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March Madness Where it All Began
It is November 1891 and unruly and bored students at the Springfield International Training School (YMCA) have begun taking their frustrations out on each other. The monotony of indoor routines of tumbling, twirling and calisthenics, have gotten to be too much. In the preceding month two instructors asked to be reassigned from the rowdy class. With black eyes and fights not speaking well of a Christian organization, the situation is desperate and Physical Education Head, Luther Gulick, calls a meeting of his faculty.
Stating that it was imperative to keep bodies and minds active and distracted throughout the long New England, winter Gulick presents a challenge to his faculty – devise a new game that could be played indoors with the "roughness" extracted. His faculty is less than enthusiastic.
Present at this fateful November meeting is newly arrived Canadian divinity college graduate, thirty year old, James Naismith. Naismith, with a full schedule of courses to teach at the training school and considering himself unavailable for this unappealing assignment with the disorderly class is most vocal with suggestions for his fellow faculty members.
Naismith, outlining his enthusiastic ideas, unwittingly assures himself the position with Gulick finally saying, "Naismith, you've got two weeks, the class is yours, see what you can do with it."
After repeatedly attempting to dissuade Gulick of his candidacy, Naismith resigns himself to the task and his fate with the difficult class. He astutely realizes that what was getting to the students was the boredom of routine physical drills with an absence of a sense of game play or challenge.
Remembering Gulick's remark that there was "nothing new under the sun" Naismith tried at first to adapt elements of other games including; sailor's tag, English rounders, town ball, handy-over and leapfrog which all fail miserably in succession. Naismith's students, many in their 20's and 30's, felt as if they were being forced to take part in children's games and are unmerciful towards Naismith. And James carried his anguish home nightly.
He next decided that the key would be to bring indoors the concept of adult outdoor games. Adaptations of cricket and baseball are rejected early on and finally he introduced football to the indoor playing field. For this experiment Naismith adapts some elements of English rugby. The Americans in the class, familiar with the all out tackling of American football cannot grasp the idea of the "gentle tackle" above the waist in stopping their opponent. Universal ridicule from his class ends this new gentle version of indoor football.
Soccer, known as "association football" at the time, was the experiment where student injuries began to mount. Naismith's players often forgot they were attired in soft-soled shoes and in their excitement of kicking a ball, break several toes. Much to Gulick's and Naismith's dismay, many balls kicked from these newly injured feet tend to sail right through the large glass gymnasium windows.
With the injuries mounting and damage to the YMCA facility escalating, Naismith decides to introduce a version of indoor Lacrosse, which he had played in Montreal. As the Canadian national game at the time, Naismith knew half of his students, who were Canadian, would at least grasp the rules of the sport. Unfortunately, indoor lacrosse would be recorded as his greatest debacle.
Naismith's Canadian students not only knew the game, they used the tactics and tricks they had honed over the years of playing the sport against the beginners in the class. Simple on site first aide proved inadequate to repair broken limbs and jaws, which resulted from this miscalculation.
Reaching the end of the two-week experiment to create a new game and with just forty-eight hours left of his assigned task, Naismith considered himself a colossal failure.
Facing his unsympathetic class, on the next to last day, with nothing new left to try, the smug looks on his student's faces confirmed to him that they too knew he had failed. Disheartened, Naismith prepared to turn the experiment over to another instructor.
Leaving his students and wearily climbing the stairs to his office above the locker room he paused and the words of his strong-minded Scottish grandfather echoed in his ears. When Jim and Grandfather Young worked the fields around the farm in Canada and encountered an obstacle, his grandfather would always sternly repeat, "Don't think you can't master it! Do it and make a man of yourself."
This memory combined with the boys hearty laughter drifting up from the locker room below brought Jim's already beaten down self-esteem to its depths. Naismith had never failed to master any task or situation in his life from being orphaned at nine years old to becoming a lumberjack then gaining a full scholarship to the theology school at McGill University.
This, James realized, was to be the defining moment in his life. If he gave up now he would carry the burden of his failure for the rest of his life. His belief in himself was now all he had left. He decided to let go trust that somehow, someway the solution would come to him. Over the next two days James Naismith would write his name into sports history.
With intense determination, and deepened resolve, Naismith methodically reviewed each of his failed attempts at creating a new sport. James, through those sleepless nights, came to the conclusion that first – all team games utilize a ball as an essential item of competition and second the difficulty of the game is inversely related to the size of the ball – that is small balls, like a baseball require a stick or a bat which complicates the game and large balls, like a soccer ball tend to simplify the game by serving as the direct object of competition.
James quickly drew diagrams of an indoor playing field with these criteria in mind; it must be easy to play and easy to learn. Added to that, he realized because of space limitations and a hard floor surface, that running must be kept to a minimum and tackling was out of the question.
Naismith reduced his new, yet unnamed game to two prerequisites and snapped his fingers in elation. "If the player can't run with the ball, we don't have to tackle; and if we don't have to tackle; the roughness will be eliminated." He had found the solution.
With no sleep, Naismith began his final day of the "experiment" knowing he did not have a fully formed game. "The players have to have something to do with the ball once they have it", he thought. Some type of goal was required. Keeping to his idea of a non-tackling sport, he decided against the concept of a horizontal goal like lacrosse or soccer and the requirement for a goaltender.
He remembered a childhood game from Canada, Duck on A Rock, in which players tossed rocks at a larger rock or "duck" aiming to knock it off its perch. Naismith, elated, had found the final piece of the puzzle. He decided that the goal would be elevated and tossed at. This created a measure of difficulty for defense and required skill on the thrower's part. With this final element he remained true to Gulick's ideal of non-roughness because with an elevated goal, one above the player's heads, accuracy would win out over force in getting the ball into the goal. Naismith could hardly contain his excitement.
Still with morning, just hours away and before introducing his new game, Naismith did not have a ball for the new game. He scouted his office for a suitable one and found a soccer ball. Temporarily this would have to do. Seeking out the school's janitor, Naismith asked for two 18" boxes to be brought to the gym. Stebbins, the janitor, responded that all he could provide were two old peach baskets. Naismith took them and quickly had them nailed into the lower rung of a balcony which was part of an elevated running track.
Returning to his office, Naismith condensed all his work down to a short set of "Rules". In less than an hour he had come up with "13 Rules" and had the departmental secretary type them up and post them in the gym.
Entering the gym, December 21, 1891, and facing the final hours with his eighteen reluctant and smug students, Naismith's confidence was again deflated when he saw troublemaker Frank Mahan pointing and laughing at the peach baskets. "Hey look, another new game!"
Naismith carried on with pretend optimism and quickly divided the students up into two teams of nine players and went over his new thirteen rules. Having no idea how to start the game Naismith decided that the best way to begin, without roughness, was to toss the ball up between two players at mid court. Later Naismith joked that this method of starting his new game only encouraged roughness.
