The scorching temperature set in the village of Lytton obliterated Canada’s previous national temperature record, established before this week’s heat wave, by 8 degrees.
Lytton, located about 60 miles northeast of Vancouver, broke that previous all-time record of 113 on three straight days, soaring to 116 on Sunday, 118 on Monday and finally 121 on Tuesday. Before this siege, it had stood since 1937.
“To break a national heat record by more than 8F over three days … words fail,” tweeted Bob Henson, a meteorologist and freelance journalist.
Claire Martin, a meteorologist for Environment Canada, the country’s weather and climate agency, expressed the same sentiment upon learning the news: “Words fail me.”
The 121-degree record stands out as extraordinary on numerous counts:
Herrera reflected on the magnitude of the record in a tweet: “I am crying really … sometimes i just pinch my skin to make sure it’s not a dream, it’s really happening … 30 years working in this job, never seen anything like this madness …”
Robert Rohde, a climate scientist for Berkeley Earth, posted a chart on Twitter displaying just how exceptional the record was in the context of Lytton’s temperature history:
“The reading is so high that it’s hard to comprehend,” tweeted Mika Rantanen, a climate researcher at the Finnish Meteorological Institute.
The Lytton temperature even topped Sydney’s all-time record of 120 degrees, tweeted Sarah Perkins-Kirkpatrick, a climate scientist at the University of New South Wales. “Sydney sits at 33 latitude, Lytton at 50,” she wrote. “Temperatures this high should not be occurring here!”
Temperatures in parts of Canada soared on June 27 to above 113 degrees Fahrenheit as a record heat wave blistered the country. (Reuters)
How could it get so hot in Canada? As we explained in an article Tuesday, weather systems and winds aligned to maximize heat over the region, while climate change intensified the effect.
Dennis Mersereau, a freelance weather writer, added that Lytton’s microclimate also primed it for exceptional temperatures.
“Lytton was the perfect spot (in a manner of speaking) to break this record three days in a row,” Mersereau wrote. “The tiny town sits in a tight valley along the Fraser River that cuts longitudinally through the heart of British Columbia. Lytton’s low-lying location makes it an effective heat sink during a record-shattering heat wave.”
Scott Duncan, a meteorologist based in London, was flabbergasted by the record. “I didn’t think it was possible, not in my lifetime anyway,” he tweeted. “This moment will be talked about for centuries.”
But, as climate change increases the likelihood of exceptional temperatures like this, it’s only a matter of time before even more extreme records are set, replied Robert Brulle, a professor at Brown University who specializes in environmental politics and climate change.
“It won’t be talked about for centuries,” he tweeted. “These records will fall as climate change accelerates! This is just a mild version of what we can expect in the future.”
correction
An earlier version of this story stated that the new national record of 121 degrees in Canada exceeded the all-time high in Phoenix of 119. But Phoenix's all-time high is actually 122 from June 26, 1990. This has been updated.
Six days ago, the Cubs weren't exactly on top of the world.
But they were on top of the NL Central and had just thrown the franchise's first combined no-hitter against the Dodgers.
Six days later, they're riding a six-game losing streak and sit 6 games behind Milwaukee in the standings.
Wednesday's loss was particularly troubling. The Brewers spotted the Cubs 7 runs in the top of the first inning, then finished the game on a 15-0 run, completing the three-game sweep.
"Everything that can go wrong has gone wrong for us lately," said losing pitcher Jake Arrieta, who left the game in the second inning. "It's been rough. I had an opportunity to end that. We jumped out to a 7-run lead and just performed poorly."
This 15-7 loss wasn't remotely competitive, but if there was a turning point, it happened in the second inning. Arrieta had a chance to retire the side with the lead still 7-3 when Milwaukee's Tyrone Taylor hit a tapper to the mound.
But Arrieta's throw was off-target. First baseman Patrick Wisdom had to cross over the base, missed the ball, then collided with Taylor and stayed on the ground while two runners circled the bases to make it 7-5.
It defied all logic, but for the second time in roughly 16 hours, a Cubs player was knocked out by a collision at first base. On Wednesday, it was Wisdom, who singled twice in the 7-run first inning. After the game, Cubs manager David Ross said Wisdom did not have a concussion. During the game, the team's injury report said Wisdom was suffering from an eye contusion and stiff neck.
"He got hit pretty hard," Ross said. "We'll see where he's at. We've got an off-day for hopefully him to regroup."
On the final play of Tuesday's 2-1 loss, catcher Jose Lobaton tripped over Brewers pitcher Josh Hader at first base, landed hard on his right shoulder and was placed on the 60-day injured list Wednesday.
With Anthony Rizzo (back) and Kris Bryant (side), still unavailable. Lobaton's replacement, Taylor Gushue made his major-league debut by playing first base the rest of the game.
As the Cubs hit the halfway point of their season, this game played out like a tragic opera, emphasizing all the low notes. Too many injuries, too much reliance on replacement-level players, and a starting rotation that has completely worn out the once-dominant bullpen.
Arrieta left Wednesday's game at the same time as Wisdom. The Cubs still led 7-5, but there was no chance the relievers were going to hold the lead for seven innings.
By the end of the fourth, the Brewers had piled up 14 runs.
