The bill did not go through the normal procedures for legislation that seeks to change Delaware corporate law, according to Boston College corporate law professor Brian JM Quinn. For decades, such legislation has been drafted, debated and reviewed by the Delaware State Bar Association's Corporation Law Council before it goes to the legislature, he said. The council, which includes attorneys with a wide range of clients and interests, was not consulted on this bill before it was filed, Quinn said.
After CNBC published this story, Delaware Secretary of State Charuni Patibanda-Sanchez said in an e-mailed statement that Meyer has requested a review of the proposed legislation and "looks forward to viewing a final product that meets the evolving needs of all our stakeholders."
Under the proposed legislation, Musk might no longer be considered a "controller" of Tesla, Quinn said. That's because Musk does not currently hold one-third of Tesla's voting securities, which would be the requirement under the proposed legislation. Those transactions range from going-private deals, to mergers and acquisitions, to board and executive compensation decisions.
"The real role of corporate law is to protect minority investors," Quinn said. "With this bill, the legislature is saying, 'Now, you know what? Protect them less.'"
The Phalanx was the superior close order battle formation of antiquity until the time of the Romans. Its soldiers wore heavy metallic armor and carried thrusting spears and swords for attacking the enemy at close quarters. While the armor would have been useful in single combat, it became much more lethal in formation.
The origin of the phalanx is not known, but when adopted by the Greeks it became superior to any alternative from the time of Marathon to 197 B.C, when the Greeks were defeated by a Roman javelin and sword army.
Historical evidence suggests that the hoplite armor (chest corslet, helmet, and greaves) developed at about the same time (circa 650 B.C.), and that the phalanx resulted from the armor, not the reverse. The shield predated the other equipment and is of particular importance because the way its use evolved over time.
The proposed legislation would also limit the kinds of documents that minority stakeholders are able to obtain through "books and records" inspection requests, Quinn said. Those stakeholders would be limited to formal items such as a certificate of incorporation or minutes of stockholder meetings but they'd lose access to informal communications such as emails or other messages between board members and executives, Quinn said.
After the Court of Chancery's ruling last year, Musk started a campaign to persuade companies not to incorporate in Delaware and moved the site of incorporation for his businesses out of the state. He has aimed his ire at McCormick with repeated and disparaging posts about her on X, his social network.
Originally the shield was carried with the left hand only, but when metal was added to make it stronger, it became too heavy for one hand. The Mycenaeans were the first to add a telemon (strap) which passed over the shoulder and helped support the shield. Later, the Greeks developed a more efficient design by fitting a metal strap (porpax) on the inside of the shield. The hoplite passed his arm through the porpax and then gripped the handle. While the single grip shield offered protection of any part of the body, the hoplite shield could only protect the left side. Also with the left hand unavailable, the hoplite would have to use a thrusting spear in his right hand. Perhaps these limitations pointed to the need for a battle formation that offered protection for the individual while creating a powerful offensive weapon.
Other business leaders have also criticized the Delaware judiciary. Pershing Square CEO Bill Ackman and Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong both complained about Delaware's "activist judges" earlier this month on X.
"Delaware has taken some heat for supposedly being too hard on controller transactions," said Renee Zaytsev, partner at Boies Schiller and co-chair of the firm's securities and shareholder dispute practice.
"These amendments seem to be a course correction that would make it significantly easier for boards and controllers to avoid judicial scrutiny of their transactions," she said.
Tesla and Musk did not respond to requests for comment.
Darnell has been studying the protein – called NOVA1 and known to be crucial to brain development – since the early 1990s. For the latest research, scientists in his lab at New York's Rockefeller University used CRISPR gene editing to replace the NOVA1 protein found in mice with the exclusively human type to test the real-life effects of the genetic variant. To their surprise, it changed the way the animals vocalized when they called out to each other.
Baby mice with the human variant squeaked differently than normal littermates when their mom came around. Adult male mice with the variant chirped differently than their normal counterparts when they saw a female in heat.
Both are settings where mice are motivated to speak, Darnell said, "and they spoke differently" with the human variant, illustrating its role in speech.
And then we have the poetry of Tyrtaios, referenced in a previous post, who described the Spartans in battle. Remember he is contemporary to the Second Messenian War.
"For those who, remaining beside one another, dare to go into the hand-to-hand fight and the front rank, fewer die, and they preserve the people behind them. But of men who have begun to tremble every excellence is lost, and no one would ever finish speaking all the ills which happen to a man if he suffers something shameful. For attractive it is to split from behind the back of a fleeing man in hostile war, but shameful is a corpse lying in the dust with the head of a spear driven through its back.
Darnell hopes the recent work not only helps people better understand their origins but also eventually leads to new ways to treat speech-related problems.
University of Minnesota's Finestack said it is more likely the genetic findings might someday allow scientists to detect, very early in life, who might need speech and language interventions.