Both squads took to the game immediately and Naismith had great difficulty in pulling his students off the court so they could attend their next class. Naismith's new game was a resounding hit. History records that the single "basket" scored that day had to be retrieved by Stebbins, the janitor, as the peach baskets still had their bottoms.
The new sport was an instant success; the most rebellious of the class became its devotees. Frank Mahan the troublemaking student from North Carolina gallantly offered the name "Naismith ball: for the new sport. Laughingly Naismith fended off the suggestion as the death knell for the new sport and Mahan offered, "Why not basketball?" And thus the game was named. Naismith's players had a haunch that something historic had been created and Mahan, first to scoff at the new game, stole the original thirteen rules for the game right off the bulletin board.
Mahan sheepishly returned to Naismith weeks later with those same sheets of paper to which Naismith proudly signed his name. Little did either of them imagine, that those same sheets of paper containing the original thirteen rules of the game of basketball, would be requested by both the British Museum and the Smithsonian Institution for their permanent collections.
News of the new sport of Basketball spread like wildfire. After the students returned from Christmas vacation spectators filled the balconies to the rafters. Naismith later recalled that since their class was held at noon ladies from the nearby offices began spending their lunch hour watching the boys from the gallery. This, he said, elevated the boys on the court a great deal and added much excitement to the atmosphere. On January 15, 1892 the school paper printed the original thirteen rules and the story was distributed nationwide in all YMCA's. In addition, students who had returned to their hometowns brought word of the new game and began introducing it to their local communities.
In April 1892 the New York Times, with the opening of the new YMCA Athletic Grounds welcomed it as "A New Game of Ball," "A Substitute for Football without its Rough Features." The game found enthusiastic players and supporters throughout the city and leagues quickly formed. Before basketball was even a year old Dr. Gulick wrote in October of 1892, "It is doubtful whether a gymnastic game has ever spread so rapidly over the continent as has basketball. It is played from New York to San Francisco and from Maine to Texas by hundreds of teams and associations, athletic clubs and schools."
James Naismith left the Springfield YMCA three years later. He went on teach and serve as chapel director and first basketball coach at the University of Kansas at Lawrence where he spent the remainder of his academic career. Ironically, the only losing record in Kansas University basketball history belongs to Naismith.
In 1936, coaches of the NCAA began the National Naismith Fund. Over five thousand dollars was raised to send James Naismith to the 1936 Olympic games in Berlin, Germany. Naismith would witness the sport he created played in Olympic competition for the very first time. 52 Nations were represented on the stadium field on opening day and 22 of them brought basketball teams, the largest number entered in any Olympic team competition that year.
During those opening ceremonies, as James Naismith walked past each of those 22 national teams, rousing cheers began, "Alabeebo" from Mexico and "Banzai" from Japan. After he paused to greet each nation's team captain, their national flag dipped to him. Naismith's eyes filled with tears and he confessed later that it had been the greatest moment of his life.
During the games he tossed up the ball to start the very first game of Olympic basketball between France and Estonia. And later he watched from the stands at the United States beat his home country Canada in the gold medal match 19-8.
Posted by Robert Child
Tag : Sports
11 Black Soldiers Murdered by Nazis
Although the title of this article is provocative, I assure you that story you are about to read is absolutely true and I want to thank Norman Lichtenfeld for bringing it to my attention.
Among the greatest "unknown stories" from WWII is that of the Wereth 11. Shortly after the outbreak of Hitler's Ardennes Offensive or Battle of The Bulge in 1944, members of the all-black 333rd Artillery Battalion were just eleven miles behind the front lines. With the rapid advance of the Germans the 333rd was ordered to withdraw further west but C and Service Battery were ordered to stay behind to give covering fire to the 106th Infantry Division.
On Dec 17th the 333rd were overrun with most killed or captured. The remnants of the unit were ordered to Bastogne and incorporated into its sister unit the 969th Field Artillery Battalion. Both units provided fire support for the 101st Airborne Division in the Siege of Bastogne, subsequently being awarded the Presidential Unit Citation.
11 soldiers, however, from the 333rd were separated from the unit shortly after they were overrun by the Germans. These men wound up in the little Belgian hamlet of Wereth, just 25 kilometers southwest of Malmedy, Belgium, site of another much more well known WWII atrocity.
At about 3 pm on Dec 16, 1944, the 11 men approached the first house in the nine-house hamlet of Wereth, owned by Mathius Langer. A friend of the Langer's was also present. The men were cold, hungry, and exhausted after walking cross-country through the deep snow. They had two rifles between them. The Langer family welcomed them and gave them food. But this small part of Belgium did not necessarily welcome Americans as "Liberators." This area had been part of Germany before the First World War and many of its citizens still saw themselves as Germans and not Belgians.
Word leaked out from a Nazi sympathizer in the area that the men had been sheltered and were hiding in the Langer home. When the SS troops approached the house about 4 pm that day, the eleven Americans surrendered quickly, without resistance. The Americans were made to sit on the road, in the cold, until dark. The Germans then marched them down the road and gunfire was heard in the night. In the morning, villagers saw the bodies of the men in a ditch at the corner of a cow pasture. Because they were afraid that the Germans might return, they did not touch the dead soldiers. The snow covered the bodies and they remained entombed in the snow until January when villagers directed members of the 99th Div. I&R platoon to the site.
In the official US Army report it was revealed that the men had been brutalized, with broken legs, bayonet wounds to the head, and fingers cut off. And It was apparent that one man was killed as he tried to bandage a comrade's wounds.
In 2001, three Belgium citizens embarked on the task of creating a fitting memorial to these men and additionally to honor all Black GI's of World War II. With the help of Norman Lichtenfeld, whose father fought and was captured in the Battle of the Bulge, a grassroots publicity and fund-raising endeavor was begun. The land was purchased and a fitting memorial was created There are now road signs indicating the location of the memorial, and the Belgium Tourist Bureau lists it in the 60th Anniversary "Battle of the Bulge" brochures. The dedication of the memorial was held in 2004 in an impressive military ceremony.
It is believed that this is the only memorial to Black G.I.s, and their units, of World War II in Europe. Norman's goal is to make the Wereth 11 and all Black G.I.'s "visible" to all Americans and to history. They, like so many others, paid the ultimate price for our freedom. Please visit his site www.wereth.org where you can learn more about this dark and virtually unknown chapter from WWII.
