All the major UK carriers offer customer perks designed to tempt you onto their networks, such as EE’s brand new bonus of free BT Sport access for six months, or Vodafone including European roaming as part of your contract. Three plays this game too,…
The Google Play Store’s rumored Family Library feature officially goes live today with expanded sharing options for all of your apps, movies, TV shows and books. With a little bit of setup, your Google Play Store purchases are now available across ev…
Do you think that it is time for your living room to obtain a new TV for your home entertainment purposes? If you have answered in the affirmative, then you might want to check out Sony Electronics’ latest release in the form of the Z series. The Sony Z series is touted to be the next generation in television display technology, where it boasts of the ability to reproduce the deeper blacks, brighter lights, and vibrant colors of the real world.
The new flagship Z series will be the high end models, being even above Sony’s existing X series line-up of premium 4K HDR Ultra HD TVs, which includes the award winning X930D and X940D. Why the “Z” moniker? It is meant to signify a significant leap forward and the ultimate in display technology. You can be sure that each Z series TV will see Sony bring the likes of 4K High Dynamic Range (HDR) to a new level with ultra-contrast and even more realistic, accurate color, so that your eyes will be able to revel in the kind of content that creators truly intended.
The new Z series will make use of the Backlight Master Drive technology that Sony introduced as a prototype at CES 2016 earlier this year. The Backlight Master Drive happens to be precision backlight boosting technology, where it expands brightness and contrast so that it can offer the full combined potential of 4K HDR. Not only that, contrast is further enhanced via the Backlight Master Drive that boasts of a dense LED structure with a super accurate lighting algorithm, discrete lighting control, and a unique optical design with a calibrated beam LED, resulting in unprecedented dynamic range with incredibly deep blacks and dazzling lights for more realistic scenes than ever before.
The Z Series 65″ and 75″ class 4K HDR Ultra HD TVs are already available for pre-sale at $6,999 and $9,999, respectively, while we do not know just how big of a hole the monstrous XBR100Z9D, 100″ class TV will burn in your pocket.
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[ Sony reveals new Z series of TVs copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]
When a white officer launched seven bullets into a black man outside a housing project here early this month, there were chants of “black lives matter” in the streets, accusations of racism, and demands for an investigation and answers.
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When “Grey’s Anatomy” checks in for its 13th season this fall, Ellen Pompeo stands as one of only four original series regulars to have stayed with ABC’s stalwart show throughout its entire run.
Pompeo, who inked a McDreamy new contract with the network this year, has chosen to remain on the medical soap even after stars like Katherine Heigl and Patrick Dempsey have exited (some less gracefully than others) to pursue film careers. So, why has the actress stuck around long after the series’ heyday? As she told People in an exclusive new interview: aging.
“My decision to stay on [’Grey’s Anatomy’] was based solely on age,” the 46-year-old actress revealed. “At 33, I was wise enough to know my clock was already ticking in Hollywood,” she said of originally accepting the part.
Compared to the trajectory of other actresses in the industry, Pompeo says she got a relatively late start, securing some of her most notable roles in her late 20s and early 30s. If she had nabbed “Grey’s” as an even younger woman, things might’ve turned out very differently for both the actress and the series.
“I probably would have done my time, then gone out to search for other things,” Pompeo explained.
But in a series with such longevity, contract negotiations proved to be the tipping point for Pompeo. To play a fully-realized character like Meredith Grey is an all-too-rare opportunity for women in Hollywood. Pompeo said she was “aware of how challenging it would be to find other roles in my late 30s and early 40s.” Instead of abandoning ship, she chose to tie her career to “Grey’s,” becoming one of the highest paid actresses on TV today.
“I thought, ‘Why would I leave something that is super successful and pays me great to search the landscape?’” she said. “I decided that I would stay on ‘Grey’s’ and be grateful and try to ride it out for as long as I could. And I am very happy that I made the decision to stay. It’s only gotten better with time.”
To hear more from Pompeo, head over to People for the full interview.
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As the Financial Times reported on 12 July, Saudi Arabia’s oil-output reached record highs in June 2016. Increasing production 280,000 barrels/day to 10.6m b/d, Saudi Arabia has once again waved off OPEC’s request not to glut the market with oil.
As it turns out, economic principles explain why the Saudis began, in late 2014, to pump crude as fast as they could – or close to as fast as possible. In fact, there is a good reason why the Saudi princes are panicked and pumping.
Let’s take a look at the simple analytics of production. The economic production rate for oil is determined by the following equation: P – V = MC, where P is the current market price of a barrel of oil, V is the present value of a barrel of reserves, and MC is the marginal recovery cost of a barrel of oil.
To understand the economics that drive the Saudis to increase their production, we must understand the forces that tend to raise the Saudis’ discount rates. To determine the present value of a barrel of reserves (V in our production equation), we must forecast the price that would be received from liquidating a barrel of reserves at some future date and then discount this price to present value. In consequence, when the discount rate is raised, the value of reserves (V) falls, the gross value of current production (P – V) rises, and increased rates of current production are justified.
When it comes to the political instability in the Middle East, the popular view is that increased tensions in the region will reduce oil production. However, economic analysis suggests that political instability and tensions (read: less certain property rights) will work to increase oil production.
