Are there people in your life who refuse to believe that you can dunk a basketball? Get ready to watch your doubters asphyxiate in egg on their face thanks to this sports equipment company’s genius new product: Spalding has released a new backboard with a receipt printer to provide players with Proof Of Dunk.

How cool is that?! Spalding said, “Dunks With Documentation?” and dunkers said “Si, si, señora, por favor!”

Hitting store shelves this week is Spalding’s new ‘Regulation-Size Backboard With Proof Of Dunk Printer,’ a glass basketball backboard featuring an attached small printer that prints a receipt as verification of slam dunk. The backboard’s rim comes equipped with motion and audio sensor technology, so receipts can display stats about whether the dunk was one or two-handed, how long the player held on to the rim after dunking, and the decibel level of spectator reactions to the dunk. Plus, dangling from the backboard on a rope is a Spalding-branded ballpoint pen that players can use to sign the ‘Dunker’s Signature’ line at the receipt’s bottom.

“Whether you’re stunting at a local pick-up game or just hooping alone in your driveway, Spalding will prepare your Documented Evidence Of Dunk before you land back on the court after letting go of the hoop,” promises Spalding on the product’s packaging copy, which includes the slogan ‘Spalding Dunkers Bring Receipts.’ “Next time someone accuses you of lying about being able to dunk a basketball, watch them shove their own foot in their mouth deeper and deeper until their groin smushes against their lips when they realize…you’re a Spalding Dunker, so you Bring Receipts.”

Absolutely awesome. Spalding is truly a doubted dunker’s greatest ally. 

A spokesperson for Spalding says the brand is currently in talks with the NBA to install Proof Of Dunk backboards on professional basketball courts, possibly as soon as the next season. As fans of dunk, we sure hope that’s the case. Props to Spalding for believing that no dunk should go undocumented and doing something about it!

AMSTERDAM (ANP) - De AEX-index op het Damrak is woensdag vrijwel vlak de handel uitgegaan. Bij de hoofdfondsen behoorden de chipbedrijven tot de grote verliezers. Beleggers zijn in afwachting van de kwartaalresultaten van het Amerikaanse chipconcern Nvidia die later op de dag verschijnen.

De cijfers van deze marktleider in chips voor toepassingen met kunstmatige intelligentie zijn een belangrijke graadmeter voor de hele AI-sector. ASMI daalde 0,7 procent en ASML daalde 0,2 procent.

De AEX-index in Amsterdam ging met een min van 0,1 procent de markt uit, op 1107,76 punten. De MidKap, met daarin de middelgrote fondsen aan het Damrak, eindigde vrijwel onveranderd op 1118,02 punten. In Frankfurt, Parijs en Londen stegen de koersen tot 0,3 procent.

ROQUETES (ANP) - Wielrenner Matthew Brennan heeft de vijfde etappe van de Vuelta gewonnen. De 21-jarige Brit van Visma-Lease a Bike was na ruim 173 kilometer tussen Falset en Roquetes de snelste in de sprint.

Brennan won eerder ook al de tweede etappe. Hij bekroonde in Roquetes het uitstekende werk van zijn ploeggenoten Wout van Aert en Christophe Laporte, die hem naar de streep loodsten. De Belg Jordi Meeus werd tweede, voor de Italiaan Vincenzo Albanese.

De rode trui van de Sloveen Tadej Pogačar, die dinsdag de Vuelta naar zijn hand zette met een lange solo, kwam niet in gevaar. Hij heeft in het algemeen klassement een voorsprong van 3.21 op zijn landgenoot en viervoudig Vuelta-winnaar Primož Roglič.

Voor de voet

Na etappes in Monaco, Frankrijk en Andorra was de vijfde rit de eerste in Spanje. Gezien het relatief vlakke parcours met slechts één klim van de derde categorie op 25 kilometer van de streep, maakten de sprinters zich op voor hun tweede kans. De laatste vluchter was al voor de voet van de beklimming teruggepakt, waarna niemand op het bergje een poging waagde om te ontsnappen.

Donderdag rijden de renners van Alcossebre naar Castellón de la Plana, een rit over ruim 177 kilometer met vier beklimmingen.