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Tag : Slider, War and Military, WWII
The Rise of Ancient Japan
A Divine Wind Preserved Japanese Culture for More than a Century
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In 1274, Kublai Kahn, emperor of the Mongolian dynasty after his conquest of China, set his sights on concuring Japan. In August of 1274 Kahn set sail for Japan with a combined Korean-Mongolian army of 40,000 men. Out of nowhere, a violent typhoon appeared and wrecked more than two hundred of the Mongolian and Korean fleet, which forced the surviving crew to abort the invasion and return home with many of their soldiers dead or swept away in the powerful storm. In a second invasion with a much larger force of 140,000 men, once again a violent typhoon welled up and destroyed practically all of the Mongolian invading fleet. Again, the Mongolians were forced to return home or be captured by the victorious Japanese. Kahn never again set out to invade Japan and the country was isolated from China for more than a century. The Japanese believed that they were "divinely protected" due to the two mysterious typhoons that defeated the invading Mongolian armada.
Tag : War and Military, Weather and Warfare Series
Miracle at Dunkirk
A Mysterious Fog Saved the Allies Cause
164 years after Washington crossed the East River, another miraculous escape allowed more than 300,000 British forces to cross an even wider body of water and live to fight another day. Outnumbered by German forces two-to-one, British and French troops were pinned down on the French Coast at Dunkirk. On May 27, 1940 with German panzer forces less than 20 miles away and the Luftwaffe pounding the beaches, British Admiral Bertram Ramsey ordered Operation Dynamo forward. That night, suddenly, a heavy and dense fog rolled across and covered the entire channel. It was not the season for fog and no instance of it had been recorded before happening in May. Under the cover of this heavy fog, British ships crossed the French channel and the German subs and war ships did not detect them. As a result, more than 300,000 soldiers were rescued and brought safely back to England. As soon as the last of the British ships returned home, the fog lifted. Churchill commented, "A guiding hand interfered to make sure the allied forces were not annihilated at Dunkirk."
Weather and Warfare Next Installment: The Rise of Ancient Japan
The Battle of Brooklyn Heights
The First Crossing that Saved America
It was not the crossing of the Delaware that first preserved the American cause but the crossing of the East River at Brooklyn Heights New York. In August 1776 with Washington's men out numbered three-to-one and surrounded on all sides except one, a serendipitous downpour delayed British artillery attacks. In addition, unfavorable northeast winds prevented the British from moving their ships up New York Bay to encircle the American position. This mile wide channel was Washington's only possible path of retreat. The rain continued and on the night of August 29th the unusual northeast breeze intensified. The seagoing soldiers of John Glover's Marblehead Massachusetts Regiment were called on to ferry the American troops across the East River to Manhattan, and the exodus began at 9 PM.
When first light appeared, the evacuation of 9,000 American troops was far from complete; the oarsmen needed at least three more hours. Then rising out of the wet ground and off the East River, came a dense fog, which covered the entire river. As the sun rose, the miraculous fog did not lift! Washington's entire army was extracted, except for the heaviest caliber canon. Just as the last boat pulled into the channel with General Washington aboard, the fog began to lift and dissipate. 9000 men had been saved from certain capture or destruction, and the American cause preserved.
Weather and Warfare Next Installment: Miracle at Dunkirk
The Defeat of the Spanish Armada
The Start of Spain's Decline as a World Power
In the sixteenth century Spain was the Western Europe's dominant power. King Phillip II sought to extend his empire and Roman Catholic faith. In July of 1588 his Armada reached the southwest coast of England where they were besieged. In retreat to Calais the Spanish fleet scattered and the only route back home was north around Scotland and Ireland. This decision was their doom. The Spanish armada encountered heavy storms and many of the ships were violently wrecked. It is reported that only 67 ships out of the 132 got back to Spain because of that fateful storm - totally defeated and demoralized. Medals awarded to British naval officers who took part in the battle bore the inscription, "God breathed and they were scattered". This was the turning point in British history and began Spain's decline as a world power.
Weather and Warfare Next Installment: The Battle of Brooklyn Heights
The Battle of Waterloo
The End of the Napoleonic Era
On the night before the battle of Waterloo in June of 1815, it rained heavily and both the French and Allied forces spent the night in the rain and mud. Because of the heavy rain that night, Napoleon wasn't able to attack immediately as his artillery could not move until the ground dried. This forced him to delay the attack until eleven o'clock the next morning; a delay that cost him the entire battle. Wellington and his forces were able to secure higher ground and repulse continued frontal assaults until Napoleon's surrender came less than twelve hours later. Napoleon was exiled from France and never returned to power.
Weather and Warfare Next Installment: The Defeat of the Spanish Armada
Inside the World of TV Sports
A Sports Instant Classic Story
Imagine a job where every decision you make has to be the right one, where no gray area exists and if you make the wrong decision not only will the guy or gal (Director) sitting next to you most likely start yelling at you but millions of people watching TV at home will witness your mistake instantly.
That, in a nutshell, is the life of a live sports technical director. I can speak with some authority on this topic as a large part of my career in television has been in the technical director hot seat.
Unlike other broadcast positions on a live event; a camera can be slightly panned or tilted off center or can even be slightly out of focus on occasion. An (A1) audio mixer can have his microphones or music too low or too high. A video operator's cameras can drift to be too bright or too dark and on it goes. Each broadcast technical position has some "wiggle room". Not the TD.
This unforgiving aspect is what drew me to the job when I began my television career in the mid 80's in news in Boston at WCVB-TV. The two elements that attracted me were first, that it was a challenge and second, you could not BS your way through it. The modis-operendi was "you're only as good as your last show" and that certainly holds true today. During my tenure at that station, I recall before the newscasts, the audio man would drop by my area of the control room, put his hand on my shoulder and say with a grin –"good luck we're all counting on you" and stride back to the safe confines of the audio booth.
Moving on to New York City in the 90's, I technical directed mainly entertainment programs but did dip my toe in sports along the way; The Sports Reporters with Dick Schapp, Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel and Inside the NFL with Len Dawson, Nick Buoniconti, Jerry Glanville and Cris Collinsworth. In addition, I launched ESPN's first game show 2-Minute Drill with Kenny Mayne in the summer of 2000. And for you trivia buffs, I also technical directed the New York audition, in 1993, of a fresh-faced female sports anchor who, WOR-TV, in their infinite wisdom, passed on. I am confident Suzy Kolber is much happier and wealthier reporting from the sidelines on ESPN's Monday Night Football.
I have to admit, I had avoided live sports along the way turning down numerous calls for football, baseball, hockey you name it. The stress combined with the lower pay made it doubly unattractive. In 2004, however, I got a call from SFX Entertainment, which was crewing, for NBC network. The network was planning a live telecast from Woodbine racetrack in Toronto as part of the Breeder's Cup series and needed a TD badly. Most of the regular NBC sports crew was away at the Olympics.
I had come highly recommended (what they always say to persuade you to take the job) and their first technical director had, in their words, "chickened out". I was intrigued. The woman on the other end of the phone continued. "Yes, our first TD wasn't as familiar with the type of digital switcher in the truck and when he found out it was (A director who shall remain nameless) our first TD decided to bow out".