But let a man, having taken his stride, remain in his place, firmly set upon the earth, biting his lip with his teeth and covering thighs and legs below and chest and shoulders with the wide belly of his shield. In his right hand let me brandish a might spear, and let him move the dread helmet crest above his head. By doing mighty deeds let him learn to make war, and let him not stand apart from the missiles holding his shield. But let someone going into the hand-to-hand fight with long spear or wounding with sword take an enemy man, having placed foot against foot and leaned shield against shield, crest to crest, helmet to helmet, breast to breast, drawn close let him fight man to man, taking hold of the haft of his sword or his long spear.
And you, the unarmed ones, crouching beneath a shield, one on one side, another on the other, throw great rocks and cast smooth javelins against them, standing near the fully-armored men."
This is a picture of frightened Spartan hoplites trying to survive – not men Leonidas would admire. We’re getting an early picture of Spartan tactics before the Lycurgian reforms had taken hold.
We know that the Spartans fought poorly in the battle against the Argives in 669 B.C, so at some point after that (perhaps 650 B.C.), the decision was made to re-distribute land and build a real army. Unlike the changes to the government, the Spartan battle tactics took time to develop. Generations would have to pass through the agoge before the fighting machine was tuned. The Spartans were defeated at Tegea in the first quarter of the sixth century, but triumphant against the Argives in 544. Finally the Spartan phalanx had achieved superiority.
Astronomers have been calculating the likelihood of the asteroid hitting Earth with greater precision as they gather more data. It is estimated as being anywhere from 131 feet to 295 feet wide, with the potential of releasing the energy equivalent to almost 8 megatons of TNT, or 500 times the power of the atomic bomb the United States dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, during World War II, if it and the Earth collide.
The European Space Agency's odds of YR4 hitting Earth are a little lower than NASA's, at about 2.4%.
The increasing odds don't really mean that the asteroid has become more likely to hit Earth, as they may come down, Hugh Lewis at the University of Southampton, UK, told New Scientist.
One recalls the early scene from 300 when Leonidas travels to see the Ephors and they tell him he cannot take the army north to fight the Persians because he must “Honor the Carneia.” In actuality, the kings didn’t have to visit the Ephors on a mountain top, because they were Spartan citizens living in the city. Their term of office was one year so individual Ephors could never establish their own power base. In fact, on many occasions, private citizens were elected to the Ephorate so one did not need wealth or experience to be elected. Still by the time of Thermopylae, the Ephors could block a king’s attempt to wage war.
As Toynbee points out, the relationship between kings and Ephors is not critical to Spartan history, yet it is instructive to examine the expanding authority of the Ephorate as an example of an evolving political system.
However, time is running out to forecast the asteroid's risk, as it will fly behind the sun in April, where it will be out of view of most telescopes on Earth, which will limit how much predictions can be refined, he said.
"Any observations we can make between now and when it's out of view will obviously help us to refine the orbit and to make better predictions," said Lewis. "That doesn't necessarily mean that it will go down before April. It could continue to go up, but still ultimately miss us."
NASA has designated the asteroid as a level three on its Torino Scale since late January, reports The New York Post.
The Ephors began as a branch of the Spartan government during the period of the Lycurgian reforms (circa 650 B.C.), after previously acting as private advisors to the kings. The office lasted until 227 B.C. when King Kleomenes III abolished it.
The Ephors main political adversary was the kings, since they appear to have acquired power from the Assembly and Gerousia early on without much difficulty. But the kings fought against their growing political power and the strongest ones succeeded in containing them.
Kings had absolute power when on a campaign and the Ephors had no jurisdiction outside of Sparta, although a pair of them usually accompanied the king on his campaigns. They had no authority to interfere with the campaign or any political activities connected to it, but were known to gather information that could be used to prosecute the king when the conflict was over.
The scale measures the danger of Near Earth Objects (NEOs), meaning it is being considered as being a large item with a "close encounter, meriting attention by astronomers" and boasts a "1% or greater chance of collision capable of localized destruction."
For now, YR4's projected trajectory puts it in line of eight of the most populated cities in the world, including Bogota, Colombia; Mumbai and Chennai, India; and Lagos, Nigeria, putting about 110 million people at risk.
Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson is also warning about cutting science spending with the possibility that the city-killer asteroid could hit, reports The Post.
But the military sphere is not where the Ephors began their encroachment against the kings. Let us look at a few examples of what they were up to.
In Plutarch’s Kleomenes, it is stated that Asteropus was the first Ephor to infringe on the power of the kings, sometime prior to the mid-sixth century B.C. We don’t know exactly what he did; only that his influence was considerable. Here is the quote from Plutarch:
“He said that Lycurgus had blended the powers of senate and kings, and that for a long time the state was administered in this way and had no need of other officials. But later, when the Messenian war proved to be long, the kings, since their campaigns abroad left them no time to administer justice themselves, chose out some of their friends and left them behind to serve the citizens in their stead. These were called Ephors, or guardians, and as a matter of fact they continued at first to be assistants of the kings, but then gradually diverted the power into their own hands, and so, ere men were aware, established a magistracy of their own.
