Coronavirus, Riots, White House Siege: Unfolding Simultaneously in USA ,TN Local News

Black lives matter: Americans riot over George Floyd killed by police

Coronavirus is spreading in the United States. Tonight another problem was added – riots!  Is the White House in danger of being overrun?

The United States should be under lockdown to stop the spread of COVID-19
Tonight this scene becomes more complicated and it seems to be escalating in America’s cities.

Mass protests are escalating in the land of the free after a black man was murdered by a police officer in Minneapolis and was only charged with third-degree murder. 

A Secret service officer protecting the White House just got his head gashed open by a brick. Protesters are breaking barricades on Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House.
The White House was on lockdown. 

Minneapolis, Los Angeles, and Washington DC are the scenes of ongoing protests and riots.
TV footage showed lootings in Minneapolis, despite a curfew in place. Georgia called in the National Guard to keep protests under check.

The 110 freeway in downtown Los Angeles is under siege. At the same time, hundreds of cars are heard with their horns voicing support for the police

In Memphis, people are protesting police brutality and honoring the life of George Floyd, a victim of uncalled police brutality.

A tweet said: “And I am telling you in the case of George Floyd there are not multiple ways. There was one way. He died from mechanical asphyxiation. No oxygen to the heart leads to a heart attack FROM ASPHYXIATION, whether he had a pre-existing condition or not.”

Disney World Is Reopening, but You Won’t Be Able to Hug Mickey

The Florida resort is one of the largest tourist sites in the world, but capacity will be limited, face masks will be mandatory, and it won’t be possible to get up close and personal with characters.

Walt Disney World, one of the largest tourist sites on the planet, has a plan to reopen in mid-July. But the necessary safety protocols — limiting the number of visitors, making face masks mandatory, deploying roaming squads to enforce social distancing, no longer allowing people to get up close and personal with Mickey Mouse — shows how difficult it will be to operate once-booming attractions as the country prepares for a broader reopening.

“We’re going slow because we want to make constant progress and not have to backtrack,” Bob Chapek, Disney’s chief executive, said by phone from Florida on Wednesday. “The risk is going too far, too fast.”

Disney’s theme parks, some with Main Street U.S.A. entrances, loom large in the popular imagination as symbols of Americana. Disney World has been closed since March 15 because of the pandemic, and its reopening carries a certain symbolism in itself, an attempt by fans to reclaim a semblance of normal life and an effort by a coronavirus-battered Disney to demonstrate that a visit will remain a cultural rite of passage for many children.

The Orange County Recovery Task Force in Orlando approved reopening plans for Disney World and SeaWorld on Wednesday but pressed executives about how they would enforce mask wearing, something that has become a contentious issue as more people return to public places and may pose difficulties for vacationers in the Florida heat. Jim MacPhee, Disney’s World’s senior vice president for operations, said signs would have “strong language” and that “high-energy squads” of employees would remind guests about compliance. He said Disney might establish “relaxation zones” where guests can take off their masks.

Walt Disney World consists of six separately ticketed parks with combined annual attendance of 93 million. The two most popular ones, the Magic Kingdom and the Animal Kingdom, will reopen on July 11. Disney World’s other major parks, Epcot and Hollywood Studios, will reopen on July 15.

The National Basketball Association has been in discussions with Disney to restart its season in late July by holding games and practices and housing players at the resort. Mr. Chapek said he was “very optimistic” about making a deal with the league. (Disney-owned ESPN is a broadcast partner of the N.B.A.) Major League Soccer is also in talks to restart its season from the resort’s ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex, which Mr. Chapek noted had high security and “turnkey” broadcasting capabilities.

Mr. Chapek declined to say how many people Disney would let into its parks. The number is likely to be less than half of pre-outbreak capacity, at least at first. Major Disney parks can handle 80,000 people a day. In China, where Shanghai Disneyland reopened on May 11, the government limited attendance to one-third of normal capacity.

Fortnite's 'Recon Expert' skin is back in the item shop and that's just fine

Epic Games has never really shied away from being edgy when it comes to Fortnite.

I mean, this is the game that blew up its entire universe and created another one. Nothing is off the table when it comes to Fortnite, and its audience knows that.

That’s why it was so weird to see some people wasting five minutes of their life getting mad online about the “Recon Expert” skin being back in the item shop for the first time in forever.

To quickly recap what’s going on, when some gamers fired up Fortnite on Wednesday, they probably saw the “Recon Expert” skin available for purchase.

Honestly, it doesn’t look like anything special. It’s just a soldier woman with a hat. Pretty cool. But, again, nothing special.

The real reason why this is a big deal is because, back when Fortnite was in its infancy, people were calling it a children’s version of PUBG, the Recon Expert was one of the game’s most popular skins.