A prolific performer across stage, screen and TV, the actor starred in Legend, Clue and It, but will always be associated with the flamboyantly camp rock’n’roll musical in which he made his breakthrough

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Tim Curry, the versatile performer of screen and stage, who made his name as the flamboyant Dr Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Show, has died aged 80. Reports say Curry died at his home in Los Angeles.

Ironically, Curry’s best-known roles all required a considerable physical transformation, to the extent that he was unrecognisable in all of them. Frank-N-Furter, Rocky Horror’s deranged scientist, saw him daubed in garish makeup and wearing stockings and suspenders, for the stage show (which debuted in 1973) and the film adaptation (released in 1975). In the Ridley Scott-directed fantasy Legend (1985), he was equipped with giant horns and scarlet skin as the Lord of Darkness. And in 1990, Curry was transformed with full-face clown pancake to play Pennywise in the TV miniseries It, based on the Stephen King novel.

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Insecure Men singer has now been dropped by his record label and had tour dates cancelled after two women shared allegations about his behaviour

Saul Adamczewski of Insecure Men and formerly of Fat White Family has been dropped by his record label and had tour dates cancelled after two women shared allegations of physical and emotional abuse against the musician.

One woman said that the pair had a short relationship that resulted in a pregnancy, after which, she alleged, Adamczewski “made it his duty to make me suffer. He has been violent, pushed me, thrown glass bottles at me, showered me with beer […] insulted me, taken my passport from me, stolen my money and more, all while I had our baby.”

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The platitudes, euphemisms and cliches are excruciating. But the people who say nothing at all are the worst

Luckily, I already knew having a comic thought at a tragic moment is a natural stress response, or I might have worried. My mum has died, making me an orphan – and what first popped into my head was how annoyed Larry David would be.

In Curb Your Enthusiasm, when Marty Funkhouser’s mother’s wheelchair was run over by a car, he proclaimed himself an orphan. David informed him he was too old to be an orphan. Funkhouser insisted that if your parents are dead, you’re an orphan.

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Ze vallen bij bosjes: acteur Tim Curry is dood. De cultkenners kennen hem natuurlijk van The Rocky Horror Picture Show, anderen van nachtmerries over enge clowns, als de ontvoerende engerd uit Annie, of als een van de 239 andere rollen die hij vertolkte, wat sowieso opvallend vaak engerds waren. Het laatste hoofdstuk van zijn leven werd getekend door een beroerte, waardoor hij in een rolstoel terechtkwam en niet meer goed kon praten. Zonde, want hij had een geweldig stem. Goeie kop ook. RIP.

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Medical device maker Boston Scientific’s global operations have been disrupted by an ongoing cyberattack, the company disclosed on Wednesday. According to an SEC filing, the “cybersecurity incident” affecting its IT systems started on Tuesday, and resulted in a “global disruption to the company’s operations.” Upon detecting the digital intruders, the company began an investigation with third-party infosec experts who are working to contain the threat, the filing says. The medtech firm did not immediately respond to The Register’s inquiries, including if this was a ransomware infection and what data, if any, the criminals stole after breaking into the IT systems. “The incident has caused, and is expected to continue to cause, disruptions and limitations of access to certain of the company’s information systems and business applications that support aspects of the Company’s operations, including the ability to process and ship customer orders,” Boston Scientific reported to federal regulators. The company doesn’t have a timeline for full restoration, and noted the “full scope, nature and impacts, including operational and financial impacts” of the cyberattack remain unknown. The news did, however, send Boston Scientific shares spiraling down more than 4% on Wednesday morning. At press time, none of the usual suspects had claimed responsibility for the attack. In recent months, both ransomware/extortion gangs and government-backed hackers have disrupted other medtech firms’ operations and stolen sensitive data. In March, Stryker was hit by a cyber crew with ties to Iran's intelligence agency, causing a global network outage at the company. A month later, medical-device maker Medtronic disclosed a cyberattack in a filing with federal regulators. Notorious data-theft-and-extortion group ShinyHunters claimed to be behind this intrusion, and the company in July warned patients that their names, contact details, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, and health information was stolen in the breach. ®

Tom Meighan

Tom Meighan