As proof of this, Cleomenes cited the fact that down to that day, when the Ephors summoned a king to appear before them, he refused to go at the first summons, and at the second, but at the third rose up and went with them; and he said that the one who first added weight to this office, and extended its powers, Asteropus, was Ephor many generations later.”
"At the moment, mansion-sized Asteroid 2024-YR4 has a one-in-fifty chance of hitting Earth in the next eight years. Now might be a bad time to reduce spending on Science. Just sayin'," Tyson said on X.
The National Science Foundation, an independent government agency and the nation's largest funder of scientific research has frozen its grant approval process and new spending following an executive order from President Donald Trump pausing all federal grants.
That order has been put on hold by a federal judge, but the NSF has not resumed its funding, after warnings in February that it should be ready to lose two-thirds of its funding and half of its staff.
The Royal Society has acknowledged the controversy, confirming a debate on March 3 to address the "principles around public pronouncements and behaviors of fellows." While the institution has not officially named Musk in its statements, the meeting is widely understood to be centered on his membership.
This is not the first time Musk's status within the Royal Society has sparked division. Last November, University of Oxford psychologist Dorothy Bishop resigned in protest, stating that she could no longer be part of an institution that honored Musk.
"I just feel far more comfortable to be dissociated from an institution that continues to honor this disreputable man," Bishop said, accusing Musk of modeling himself after a "Bond villain."
In the second and most quirky example, the Ephors began traveling to the Oracular shrine at Ino-Pasiphae every eight years for the purpose of stargazing. This practice could only have begun after the eight year calendar cycle was introduced to Greece at the end of the sixth century B.C. If, while stargazing, the Ephors noticed a shooting star, they had a right to put the king on trial. The king could avoid prosecution only if the Ephors received notice of his innocence from the Oracle at Olympia or Delphi. This mysterious ritual represented a gross infringement on the religious authority of the monarchs, because it linked the Ephors to the will of the gods.
In the third case, an Ephor named Khilon was known to have been in office circa 550 B.C. His reign was so notable it was marked by a shrine which was still in existence four hundred years after his death.
In growing their power over time, the Ephors took advantage of the dual monarchy by striking when the kings were at odds with each other. Famous for keeping themselves unified, the Ephors could make accusations against one of the kings without fear of a reprisal coming from the other. There are four documented cases in the fifth century B.C. where kings were put on trial for one reason or another, and by the time of the Persian Wars, the Ephors were managing Spartan foreign policy. Envoys from Athens, coming to Sparta to ask for its participation against the Persians at Plataea, met with the Ephors. In another example, the peace treaty ending the Archidamian War in 421 B.C. was signed by the Ephors.
Her departure was followed by the resignation of Andrew Miller, a University of Edinburgh biologist, who criticized the Royal Society's "inability to take proportionate action on Elon Musk's current promotion of disinformation and attacks on evidence-based policies and science advice."
Founded in 1660, the Royal Society is one of the world's most prestigious scientific academies. Past fellows include Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, and Albert Einstein.
Current members include Sir David Attenborough and Sir James Dyson. The institution has historically refrained from taking political stances, making the Musk controversy particularly sensitive.
What does this all mean? One can certainly see a similarity with the Roman Republic. There, the Etruscan Kings were overthrown and consuls substituted. These consuls were elected officials entrusted with the administration of the government. In the Ephors case, they drained power from the kings and became the administrators of Sparta. The result was a Polis with three branches of government: Damos (assembly or House of Representatives), Gerousia (elders or Senate), and the Ephors (consuls, presidents). Sparta had created a model political system for the future – balanced and representative of the competing interests of its people.
A key component added to the Spartan political system, as part of the reforms, was the Damos, or assembly of hoplites. Members of this body were called Homoioi, and to maintain that designation, an individual was required to make his assigned food contribution to the mess, carry out his military duties, and attend the meetings of the assembly.
This Damos, unlike most of the others, was not an aristocratic assembly, but rather one of peers. Originally consisting of Homoioi and Hypomeiones (inferiors), this class differentiation disappeared over time as the new system matured.
"I don't like what Musk is doing — it's reprehensible. But I also think he's an astounding person in terms of what he has contributed to engineering," an anonymous fellow told The Times. "The society would be hypocritical if it singled out and censured one person for things they have said and done."
Musk would be the first Royal Society fellow to be removed in over 150 years if expelled.
A final decision is expected following next month's meeting.
The Damos was a “Sparta only” political body, so it did not include enfranchised citizens from outside the city like other Greek Poleis. And there were certainly some eccentricities in its implementation. It did not include all of the Spartiatai (eligible Spartan citizens) or any Helots. Since all members were Hoplites, those outside the military were not represented.