"The walks," Ross said when asked where it all went wrong. "Hitting's hard. You've got to pound the zone, you've got to attack hitters. They're waiting for a reason to give up when you give up 7 in the first. Can't put guys on base.
"Definitely an emotional roller coaster during that game. Not our best today."
If there's any good news, it's that the Cubs will probably get Nico Hoerner back from a hamstring injury Friday when they open a series at Cincinnati. Whether Wisdom, Bryant or Rizzo are in the lineup remains to be seen.
As for the starting rotation, the short outings continue to be a problem, but the Cubs have been competitive more often than not. Ross was asked after the game if Arrieta could lose his spot in the rotation.
"We're going to reset this off-day and go from there," Ross said. "I don't know who we would replace him with."
Well, in a couple of weeks, Trevor Williams should be ready to return from an appendectomy. He'll make his second rehab start for Iowa in the next few days. Otherwise, the likely replacement would be Kohl Stewart or Cory Abbott, both currently with Iowa.
For now, the only answer is to play better and count on getting better results with a healthier lineup.
"I don't think this is on one person, one guy," Ross said. "Some guys have bad starts. I mean, Adbert (Alzolay) had one the other day. I think we all have to be better.
"I've got to do a better job, the coaching staff, the players, all the way down to the trainers. We've all got to continue to lift each other up, assess where we can help out and try to be better."
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Billionaire Warren Buffett says the one thing that has remained constant throughout the coronavirus pandemic has been that it has been difficult to predict how it would affect the economy, but clearly it has devastated many small businesses and individuals while most big companies have fared OK.
“The economic impact has been this extremely uneven thing where I don’t know how many but many hundreds of thousands or millions of small businesses have been hurt in a terrible way, but most of the big, big companies have overwhelmingly have done fine, unless they happen to be in cruise lines or, you know, or hotels or something,” Buffett said in an interview that aired on CNBC Tuesday night.
Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway Vice Chairman Charlie Munger touched on a variety of topics during the interview. Munger said China had the right approach to the pandemic by essentially shutting down the country for six weeks.
“That turned out to be exactly the right thing to do,” Munger said. “And they didn’t allow any contact. You picked up your groceries in a box in the apartment and that’s all the contact you had with anybody for six weeks. And, when it was all over, they kind of went back to work. It happened they did it exactly right.”
Munger also praised the financial regulations that Chinese regulators have put in place. For instance, he said China was right to clamp down on Ant Group, which is affiliated with billionaire Jack Ma’s Alibaba Group, when it forced the giant online payments firm to become a financial holding company that will be regulated more like a bank.
“I don’t want ... all of the Chinese system, but I certainly would like to have the financial part of it in my own country,” Munger said.
Buffett and Munger both said U.S. regulators should do more to restrict the amount of gambling in financial markets by limiting the how much investors and banks can borrow on margin. They said that over the years Wall Street has found ways around the limits established after the Great Depression that the Federal Reserve put on how much people could borrow against stocks.
Having tougher rules on the amount of leverage investors can use would help avoid problems like the $5 billion charge Credit Suisse took this spring when American hedge fund Archegos Capital defaulted on margin calls, which are triggered when investors borrow using their stock portfolio as collateral and have to make up the balance required by banks when the share prices fall and the collateral is worth less.
“We learned a long time ago ... that you can’t make a good deal with a bad person. Just forget it,” Buffett said. “Now, if you think you can draw up a contract that, that is going to work against a bad person, they’re gonna win.”
Munger said a number of companies acted foolishly in their dealings with Archegos “but Credit Suisse has managed to be the biggest fool of all.”
Buffett and Munger also reiterated their criticism of the Robinhood brokerage because they said it is encouraging average investors to speculate on stocks with options instead of making long-term investments.
“It’s a gambling parlor masquerading as a respectable business,” Munger said.
Robinhood has defended its practices in the past and said it is helping more people become invested in the markets.
The Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate that Buffett and Munger lead owns more than 90 companies, including Geico insurance, BNSF railroad, a number of major utilities and an assortment of manufacturing and retail firms. Berkshire also holds major stock investments in Apple, Bank of America, Coca-Cola and several other companies.
The British comedy performer, best known in the UK for her sketch series The Catherine Tate Show, has created six-part women’s prison mockumentary Hard Cell for Netflix.
Here’s the logline: “Tate plays multiple characters as a documentary crew follows the inmates and staff of HMP Woldsley capturing the penal system at its brutal humorous best.”
Hard Cell is produced by Argonon-backed Leopard Pictures, which is behind Mackenzie Crook’s BBC show Worzel Gummidge.
Executive producer Kristian Smith said: “We cannot wait to show audiences on Netflix the inside of HMP Woldsley, our fictional prison occupied by the fantastic creations of Catherine Tate. This series is funny and touching all at once, revealing what life might be like in a British women’s correctional facility.”
Storage is what makes your system your system. Almost as important, it can also dramatically expand the quantity and velocity of work you can do. Likewise, poor storage choices can cripple a system.
The storage landscape today is more varied than ever before. Screaming performance? Dirt-cheap bit bucket? Fingernail form factor? Ginormous capacity? The choices can be daunting to sort out.
Most notebooks today come with solid-state drives (SSDs) that, because of cost, may only have 256GB or 512GB of storage space. Fortunately, with USB 3.1 and Thunderbolt interfaces, it's easy to add storage that is as performant as internal drives were just five years ago.