This was just the sort of challenge I couldn't resist, an unfamiliar sports truck with a legendary director whom I had never worked with and whose "reputation" preceded him. Like John Belushi in Animal House I naively said, "Let's Do it"!
On the plane to Toronto I was certainly having second thoughts that this gig might be tougher than I imagined. Little did I know how difficult. Upon arrival at the race track, which was also a casino, I found the big red "Hockey Night in Canada" truck – Canada's premier live sports truck and started getting down to business. Early on conversations with the Canadian tech manager revealed that the NBC broadcast was not only live to the United States but being fed internationally as well. Multiple millions would be tuning in as the race featured a million dollar purse. NBC expected huge ratings from around the planet.
Later in the day the director finally arrived in the truck and the first thing he said was, "So I hear you've never done sports, huh". I had told SFX Entertainment that I wasn't a sports TD but an entertainment TD when I agreed to take the job as if that was some sort of "out" if I screwed up. So the director and I were not off to the best start. Part of the psychology between a director and a technical director is their perceived confidence in you and as a TD. You have to instantly make the director feel at ease. He most definitely was not. He had never worked with me and he knew I had never done live sports. I knew I'd have to draw upon every resource to win his confidence. I decided right there, that no matter what was thrown at me, somehow I'd handle it. I knew what was expected, that I had to perform flawlessly – live sports experience or not.
This particular director had not only done Monday Night Football for twenty years but also directed the Kentucky Derby for years and this little horse race in Canada was going to be MNF, The Kentucky Derby and The Academy Awards all rolled into one – at least in his mind.
First off, there were 17 cameras –every angle you can imagine including POV's everywhere. This would be fine except the switcher did not have enough inputs! As we began building the graphics for the program, the, by now frazzled, Canadian tech manager had to fasten a sub-router switcher into the console in front of me. He, as well, had expected a simple little five-camera horse race.
Because we had so many cameras, I had to literally assign my fingers to different cameras zones. Most technical directors do this but with 17 cameras and ten fingers you need "stoppers". There is no time to actually look at the buttons on the switcher during a live sports telecast so after the sixth camera, I put a "roadblock" up in the form of a piece of elevated masking tape. I knew that when my hand bumped into it, that was as far as my left hand could go. The last camera on the left side of the tape would be Number-6 and the first camera on the other side of the tape would be Number-7. My right hand would be assigned to cameras 7- 12. I put up another roadblock at the 12th camera. Cameras 13-17 would be on the right side of that "roadblock" and if we went to those, my right hand would jump the masking tape roadblock and my left would float for the rest.
Most NFL games have 17 cameras or more and many technical directors use this technique but many people watching at home don't realize how fast a game is cut. Just for fun, next time you are watching an NFL, game count the number of seconds between camera cuts and tap your finger each time a new camera shot is taken. This will give you an excellent idea of how fast things are moving inside a live sports truck and how many "one-second" shots are actually used in a broadcast.
Part of a sports TD's job is also to act as crew chief and make camera assignments. The camera folks here were a pick-up crew from all over the United States so I asked them to choose the camera they felt most comfortable with and if there was a conflict to decide between themselves. By the looks on their faces they had never experienced this amount of freedom or in retrospect "lack of guidance". But I had no choice I had to get back in the truck to continue the pre-production.
Almost every graphic you see on a sports telecast is pre-built from the player intros to stats. It all has to look visually cohesive and a technical director works closely with the graphics operator in the truck. Sports graphics folks are among the unsung heroes in a live broadcast. They have to be razor sharp, creative and on high-alert all during games. They normally work with a sports graphics producer but the graphic operator has to make it all happen. The next time you are watching a live sports event, focus in on how quickly the stats, scores or downs change in relation to live action. You'll realize immediately how fast these folks are moving.
A sports TD not only has to be concerned with the camera and graphics but the highly specialized razzle-dazzle that has, today, become an expected and critical part of any live telecast. This horse race in Toronto was no different. We had telestrator (think John Madden's scrawl on screen), seven digital tape decks, two super slo-mo replay machines and a DVE (digital video effects) device in the switcher itself.
Most of these elements had to be fed through the DVE to "fly" on screen at the right time. Today most of those DVE "moves" are accompanied by a triggered sound effect for added excitement. If you want to appreciate how far live sports has evolved - just watch an old NFL or MLB game on a classic sports channel. There is no comparison. Watching those almost quaint NFL broadcasts you'll soon get frustrated looking for the super-imposed yellow first and ten-yard marker.
At about a half hour to go before the broadcast with racing graphics complete, our sports truck went live on the bird (satellite) with color bars and the countdown began. These last few minutes prior to live broadcasts provide the critical but all important bathroom break for most technical directors. They know they'll be locked in the chair for the next three hours and I as well certainly took advantage of this window of opportunity.
During this calm before the storm a technical director will rehearse and rehearse in his or her mind the way they will execute the show almost imagining in advance how all will unfold and where they need to place their hands. At this time a TD also needs to confirm everything is still working and every department can still hear you on headsets (Camera, Tape Video, Audio). During most live sports events the camera channel is usually the chattiest. I tended to keep this channel low as to not get distracted by the humor. Most camera folk are born comedians and they are always hunting for "money shot". There are reels and reels of shots from games that never makes air and for good reason. You can just use your imagination on that.
With two-minutes to go before our horse race, the director confirmed all was ready and wished everyone a "good show". After that he turned to me and said "You ready for this?" Without hesitation, and as firm as I could sound, I said, "You bet, let's go". He looked at me a moment and shook his head and said, "OK…good, you'll be fine".
Most of the live broadcast was a blur except for the one time the director asked to go to something via a method that was impossible. We dissolved instead. It was as near flawless as I could have hoped for and at the end of the program the director turned with an outstretched hand and said "Great Job" with a look almost of disbelief on his face. I took that look as a compliment. The network producers all felt the show went very well and backslapped each other. Right then, one of the associate producers turned to me and said, "this was great Rob, I've got a Miami Heat game I'd love you to come down and do next week". With a smile, I told him I appreciated the offer but no thanks, this was just a cameo for me. There was no doubt I was pleased it all went well with a heady feeling of accomplishment and the almost addictive adrenalin rush it provided. But I knew at that time I did not want a life on the road with young children at home. That's what live sports technical directing is – constant travel and constant excitement…hey on second thought.
In a job where your first mistake can be your last, with millions of people watching each button push, give thanks for our talented, hard-working live sports technical directors who fearlessly bring you your favorite teams and games each weekend. They are the true iron men and women of the broadcast sports world.