Beyond these political changes, sat the redistribution of land as the practical force behind the leveling of the classes. New landowners found themselves better off than they had been previously, even though they could never really become peers of the wealthy.
The Damos was a “Sparta only” political body, so it did not include enfranchised citizens from outside the city like other Greek Poleis. And there were certainly some eccentricities in its implementation. It did not include all of the Spartiatai (eligible Spartan citizens) or any Helots. Since all members were Hoplites, those outside the military were not represented.
Beyond these political changes, sat the redistribution of land as the practical force behind the leveling of the classes. New landowners found themselves better off than they had been previously, even though they could never really become peers of the wealthy.
To balance the nobles being merged into the Damos, the kings were merged into the Gerousia. They were added as the twenty-ninth and thirtieth members, with no greater power than any of the other members save not having to stand for election. The kings other functions, besides leading their men into battle, were to oversee the maintenance of roads, approve adoptions, and select the men heiresses could be betrothed to.
These Lycurgian reforms must be considered a great achievement, though they only benefited a minority and were heavily dependent on the subjugation of the Helots. They would serve as a model for all future Poleis in Greece. Other democracies and the oligarchies that passed through an interim period of dictatorships, emerged on the other side with Sparta as the model for a stable and successful political system.
New York Giants roster rumors are up for discussion as NFL Free Agency approaches. The Giants will make some roster decision about who will be cut before the 2025 NFL season. After finishing the 2024 season with a 3-14 record the Giants will be looking to improve their roster. Giants Now host Marshall Green is here to discuss some possible cut candidates for the New York Giants and what the team’s salary cap situation would look like if they do deceive to cut ties with these players.
Kneon, Geeky Sparkles- I remember a while ago, maybe a year or two after Disney+ launched; Sly Stallone and Dolf Lundgren said they approached Disney with a pitch for a live action , family-friendly, action/adventure show, similar to Johnny Quest, or the Young Indiana Jones. Disney’s response (this was like ‘21-‘22), I kid you not, without even sitting down with them to talk about it, was “…thanks, but no thanks, we aren’t interested in ANY programming with a male lead or co-lead… Period.
This year QB class in the draft is weak asf trade down a few slots get some extra picks cause we have alot of needs and we dont have alot of cap space unless they cut or restructure contracts draft a QB in the 2nd or 3rd have holes at LB,WR,Safety, DL,QB but we cant go into the season with tyrod always hurt taylor and davis who hasn't even practiced yet cause he is still recovering from a brutal leg injury
Tyrtaios, the Attic poet, sent to Sparta by the Oracle to assist with the Second Messenian War, stated that the first war was fought by the grandfathers of the men who fought in the second war. That would put the timeframe of the second war at about 690 B.C. Technically his words were “the fathers of our fathers”, which could have been an imprecise use of the term, so the second war may have taken place in the middle of the seventh century.
The second war was not one of conquest but the putting down of a revolt. Toynbee suggests that it was the time of establishment of the Lycurgian reforms, not earlier as others have suggested. His reasoning was that the Spartan commoners would have demanded rights in return for their help in protecting the new kingdom.
Victor Davis Hanson discusses the misleading information about the first 30 days of the Trump administration’s actions, comparing it to FDR’s first hundred days. On this episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words,” Hanson describes the current period as a “Trump restoration” rather than a revolution, emphasizing it as a counterrevolution against the changes brought by the Obama administration.
“ We don't really appreciate what we've been through with eight years of the Obama revolution and the four-year, more radical third term of Obama using or employing the wax effigy of Joe Biden. A revolution that we've experienced was a cultural, economic, political, social revolution. It was very similar to the French Revolution under the Robespierre brothers. You should remember what they tried to do. They changed the days of the week. They renamed things. They tore down statues. They went after the churches. Does this sound familiar? …
“ So this was a revolutionary movement. Movies were different. Sports were different. Take a knee. And Donald Trump came in and it was not sufficient to say we’re going to stop the madness of $37 billion. … It’s a return to normalcy. It’s a return to common sense. It only looks revolutionary to revolutionaries. But to the rest of the people, it is a counterrevolution to restore normalcy and bring the country from the far-left fringes back home again.”
Tyrtaios, the Attic poet, sent to Sparta by the Oracle to assist with the Second Messenian War, stated that the first war was fought by the grandfathers of the men who fought in the second war. That would put the timeframe of the second war at about 690 B.C. Technically his words were “the fathers of our fathers”, which could have been an imprecise use of the term, so the second war may have taken place in the middle of the seventh century.
The second war was not one of conquest but the putting down of a revolt. Toynbee suggests that it was the time of establishment of the Lycurgian reforms, not earlier as others have suggested. His reasoning was that the Spartan commoners would have demanded rights in return for their help in protecting the new kingdom.