There are great storage options for every workload. Here are, in my experience, the best.
2.5" hard drives are remarkably tough, and this LaCie model builds in even more shock, crush, and rain resistance. I carried one for years with no problems.
If you are hard on your equipment -- is your phone screen cracked? -- this is well worth the added cost of the rubber bumper and shock mounting this drive offers.
If you are really hard on your gear, this is the external SSD for you. The Tuff Nano is IP67 certified to be waterproof, shockproof, and dust resistant. With real-world performance up to 900 MB/sec, this tiny drive - 3" x 2.2" x 0.6" -- is a dream for on-the-go professionals.
I've used other CalDigit products for years and have been pleased with their quality and performance. The ratings for this product bears this out.
Sometimes you need a lot of capacity. This drive has you covered. I've had the 8TB version on my desk for the last 3 years, and it's been solid.
You'll be pleasantly surprised to see how much faster it is than 2.5" drives, thanks to higher RPM and more read/write heads moving data in parallel, even with the same USB 3.0 interface.
It requires wall power and is not a drive to throw in a backpack. But in an office environment, drives of this class have shown an annual failure rate of about 1%. Still, make sure to have a local and/or cloud backup.
It comes with one year of Seagate's Rescue Data Recovery Services, but that could take a few weeks.
Storage expansion has another plus: backup. I've been in the storage business for over 30 years, and I've heard a lot of horror stories. I maintain a daily local backup and a daily cloud backup and recommend that all professionals do the same. An external drive is a great place for a local backup.
Whatever you choose, remember that all storage fails. There is no substitute for regular backups, both local and to a cloud. Local gets you back up quickly. Cloud will enable you to recover from a serious local disaster.
What specs are most important when shopping for external storage?
When looking at the options, don't worry too much about the spec numbers for transfer rates. Vendors frequently use the interface bandwidth for their "up to" hero number, a number you aren't likely to see in real life, especially if you aren't working with multi-gigabyte files.
The key spec to look at is the device interface, generally SATA or PCIe and/or NVMe. SATA throttles a drive to no more than 500MB/sec -- which is more than most hard disk drives (HDDs) are capable of -- while PCIe and NVMe get into the 1-5GB/sec range, which is where higher-end SSDs shine.
Which external storage is best for your needs?
We are living in the golden age of external storage. The range of options is the greatest it's ever been. Reliability has never been better, and I expect to see more Thunderbolt -- a higher performance interface -- drives arrive in the next year.
I've stuck to recommending products of vendors I've tried. With over 25TB of external storage on my desk, that's probably more experience than most.
The decision points will include mobile vs desktop, bus power or wall power, and SSD vs HDD for most folks. HDDs offer much lower cost capacity, slower access times, and use more power, while SSDs are much more costly, smaller, faster, and sip power.
If you are a pro user, don't stint on your mobile storage and backup. Your work is way more valuable than the media you keep it on.
One explanation for the worker shortage is the ongoing challenge of obtaining child care.
Photo: Octavio Jones/Reuters
Telling one story about why employers are struggling to hire workers doesn’t come close to explaining what is going on with the job market.
Economists expect Friday’s employment report to show that the economy added 706,000 jobs in June, a step up from May’s 559,000 and what would in normal times be a big number. These aren’t normal times, though. The U.S. is still 7.6 million jobs short of what it had before the Covid-19 pandemic struck, and earlier this year there were hopes that, as more Americans got vaccinated, the job market would be closing that gap far more quickly than it has.
The problem isn’t a dearth of jobs. As of the end of April there were 9.3 million job openings by the Labor Department’s count, and businesses all over are complaining about how hard it is to get workers. Some of the more popular explanations are that enhanced and extended jobless benefits have reduced recipients’ incentives to look for work and that ongoing difficulties obtaining child care have dissuaded many women in particular from returning to work.
Arguments blaming one or the other fall along predictable ideological lines, but there is evidence that both are weighing on the job market. More than one thing can be true about the job market at once, and, considering the unusual set of circumstances the pandemic brought about, other factors could be contributing to hiring difficulties too.
A recent survey conducted by the job-search site Indeed found that, among unemployed job seekers who said they weren’t urgently looking for work, the biggest hurdle was continued worries about Covid-19. In addition to care responsibilities and unemployment benefits, they cited spousal employment and having financial cushions as reasons for their lack of urgency.
There are other factors that could be at play, said the Harvard University economist Lawrence Katz. One is that many employers might want things to go back to the way they were before the pandemic, while many workers might have something else in mind.
“It’s a mismatch of expectations and aspirations,” he said.
The pandemic was traumatic for some people, and they might need time to process things before going on the job hunt, while for others it was simply exhausting and if they are able they might want to enjoy the summer before looking for work. Moreover, just knowing that there are a lot of job openings out there could dissuade some people from searching too hard—the easy pickings seem likely to continue.
There also could be geographical mismatches between the places where businesses are hiring and places where the unemployed used to work. Some of these could even occur not just across state lines but within a metropolitan area. With many offices still closed, restaurants in business districts are suffering, for example, while those near more-residential areas are booming as people make up for lost meals. Reallocating downtown restaurant workers into those new jobs could take time.