If you have a kid that plays this game, they’ve probably asked for your credit card a few times to buy some “skins” and you were probably like “WHAT?!?” Don’t worry. That’s what this is. Skins are simple. They’re basically characters that you can play as on Fortnite.

Recon Expert started off as a normal, beginner skin. But, eventually, as the game grew it disappeared and never appeared in the item shop again. So, basically, the only way to have the Recon Expert skin was to have played the game when it first dropped in 2017. It turned into a badge proving one’s “OG” status on Fortnite.

Until today, anyway.

With the OG skin back in the item shop, newer players had a chance to buy it and play in it. Which is great! Unless you’re an OG. Because now, apparently, people can’t tell if you’re special.

Lots of tears were flowing online. And, if I can be quite honest, for no good reason.

Again, it’s just a skin. If I can be honest one more time, skins are mostly dumb. On this particular game, most of them don’t have special abilities or give you a competitive advantage. You just…wear ’em. That’s it. You wear them.

Being upset about someone else using a skin on your game is the same thing is being upset about seeing someone, randomly on the street, with the same shirt as you. And not, like, a special shirt either. Just a regular, blue t-shirt that went out of stock 3 years ago and is now back.

It’s totally fine for new people to be able to wear this totally normal skin — especially if they’re paying actual money for it. Sorry.

Plus, calling anything OG after three years is dumb. Those are the rules.

green clover skin  ?

green clover skin in fortnite  ?

when did aerial assault trooper come out  ?

what was the first item shop in fortnite ?

when did the renegade raider come out ?

what was the first skin in fortnite season 1 ?

NASA’s Astronauts Became SpaceX’s Customers

A successful launch on Wednesday could forever change how the world thinks about getting people to space.

It took work across three presidencies, those of George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald J. Trump, but the United States is at last prepared once again, after nearly a decade, to launch American astronauts into orbit from American soil on an American-built rocket.

“This is a unique opportunity to bring all of America together in one moment in time and say, look at how bright the future is,” Jim Bridenstine, NASA’s administrator, said during a news conference on Tuesday.

Lori Garver, who served as NASA’s deputy administrator during the Obama administration, said in an interview that she hoped this moment would have come sooner. But she also said she was “really pleased with how, even in the pandemic, much attention and excitement there is for it.”

The United States sent astronauts to the moon in the 1960s and 1970s and then built the world’s only space shuttle fleet for trips into and out of orbit. But the destruction of the shuttle Columbia in a 2003 accident eventually left NASA dependent on costly Russian spacecraft to ferry astronauts to and from the International Space Station.

If a private company can loft humans to orbit today, why not the moon next or Mars some years in the future? A successful launch could ignite a future long imagined by science fiction writers in which space is a destination for more and more people.

Almost everything about the journey to space scheduled on Wednesday is different from earlier eras of human spaceflight.

The launchpad at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida where the mission will blast off — the same one used by the last shuttle mission in 2011 — has been rebuilt to handle Mr. Musk’s Falcon 9 rocket.

Crew Dragon Demo-2

Demo-2 also referred to as SpaceX Demonstration Mission 2 or Crew Dragon Demo-2 is a planned first crewed test flight of the Crew Dragon spacecraft, scheduled for launch to the International Space Station on 27 May 2020 at 20:33:33 UTC

Demo-2 Mission

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and SpaceX are all set for the Demo-2 mission which is scheduled for 27th May, 2020 from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA.

• Demo-2 Mission will send astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS).

Key Points

• Under the Mission, astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley will 
• dock with ISS and then remain there for between one to four months, depending on the
•  time of next mission.
• It is a part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, which is a partnership to develop
•  and fly 
• human space transportation systems.
• SpaceX spacecraft named Crew Dragon will be used to take them into space.
  
• It will be only the fifth class of US spacecraft to take human beings
•  into orbit, after the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and Space Shuttle programs.

Instead of riding to the spacecraft in Astrovan, a modified Airstream motor home that NASA used to transport shuttle crews, Mr. Hurley and Mr. Behnken will take a trip in a gull-winged Model X S.U.V., manufactured by Mr. Musk’s other major company, Tesla.

Wearing stylish SpaceX spacesuits, the two will walk across a sleek walkway about 230 feet above the ground to board the SpaceX-built capsule, which sits on top of the Falcon 9.

This launch will be the first time a private company and not a governmental space agency will be in charge of sending astronauts to orbit. Even though the passengers are still NASA astronauts, and the agency’s officials certainly could call off the launch if they saw something concerning, it is a SpaceX control room with SpaceX employees scanning the monitors who will be directing the launch.

“We’re really looking to be a customer to SpaceX, and to other companies, in the future,” said James Morhard, NASA’s deputy administrator. “That’s what we’re trying to do is to create an expanse, really expand the economy in low-Earth orbit. That’s really what this is about.”