(This article was originally written for Eye on Sports Media and published on Dec. 19, 2008. That same day it was picked up by the Number-1 Sports Blog in the USA – Deadspin)
The Siege of Vienna
"It is beneath my dignity to allow the weather to interfere with my plans". – Sulieman The Magnificent, Ottoman Ruler
In 1529 The Ottoman Empire was at it's peak ruling most of the Balkan including Hungary, Serbia, Bosnia, Romania, Greece, Ukraine, Iraq, Syria, Israel, Egypt, North Africa, Algeria, and most of the Arab Peninsula and Sulieman, the Ottoman ruler, was seeking the prize of Vienna. Spring rains characteristic of southeastern Europe were particularly heavy that year, causing flooding in Bulgaria, and making many of the major roads on Suleiman's route barely passable. Sulieman's advisors recommended he not make the march because of the weather. Suleiman disregarded their concerns and on May 10 began a four-month march into Austrian territory, which resulted in the loss of many of the men, camel, and the large caliber guns, which became hopelessly mired in mud and had to be left behind. By the time the invading army reached Vienna in late September, no heavy caliber cannons remained and the Ottoman force was reduced to slinging arrows at the heavily guarded fort. On October 14, Sulieman began a retreat back into Ottoman territory, which turned into disaster. Unseasonably heavy snows slowed his march and the remaining light artillery and most of the baggage and supplies were lost.
The siege of Vienna would come to be recognized by the Ottomans as their "high water mark". It signaled the end of their imperialist expansion in Europe after 150 years of plunder.
Next Installment: The Battle of Waterloo
The Battle of Agincourt
English King Henry V and his force at Agincourt were outnumbered 10-1. The king, fearful of annihilation, sought a truce with the French, but his terms were rejected. And an English account describes the day before the battle as a day of remorse in which all soldiers cleansed themselves of their sins to avoid hell. The French, on the other hand, were confident that they would prevail and were eager to fight. They had not, however, taken into account the recent heavy rain. The battleground was a recently ploughed field, and the rains had left it mired in mud. This spelled doom for the French force, which consisted chiefly of armored cavalry. Demoralized by the fate of their cavalry and severely hampered by the mud, the French foot soldiers were completely overwhelmed. Once knocked to the ground, the heavily armored French struggled just to stand upright. Their limited mobility made them easy targets for the volleys from the English archers. Henry V triumph paved the way for English domination of most of France until the middle of the 15th century.
Next Installment: The Siege of Vienna
Tag : Weather and Warfare Series


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Posts Tagged: mental health
Happiness Basics: Invest in yourself
Sharon came to the Happiness Basics following success in other Edmonton Southside Primary Care Network programs. She had just been to an exercise workshop, and was looking into more classes, when Happiness Basics was mentioned. Happiness Basics was new at the time, as a program to teach individuals what happy people do differently, and she…
Why I teach relaxation
By Luc TherrienBehavioural Health Consultant What has convinced me to teach relaxation to everyone? I could tell you that relaxation and meditation have been studied extensively over the past 40 years and that we've even observed a change at the genes' level after only one session of relaxation, but that may seem abstract. Instead, I…
Minimizing stress is key to a healthier life
At 97, Henry Schroder isn't worried about his health. He still lives at home, shovels his own driveway and builds his own airplanes. Henry still remembers growing up during the Russia Revolution and can outline specific details of his childhood and his time in the Canadian Air Force during World War II. He was married…
Patient finds a way out of the dark hole of depression
Scott Wood's life was crashing until a visit to his family doctor brought him back on the right track. His spiral into a deep depression started in 2009 when he witnessed a head-on collision between a small car and a rig truck on Highway 33 between Swan Hills and Whitecourt during a spring storm. "The…
Patient candidly describes battle with depression
When Gary Krutzfeldt started feeling so empty and helpless, he turned to his family doctor for help.Dr. Don Korzenowski of Millwoods Family Medical Clinic prescribed anti-depressants for Gary but told him this was only half the answer and he needed to see a behavioural health specialist from Edmonton Southside Primary Care Network. "I have to…
PCN workshop helps calm anxious patient
Anxiety has plagued Sheila Hilderbrandt for most of her life. She would lie awake all night worrying about her health issues. She wouldn't leave her home except once a week to get groceries. Her mind wouldn't shut off and she couldn't control her thoughts. "It started with my diabetes. I had to go on insulin….
Medical experience gives patient insight
A traumatic medical experience forced Beverley Anne McAmmond to change the way she approached her life.After recovering from five surgeries involving diverticulitis, a severe fungal infection and hernia, Beverley was dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety. Her family doctor referred her to Crystal Degenhardt, a mental health specialist at Edmonton Southside Primary Care…
Workshop eases patient's stress
Peter wasn't sure how to handle the stress he was facing from work and his personal life. As a pharmacist, he was used to solving other people's problems. The 57-year-old was fighting depression and bladder cancer when he turned to Dyan Eybergen, a behavioural health consultant at Edmonton Southside Primary Care Network, for help. Dyan…
Patient learns how to manage emotions
In the past, Jerry Gruenwald would rather show his emotions than deal with them. This almost caused his marriage to break down and pushed him into a depression. His family doctor, Dr. Mark Antoniuk, and his primary care nurse, Michele Kralt, were given the opportunity to assess Jerry and offer assistance to help him through…
PCN helps patient access community resources
Alison Pepper has overcome many roadblocks in her life. When she was born, illness affected the part of her brain that assists with the functions to speak, read and write. As an adult, she worked hard to improve these skills with a speech language therapist and sought out a tutor through the Project Adult Literacy…

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FIFA 19 Premier League Battle for the Champions League
This year's Premier League is giving us an epic fight for first place. Manchester City is still first at the end of the 36/38 league days with just one point advantage over Liverpool. Both teams currently fighting for the title come from a streak of very important victories and will fight until the end.
Apart from the first two positions, the third and fourth are still to be decided. Tottenham leads at 70 points with Chelsea immediately behind 68, then Arsenal 66 and Manchester United at 65. Tottenham, who is still engaged in the Champions League, will face Bournemouth in the next game and then close the season in its stadium against Everton. Maurizio Sarri's Chelsea will have instead, after the 1-1 draw against Manchester United, to face at home the Watford in the next game and then to close with the away match against Leicester. Arsenal, who is still in the Europa League, will have to compete against Brighton in the next Premier league match and then close with the Burnley. Lastly, Manchester United will face Huddersfield Town in the next game and then close at home against Cardiff City. Hard to predict who will qualify for next year's Champions League. The fight is still open and Manchester United who is last in this ranking for fourth place does not want to give up and believe in it until the end.
In the words of the manager Solkjaer after the draw against Chelsea he is motivating the team to keep the effort and to believe the results will come. On the other hand, Sarri is more confident to reach the fourth place. We'll see who comes out of it after the last 180 minutes of the season!
Buy now fast and cheap FIFA 19 Coins on fifacoin.com. Come to buy safely for your PS4, PC or Xbox One. Start to build your amazing FUT now!