There might be limits on how fast employers can hire, and these could be aggravated by the high level of people quitting their jobs for other opportunities lately. It is one thing to fill three open positions in a month and another to fill those plus the positions of three more employees who just gave notice. There could also be measurement issues since the pandemic threw a wrench into typical hiring patterns. Some economists think Friday’s report could be strong, for example, since the end-of-school-year declines in education employment could be smaller than usual.
The good news is that a lot of things that could be behind hiring strains should ease up in the months ahead. Most schools will be back to in-person learning this fall, which could alleviate child-care issues, while the expiration of enhanced unemployment benefits will end in September, and the summer vacation season will be over. When it came to things that would prompt them to step up their job search efforts, respondents to the Indeed survey ranked increased vaccinations highly.
But that might not solve everybody’s hiring problems. The pandemic changed a lot of things about the job market. While it is fine to expect things to return to normal eventually, we still don’t know what normal is.
The timing of pass-rusher Bud Dupree's torn ACL makes his recovery timetable iffy for the start of training camp in late July.
Dupree suffered the tear on Dec. 2, almost seven months ago. After signing in Tennessee as a free agent, he, predictably, didn't participate in the offseason program outside of rehab work.
The edge rusher dropped by NFL Network's Good Morning Footballon Wednesday and said he's still working hard to be ready for the start of the season.
"Just training hard every day right now, man," Dupree said. "ACL recovery, rehab has been one of the most progress things I've dealt with so far. Each week you see different levels of progress. You see different things changing about it. I'm working hard to be back as soon as I can, but it's up to the coaching staff at the end of the day, like when they want me to be on the field and how comfortable they feel with me coming off the injury."
The Titans have refused to put a timetable on Dupree's recovery or even note whether he'll be ready for Week 1 against the Arizona Cardinals on Sept. 12, just over nine months after he suffered the injury.
The Titans giving Dupree a five-year, $82.5 million contract in March, with the first two years basically guaranteed, suggests they were bullish on his recovery timetable. If the 28-year-old returns in the form we last saw him in Pittsburgh, it would be a massive boon for a Tennessee defense that struggled mightily to rush the passer last season.
Dupree said when he gets on the field, he plans on wreaking havoc in all phases.
"Anytime you get paid to pass rush, you go ahead and get sacks and make big plays in the run game, be an all-around player," he said. "You don't just come in just to be a one-trick pony and just do pass rush. You've got to be able to be a tone-setter on the edge, as well, swarming to the ball, stopping the run, evolving your teammates, getting everybody hyped up. That's what it is, man. That excites everybody around you, and that's a big part of the game, in today's game, especially. We've got to go out and be tough, tough as nails, go out there and just play to our best ability."
At this stage, it's unknown when Dupree will be cleared to return to the field. Whenever that occurs, Tennessee's defense will happily add a player with 19.5 sacks in his last 27 regular-season games.
And not just marriage to a sick person, though I am one. And not just how to fix a marriage. I don’t want someone to offer advice on what I’m doing wrong (plenty). I just want someone to talk about it honestly.
I’ve been in unhappy relationships and I’ve been in this one, and I am not in an unhappy relationship. But I’m not always in a happy one, either. Why did no one tell me this is OK?
Sometimes I daydream about a boring life. A vanilla husband. Someone who doesn’t challenge me (although my husband does think vanilla is the optimal ice cream and latte flavor, and that very much challenges me) and who doesn’t know all my damage. Someone I didn’t just send a photograph of Lanacane numbing spray to so that he can buy more at the store.
Someone who didn’t just text me the following phrase: “Although much is surely valid, I’m concerned that you may also be on a witch hunt of culpability for every wayward feeling in a pained and failing and needing intervention body.” (He said this because I was being a B, and not because the rest of my name is -ailey.)
If we could determine the success of a long-term relationship by playing slots on our cellphones (though I’m pretty sure no one calls them cellphones anymore), what would we find? And aside from the fact I literally had to Google “type of gambling where you spin machine” to make that reference, our life has been anything but vanilla.
If I close my eyes and scroll through past texts on my phone, with zero selective choice to benefit this column, I get the following: “Grabbing us Taco Bell… need anything?” Which, come to think of it, might be where this column ends, because I’m pretty sure the jury just rested its case on true love.
Still, as many of us know, once you’re an almost-decade into the patterns and Taco Bell paradigms of a particular union, you start to see past the pretty texts of this kind, and only feel micro-rejections from years of wear and tear.
JL, left, and Bailey, right (because Bailey’s always right). (Courtesy of Bailey Anne Vincent)
My parents have been together for well over half a century and I always thought I’d be the same. Many don’t even know I put half a dozen years into what was supposed to be my forever before my actual ever-after arrived. I felt like I couldn’t exhale until we surpassed that initial time served.
For a while, my brain made my first relationship feel right. I had two, in fact. Their names were Kage and Follin, and they were reason enough to stay and make anything work.
But now, I’m finally in the right kind of forever, and our Cellphone Slot Machine reveals all sorts of things no one would want to admit. “Hey, there’s no gas in the car,” I texted my partner a week ago. “Is that the one you took?” Scroll again. “Um… why is Follin holding two kittens in the photo?” (That one he sent to me on the day I adopted two shelter kittens and didn’t tell him. Disregard.) Scroll again.