Already, two companies have announced plans to buy launches in SpaceX’s capsule, the Crew Dragon, to take non-NASA passengers to space. Those missions might fly as soon as a year from now. One would take space tourists on a visit to the International Space Station; the other would be a trip on an elliptical orbit around Earth that might view the planet from an altitude two to three times as high as the space station’s orbit. Tom Cruise has even expressed interest in using the space station for a film.

A successful launch could also instill confidence that a similar approach will work for the lunar landers NASA hopes will be needed to take astronauts to the surface of the moon as soon as 2024. One of the proposals NASA is financing is from SpaceX for a giant spacecraft called Starship that the company hopes to eventually send to Mars.

Bihar Board 10th Result 2020: Check Bihar Board 10th results, 80.59 percent remained successful | currentalks

New Delhi, Online Desk. Bihar Board 10th Result 2020: The results of the board exam conducted in class 10 in the state of Bihar have been announced. A total of 80.59 percent students were successful in the examination. Students can see their results on the official website, onlinebseb.in and biharboardonline.com. Students can check the results of Bihar Board 10th with the help of their roll number and roll code on the websites of the board.

The update related to the release of Bihar Board 10th Result 2020 was released yesterday by the committee, according to which the results were to be announced at 12.30 pm today.

Also, apart from every time, this time the press conference was not organized to announce the result in the light of the lockdown implemented due to corona virus epidemic but send press release and other details related to the announcement of the exam on behalf of Bihar Education Minister. Given.

Students who appeared in the Bihar Board's 10th examinations, can check their Bihar Matric result 2020 and 10th score card on the official websites of the board. Students can also check their mark sheet through the direct link given below.

To check Bihar Board 10th Result 2020, after visiting the official website, students will have to click on the link of Bihar Matric Result 2020 given above on the home page. After this, the Bihar Class 10 Board Exam 2020 result page will be open. On the result page, students have to fill their roll code, roll number and captcha code and click on the 'View' button. After this, students will be able to see their result and also, the scores of different subjects i.e. Bihar 10th Board Result 2020 score card can be printed.

check bihar board results with this link

The examinations for Class 10 students were conducted by the Bihar Board in February 2020. A total of 15,29,393 candidates appeared in the Bihar Board 10th Examination 2020.

POLITICO Playbook: Happy Memorial Day|currentalks

THE PRESIDENT’S MEMORIAL DAY MESSAGES, on Twitter this
morning: 8:16 a.m.: “HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY!” … 8:18 a.m.: “TRANSITION
TO GREATNESS! Get ready, it is already happening again!” … retweet of 11:06
p.m. tweet: “OBAMAGATE” … retweet of another 11:06 p.m. tweet:
“MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” … And this image

SOME MEMORIAL DAY fronts: L.A. Times: “REMEMBERING THE
FALLEN” … Sacramento Bee: “Veterans home could close due to
budget cuts” … The Desert Sun (Palm Springs, Calif.): “HONORING
THEIR COURAGE” … Chicago Tribune: “They survived wars, died of
virus” … Boston Herald: “SALUTE THE FALLEN” … N.Y. Post:
“Mourning in America” … Columbus Dispatch: “THE FLAG THEY
FOUGHT FOR”

INSIDE THE OVAL, from JOHN BRESNAHAN and JAKE: Sen. RICHARD SHELBY (R-Ala.) -- the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee -- went to see President DONALD TRUMP Tuesday to talk about spending bills for 2021.

SHELBY’S PRIORITY in visiting the White House was to convince the
president to declare the VA Mission Act as emergency spending. The program --
which allows veterans see doctors in their communities rather than the VA -- costs
$12.5 billion or so each year, and declaring it an emergency would remove it from
the budget’s bottom line, thus giving SHELBY additional money to spend on
other priorities.

IN THE MIDDLE OF THE CONVERSATION, TRUMP dialed House
Minority Leader KEVIN MCCARTHY to see what “My Kevin” -- his name for the California Republican -- thought. The president and his aides knew what
MCCARTHY thought: He’d be opposed.

MCCARTHY immediately said no, and he and SHELBY got into a heated
conversation over federal spending. MCCARTHY and SHELBY have a bit of bad blood. MCCARTHY fought SHELBY over funding for harbor dredging, and
SHELBY tried to complicate California water projects.