The bill did not go through the normal procedures for legislation that seeks to change Delaware corporate law, according to Boston College corporate law professor Brian JM Quinn. For decades, such legislation has been drafted, debated and reviewed by the Delaware State Bar Association's Corporation Law Council before it goes to the legislature, he said. The council, which includes attorneys with a wide range of clients and interests, was not consulted on this bill before it was filed, Quinn said.
After CNBC published this story, Delaware Secretary of State Charuni Patibanda-Sanchez said in an e-mailed statement that Meyer has requested a review of the proposed legislation and "looks forward to viewing a final product that meets the evolving needs of all our stakeholders."
!summarize #nymets #mlb
Under the proposed legislation, Musk might no longer be considered a "controller" of Tesla, Quinn said. That's because Musk does not currently hold one-third of Tesla's voting securities, which would be the requirement under the proposed legislation. Those transactions range from going-private deals, to mergers and acquisitions, to board and executive compensation decisions.
"The real role of corporate law is to protect minority investors," Quinn said. "With this bill, the legislature is saying, 'Now, you know what? Protect them less.'"
The Phalanx was the superior close order battle formation of antiquity until the time of the Romans. Its soldiers wore heavy metallic armor and carried thrusting spears and swords for attacking the enemy at close quarters. While the armor would have been useful in single combat, it became much more lethal in formation.
The origin of the phalanx is not known, but when adopted by the Greeks it became superior to any alternative from the time of Marathon to 197 B.C, when the Greeks were defeated by a Roman javelin and sword army.
Historical evidence suggests that the hoplite armor (chest corslet, helmet, and greaves) developed at about the same time (circa 650 B.C.), and that the phalanx resulted from the armor, not the reverse. The shield predated the other equipment and is of particular importance because the way its use evolved over time.
The proposed legislation would also limit the kinds of documents that minority stakeholders are able to obtain through "books and records" inspection requests, Quinn said. Those stakeholders would be limited to formal items such as a certificate of incorporation or minutes of stockholder meetings but they'd lose access to informal communications such as emails or other messages between board members and executives, Quinn said.
After the Court of Chancery's ruling last year, Musk started a campaign to persuade companies not to incorporate in Delaware and moved the site of incorporation for his businesses out of the state. He has aimed his ire at McCormick with repeated and disparaging posts about her on X, his social network.
Originally the shield was carried with the left hand only, but when metal was added to make it stronger, it became too heavy for one hand. The Mycenaeans were the first to add a telemon (strap) which passed over the shoulder and helped support the shield. Later, the Greeks developed a more efficient design by fitting a metal strap (porpax) on the inside of the shield. The hoplite passed his arm through the porpax and then gripped the handle. While the single grip shield offered protection of any part of the body, the hoplite shield could only protect the left side. Also with the left hand unavailable, the hoplite would have to use a thrusting spear in his right hand. Perhaps these limitations pointed to the need for a battle formation that offered protection for the individual while creating a powerful offensive weapon.
Other business leaders have also criticized the Delaware judiciary. Pershing Square CEO Bill Ackman and Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong both complained about Delaware's "activist judges" earlier this month on X.
"Delaware has taken some heat for supposedly being too hard on controller transactions," said Renee Zaytsev, partner at Boies Schiller and co-chair of the firm's securities and shareholder dispute practice.
"These amendments seem to be a course correction that would make it significantly easier for boards and controllers to avoid judicial scrutiny of their transactions," she said.
Tesla and Musk did not respond to requests for comment.
Darnell has been studying the protein – called NOVA1 and known to be crucial to brain development – since the early 1990s. For the latest research, scientists in his lab at New York's Rockefeller University used CRISPR gene editing to replace the NOVA1 protein found in mice with the exclusively human type to test the real-life effects of the genetic variant. To their surprise, it changed the way the animals vocalized when they called out to each other.
Baby mice with the human variant squeaked differently than normal littermates when their mom came around. Adult male mice with the variant chirped differently than their normal counterparts when they saw a female in heat.
Both are settings where mice are motivated to speak, Darnell said, "and they spoke differently" with the human variant, illustrating its role in speech.
And then we have the poetry of Tyrtaios, referenced in a previous post, who described the Spartans in battle. Remember he is contemporary to the Second Messenian War.
"For those who, remaining beside one another, dare to go into the hand-to-hand fight and the front rank, fewer die, and they preserve the people behind them. But of men who have begun to tremble every excellence is lost, and no one would ever finish speaking all the ills which happen to a man if he suffers something shameful. For attractive it is to split from behind the back of a fleeing man in hostile war, but shameful is a corpse lying in the dust with the head of a spear driven through its back.
Darnell hopes the recent work not only helps people better understand their origins but also eventually leads to new ways to treat speech-related problems.
University of Minnesota's Finestack said it is more likely the genetic findings might someday allow scientists to detect, very early in life, who might need speech and language interventions.
"That's certainly a possibility," she said.