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Oh, I was quite done with it all. It's not easy being a witch. I was tired of being ogled and whispered about. My home was on the edges of Salem, Massachusetts. It was nowhere near where the witches from the Salem Witch Trials were tried and murdered for the crime of witchery. The whole ordeal pushed my relatives to the woods in those days. The deep, dark woods where mushrooms sprouted like dirty fingers and the night was so dark everything bled into a void. Some of the older witches, in those long-ago days, would kidnap babies and then bleed them. Back then, old witches rubbed baby blood over their sagging skin to ward off age. It didn't work and such gruesome things ended when Esma, the new leader of the coven, came to power. The witches still did potions and danced and flew around the fire high on hallucinogens. But Esma stopped the kidnapping of children. It would take centuries before our image would recover. Nowadays, witches are a tourist attraction. I used to live in Salem center and tours would go by and point to my home.
"A witch lives there," a tour guide would say and tourists would take pictures.
Ha. I was not an attraction. I was a respectable witch who did potions for sad people seeking love and to mend their hearts from heartbreak. I was not evil or mean. I was tired of being pointed at so I moved to the edge of town. The forest was near. I hauled all the books I had inherited on witchery and the occult. I built shelves and lined them all up beautifully. I built a beautiful potion laboratory. I had fun decorating my house. My cat, Priscilla, fussed a bit but she grew to love the four levels of the house and the wide closets. And we loved being near the dark woods, which crackled with mischief in the night.
The problem was that in moving to the edge of town, I was no longer attracting business and my funds were running low. So I went to be the laboratory and made soap. Beautiful hunks of artisanal soap. I also made oils and creams. To ward off age, the label said. I thought of the witches so long ago that bled babies. I shivered. It was simply not necessary when rosemary oil could soften wrinkles. I had so much product, I rented a store on the tour route.
WITCH BLYTHE – SOAPS AND SUNDRIES TO CURE YOUR ILLS.
The store became popular and I began making special orders. A woman came to me with terrible eczema and I was able to concoct a wonderful creme that erased all the scaly skin. The woman was thrilled. That was in December.
In January, a baby went missing and the police came to me and questioned me.
"Did you kill the baby?" asked a female officer.
"But it was done?" The female officer smiled tightly.
They got a court order and raided my home. They even took Priscilla. I went before the judge and he scoffed.
"You have no proof of anything," he said to the prosecutor. He let me go and released Priscilla. I went home and wept.
It's not easy being a witch. No matter what you do or how you do it, you are always suspect and suspicious. A single woman on the edge of the woods living with a cat. A crime happens and you are hauled in. Well, it is Salem. And there is a history. But…even so…I'm no murderer. I closed my shop, packed again, and fled for Canada. I don't think they ever killed a witch in Canada.


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HomeARTICLES AND OP-EDSaudi Arabia admits critic Khashoggi killed in Istanbul consulate
Saudi Arabia admits critic Khashoggi killed in Istanbul consulate
October 20, 2018 Chika Emeche ARTICLES AND OP-ED, NEWS, POLITICS, WORLD 0
Saudi Arabia admitted on Saturday that critic Jamal Khashoggi was killed inside its Istanbul consulate, saying he died during a "brawl", an explanation that President Donald Trump called credible but drew scepticism from top US lawmakers.
Riyadh announced the arrest of 18 Saudis in connection with their investigation and the sacking of two top aides of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has faced mounting international pressure over the journalist's disappearance.
Khashoggi, a Washington Post contributor and critic of the Islamic petro-state's powerful crown prince, was last seen on October 2 entering his country's consulate in Istanbul.
Khashoggi disappearance had been shrouded in mystery and tipped Saudi Arabia into one of its worst international crises, with Turkish officials accusing it of carrying out a state-sponsored killing and dismembering the body.
The admission — after persistent claims by the Saudi authorities that Khashoggi had left the consulate alive — came amid the threat of US sanctions and appears aimed at distancing Prince Mohammed from the affair.
In the latest version of events from Riyadh, Saudi Attorney General Sheikh Saud al-Mojeb said Khashoggi died after talks at the consulate degenerated into an altercation. He did not disclose the whereabouts of the journalist's body.
Read: Billionaire Saudi Prince, Alwaleed bin Talal, Is Freed From Detention
"Discussions that took place between him and the persons who met him… at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul led to a brawl and a fistfight with the citizen, Jamal Khashoggi, which led to his death, may his soul rest in peace," the attorney general said in a statement.
The Saudi king also ordered the setting up of a ministerial body under the chairmanship of the crown prince to restructure the kingdom's intelligence agency and "define its powers accurately", state media said.
Deputy intelligence chief Ahmad al-Assiri and royal court media adviser Saud al-Qahtani, both part of Prince Mohammed's inner circle, were sacked.
Saudi Arabia's Gulf ally, the United Arab Emirates, welcomed the moves by the king.
Khashoggi's Turkish fiancee Hatice Cengiz tweeted that her heart was "full of sorrow" at the confirmation of his death.
– 'Intense outcry' –
The controversy has put the kingdom — for decades a key ally in Western efforts to contain Iran — under unprecedented pressure to offer an explanation to take the heat off its rulers.
It evolved into a major crisis for Prince Mohammed, a US administration favourite widely known as MBS, whose image as a modernising Arab reformer has been gravely undermined.
Trump swiftly endorsed Saudi Arabia's explanation about the death of Khashoggi and termed it an "important first step".
"I do, I do," Trump said when asked if the Saudis' explanation was credible, while adding: "It's early, we haven't finished our review or investigation."
Trump had previously said Washington could impose sanctions, but his administration had been notably slow to criticise its Gulf ally despite mounting evidence of what happened to Khashoggi.
Read Also: Saudi Arabia crown prince and de facto leader says Israel has 'right' to its land
The case has presented Trump with one of the most acute foreign policy crises of his nearly two-year-old presidency.
"It took an intense international outcry sustained for two weeks to acknowledge the obvious — that Khashoggi is dead, that he was killed in the Saudi consulate," said Kristin Diwan, of the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington.
"That gives you an idea of the immense financial and strategic interests that are invested in maintaining the US partnership with Saudi Arabia and its leadership."
The British Foreign Office said it was "considering the Saudi report and our next steps".
"This was a terrible act and those responsible must be held to account," it said.
– 'Deeply troubled' –
Saudi officials have roundly denied that Prince Mohammed had any involvement.
But one suspect identified by Turkey was said to be a frequent companion of the young heir to the throne, three others were linked to his security detail and a fifth is a high-level forensic specialist, according to The New York Times.
The decision to overhaul the intelligence apparatus and sack members of the crown prince's inner circle is designed to "distance the crown prince from the murder", said analysis firm Eurasia Group.
