The land of lost content, Rob Hann

De paardensport is niet goedkoop: voor een sportpaard betaal je al gauw duizenden euro’s. Bij Hippisch Centrum Hoogvliet in Rotterdam verzonnen ze enkele jaren geleden een bijzondere manier om aan het paarden-geld te komen. Voor de aankoop van ‘Miss Bottle’ werd 2.500 euro aan statiegeld verzameld. “En we gaan opnieuw sparen.”

De paardensport is niet goedkoop: voor een sportpaard betaal je al gauw duizenden euro’s. Bij Hippisch Centrum Hoogvliet in Rotterdam verzonnen ze enkele jaren geleden een bijzondere manier om aan het paarden-geld te komen. Voor de aankoop van ‘Miss Bottle’ werd 7.500 euro aan statiegeld verzameld. “En we gaan opnieuw sparen.”

Trans Women In Sports? Quoth Julia Serano: "...Trans sports bans are not intended to be some kind of concession or compromise position. Rather, they are a stepping stone toward further bans and restrictions. This is why trans people almost unanimously oppose them. And it's why you should too. That's everything that the average person needs to know about the issue of trans people and sports. So you can stop reading now if you wish." But if you don't wish, why not engage with some essays about the subject by trans authors!

A brief history of the policing of Trans Women In Sports. The production of trans feminine play as a legitimate target is an important caveat to the broader post-WWII history of play, where the activity itself and, eventually, a "right to play" was tied to childhood. Psychology, the behavioral sciences, sociology and anthropology increasingly agreed that children are not just generally playful, but that play is vital to healthy human development. Play was universalized as a good in itself for children, to the point where limitations on children's play, or the withdrawal of the ability to play, became a focus for child advocates. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child adopted in 1990 explicitly includes as Article 31 "the right of the child to rest and leisure, to engage in play and recreational activities appropriate to the age of the child." But this universal trajectory of play buries the negation of so many children whose play has long been cast as developmentally improper, like trans girls. Okay but why should we allow TRANS WOMEN in SPORTS?!? The reason that the sports ban breaks my heart is because when I see trans youth I see everything that I was denied. Society denied me a girlhood, and for a brief moment in the 2010s I saw trans girls who got to just be girls, who got to grow up right. It was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. I don't think I'll ever be able to express in words how much I just wanted to be one of the girls as a kid, or just how grateful I am to the girls who tried to let me. I'm eternally grateful for the girls who let me paint my nails with them in the corner, who helped me put on makeup after I made it to school. I'm eternally grateful for goth, which told me it was okay to genderbend. But it would have been cool to be on the field hockey team too. It's fun to get good at things. It's fun to get to use our bodies. It's fun to do all of those things together with other people. Yeah but what about Trans Women... In Sports? If these efforts were really about saving or protecting women's sports, we'd actually devote time, energy, and money to invest in the infrastructure that women's sports needs. We'd pay athletes better so that they don't have to work while also training to be an elite athlete. We'd rout out sexual harassers and abusers. We've invest in better clothing and gear for girls and women at all ages and levels of sport. We'd invest in more research so that we can keep athletes healthy and injury free. We'd pay journalists to cover women's sports, and not just the fluff stories. We'd continue to invest in grassroots efforts to bring sports and physical activity to more girls and women, not fewer. We'd do so much more. So what can we do for Trans Women In Sports? By transitioning, everyone on the field has already chosen a more difficult, more fulfilling way of living. Gender dysphoria—the feeling that transition erodes—felt like being stuck in a lifelong hitting slump that only I had noticed. When I started transitioning, I knew I was taking the right steps, but each one mortified me. The first dozen times I attempted makeup or shopped for clothes felt like desperate tweaks to my swing: It didn't improve anything, and I only felt like I looked more ridiculous. Breaking out of the slump requires accepting that you might whiff and stepping up to the plate anyway. That first time your eyeliner is symmetrical, or a bra fits right, or a stranger calls you "ma'am"—that's a line drive up the middle. Cis women who play baseball are also choosing a more difficult path. In youth sports, they're usually pushed toward softball and away from baseball. Over the past decade, women, especially at the collegiate level, have been chipping away at the "grass ceiling" of the traditionally male baseball world, so it's not like they're depending upon a few dozen New York transsexuals to finally break into sports traditionally reserved for men. (That's not what we're trying to accomplish, anyway.) But if we can show trans women—with all of our baggage—that baseball can be for us, then maybe that can expand the experiences of womanhood for all women, too. Solidarity! Solidarity with Trans Women In Sports! USA Rugby's decision to change its bylaws was, on paper, a massive blow to trans women on the Baltimore-based Flamingos. For years the club made it a point to aggressively recruit trans men and women, and trans players on the Ferals wondered whether the policy change would force the end of their burgeoning rugby careers. But what happened after the ban was illuminating. Across the country, many teams refused to comply. "We're not asking for permission to be here," said former Flamingos president Val Pizzo, a trans man and leader in rugby's pro-trans movement. "We're playing." Wait what was that about Trans... MEN? in SPORTS? As a kid who didn't quite fit in, I always found safety and stability among my teammates. When the weight of the outside world felt like it was too heavy for a teenager struggling with identity, I knew that for an hour each day, I could leave it all outside the rink and just play hockey. Then in my 30s, while fighting for sobriety and battling depression, outreach from my college teammates saved my life: They made overt gestures, like flying to Maine when I was approaching rock bottom just so we could lie in a hotel bed, eat Thai food, and watch trashy reality TV. They messaged me on the daily group text where we offer support and accountability. So what comes next? TRANS WOMEN IN SPORTS?!? The news last week that the NCAA — the governing body of college sports — decided to outright ban trans athletes from competition, complying preemptively with an Executive Order from the Trump administration, which they did not actually have to do, might seem a bit mind-boggling. Why go after sports on top of doing its damndest to legislate trans people out of existence altogether? And why did the NCAA go along with this so easily? Especially when, by the NCAA's own admission there are "less than 10" transgender athletes out of the NCAA's 510,000? Well, because transphobia in sports is how we got here. What's extremely frustrating about this moment — as many of my fellow journalists on this beat have expressed recently, Frankie de la Cretaz, Julie Kliegman, Lindsay Gibbs, Christine Yu, to name a few — is that, those of us who have been watching the culture war boil up and over in the past 7 years have been telling you, if we weren't careful, this is exactly what would happen. Sports was the soil that this culture war took root in.