But let a man, having taken his stride, remain in his place, firmly set upon the earth, biting his lip with his teeth and covering thighs and legs below and chest and shoulders with the wide belly of his shield. In his right hand let me brandish a might spear, and let him move the dread helmet crest above his head. By doing mighty deeds let him learn to make war, and let him not stand apart from the missiles holding his shield. But let someone going into the hand-to-hand fight with long spear or wounding with sword take an enemy man, having placed foot against foot and leaned shield against shield, crest to crest, helmet to helmet, breast to breast, drawn close let him fight man to man, taking hold of the haft of his sword or his long spear.
And you, the unarmed ones, crouching beneath a shield, one on one side, another on the other, throw great rocks and cast smooth javelins against them, standing near the fully-armored men."
This is a picture of frightened Spartan hoplites trying to survive – not men Leonidas would admire. We’re getting an early picture of Spartan tactics before the Lycurgian reforms had taken hold.
We know that the Spartans fought poorly in the battle against the Argives in 669 B.C, so at some point after that (perhaps 650 B.C.), the decision was made to re-distribute land and build a real army. Unlike the changes to the government, the Spartan battle tactics took time to develop. Generations would have to pass through the agoge before the fighting machine was tuned. The Spartans were defeated at Tegea in the first quarter of the sixth century, but triumphant against the Argives in 544. Finally the Spartan phalanx had achieved superiority.
Astronomers have been calculating the likelihood of the asteroid hitting Earth with greater precision as they gather more data. It is estimated as being anywhere from 131 feet to 295 feet wide, with the potential of releasing the energy equivalent to almost 8 megatons of TNT, or 500 times the power of the atomic bomb the United States dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, during World War II, if it and the Earth collide.
The European Space Agency's odds of YR4 hitting Earth are a little lower than NASA's, at about 2.4%.
The increasing odds don't really mean that the asteroid has become more likely to hit Earth, as they may come down, Hugh Lewis at the University of Southampton, UK, told New Scientist.
One recalls the early scene from 300 when Leonidas travels to see the Ephors and they tell him he cannot take the army north to fight the Persians because he must “Honor the Carneia.” In actuality, the kings didn’t have to visit the Ephors on a mountain top, because they were Spartan citizens living in the city. Their term of office was one year so individual Ephors could never establish their own power base. In fact, on many occasions, private citizens were elected to the Ephorate so one did not need wealth or experience to be elected. Still by the time of Thermopylae, the Ephors could block a king’s attempt to wage war.
As Toynbee points out, the relationship between kings and Ephors is not critical to Spartan history, yet it is instructive to examine the expanding authority of the Ephorate as an example of an evolving political system.
However, time is running out to forecast the asteroid's risk, as it will fly behind the sun in April, where it will be out of view of most telescopes on Earth, which will limit how much predictions can be refined, he said.
"Any observations we can make between now and when it's out of view will obviously help us to refine the orbit and to make better predictions," said Lewis. "That doesn't necessarily mean that it will go down before April. It could continue to go up, but still ultimately miss us."
NASA has designated the asteroid as a level three on its Torino Scale since late January, reports The New York Post.
The Ephors began as a branch of the Spartan government during the period of the Lycurgian reforms (circa 650 B.C.), after previously acting as private advisors to the kings. The office lasted until 227 B.C. when King Kleomenes III abolished it.
The Ephors main political adversary was the kings, since they appear to have acquired power from the Assembly and Gerousia early on without much difficulty. But the kings fought against their growing political power and the strongest ones succeeded in containing them.
Kings had absolute power when on a campaign and the Ephors had no jurisdiction outside of Sparta, although a pair of them usually accompanied the king on his campaigns. They had no authority to interfere with the campaign or any political activities connected to it, but were known to gather information that could be used to prosecute the king when the conflict was over.
The scale measures the danger of Near Earth Objects (NEOs), meaning it is being considered as being a large item with a "close encounter, meriting attention by astronomers" and boasts a "1% or greater chance of collision capable of localized destruction."
For now, YR4's projected trajectory puts it in line of eight of the most populated cities in the world, including Bogota, Colombia; Mumbai and Chennai, India; and Lagos, Nigeria, putting about 110 million people at risk.
Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson is also warning about cutting science spending with the possibility that the city-killer asteroid could hit, reports The Post.
But the military sphere is not where the Ephors began their encroachment against the kings. Let us look at a few examples of what they were up to.
In Plutarch’s Kleomenes, it is stated that Asteropus was the first Ephor to infringe on the power of the kings, sometime prior to the mid-sixth century B.C. We don’t know exactly what he did; only that his influence was considerable. Here is the quote from Plutarch:
“He said that Lycurgus had blended the powers of senate and kings, and that for a long time the state was administered in this way and had no need of other officials. But later, when the Messenian war proved to be long, the kings, since their campaigns abroad left them no time to administer justice themselves, chose out some of their friends and left them behind to serve the citizens in their stead. These were called Ephors, or guardians, and as a matter of fact they continued at first to be assistants of the kings, but then gradually diverted the power into their own hands, and so, ere men were aware, established a magistracy of their own.