THE CALL LASTED for roughly 20 minutes. When SHELBY returned to the
Capitol, he told reporters that the president was “neutral” on his priority.
MCCARTHY believes TRUMP is on his side. It’s a telling yet familiar episode
about governing in the era of TRUMP. The president revels in stoking rivalries,
and lawmakers are left wondering where he stands. More: Sarah Ferris on Congress’s agenda

STATE OF THE WORLD … AP/ATHENS, GREECE: “Americans prepared to mark a Memorial Day like no other as the coronavirus pandemic upended traditional commemorations, while Greece sought to revive its crucial tourism sector by restoring ferry services to its popular Aegean islands. …

“Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe lifted a coronavirus state of emergency in Tokyo and four other remaining areas on Monday, but said that does not mean the end of the outbreak. He also unveiled a new stimulus package worth about 100 trillion yen ($930 billion) to provide financial support for pandemic-hit companies. That’s on top of an initial, 117 trillion yen package.”

“The report, delivered on the Sunday deadline lawmakers had set for federal health officials to submit a national testing strategy, doubles down on the administration’s stance that individual states, not the federal government, should bear primary responsibility for carrying out diagnostic tests to help curb the pandemic.”

Elon Musk, Grimes slightly tweak baby’s name| currentalks

Elon Musk and Grimes tweaked their baby’s unusual name -- but not by much.

Musk, the CEO of Tesla, and Grimes, a singer, decided to comply with California health codes and the state constitution, which says only the 26 alphabetical characters of the English language can be used, USA Today reported.

“Roman numerals,” Grimes said. “Looks better tbh ... one dash is allowed.”

Musk shared photos of his newborn son on May 5, a day after Grimes gave birth, People reported.

After the couple announced the boy’s name, California officials said the unusual name was not allowed.

“A name like ‘X Æ A-12’ would not be allowed,” Matt Conens, of the Office of Public Affairs of the California Department of Public Health, wrote in an email to USA Today. “Vital records must be completed with the 26 alphabetical characters of the English language and appropriate punctuation such as hyphens, apostrophes, periods, and commas.”

Those rules are spelled out in the department’s handbook.

So, what does the baby’s name mean?

Grimes, whose real name is Claire Elise Boucher, said the "X" stands for “the unknown variable,” CNN reported. "Æ" is the Elven spelling of AI, or shorthand for artificial intelligence and the word for “love” in several languages, including Japanese.

“A-12 = precursor to SR-17 (our favorite aircraft). No weapons, no defenses, just speed. Great in battle, but non-violent,” Grimes said.

What If the Earth Was Flat? | currentalks

What If the Earth Was Flat?

The Earth is a sphere. This is a simple fact that humans have known for thousands of years; it was incontrovertibly confirmed as soon as the Soviet Union launched the Sputnik 1 satellite in 1957 and it went … you know ... around the globe. 

Nevertheless, a small but vocal group of people who insist that the world is flat — so-called flat-Earthers — have emerged online in recent years, and they seem to be sowing doubt about this most basic aspect of reality. Many flat-Earthers put a great deal of effort into concocting alternative explanations for why the world behaves as if it's round when it's actually flat — even though a spherical Earth clearly fits the observations humans have made about the planet over the last few millennia.  

However, if Earth, somehow, were truly flat, it would not behave much like the planet we know today. In fact, humanity (and everything else) would be very, very dead. 

To shape a cosmic body into a disk (rather than a sphere), you've got to spin it very fast, says David Stevenson, a planetary scientist at Caltech in Pasadena, California. This would, unfortunately, destroy the planet by tearing it into tiny particles. In the 1850s, astronomer James Clerk Maxwell showed mathematically that a solid, disk-like shape isn't a stable configuration in the cosmos, in work he conducted regarding Saturn's rings. Maxwell's research predicted that Saturn's rings would be made of lots of small, unconnected particles; he turned out to be right. His math also explains why there are no planet-size disks floating around the galaxy.

To flatten Earth without spinning it very rapidly, you'd need magic, or perhaps a galactic panini press. At any rate, a stamped-flat Earth wouldn't last for long. Within a few hours, the force of gravity would press the planet back into a spheroid. Gravity pulls equally from all sides, which explains why planets are spheres (or nearly so – depending on the speed of a planet's rotation, those forces may work against gravity to create a bit of a bulge at the equator). A stable, solid disk-like Earth just isn’t possible under the actual conditions of gravity, as Maxwell’s math showed. 

And once you get rid of gravity, everything about our planet rapidly stops making sense. 

The atmosphere? Gone, because it's held to the planet by gravity. Tides? Gone. They're caused by the gravitational pull of the moon, which tugs on the oceans and causes them to subtly bulge out as it swings by. 

The moon itself? Also gone, since every explanation of the moon's existence involves gravity. In the most widely accepted scenario, the moon was created when a giant, planet-size body crashed into the early Earth; debris from the crash was captured by Earth's gravity. Another scenario suggests that the moon formed at the same time as Earth did (again, thanks to gravity). Or, Earth's formidable gravity attracted and snagged the traveling hunk of space rock as it went hurtling by.