Explosion in ticketing and hospitality revenue goes along with a Fifa desire to recoup lost TV income in future deals

As is often the case, it has been left to Donald Trump to say the quiet bit out loud. “We have to do this again and we have to do it while I’m around, you hear that Gianni?” the US president told Fox News in an interview broadcast in the buildup to the World Cup final.

An American bid for the 2038 World Cup has been the talk of the hotel lobbies populated by administrators from around the world over the past month, who have watched this country’s seemingly limitless appetite for major events and willingness to pay whatever it takes to attend them.

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Componist Micheal Nyman kent u misschien niet, zijn muziek heeft u vast wel eens gehoord. Bijvoorbeeld in de films The Piano (1993), The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989). Drowning by Numbers (1988) en de Japanse animatiefilm The Diary of Anne Frank (1995).

Verder heeft hij een indrukwekkend oeuvre met composities in diverse bezettingen en schreef hij als liefhebber van opera’s graag voor dat medium.

“In Re Don Giovanni” is gebaseerd op de eerste zestien maten van de aria “Madamina, il catalogo è questo” (uit Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni en bekend als het Cataloguslied), waarin Leporello, de bediende van Don Giovanni (Don Juan) opsomt hoeveel vrouwen de rokkenjager in diverse landen zou hebben “veroverd”.

Nyman’s werk is in 1977 geschreven voor de Campiello Band, (later de Michael Nyman Band geheten en die u in deze Closing Time aan het spelen ziet). “In Re” verwijst naar de toonsoort en betekent niets anders dan “In D”(ofwel in D-groot of in D-majeur).