As proof of this, Cleomenes cited the fact that down to that day, when the Ephors summoned a king to appear before them, he refused to go at the first summons, and at the second, but at the third rose up and went with them; and he said that the one who first added weight to this office, and extended its powers, Asteropus, was Ephor many generations later.”
"At the moment, mansion-sized Asteroid 2024-YR4 has a one-in-fifty chance of hitting Earth in the next eight years. Now might be a bad time to reduce spending on Science. Just sayin'," Tyson said on X.
The National Science Foundation, an independent government agency and the nation's largest funder of scientific research has frozen its grant approval process and new spending following an executive order from President Donald Trump pausing all federal grants.
That order has been put on hold by a federal judge, but the NSF has not resumed its funding, after warnings in February that it should be ready to lose two-thirds of its funding and half of its staff.
!summarize #stevecohen #citifield #roof #mlb #nymets
The Royal Society has acknowledged the controversy, confirming a debate on March 3 to address the "principles around public pronouncements and behaviors of fellows." While the institution has not officially named Musk in its statements, the meeting is widely understood to be centered on his membership.
This is not the first time Musk's status within the Royal Society has sparked division. Last November, University of Oxford psychologist Dorothy Bishop resigned in protest, stating that she could no longer be part of an institution that honored Musk.
"I just feel far more comfortable to be dissociated from an institution that continues to honor this disreputable man," Bishop said, accusing Musk of modeling himself after a "Bond villain."
In the second and most quirky example, the Ephors began traveling to the Oracular shrine at Ino-Pasiphae every eight years for the purpose of stargazing. This practice could only have begun after the eight year calendar cycle was introduced to Greece at the end of the sixth century B.C. If, while stargazing, the Ephors noticed a shooting star, they had a right to put the king on trial. The king could avoid prosecution only if the Ephors received notice of his innocence from the Oracle at Olympia or Delphi. This mysterious ritual represented a gross infringement on the religious authority of the monarchs, because it linked the Ephors to the will of the gods.
In the third case, an Ephor named Khilon was known to have been in office circa 550 B.C. His reign was so notable it was marked by a shrine which was still in existence four hundred years after his death.
In growing their power over time, the Ephors took advantage of the dual monarchy by striking when the kings were at odds with each other. Famous for keeping themselves unified, the Ephors could make accusations against one of the kings without fear of a reprisal coming from the other. There are four documented cases in the fifth century B.C. where kings were put on trial for one reason or another, and by the time of the Persian Wars, the Ephors were managing Spartan foreign policy. Envoys from Athens, coming to Sparta to ask for its participation against the Persians at Plataea, met with the Ephors. In another example, the peace treaty ending the Archidamian War in 421 B.C. was signed by the Ephors.
Her departure was followed by the resignation of Andrew Miller, a University of Edinburgh biologist, who criticized the Royal Society's "inability to take proportionate action on Elon Musk's current promotion of disinformation and attacks on evidence-based policies and science advice."
Founded in 1660, the Royal Society is one of the world's most prestigious scientific academies. Past fellows include Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, and Albert Einstein.
Current members include Sir David Attenborough and Sir James Dyson. The institution has historically refrained from taking political stances, making the Musk controversy particularly sensitive.
What does this all mean? One can certainly see a similarity with the Roman Republic. There, the Etruscan Kings were overthrown and consuls substituted. These consuls were elected officials entrusted with the administration of the government. In the Ephors case, they drained power from the kings and became the administrators of Sparta. The result was a Polis with three branches of government: Damos (assembly or House of Representatives), Gerousia (elders or Senate), and the Ephors (consuls, presidents). Sparta had created a model political system for the future – balanced and representative of the competing interests of its people.
!summarize #mitochondria #human #reality
A key component added to the Spartan political system, as part of the reforms, was the Damos, or assembly of hoplites. Members of this body were called Homoioi, and to maintain that designation, an individual was required to make his assigned food contribution to the mess, carry out his military duties, and attend the meetings of the assembly.
This Damos, unlike most of the others, was not an aristocratic assembly, but rather one of peers. Originally consisting of Homoioi and Hypomeiones (inferiors), this class differentiation disappeared over time as the new system matured.
"I don't like what Musk is doing — it's reprehensible. But I also think he's an astounding person in terms of what he has contributed to engineering," an anonymous fellow told The Times. "The society would be hypocritical if it singled out and censured one person for things they have said and done."
Musk would be the first Royal Society fellow to be removed in over 150 years if expelled.
A final decision is expected following next month's meeting.
The Damos was a “Sparta only” political body, so it did not include enfranchised citizens from outside the city like other Greek Poleis. And there were certainly some eccentricities in its implementation. It did not include all of the Spartiatai (eligible Spartan citizens) or any Helots. Since all members were Hoplites, those outside the military were not represented.
