With its theme of Possible Worlds, the third season of Cosmos was awkwardly timed. The series, hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson, concluded last week on Fox and the National Geographic Channel. It conjures dreams of interstellar travel at a moment when most people are much more concerned about whether they can make it to the grocery store and back without contracting COVID-19.

The backdrop of a pandemic was, of course, unique to this season. It probably contributed to a lower-than-hoped-for viewership. But as writers for Evolution News have demonstrated in recent weeks, Cosmos 3.0, as we call it, is in other ways right in line with its predecessors. Like the 1980 original with Carl Sagan and the 2014 reboot with Dr. Tyson, this Cosmos series advances numerous myths about the relationship between science and faith.

Here is the final narration from Cosmos 2020:

Stars make worlds, and a world made life. And there came a time when heat shot out from the molten heart of this world and it warmed the waters. And the matter that had rained down from the stars came alive. And that star stuff became aware. And that life was sculpted by the earth, and it struggles with the other living things. And a great tree grew up, one with many branches. And six times it was almost felled, but still it grows. And we are but one small branch, one that cannot live without its tree. And slowly we learned to read the book of nature, to learn her laws, to nurture the tree, to become a way for the cosmos to know itself, and to return to the stars.

Tyson ends his summary of cosmic history since the Big Bang with this soaring narrative focused on earth. It sounds like the exalted prose of the book of Genesis minus God. It is a worldview-shaping narrative, a myth in the anthropological sense.

When connected with earlier Cosmos episodes that give details (typically without sufficient evidence), this narrative answers profound questions. Or it seeks to answer them. Where did we come from? Answer: we are star stuff shaped by the branching tree of evolution, powered by unguided material processes. What is our purpose (teleology)? Answer: to be one of the ways, along with extraterrestrial civilizations, that the universe knows itself through science. Where are we going (eschatology)? Answer: our destiny is to become connected with civilizations located around countless other stars, and thereby be liberated from terrestrial religions and scientific infancy (Tyson earlier held a baby to make this point). Six times terrestrial life worked hard to avoid total extinction and succeeded, but in the seventh period we will enter our cosmic rest of extraterrestrial enlightenment.

While resting in the lap of ET we will read the Encyclopedia Galactica, Tyson suggests. This book represents the fantastically advanced accumulated knowledge of cosmic communal intelligent life, an idea that Carl Sagan helped transfer from science fiction to documentary film back in the 1980 Cosmos series. Well enjoy heavenly bliss while reading the good book. Thats a key message from the Cosmos franchise.

The season finale is titled: Seven Wonders of the New World. In Biblical terms, seven symbolizes completion. Are we uncovering Team Tysons numerological opium for the masses? The Cosmos storytellers invented a 2039 New York Worlds Fair with seven theme park attractions that celebrate cosmic history and lifes heroic accomplishments. The year 2039 would be the centennial of the 1939 New York Worlds Fair that helped awaken Carl Sagans scientific-materialist imagination (also depicted endearingly in this final episode). Sagans legacy grows with each multimillion-dollar retelling.

Such Worlds Fair science-fiction storytelling works well as it builds upon a certain measure of legitimate science. There are five widely recognized mass extinction events in our planets history. Throw in human-caused global warming as the sixth catastrophe (allegedly in the making in our own time) and you have a great recipe for cosmic mythology. Lets save our Mother Earth in act six and join the extraterrestrial choir of enlightened ETs in the triumphant seventh act. Hey everyone, make sure you oppose those fanatically religious geocentric, flat-earth-believing, climate-science deniers who are destined for extinction. Science is our only salvation. (See my historical analyses of Christianity as being responsible for flat-earth-belief here and unthinking resistance to Copernicanism here).

The makers of Cosmos wish to reach your heart with their message. Its a materialistic imitation of biblical religion and eschatology. Mother Nature is god and Tyson is her prophet. Learn her laws, he declares, echoing Moses. Nurture the Tree of Life she has mindlessly created. Countless times in the series Tyson says Come with me, imitating Jesus call for disciples.