We see love from afar — love in a TV show or on Instagram — and we put it on a pedestal because we want to believe in it. I know I do. (Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck are the best thing to ever happen to me in 2021.)
You could wager it’s the Sick that makes it hard for us, or the two children who came with loads of trauma, or the differences above and beyond, but I think it’s the fact that no one talks about how hard it is for everyone. If we knew from a young age that nothing is vanilla and there are literal rocky roads that we don’t describe frequently enough, would we keep going? (I really can’t let this ice cream metaphor go. If he had better taste in flavors, I would. It’s his fault.)
I don’t always like what I see when I scroll through my phone right now, but I do like the person I’m talking to. And maybe that’s the takeaway. Why did no one tell me this is OK?
“Finally wrangled kids,” he writes. “Heading home.”
“What would life be without those texts?” I savor for a moment.
Scroll again.
***
Note:Cystic Fibrosis News Todayis strictly a news and information website about the disease. It does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. This content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this website. The opinions expressed in this column are not those ofCystic Fibrosis News Today, or its parent company, BioNews, and are intended to spark discussion about issues pertaining to cystic fibrosis.
The U.S. and its allies are starting to send about 1 billion doses to Latin America, Africa and Asia. Workers on the ground say there are still big obstacles to making sure vaccines don't go to waste.
AILSA CHANG, HOST:
Two-point-six billion - that is how many doses of COVID-19 vaccines have made it into the arms of people worldwide, many of them in the wealthiest nations. Meanwhile, many low- and middle-income countries are still stuck without vaccines. NPR's Will Stone reports on the waiting game.
WILL STONE, BYLINE: As doctors in the U.S. were celebrating their second COVID shots, Dr. Marcela Lazo Escalante says her father, a pediatrician in Peru, was going door to door seeing patients. Eventually, he caught the virus.
MARCELA LAZO ESCALANTE: He transmitted infections to my brother, and both were to the ICU unit. And they didn't made it.
STONE: That was in February, and now Peru has the most deaths per capita from COVID-19 in the world.
LAZO ESCALANTE: All people have a story of death from COVID in Peru - everyone.
STONE: Yet even now, less than 10% of Peru's more than 30 million people are fully vaccinated. In African countries, vaccination coverage tends to be even lower, and infections are soaring.
STEVEN NERI: I mean, we're really getting crushed.
STONE: Steven Neri lives in Namibia and runs public health programs in Africa for the humanitarian group Project Hope.
NERI: Oxygen is in short supply. In many of the countries, ICU beds are in short supply IF not all being full. And the vaccine isn't available.
STONE: It reminds Neri of what he saw there during the early years of HIV/AIDS. Africans could get testing and counseling but not medications, so they're left waiting for help from more affluent countries.
NERI: And it's not working.
STONE: This could finally be changing. The U.S. plans to send half a billion doses to countries in need starting in August. Those shots will go through COVAX, the global vaccine distribution program. Despite its ambitions, COVAX has only delivered about 90 million doses worldwide. Supplies are expected to ramp up in the fall, but there's still a lot of uncertainty. Gian Gandhi with UNICEF, one of the groups behind COVAX, says that's making it hard for countries to prepare.
GIAN GANDHI: Without knowing that the doses are going to be there, they are understandably reticent to use the limited resources to prime the pump.
STONE: All the logistics that need to be in place - training health care workers, setting up the cold chain, getting publicity so people know shots are there.
GANDHI: There's been a lot of focus on the supply of vaccines, and actually right now we need to sort of turn our attention more to the more mundane things.
STONE: Otherwise, he says a glut of vaccines could arrive, and countries may not be able to use them all. And there are already some examples of countries returning or destroying shots. But the head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, says these concerns are not only overblown but distract from the real problem at hand.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
TEDROS ADHANOM GHEBREYESUS: There is no vaccine. You can't even talk about delivery or absorption capacity when there is no vaccine.
STONE: Since the fall, Tedros says COVAX has worked closely with countries on how exactly they will give out the shots.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
TEDROS: What I would like to assure those who are prepared to give vaccines is we have done our homework.
STONE: And the WHO says countries in the Global South have a lot of experience and success vaccinating against other infectious diseases. Dr. Jarbas Barbosa is assistant director of the Pan American Health Organization.
JARBAS BARBOSA: The countries in Latin America, for instance - when they receive the vaccine, they are deploying the vaccine very, very fast.
STONE: The WHO also says problems of vaccine hesitancy may be overblown. Over in Uganda, Elijah Okeyo with the nonprofit International Rescue Committee says it was hard to get people to show up for a shot during the spring. But now...
ELIJAH OKEYO: Uptake is not a problem. You walk into different facilities, you find crowds of people looking for vaccine.
STONE: He hopes they will soon have a place to find them.
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The basic template reimagines the American Revolution, turning the Founding Fathers into action heroes and incorporating plenty of bizarre connections, such as George Washington (voiced by Channing Tatum) being bosom pals with Abraham Lincoln (Will Forte).