Beyond these political changes, sat the redistribution of land as the practical force behind the leveling of the classes. New landowners found themselves better off than they had been previously, even though they could never really become peers of the wealthy.
The Damos was a “Sparta only” political body, so it did not include enfranchised citizens from outside the city like other Greek Poleis. And there were certainly some eccentricities in its implementation. It did not include all of the Spartiatai (eligible Spartan citizens) or any Helots. Since all members were Hoplites, those outside the military were not represented.
Beyond these political changes, sat the redistribution of land as the practical force behind the leveling of the classes. New landowners found themselves better off than they had been previously, even though they could never really become peers of the wealthy.
To balance the nobles being merged into the Damos, the kings were merged into the Gerousia. They were added as the twenty-ninth and thirtieth members, with no greater power than any of the other members save not having to stand for election. The kings other functions, besides leading their men into battle, were to oversee the maintenance of roads, approve adoptions, and select the men heiresses could be betrothed to.
These Lycurgian reforms must be considered a great achievement, though they only benefited a minority and were heavily dependent on the subjugation of the Helots. They would serve as a model for all future Poleis in Greece. Other democracies and the oligarchies that passed through an interim period of dictatorships, emerged on the other side with Sparta as the model for a stable and successful political system.
New York Giants roster rumors are up for discussion as NFL Free Agency approaches. The Giants will make some roster decision about who will be cut before the 2025 NFL season. After finishing the 2024 season with a 3-14 record the Giants will be looking to improve their roster. Giants Now host Marshall Green is here to discuss some possible cut candidates for the New York Giants and what the team’s salary cap situation would look like if they do deceive to cut ties with these players.
Kneon, Geeky Sparkles- I remember a while ago, maybe a year or two after Disney+ launched; Sly Stallone and Dolf Lundgren said they approached Disney with a pitch for a live action , family-friendly, action/adventure show, similar to Johnny Quest, or the Young Indiana Jones. Disney’s response (this was like ‘21-‘22), I kid you not, without even sitting down with them to talk about it, was “…thanks, but no thanks, we aren’t interested in ANY programming with a male lead or co-lead… Period.
This year QB class in the draft is weak asf trade down a few slots get some extra picks cause we have alot of needs and we dont have alot of cap space unless they cut or restructure contracts draft a QB in the 2nd or 3rd have holes at LB,WR,Safety, DL,QB but we cant go into the season with tyrod always hurt taylor and davis who hasn't even practiced yet cause he is still recovering from a brutal leg injury
Tyrtaios, the Attic poet, sent to Sparta by the Oracle to assist with the Second Messenian War, stated that the first war was fought by the grandfathers of the men who fought in the second war. That would put the timeframe of the second war at about 690 B.C. Technically his words were “the fathers of our fathers”, which could have been an imprecise use of the term, so the second war may have taken place in the middle of the seventh century.
The second war was not one of conquest but the putting down of a revolt. Toynbee suggests that it was the time of establishment of the Lycurgian reforms, not earlier as others have suggested. His reasoning was that the Spartan commoners would have demanded rights in return for their help in protecting the new kingdom.
Victor Davis Hanson discusses the misleading information about the first 30 days of the Trump administration’s actions, comparing it to FDR’s first hundred days. On this episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words,” Hanson describes the current period as a “Trump restoration” rather than a revolution, emphasizing it as a counterrevolution against the changes brought by the Obama administration.
“ We don't really appreciate what we've been through with eight years of the Obama revolution and the four-year, more radical third term of Obama using or employing the wax effigy of Joe Biden. A revolution that we've experienced was a cultural, economic, political, social revolution. It was very similar to the French Revolution under the Robespierre brothers. You should remember what they tried to do. They changed the days of the week. They renamed things. They tore down statues. They went after the churches. Does this sound familiar? …
“ So this was a revolutionary movement. Movies were different. Sports were different. Take a knee. And Donald Trump came in and it was not sufficient to say we’re going to stop the madness of $37 billion. … It’s a return to normalcy. It’s a return to common sense. It only looks revolutionary to revolutionaries. But to the rest of the people, it is a counterrevolution to restore normalcy and bring the country from the far-left fringes back home again.”
Tyrtaios, the Attic poet, sent to Sparta by the Oracle to assist with the Second Messenian War, stated that the first war was fought by the grandfathers of the men who fought in the second war. That would put the timeframe of the second war at about 690 B.C. Technically his words were “the fathers of our fathers”, which could have been an imprecise use of the term, so the second war may have taken place in the middle of the seventh century.
The second war was not one of conquest but the putting down of a revolt. Toynbee suggests that it was the time of establishment of the Lycurgian reforms, not earlier as others have suggested. His reasoning was that the Spartan commoners would have demanded rights in return for their help in protecting the new kingdom.