The grand story is dressed up to look scientific, but at heart it is mostly materialistic mythology. Its bipolar identity teeters between atheism and pantheism. I make a rigorous case for this conclusion in my book Unbelievable, which includes the chapters Extraterrestrial Enlightenment and Preaching Anti-theism on TV: Cosmos. In the Cosmos chapter I discuss Cosmos 1980 and 2014. Cosmos 2020 dishes up more of the same. Many will swallow it.

Did you notice the timing of the season finale, on April 20? It aired two days before Earth Day, which this year celebrated its 50th anniversary. Many now celebrate Earth Day within a Deep Ecology worldview that owes much to pre-modern pagan earth worship. Easter, which also falls at this time of year, had long ago largely displaced the old earth-worshipping holidays in Europe. Do the makers of Cosmos hope that Earth Day will win back this time of year from Easter? It sure looks that way when you combine my analysis here with this critique of the flimsy Cosmos treatment of global warming. It is no surprise that the National Geographic Channel blasted Cosmos viewers with many Earth Day-related TV advertisements (I lost count of just how many).

Meanwhile, after celebrating or ignoring Easter and Earth Day, many coronavirus-besieged earthlings toggle between anxiety and quarantined boredom. Cosmos 3.0 doesnt seem to be helping much. But for some people false hope is better than no hope at all. For some, futuristic dreams via Cosmos might bring comfort. Team Tyson envisions how in the near future a persons neural network (connectome) might be resurrected. In this future world, maybe with ETs help (or so the story goes), we will be able to recreate a deceased persons connectome. Its your own personal techno-Easter, if you will (provided that others in the future approve of your reappearance). The details for how this could happen are not provided. Sci-fi is under no such obligation. The constraints on this kind of storytelling are minimal.

Carl Sagans widow, Ann Druyan, is the key figure who made the Cosmos series rise again (twice now). She had this to say about her teams storytelling:

Every story that we tell has to satisfy different criteria. It has to be a way into a complex scientific idea or an important scientific idea. Were aiming for your brain, your eye, your heart, your senses, your ear via effects. Everything has to be working together in concert to give you a consummate experience, and to attract you to want to know more.

Referring to traditional religions, especially the one that celebrates Easter, she finally says in the same interview: I think we have a much better story to tell than they do. I doubt this even if both were treated as fictional narratives. Of course the truth or fiction of each story is the subject of the main debate.

Seth MacFarlane (a Hollywood atheist worried about the influence of intelligent design) introduced Ann Druyan to atheist Brannon Braga, who helped Ms. Druyan produce the two reboots of Cosmos. Heres a sample of how I treat Bragas key role in the Cosmos franchise. Its from the Cosmos chapter of my book Unbelievable. The materialist agenda of Braga is documented below and in my books footnotes (omitted here).

The executive producer of Cosmos 2014 says that he has spent most of his professional life creating myths for the greater truth of atheism. His name is Brannon Braga. Speaking at the 2006 International Atheist Conference, he celebrated his part in creating atheistic mythology in more than 150 episodes of Star Trek: Next Generation. He summed up his mission which violates the original Star Trek prime directive of not altering native culture as showing that religion sucks, isnt science great, and finally how the hell do we get the other 95 percent of the population to come to their senses? These are remarkable confessions. As we saw in Chapter 8, Kepler helped establish sci-fi as a way to promote very different ideas: God rules the cosmos, isnt science great, and finally how for heavens sake do we get the other 99.9 percent of the population to come to their senses so they can embrace Copernican astronomy?