The British remain firmly in command, with King James (Simon Pegg) zooming around in a hover chair like the Baron in "Dune" and Benedict Arnold (Andy Samberg) --occasionally transforming into a werewolf, just because -- leading the assault on Washington and his allies. Those freedom fighters include Sam Adams (Jason Mantzoukas), a beer-swilling frat boy (he has his own brand, after all); and Thomas Edison (yes, another anachronism), a brilliant scientist who people think is a sorcerer -- or sorceress, since Olivia Munn provides the voice.
Produced by teams behind "The Lego Movie" and the FX series "Archer," "America: The Motion Picture" owes debts to the raunchy sensibility of "Team America: World Police" and the whole Adult Swim vibe, with animated nudity and torrents of blood, thanks in part to Washington's trusty chainsaw.
The political satire does strike the occasional nerve. The better moments include lampooning America's love of guns -- the well-regulated 18th-century militia really takes a shine to modern automatic weapons -- and a biting ending that's better than most of what precedes it, but not enough to salvage matters.
The relentless irreverence plays like a calculated attention-getting device, while providing opportunities to riff on things like "Star Wars" through this strange prism. Granted, the teaching of history has become the latest hot-button culture-war issue, but the people the crude humor is apt to shock are probably the last who would be inclined to watch.
For the most part, "America: The Motion Picture" seems too pleased with itself, an indulgence in silliness that feels woefully stretched at close to 100 minutes. Netflix describes the movie as "tongue-in-cheek animated revisionist history," which is basically a long-winded way of saying this Mad magazine-style exercise throws a ton of gags against the wall and hopes that a few stick.
While that yields the odd highlight here or there, "America" ultimately feels like the sort of bloated effort that would have benefited if someone had taken that aforementioned chainsaw and whittled it down to size.
"America: The Motion Picture" premieres June 30 on Netflix. It's rated TV-MA (mature audiences).
The global pandemic and its lingering effects on supply chains around the world have forced companies to rethink business risk.
As company leaders take a step back and look at how to make their supply chains more flexible, they also have a once-in-a-career opportunity to make environmental risk a core part of the risk equation.
The timing is right. Sustainability is now a board-level concern. The threat of climate change can no longer be ignored—and younger generations want to buy from, invest in, and work for companies that have a strong sustainability focus. Companies put their entire brand at risk if they’re seen as not taking sustainability seriously or if their products are seen as un-environmental.
You can’t manage what you don’t measure, and the full measure of environmental impact can be incredibly complex. In the area of greenhouse gasses alone, it requires measuring the impacts of your own operations (“Scope 1”), the impacts of your supply chain (“Scope 2”), and even the impacts of your products as they are used by your customers (“Scope 3”). And while the drive towards “net zero” carbon emissions is critical, it is just one of the aspects that must be considered when driving a comprehensive sustainability program.
Fortunately, new technologies and advanced analytics, combined with evolving reporting standards and improved information sharing, can give companies better insight into their sustainability performance. Software powered by artificial intelligence (AI) can make sense of oceans of internal and external data, detect patterns, and make suggestions—so that humans can make better decisions. IoT sensors can monitor electricity and water usage or provide transparency and traceability that can decrease food waste. And a wealth of other technologies are already helping companies make substantial improvements.
But technology can only get us so far. And although tools that can help companies understand and address their environmental impact are essential, making sustainability sustainable requires a cultural shift.
Build sustainability into your operations
Sustainability can’t be a standalone program or a collection of projects; it needs to be woven into the fabric of a company’s operations and business processes. When products are being developed, sustainability needs to be an intrinsic part of every step: what materials are used in the product and the packaging, and where and how those materials are sourced; logistics of getting those materials to the factory; the production process, including energy and water required; inventory storage; delivery to resellers or customers; how that product is used by the customer; and how that product is recycled at the end of its useful life.
The goals we use to describe supply chain excellence such as “Smart” and “Perfect” must include sustainability as a measure. Like profit and loss, sustainability is a lens that companies need to embrace and become adept at using.
To use it well, that lens needs to be clearly focused on a company’s overarching sustainability goal—for example, moving toward net-zero carbon. Here are four factors that companies need to have any hope of meaningful progress toward such a goal:
- Long-term focus: Company leaders and boards need to be clear that investments in sustainability are long-term and key to the company’s strategy.
- Everyone involved: The entire company needs to understand the big goal and how each area of the organization is expected to contribute and on what timeline. And “everyone” must include your supply chain partners and your sales channels.
- Near-term incentives: Incentives need to be aligned across the company, and must make it clear that meeting sustainability milestones is a key element of performance.
- Properly supported: Tools need to be in place to provide measurements, and the company needs to evolve those tools as technology improves—even if more accurate measurement reveals slower progress than previously thought.
While progress can be made at the operational levels of an organization, the required cultural shift requires senior leadership to, well, lead. Many senior corporate leaders already “get it” while others are recognizing and responding to the escalating pressures in the investment community, government regulations, their employees, and of course their customers and the market. Sustainability pressures are not going away; they are going to grow. Leaders now recognize that environmental risk can become an existential issue for any business. So if you have not yet had that “difficult conversation” with your senior leadership, now is the time to do it.
The key is to adopt clear goals and a define comprehensive approach. Without that, a company’s sustainability program remains a collection of initiatives that may tick a box for the annual report, but really won’t make a substantial difference to the world we need to protect – and will leave your company exposed to environmental risk.