In a recent off-the-record interview published posthumously by US magazine Newsweek, Khashoggi described the 33-year-old as "an old-fashioned tribal leader" out of touch with the Saudi poor.
But the onetime royal insider said he would have accepted an offer to work as the prince's adviser.
"I'm not calling for the overthrow of the regime, because I know it's not possible," he said. "I'm just calling for reform of the regime."
Saudi Arabia's admission comes after Turkish authorities widened their probe on Friday, searching a forest in Istanbul where the body might have been dumped.
Pro-government Turkish media have repeatedly claimed that Khashoggi was tortured and decapitated by a Saudi hit squad, although Turkey has yet to divulge details of its investigation.
"Each successive narrative put out by the Saudis to explain what happened to Khashoggi has strained credulity," Kristian Ulrichsen, a fellow at Rice University's Baker Institute in the United States, told AFP.
"Especially because the Saudis are still unable or unwilling to produce the one piece of evidence — a body — that could provide a definitive answer one way or the other."
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, an influential Trump ally, said he doubted the latest admission from Saudi authorities.
"To say that I am sceptical of the new Saudi narrative about Mr Khashoggi is an understatement," he tweeted.
EFCC moves Ayodele Fayose to Lagos for trial
Kidnapped Tanzanian tycoon Mohammed Dewji freed
Russia, US shoot for the moon with first lunar space station project
October 1, 2017 Chika Emeche ARTICLES AND OP-ED, NEWS, TECH, WORLD 2
Russia and United States has agreed to cooperate on a NASA-led project to build the first lunar space station, part of a long-term project to send humans to Mars. The US space agency said earlier […]
Turkey: Mass arrests after failed coup bid
July 17, 2016 Chika Emeche NEWS, POLITICS, WORLD 1
About 2,839 soldiers, including high-ranking military officers, have been arrested after an attempted coup that is now over, says Turkey's PM Binali Yildirim. The attempted coup was a "black stain on Turkish democracy", he said, […]
Turkey and Russia have ceasefire plan for Syria
December 29, 2016 Chika Emeche ARTICLES AND OP-ED, NEWS, POLITICS, WORLD 1
Turkey and Russia have prepared an agreement for a ceasefire in Syria, Turkey's foreign minister said on Wednesday, adding that Ankara would not give up its opposition to President Bashar al-Assad staying on as leader. […]


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Ohio Governor Signs Coal and Nuclear Bailout at Expense of Renewable Energy
Source: InsideClimate News
Opponents fear the law will send the growing wind and solar industry to neighboring states while Ohio homeowners are stuck boosting old, uneconomical power plants.
Maine Enacts New Law to Encourage Net Metering and Long-Term Contracts for Distributed Generation
Source: JD Supra
On June 26th, Governor Janet Mills signed new legislation to broaden customer access to net metering (known in Maine as net energy billing) and to promote distributed energy generation, including through competitive procurements for long-term contracts with the state's transmission and distribution utilities.
Congress Pushes for Storage, Renewables to Have Same Private Investment Incentives as Fossil Fuels
A bipartisan and bicameral group of lawmakers has introduced a bill to allow clean energy technology companies to form master limited partnerships, a move aimed at boosting private investment.
Michigan Approves Consumers' IRP Eliminating Coal, Reducing Emissions 90% by 2040
Michigan regulators approved Consumers Energy's latest integrated resource plan, which will shutter its Karn coal-fired plant by 2023, setting the utility on a course to eliminate coal entirely and by 2040 reduce emissions from power plants by 90%.
Nevada Follows Hawaii, Moves toward Performance-Based Ratemaking
Nevada lawmakers on May 23 passed legislation to modernize how electric utility rates are set, directing the Public Utilities Commission to develop regulations enabling a performance-based regime.
DC Passed the Most Ambitious Clean Energy Law in the U.S. Now What?
Source: Greater Greater Washington
In January 2019, the District of Columbia passed the most ambitious clean energy legislation in the nation. However, local climate activists say the hard work is just beginning — they want to know who will lead the DC Green Bank and whether the law will benefit the least-privileged residents of the District.
South Carolina Solar Energy Legislation That Could Lower Power Bills Wins Senate Approval
Source: Greenville News
With just a day left in the legislative session, the state Senate approved a solar energy bill that boosters said will keep South Carolina's rooftop solar industry in business and help homeowners use panels to save money on power bills.
Sleeping Giant: The State of Solar in South Carolina
Andrea Cruz Quiroz
The popularity of solar energy skyrocketed in South Carolina (SC) with the introduction of net metering in 2014 when the state legislature unanimously passed its landmark energy bill. After the introduction of the Distributed Energy Resources (DER) program, the Palmetto State went from having virtually no solar energy to having an installed capacity of 591 megawatts (MW).
What Will It Take to Catalyze the Energy Transition?
Vastly higher clean energy targets are essential to empower the international community to make the leap to a sustainable future, according to Richard Heinberg, coauthor of "Our Renewable Future: Laying the Path for One Hundred Percent Clean Energy." In this interview, he delves into the practical challenges involved in the global transition to renewable power sources.
New Governors Seek the Next Clean Energy Frontier
Across the nation, new elected officials have been sworn in this January. They can alter the trajectory of clean energy projects in the years to come. Incoming governors may preside over expanding clean energy markets.


…. "The energy sector's share of the overall market is smaller than it has been historically, but its valuation isn't cheap, due to recent downward revisions in earnings estimates. Nicholas Colas of Datatrek suggests in a Wednesday report that energy investors should look beyond price and valuation for other narratives to decide on a strategy for the sector.
The back story. Energy stocks currently represent 5.4% of the S&P 500's total market capitalization. According to Colas, that's way down from an average weighting at 9.6% since 2000. "Energy sits at unusually low weightings–ones that 'should' only occur in 2.5% of the time," wrote Colas.
Oil prices doesn't seem to be the reason for energy's low weighting. West Texas Intermediate crude closed at about $63 a barrel on Tuesday. Historically, when prices are near $60 per barrel–in bull or bear commodity markets–energy stocks have made up a larger part of the S&P 500 index than they do today. For example, according to Colas, 8.8% in July 2015, 14.4% in November 2008, 12.6% in May 2009, and 8.4% in December 2014″….


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Indian Govt Banned UC Browser; Here are the Best UC Browser Alternatives
By KJ
Updated on July 2, 2020
- Advertisement 1 -
UC browser alternatives, here we need to discuss this topic because, on June 29, 2020, the Indian Government has banned 59 Chinese apps, including some widely used and useful apps too. This is a considerable decision taken by the government amid the war-like situation between India and China.
The government claimed that the decision is taken "to maintain the security and integrity of user's data, the banned apps were posing threat to the sovereignty and security of the country", while many other people are saying that this is another manner of insulting China by boycotting Chinese products.