According to Braga, teaching atheistic myth is the work of sci-fi films and TV documentaries like Cosmos. Indeed, he said that Cosmos 2014 was designed to combat dark forces of irrational thinking. He emphasized: Religion doesnt own awe and mystery. Science does it better. But as we have seen, rendering Christianity as the historical enemy of science is itself an exercise in unreasonable and reckless historiography. Myth, not science, recognizes the cosmos as all that is, or ever was, or ever will be. Sagan knew this statement would inspire awe because it imitated the biblical description of God. No doubt, Braga and his team of like-minded creators were delighted to rerun this mythical mantra at the beginning of Cosmos 2014. It served well the greater good of anti-theism.

Theres much more where that came from: Its Unbelievable!

Editors note: Find further reviews and commentary on the third season ofCosmos, Possible Worlds, here:

Image: Host Neil deGrasse Tyson in a screenshot from the trailerfor Cosmos 3.0, Possible Worlds.

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Echoing the Bible, Cosmos Concludes with a Materialist Origins Myth and Future Heavenly Bliss - Discovery Institute

Vinod Khanna with son Rahul.

OnApril 27, 2017 when Vinod Khanna died in a Mumbai hospital, Indian cinema lost one of its most handsome and successful stars. Vinod was unlike any other in the Indian film firmament - a star who quit it all at the height of success only to return five years later to reclaim much of what had been lost. As a successful actor, handsome star, with a successful career in politics later on, Vinod had it all but nothing defined his life the way his association with Osho would. On his 3rd death anniversary, heres a look at how can be such a big part of his life.

Vinod as born in Peshawar in 1946 in undivided India. A year later, when Partition happened, his family comprising his parents, three sisters and a brother moved to Bombay (now Mumbai). His younger days - school and college - were spent in Mumbai, Delhi and Deolali, near Nashik in Maharashtra. Though Vinod made his film debut in 1968 with Sunil Dutt in Man Ka Meet, his heart truly was in cricket. He loved the game and played a fair bit of it while in Bombay. The public may think I am just another filmstar but there was a time when I played fair cricket with (test player) Budhi Kunderan. Later, I played with Eknath Solkar at the Hindu Gym. I used to bat at No 4 but settled for films the moment I realised I couldnt be Vishwanath! Even so cricket not films, is my first love, he had written in The Illustrated Weekly of India in 1979.

Yet films would be where he would earn name, fame and money. In the 70s era, he was one of the highest earning stars alogwith Amitabh Bachchan. Starting off playing the roles of villains, Vinod soon graduate to playing hero. Between the late 70s and early 80s, he had starred in a string of successful films such as Kuchhe Dhaage, Gaddaar, Imtihaan, Muqaddar Ka Sikandar, Inkaar, Amar Akbar Anthony, Rajput, The Burning Train, Qurbani, Kudrat, Parvarish and Khoon Pasina.

In his personal life too, life couldnt have been better - he married his college sweetheart, Gitanjali Taleyarkhan and a proud parent to two boys - Rahul and Akshaye - both of whom would go on to become actors. Life couldnt have been better and yet, in early 1980s he quit it all and moved into Rajneeshpuram with his spiritual guru Rajneesh. He had become his disciple in 1975. The developments shocked India.

Speaking about it, his younger son Akshaye in an interview to Mid Day had said how he was only about five or six years old when his father left them. At that time, it meant nothing to him. It was only when Akshaye turned 15 or 16 that he began to learn and listen about the man who influenced his father so much that he was willing to renunciate life and take sanyaas. Akshaye said, To not only leave his family, but to take sanyaas (renunciation). Sanyaas means giving up your life in totality family is [only] a part of it. Its a life-changing decision, which he felt that he needed to take at the time. As a five-year-old, it was impossible [for me] to understand it. I can understand it now.

It is indeed life coming a full circle when ones child, most impacted by ones decisions, turns empathetic. Akshaye went on to explain how he now understood what his father must have felt. In the sense that something must have moved him so deeply inside, that he felt that that kind of decision was worth it for him. Especially, when you have everything in life. And when life doesnt look as though theres much more that you can have.

A very basic fault-line/ earthquake has to occur within oneself to make that decision. But also stick by it. One can make the decision and say this doesnt suit me lets go back. But that didnt happen.

