Mosby
Mosby's JournalSeason of the Slump: Baseball keeps swinging and missing
NEW YORK (AP) — Don Mattingly starred in the action-packed 1980s.
Now the Miami Marlins manager, Donnie Baseball worries about a record lack of hits -- and not just from his team’s bats.
“I don’t think it’s cyclical at this point,” he said. “There’s so much swing and miss, it’s kind of off the charts. I think it’s something that we have to address.”
It’s the Season of the Slump, even for All-Stars like Marcell Ozuna (.202), Charlie Blackmon (.184) and Francisco Lindor (.189). Miguel Cabrera, the only Triple Crown winner in a half-century, is batting .140.
Major league batters are hitting just .232 overall through April, down from .252 two years ago and under the record low of .237 set in the infamous 1968 season that resulted in a lower pitcher’s mound.
The Mendoza line may not mean what it used to.
Strikeouts have averaged 9.06 per team per game, on pace to set a record for the 13th consecutive full season — up from 8.81 two years ago and nearly double the 4.77 in 1979. Strikeouts already are 1,092 ahead of hits, just three years after exceeding hits for the first time over a full season.
https://apnews.com/article/chicago-white-sox-miami-marlins-mlb-baseball-sports-1e829d6c668130bfda88b99ade914d4e
Apple is going to court with Fortnite, and it could forever change how apps work
Apple is set to take the stand Monday in a landmark trial that could alter the business model of the country’s most valuable company and serve as a catalyst for new antitrust laws.
Apple is being sued by Epic, the maker of the popular video game Fortnite, for allegedly using its control of its mobile operating system to stymie competition. Apple kicked Fortnite off the App Store last year after the video game maker offered an alternative payment option to its customers, bypassing the mandatory 30 percent commission charged by Apple.
Up for debate is how Apple allows apps to function on iPhones. The only way to install software on Apple’s mobile operating system, called iOS, is through the company’s App Store. Developers who make software for iOS must follow Apple’s rules and use its payment system, which charges a commission on every sale.
The trial will determine whether Apple’s control over iOS is a monopoly, and whether Apple can use that control to force developers to use the App Store and its payment system. One possible outcome in the case is a very different smartphone landscape, in which the powerful computers in everyone’s pockets operate more like desktop computers, where any kind of software is allowed to exist.
“Frankly, for Epic, it’s been a case of very good timing, because pretty much everybody around the world is looking at this problem,” said Herb Hovenkamp, an antitrust professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. “The DOJ I’m sure is paying close attention to this.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/04/30/epic-apple-trial-antitrust-fortnite-app-store/
In Israeli first, woman chosen as sole spiritual leader of Orthodox community
An Orthodox synagogue in the West Bank settlement of Efrat has appointed a woman to be the community’s sole spiritual leader, the first time that a woman has held such a position in an Israeli Orthodox community.
Rabbanit Shira Marili Mirvis was nominated with the support of 83 percent of the Shirat Hatamar synagogue’s voting members earlier this week, the synagogue announced in a statement Tuesday.
Though other women have served as spiritual leaders in Orthodox communities in Israel, in the past it was only alongside a man who was the community’s rabbi.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/in-israeli-first-woman-chosen-as-sole-spiritual-leader-of-orthodox-community/
About time.
Ted Nuget is right, what about covids 1-18???
https://twitter.com/BrentTerhune/status/1381731587897888768
Social Media Use in 2021
Despite a string of controversies and the public’s relatively negative sentiments about aspects of social media, roughly seven-in-ten Americans say they ever use any kind of social media site – a share that has remained relatively stable over the past five years, according to a new Pew Research Center survey of U.S. adults.
Beyond the general question of overall social media use, the survey also covers use of individual sites and apps. YouTube and Facebook continue to dominate the online landscape, with 81% and 69%, respectively, reporting ever using these sites. And YouTube and Reddit were the only two platforms measured that saw statistically significant growth since 2019, when the Center last polled on this topic via a phone survey.
When it comes to the other platforms in the survey, 40% of adults say they ever use Instagram and about three-in-ten report using Pinterest or LinkedIn. One-quarter say they use Snapchat, and similar shares report being users of Twitter or WhatsApp. TikTok – an app for sharing short videos – is used by 21% of Americans, while 13% say they use the neighborhood-focused platform Nextdoor.
https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2021/04/07/social-media-use-in-2021/
Check out this reporting from Tucson, reporter fact checked nothing.
Business struggles to stay staffed: ‘I am losing employees to the state of Arizona because they are offering something that I cannot’TUCSON, Ariz. (KOLD News 13) -Even as Arizona fully reopens, some employers are having a hard time hiring.
The calls keep coming in at Avid Home Care near Prince Road and I-10. Seniors and those living with disabilities are seeking caregivers to help them stay in their homes, however, help is limited.
“We’ve continued to get more calls during the pandemic, we are protecting the most vulnerable population from this virus,” said owner Vanessa McCally. “I turned two people down today. I had to say no because I didn’t have enough people to help them.”
McCally opened Avid Home Care six years ago. The family-run business typically employs about 50 people, but now, they are down to 21 workers.
It’s not a competition, I am losing employees to the state of Arizona because they are offering something that I cannot,” McCally said. “We were short on caregivers already, this was a blow we did not need.”
..
In her first five years of business, McCally says three people filed for unemployment, but none of them paid out. This past year, McCally says she has had 27 claims and all received unemployment benefits.
https://www.kold.com/2021/04/08/business-struggles-stay-staffed-i-am-losing-employees-state-arizona-because-they-are-offering-something-that-i-cannot/
AZ DES said they don't give benefits to people who quit, so this person fired 27 people without cause and is complaining that they are receiving unemployment benefits.
Did she apply for a PPP loan? We don't know because the "reporter" didn't ask.
Did the "reporter" ask for verification that the owners somehow burned thru 27 employees in a single year? We don't know.
What's the employers UI rating? We don't know.
This station should be embarrassed at this quality of reporting, but they don't care obviously, they want to promote right wing talking points.
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