Apart from all these things, now Indians will no longer be able to use many famous and widely used apps including UC Browser, CamScanner, and the Overhyped short video making app TikTok. So, we all have to replace all 59 apps with some best of their alternatives to maintain our workflow without any thwart.
So here, in this article we are going to discuss some UC browser alternatives, they will never let you realize the lack of UC browser. These UC browser alternatives are more advanced, prominent, and secure than the UC browser itself. So let's get started
Content Table
Some Best UC Browser Alternatives
Before discussing UC browser alternatives, let's us know what really UC browser does, and why it is in the list of banned apps
UC browser was an extremely popular web browser primarily used to surf over the Internet. According to some stats, the UC browser was the 8th most downloaded application of the decade 2010-2019. It has more than five hundred million downloads from the Google Play Store. Banning such a widely popular software is a major decision. As the government said in their prior statement that those listed 59 apps were causing a threat to the sovereignty, the security of the country. So to maintain the integrity of the data, and keep user's data securely the government has taken such a big step.
Now, whoever in the country uses the UC browser is searching for the best alternative. So here's is the list of some most popular and best web browser, which can be considered as best UC browser alternatives.
Also Read: Top 7 Unique Android Games- July 2020
Google Chrome is the world's extensively popular and ranks first in the most used web browsers. Interestingly, Google Chrome shares the world's 68.5% market. Google Chrome is everyone's all-time favorite and (RAM-eater) web browser. Designed, developed, and maintained by leading tech giant Google. The prominently used chrome browser is compatible with almost every operating system including Android, iOS, Windows PC, Linux, and some others too.
Google Chrome comes up with numerous functionalities and with various customization options, you can customize your Chrome the way you want. It has numerous extensions, and it is said to be the fastest and secure web browser. You can sync all of your data in one place through Google's account.
Developer: Google LLC
Also Read: 20+ Chinese Popular App Alternatives for Android
Microsoft Edge is the second-most used web browser of 2020, with the renewed code and libraries, Microsoft's edge is a fully-fledged web browser, with almost all available features. Designed and developed by Microsoft Corp. in 2015 for Windows 10 operating system. Microsoft Edge got a revamped look with Chromium base code in 2019, and now it is being the second- most used web browser.
Initially, it was designed only for Windows 10 OS but now the browser is also available for iOS, macOS, and Android operating systems some news also suggests that soon it will be available for Linux OS.
Apart from these Edge comes with loads of functionalities, it comprises an extension rich library. It has enhanced its security and privacy levels. Notably, Microsoft Edge consumes very less RAM as compared with Google Chrome and some other browsers. Microsoft Edge is a reimagined web browser, with almost all features of the best web browser.
If we are talking about UC browser alternatives than Microsoft Edge would stand first only because of its features, user-friendly User Interface, and many functionalities.
Developer: Microsoft Corporation
Also Read: 5+ Free IDM Alternatives You Can Try in 2020
The oldest yet widely used web browser, it is one of the best UC browser alternatives. Mozilla Firefox was initially launched in 2002, and another revamped version in 2004. Mozilla is famous for its secure and private browsing, Moreover, it also has huge libraries and add-ons to improve the browsing experience of the user and these libraries and plugins make the browser more user-friendly. You can add multiple add-ons to block ad, trackers and its syncing is something mesmerizing, you can sync and share history, bookmarks as well as tabs between desktop and mobile devices.
Firefox Browser: fast, private & safe web browser
Developer: Mozilla
Also Read: 2 Easy Methods to Use Emoji in Windows 10
Brave is a reimagined web browser from Brave Software Inc., this is also a Chromium-based web browser as similar to Microsoft Edge, and Google Chrome. But its user-interface and functionalities are way better. It is a fast, secure, free and open-source web browser. It has an in-built ad-blocker, and the stats can be shown on the home page of the browser. it is a highly customizable web browser with a number of customizing options.
Brave is slightly different from other web browsers because of its Rewards policy, Brave offers you some BAT for browsing and viewing privacy-respecting ads, and you can donate that amount to the websites or content creators. You can give tips to the websites and content creators directly, this will help them in earning some more revenue than existing ad-models. Moreover, it provides you private browsing with TOR, which masks your location and the IP address from the sites you visit.
Dolphin is another best UC browser alternative for Android, it is another widely popular and convenient web browser, which is being prominent only because of its flexible and well-designed features. Dolphin comes up with various features that increase the user experience and make users fall for it again and again.
It has a gesture feature, which lets you browse with swiping. Its Sonar feature enables the voice search feature, save webpages to the Evernote, and add your own personalized tags, comments, and many more. Dolphin also has its own web app store. It comes up with many more new and unique features that are just amazing to use and enhance your browsing experience.
Dolphin Browser – Fast, Private & Adblock🐬
Developer: Dolphin Browser
Also Read: 5+ Legit Ways to Increase Torrent Download Speed
So these were some best UC browser alternatives you can download and use them, these browsers provide a unique browsing experience, and you will love exploring the Internet more and more. Web Browsers are the first thing we interact with- while opening or visiting any site. So, choose your browser as per your preference.
And we can't say anything about the decision taken by the government, if the Government has banned such a huge amount of apps, knowing that this will affect users. If all the apps are banned as per our security so this is a great decision taken by the government, we can't risk our privacy and security for any app, we will found the best alternative for them.
But if as said the apps are banned to insult China and affect their economy, then we are speechless. Let us think in a realistic manner because banning few products of the world's largest market who wish to be the next superpower won't let us win the war. It may show support to our Army and help us to be more nationalist but this will hardly affect the Chinese Economy.
Self-motivated, passionate, and punctual toward the work for meeting deadlines. Interested in exploring new things and being from a technical background Tech Writing is something I enjoy doing.
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This discounted tour will provide behind the scenes access to the Denver Zoo's complex water systems. For only $20, the tour will highlight everything that goes into providing clean water for all the creatures of the zoo. Join us!


Ringgold head coach Don Roberts fist bumps pitcher Josh Peters during the PIAA Class 4A state championship against Valley View Thursday, June 14, 2018, at Penn State University.
Canon-McMillan's Brandon Kline (4) celebrates with Nick Seafino after scoring during the PIAA Class 6A state championship game against Bensalem Friday, June 15, 2018, at Penn State University.
The state champion Ringgold and Canon-McMillan baseball teams were celebrated this week at the state Capitol.
The two WPIAL teams were welcomed Monday and Tuesday by state Sen. Camera Barolotta, state Rep. Bud Cook and state Rep. Tim O'Neal.
Ringgold defeated Valley View, 6-4, in the PIAA Class 4A title June 14. Canon-McMillan won PIAA Class 6A with a 10-3 victory over Bensalem on June 15.