Akshaye explained how Vinods renunciation was complete and had it not been for the unfortunate developments vis-a-vis Rajneeshpuram and the US government then, Vinod would never have come back. And circumstances in America with Osho and the colony, friction with the US government that was the reason he came back.

There were constant murmurs that Vinod was disillusioned; Akshaye thought the contrary. He added, From whatever memories I have about my father talking about that time in his life, I dont think that was a reason at all. It was just the fact that the commune was disbanded, destroyed, and everybody had to find their own way. Thats when he came back. Otherwise I dont think he wouldve ever come back.

By the time Vinod returned to India, he and Gitanjali had divorced. He went back to working in Bollywood, working in films like Dayavan. Vinod married again, this time to Kavita Daftary, daughter of industrialist Sharayu Daftary and had two more children. He joined the Bharatiya Janata Party and won four Lok Sabha elections from Gurdaspur and remains the most successful Bollywood star in politics. He successfully launched his son Akshayes film career too. All his life, Oshos philosophy remained central to his existence.

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On Vinod Khannas 3rd death anniversary, a look at how joining Osho became the most defining moment... - Hindustan Times

Who is Amala Paul's new boyfriend? The name and photos of her Mr Right revealed

Amala Paul is reading 'The Book of Woman', written by Osho and the influence of the author can be seen on her as the actress has raised pertinent questions about love, marriage and notable about the women's treatment in the society.

Amala Paul.Instagram

Amala Paul's Bold Message on Social Media The 27-year old talks about how the women are subject to slavery and claims that pregnancy brings death to child in her. Amala Paul stated that the men uses women as an object of lust to fulfil his sexual desire.

The complete unedited text can be read below:

All the best questions in THE PROPHET are asked by women- about love, about marriage, about children, about pain-authentic, real. . Not about God, not about any philosophical system, but about life itself. Why has the question arisen in a woman and not in a man ? Because the woman has suffered slavery, the woman has suffered humiliation, the woman has suffered economic dependence, and, above all, she has suffered a constant state of pregnancy. . For centuries she has lived in pain and pain. The growing child in her does not allow her to eat. She is always feeling like throwing up, vomiting. .

He simply uses the woman as an object to fulfill his lust and sexuality

When child has grown to nine months, the birth of the child is almost the death of the woman. And when she is not even free of one pregnancy, the husband is ready to make her pregnant again. It seems that the woman's only function is to be a factory to produce crowds. . And what is man's function ? He does not participate in her pain. Nine months she suffers, the birth of the child she suffers- and what does the man do ?

As far as the man is concerned, he simply uses the woman as an object to fulfill his lust and sexuality. He is not concerned at all about what the consequence will be for the woman. . And still he goes on saying, 'I LOVE YOU'. If he had really loved her, the world would not have been over populated. His word 'love' is absolutely empty. He has treated her almost like cattle. . #osho #thebookofwoman #woman #slaverystillexists #ancestralhealing #powerfulwords

Amala Paul.PR Handout

Amala Paulon Work Front: On the work front, she is busy with South Indian version of Hindi web series Lust Stories. She is also part of Mahesh Bhatt's yesteryear actress Parveen Babhi's biopic.

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Amala Paul: 'When she is not even free of one pregnancy, the husband is ready to make her pregnant again' - International Business Times, India...

Charged and complex Edwin Morgan in 2003. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian

Three poems from The New Divan

1.Hafiz, old nightingale, what fires there have been in the groves, white dust, wretchedness, how could you ever get your song together? Someone stands by your tomb, thinks as a shadow thinks: much, little, any? You swore youd be found shrouded in another grave-cloth of pure smoke from a heart as burning dead as beating but the names of cinders are thick where passions were. Whole cities could be ash. But not the song the Sufi says we have but our dying song, you knew, gives us our beings.