Let’s suppose that the real risk-adjusted rate of discount, without any prospect of property expropriation, is 20% for the Saudis. Now, consider what happens to the discount rate if there is a 50-50 chance that a belligerent will overthrow the House of Saud within the next 10 years. In this case, in any given year, there would be a 6.7% chance of an overthrow. This risk to the Saudis would cause them to compute a new real risk-adjusted rate of discount, with the prospect of having their oil reserves expropriated. In this example, the relevant discount rate would increase to 28.6% from 20% (see the accompanying table for alternative scenarios). This increase in the discount rate will cause the present value of reserves to decrease dramatically. For example, the present value of $1 in 10 years at 20% is $0.16, while it is worth only $0.08 at 28.6%. The reduction in the present value of reserves will make increased current production more attractive because the gross value of current production (P – V) will be higher.
So, the Saudi princes are panicked and pumping oil today – a take the money and run strategy – because they know the oil reserves might not be theirs tomorrow. As they say, the neighborhood is unstable. In consequence, property rights are problematic. This state of affairs results in the rapid exploitation of oil reserves.
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Very little about Donald Trump is agreeable ― right down to how he takes his morning eggs.
The reality star-turned-presidential nominee has shown a preference for food prepared in offbeat ways, like eggs cooked “over-well” and steaks charred way, WAAAY past any chef’s breaking point.
We’re not saying food makes a candidate. But if you are what you eat, then Donald Trump is overdone indeed. Here are five things he apparently loves to eat:
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Tom Hiddleston, the man who’s now known as one-half of Taylor Swift’s current publicity stunt relationship, apparently has the hottest ass in Britain at the moment.
The British actor’s derrière, which made its screen debut in AMC and BBC’s “The Night Manager,” has just won the “Rear of the Year” award, a “light hearted award presented annually to British celebrities with prize-winning rear assets.” English actress Jennifer Metcalfe was the female winner for 2016.
Hiddleston spoke about his assets ― deemed too risky to show in the American broadcast of “The Night Manager” ― in an interview with W magazine earlier this year. He also stripped down to his boxers for the accompanying photo shoot.
“I was surprised to hear that they cut my butt out! I’m here to tell you that my butt is not dangerous,” Hiddleston told the mag. “And there are many, many more dangerous things that people are happy to broadcast. I don’t know what that says about the world we live in, but it probably says something.”
Past winners of the “Rear of the Year” award include Daniel Radcliffe and Olly Murs, so Hiddleston is in pretty good company.
Meanwhile, TSwift is probably over here, like:
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In a recent interview, tennis icon Chris Evert opened up about her past marriages, specifically how menopause influenced her divorce in 2006.
As a guest on “The Forward Podcast with Lance Armstrong,” Evert discussed divorcing her ex-husband, Olympic athlete Andy Mill, in 2006. The tennis star mentioned that her experience with menopause, a topic often seen as taboo, was partly to blame.
“We had a rough couple years because I married Greg Norman who was Andy’s friend and that was ― I don’t know,” she said. “I was going through menopausal stuff that doesn’t get talked about enough, what women go through at 50ish.”
Evert, 61, has three sons with Mill and explained to Armstrong how having kids changed her life, perhaps even more so than tennis.
“I went from being number one in the world and having those highs to meeting a great guy, Andy Mill, and having three children,” she said. “And that was … I don’t know if tennis brought joy as much as having kids brought joy to my life.”
During her chat, Evert noted that she and Mill now have a solid relationship despite their divorce and described him as a “great father.”
“Andy and I had are still a family without living together,” she said. “I think that’s the best way to put it.”
H/T People
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What does your daily routine look like? originally appeared on Quora – the knowledge sharing network where compelling questions are answered by people with unique insights.
Answer by Allison Winn Scotch, New York Times bestselling author of six novels, including In Twenty Years, on Quora:
I think it is really important to treat your writing career as you would any other career, namely, I take it seriously and treat my job like an office job by sticking to a routine. (This applies when I’m working on a manuscript, which is most days right now. When I’m not, I have more flexibility!)
Generally, I get up, take my kids to the bus, then take a quick walk. I like to have gotten moving and given my brain some time to wander/free associate before I have to hit the computer screen. By, say, 8am-ish, I plop down and try to hit my word count for the day, somewhere between 1k and 2k. Because I’ve given myself time to prepare mentally for this, with the walk, this usually takes an hour or two, rarely more. (What I mean by that is that for most writers, the actual writing isn’t what they spend the most time on … it’s the getting lost in their head and figuring out what they want to say that takes up time.) Then I’ll squeeze in a workout and get back to my desk, answering emails, screwing around online, rewarding myself for the morning’s work.
I take a lunch break to run errands just as I would if I were in an office.
The afternoon is spent either returning to the manuscript, if I’m so inspired (but because I ideally hit my word count, this isn’t obligatory) or handling non-manuscript related items. For example, when I have book promo to do, I have a lot of Q/As to get to or essays to write, or if I have a celebrity interview to draft, that sort of thing.
And then my kids are home from school, and I become their Uber driver for their afternoon activities!
I am actually a night-person, so if inspiration hits, I may return to the computer after dinner.
But I rarely deviate from this schedule if I’m knee-deep on a project. It just streamlines my day and helps me stick to a writing routine, which I think is absolutely critical for anyone trying to complete a project.
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