barrington argued that the deal makes sense given that "airlines are facing an extremely difficult environment and smaller aircraft lessors are disadvantaged in the debt markets."

The move comes on the heels of General Electric selling its aircraft-leasing business to AerCap earlier this month. The pandemic hit the aerospace industry hard, so it's not surprising to see consolidation within the aircraft-leasing space.

Publisher makes a sale

Elsewhere, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt shares were up 14%. The publishing company made a move to sell off part of its business to a rival in order to narrow its focus going forward.

Houghton agreed to sell its consumer publishing business to rival publisher HarperCollins, which is part of media giant News Corp. (NASDAQ:NWSA). The deal will send $349 million in cash to Houghton.

The move will allow Houghton to concentrate entirely on its K-12 educational business. Textbooks and other educational products have increasingly moved online, and Houghton expects that it can accelerate its growth in digital sales and produce more lasting streams of recurring revenue from its educational clients. Houghton hopes to use the proceeds from the sale to help pay down debt and strengthen its balance sheet.

Houghton's stock has been on the decline since the mid-2010s, but it's bounced back considerably over the past year. Investors seem to like the way that the publisher is trying to transform itself, and given how much demand there is from the educational industry, Houghton's strategy makes a lot of sense in helping the company concentrate on what's likely its best path forward in pursuit of profits.

This article represents the opinion of the writer, who may disagree with the “official” recommendation position of a Motley Fool premium advisory service. We’re motley! Questioning an investing thesis -- even one of our own -- helps us all think critically about investing and make decisions that help us become smarter, happier, and richer.

The Link Lonk


March 29, 2021 at 11:22PM
https://www.fool.com/investing/2021/03/29/forget-falling-stock-market-stocks-flying-monday/

Forget the Falling Stock Market -- These 2 Stocks Are Flying Higher Monday - Motley Fool

https://news.google.com/search?q=forget&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en