Bad news for those waiting on a 2021 Ford Bronco, specifically an SUV with a hard-top roof. According to an email Ford sent to those with a reservation and order for the vehicle, the color hard-top option will not be available until 2023. That is, unless you want a carbonized gray colored hard top. Otherwise, Ford said in an email viewed by Roadshow, "challenges with our hard top roof supplier continue to impact our plans."
In addition, the company said it needs to build "more soft tops than planned," meaning it won't be able to only focus on customer orders. In other words, some people may experience delays when watching the digital timeline for their Bronco's build and delivery date.
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However, Ford wants to try and keep those in the Bronco's corral happy, so it promised that anyone who made a reservation before March 19, 2021 will be locked into their current MSRP. This is specifically for those who want to wait for a 2023 model year Bronco, if they want a colored hard top other than gray. Further, Broncos built starting in September will receive a free hard top prep kit.
For customers that simply don't want to wait for their hard top Bronco, they can order a soft top model instead with the prep kit. With the kit, they can purchase a hard top at a later date and enjoy super easy installation. But, again, there won't be a hard top in various finishes until 2023. Those who want to swap to a soft top must contact their dealer by July 16, the email said.
Bronco production is officially underway, but hopefully, we don't see any other hiccups as Ford works to get the highly anticipated SUVs out into the wild.
Buying the best external hard drive for PS4 allows you to quickly and easily expand the storage space of your console.
By simply plugging in an external hard drive into the PlayStation 4, you get extra space to store games. It can also store videos and images you capture and record while playing games (which can quickly fill up the PS4's built-in storage), as well as store other media as well.
While you can open up the PS4 and upgrade the internal hard drive, it's so much easier to just plug in an external hard drive instead. There are a lot of external hard drives that actually use SSDs (Solid State Drives), which offer increased speeds.
We recommend using these for the PS4. Not only do they allow you to move large files more quickly to the drive, but if you install a game on the SSD, you'll notice loading times are faster, letting you get into the game more quickly.
Make sure you check out our best external hard drives buying guide for advice on buying these devices for more general use, and check out our PS5 restock news if you're trying to buy the PS5.
The best external hard drive for PS4
(Image credit: Seagate)
01. Seagate Game Drive for PS4
The best external hard drive for PS4 overall
Interface: USB 3.0 | Dimensions: 76mm x 114mm x 12mm (WXDXH) | Weight: 135g | Warranty: 2 year RTB | Capacity: 2TB or 4TB
Official PS4 License
Slim design
Not the fastest
If you want the best all-round external hard drive for the PS4, then the Seagate Game Drive for PS4 is the one to get. It's officially licenced for the PS4, which means it's been built especially for use with the console.
This means you can be sure that it's been optimised to work perfectly with the console, and you won't have to worry about any incompatibility issues - just plug it in, and it's good to go!
You've got the choice of 2TB and 4TB capacities, both providing a huge amount of space for your games and media. It's also just 12mm thick, so it can be tucked unobtrusively behind the console. With the PS4 branding, it also fits in nicely with the console, and it also comes in designs that compliment some of the PS4's best games, such as the Last of Us Part II.
(Image credit: Toshiba)
02. Toshiba Canvio Basics
The best value external hard drive for PS4
Capacity: 1TB – 4TB | Interface: USB 3.0 | Dimensions: 78mm x 109mm x 14mm (WxDxH) | Weight: 149g | Warranty: 2yr RTB
Affordable
Slim design
Not that fast
The Toshiba Canvio Basics is a great example of how you don't need to spend a huge amount to upgrade your PS4's storage. It's cheaper than many of the other drives in this list, and comes in a range of capacities, from 1TB to 4TB, which means you can pick one that best suits your needs and budget.
If you're not sure how much space you'll need, we generally recommend 2TB. That will give you plenty of storage space, even if you have a huge game library, without being overkill.
The budget design of the Toshiba Canvio Basics does mean that it feels a little cheap. There's no classy metal shell like on some of the external hard drives here, which means it also doesn't feel as robust. However, if you're tucking it behind the PS4, and not moving it around that much, then it doesn't really matter.
It's not the fastest drive either, but it's plenty enough fast to run games off it, especially considering the low price.
(Image credit: Western Digital)
03. WD My Passport
This is the best of all worlds
Capacity: 1TB – 5TB | Interfact: USB 3.2 Gen 1 | Dimensions: 75mm x 107mm x 19mm (WxDxH) | Weight: 194g | Warranty: 3yr RTB
Good value
Decent performance
Bit bulky
WD My Passport drives are some of the most recognisable external hard drives in the world, and for good reason. They offer plenty of space, good speeds and are reliable and dependable.
Price-wise, they hit the sweet spot of not being too budget (and therefore sacrificing performance and build quality), while also not being too expensive. With a choice of capacities, from 1TB to 5TB, you again have plenty of options when looking for the right external PS4 hard drive for your needs.
However, the WD My Passport is primarily made for use with PCs, not consoles, like some of the external hard drives on this list, and this means it may need a little setting up before it works with your PS4. It's also quite bulky, being designed for use on a desk, so bear that in mind if you're buying this drive.