Voor wie het leuk vindt: luister hier naar de versie voor de Campiello Band en zoek de verschillen.

A federal judge has temporarily paused the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger after a 12-state coalition led by California argued the deal would violate antitrust law. The 14-day restraining order (PDF) preserves the status quo while the court considers a preliminary injunction, which could effectively determine whether the merger survives. Variety reports: "Plaintiff States' showing at least demonstrates that serious questions going to the merits remain, weighing in favor of preliminary injunctive relief," the judge wrote, adding that Paramount has acknowledged it will not be harmed by the delay until the end of September. "Paramount and Warner Bros. will continue to operate as separate, viable companies competing in the marketplace while they wait for the Court to adjudicate this case. The balance of equities, combined with the public's vital interest in antitrust enforcement, therefore tips sharply in favor of the requested injunctive relief."

The 12-state coalition, led by California, brought a motion for the temporary restraining order. The states are also seeking a preliminary injunction, which would block the merger until the judge rules on the merits of the states' lawsuit. The 14-day restraining order could be extended to as long as 28 days. Martinez-Olguin, of the U.S. District Court for Northern District of California in Oakland, also set a hearing on the preliminary injunction for Aug. 3, though that date, too, could be delayed if the parties agree. Rob Bonta, the attorney general of California, hailed the judge's ruling as a "critical first win in our case to ensure this megamerger never sees the light of day." "History tells the tale of what happens when a few people have great power over markets that are central to Americans' lives: fewer opportunities for more people, worse products and services for all people," Bonta said. "With our lawsuit, we're fighting for a free and fair market and a thriving film and television industry that serves creatives and audiences alike. We have a full tank of gas, the law on our side, and look forward to continuing to make our case."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Een nieuwe zwermdrone, maar dan niet in het formaat van een zwermdrone. Anduril draait om efficiënte massaproductie en de volledig elektrische 'Thunder' tiltrotor wordt de wingman van de Amerikaanse helikoptervloot, inclusief die aanstaande bemande tiltrotor de Bell MV-75 Cheyenne II, die de legendarische Blackhawk vervangt. De Thunder is gebouwd in samenwerking met tiltrotorbedrijf Archer, en komt in zowel een civiele transport- als militaire gevechtsversie. De militaire versie wordt beschreven als: "Group 5 autonomous attack rotorcraft specifically designed to multiply the combat power and increase the survivability of current and next-generation crewed attack and assault aircraft. Thunder is equipped with the payload capacity and open architecture required to deliver overwhelming effects for any mission, engineered with the survivability, speed and range critical for the deep fight, and built on flight-proven autonomy that enables validated, high-performance teaming with crewed assets." Dat 'Group 5' verwijst naar de grootte van het toestel en mate van vluchtautonomie van de drone, en is de hoogste categorie. Heel veel foto's en een anime-filmpje waarin een Thunder zichzelf op een raket stort om een bemande Apache te redden, na de breek.

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CARACAS (ANP/AFP) - Drie mensen in Venezuela zijn overleden nadat zij het hantavirus hadden opgelopen. Dat meldt het ministerie van Volksgezondheid van dat land. Het voegde eraan toe dat er geen aanwijzingen zijn dat het gaat om een besmetting van mens op mens.

Een uitbraak van de zogenoemde Andesvariant van het hantavirus in april, die opdook op het Nederlandse cruiseschip m/v Hondius, leidde wereldwijd tot grote zorgen. Drie opvarenden overleden aan de gevolgen van het virus, dat onder meer tot longklachten leidt.

Een grootscheepse repatriëringsactie op Tenerife, gevolgd door vele bron- en contactonderzoeken en quarantaines, moest toen worden opgetuigd om opvarenden weer thuis te krijgen. De Hondius deed onder meer Argentinië aan, waar een rattensoort leeft die het virus kan dragen. De Andesvariant is in zeldzame gevallen van mens op mens overdraagbaar.

Venezuela meldde niet om welke variant het ging. Begin juli verklaarde de WHO de hantauitbraak die begon op de Hondius als ingedamd.