(Image credit: Western Digital)
04. WD Black P10 Game Drive
A brilliant external hard drive for gaming
Capacity: 2TB - 5TB | Interface: USB 3.2 Gen 1 | Dimensions: 88mm x 118mm x 21mm (WxDxH) | Weight: 140g | Warranty: 3yr RTB
Made for gaming
Good performance
Expensive
Here's another external hard drive from WD, but unlike the WD My Passport, the WD Black P10 Game Drive is designed for gaming from the ground up.
This means not only does it offer excellent performance that's been tuned to running games off it, but it's also got an eye-catching metal design, which will attract a lot of gamers.
It's also impressively small, so you can easily place it by your PS4, or even carry it around with you if you want to take your games and files to another location, and with capacities ranging from 2TB to 5TB, you have plenty of choice.
However, this is an expensive external hard drive, and there are better value options on this list. The fact that there's no 1TB option also means if your storage needs are relatively modest, you may end up having to spend extra on the larger 2TB option, and so have paid for storage you don't need.
But, if you can afford this drive, then you'll be extremely pleased with its performance.
(Image credit: Samsung)
05. Samsung Portable SSD T5
A brilliant SSD for the PS4
Capacity: 250GB – 2TB | Interface: USB 3.1 Gen 2 | Dimensions: 74mm x 57mm x 11mm (WxDxH) | Weight: 51g | Warranty: 3yr RTB
Cheaper than other gaming SSDs
Slick,
Smart-looking exterior
Hard disk-beating speed
Not as quick as other SSDs
Samsung is another company that has an enviable reputation in the storage market, and its T5 external SSD shows why. This is a gorgeously designed little external drive, with an incredibly compact design, measuring just11mm and weighing just 51g, plus a lovely metal finish.
It's also faster than the PS4's internal drive, so in some cases you'll see an improvement in load times if you're running games from this drive. It's also pretty good value, under cutting several of its competitors when it comes to price.
It also has a wider range of smaller capacity options, starting at 250GB and going to 2TB. This is good if you don't need that much space, but we wouldn't recommend anything under 500GB, otherwise you'll soon find yourself running out of storage space again.
On the other hand, if you want a lot more space, you may find the 2TB one still not enough, so you'll have to look elsewhere.
(Image credit: Western Digital)
06. WD Black D10 Game Drive
A great high-capacity choice
Capacity: 8TB | Interface: USB 3.2 Gen 1 | Dimensions: 44mm x 125mm x 195mm (WxDxH) | Weight: 980g | Warranty: 3yr RTB
Fast
High capacity
Expensive
Not as fast as SSDs
If you liked the look of the WD Black P10 Game Drive, but wanted even more space, then the WD Black D10 Game Drive is a great choice. While it looks very similar to the P10, it's a much larger drive, in both storage space and physical dimensions.
This is designed for desktops, so it may be a bit too big for some people's living rooms, but it comes with extra USB ports, which can be used for charging controllers, or expanding the PS4's USB connectivity. The larger size means it can keep cool while in use as well.
Best of all, it offers a whopping 8TB of storage space. This essentially ensures that you'll never run out of space again, even if you record long play sessions.
The hard drive in the WD Black D10 Game Drive is fast, but it can't compete with SSD speeds. This means if you'd rather have speed over capacity, you'll want to look elsewhere. But, if you're after a great looking external hard drive for your PS4 to hold all of your games, media and more, then this is a great choice.
(Image credit: Seagate)
07. Seagate FireCuda Gaming SSD
An external SSD built for gaming
Capacity: 500GB – 2TB | Interface: USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 | Dimensions: 53mm x 104mm x 10mm (WxDxH) | Weight: 100g | Warranty: 5yr RTB
RGB lights
Great performance
Expensive
Perhaps overkill for PS4
The Seagate FireCuda Gaming SSD is, as the name suggests, an external SSD that has been designed for gamers. Not only does this mean that it offers plenty of storage space to hold your large game files, and is incredibly speedy as well, but it also comes with customisable RGB lighting.
This means it'll look pretty snazzy when plugged into your PS4, though as this is a USB-C drive, it means you need to use an adaptor. It also means that it offers extremely fast data transfer speeds, and in fact, it's so speedy that you could actually argue that it's a bit wasted on the PS4, which won't be able to take full advantage of the speeds on offer here.
But if you consider this as a future-proof investment, it's actually quite a wise purchase. After all, if in a few years you upgrade to a PS5, or switch to PC gaming, for example, then this drive will be perfect, and you'll finally unlock its full potential. It also means you don't have to buy a new external hard drive in a few year's time.
Its long five-year warranty also means this is a great future-proof purchase that you can rely on for year's to come.
If you're after the kind of storage space that will allow you to keep hold of all your PS4 games, media and much, much more, and you never want to worry about ever running out of space, then the Seagate Backup Plus Desktop Drive 5TB is an excellent choice.
While it's primarily a PC external hard drive, it works with the PS4, and it's one of the few external hard drives out there that combines fast speeds and a huge capacity without veering into ultra-expensive large capacity SSD territory.
Seagate is one of the most reliable hard drive makers out there, so you can be pretty confident that your games and saves are in safe hands with this thing. Bear in mind, however, that you will need to format this drive first to work with the PS4. Also, if you don't plan on storing huge amounts of games, then this external hard drive may not be right for you. If you want even more storage, it's also available in 8TB capacities as well.