86.Not in Kings Regulations, to be in love. Cosgrove I gave the flower to, joking, jumping down the rocky terraces above Sidon, my heart bursting as a village twilight spread its tent over us and promontories swam far below through goat-bells into an unearthly red. He dribbled a ball through shrieking children and they laughed at our bad Arabic, and the flower. To tell the truth he knew no more of what I felt than of tomorrow. Gallus, he cared little for that. Ive not lost his photograph. Yesterday, tomorrow he slumbers in a word.

92.Angels with abacuses called their calculations once, in an ancient scene of souls. They shrug now, its not calculable, dive in pools, dry out half human with their wings on rocks and let computers mass the injuries let computers mess the injuries let computers miss the injuries let computers moss the injuries let computers muss the injuries of merely mortal times. Consequently waters break on earth but not for them. And those who see them in this labouring place have shadows watching them, not angels. It doesnt matter which. When was our ACHTUNG MINEN ever their concern, or the tears where our bodies were?

Edwin Morgan (1920-2010) considered his 100-poem sequence, The New Divan, his war poem.

A conscientious objector, Morgan served in a non-combatant role in the Royal Army Medical Corps in north Africa during the second world war. He wrote the sequence years after the experience, and published it in 1977, by which time his major collections, The Second Life (1968) and From Glasgow to Saturn (1973) had established his reputation. He chose the right moment for himself as a poet: its as if the poem had always been waiting for him to find his hail voice.

The sequence is non-linear. There are narrative glimpses only. Many of the poems have a swift, strange jostle of images, like vivid dreams, almost surreal. Wars violence is more often hinted than described, part of the symbolism of red, a favourite colour in the swirling weave. Blood, roses, sunset, fire, wine, the eyes after drinking all shades and moods of red connect Morgans divan (the word means in Persian a collection of poems) to the original Divan by the 14th-century Sufi poet Hafiz.

Love, for Morgan as for Hafiz, is the major theme. In a context where homosexual relationships were officially forbidden, its a charged and complex business. As the second poem here affirms, to be in love was against Kings Regulations. It would not have been an easy subject for Morgan at the time of writing, either.

Sufi mysticism and carnal ecstasy merge for both poets. Of course, Morgans persona isnt seeking union with God, but the ecstatic union with the man he desires, Cosgrove, is a spiritual matter in that its a quest for the utmost personal authenticity. The shapes, colours and syntax of Morgans poems, so unlike Hafizs stately ghazals, make them seem to dance like whirling dervishes, the Sufi worshippers who seek divine connection through bodily movement. As the Indian mystic, Acharya Rajneesh, (Osho), explained, Sufis sing, they dont give sermons, because life is more like a song and less like a sermon. And they dance, and they dont talk about dogmas, because a dance is more alive, more like existence, more like the birds singing in the trees ... The whole life is a dance, vibrating, throbbing, with infinite life. Sufis like to dance; they are not interested in dogmas.

In Poem 1, Morgan addresses the old nightingale Hafiz himself, and refers to the text where Hafiz declares: Open my grave when I am dead, and thou shalt see a cloud of smoke rising out from it; then shalt thou know that the fire still burns in my dead heart; yea, it has set my very winding-sheet alight. (Gertrude Bells translation). Death in Morgans poem is retrospective transformation: But / not the song the Sufi says we have / but our dying song, you knew, gives us our beings. It seems likely that Morgan wrote the Divan after Cosgroves death; it was certainly written when the realisation of that love was no longer a possibility. But the love gives Morgan his song.

No 82 is a long way ahead in the sequence or would be if The New Divan were chronologically structured. This poem has a lighter, airier voice: insouciant as well as sad, it captures the character of Cosgrove, and the obligatory playfulness which both defuses and heightens the relationship. Gallus (line 10) is an adjective in Scots . The fact that Gallus is a proper noun in Latin creates an ambiguity: might it also be read as a reference to the Roman prefect-in-Egypt, Aelius Gallus, whose expedition was described by Strabo, among others?

No 92 laments the disunity jarring the heart of Morgans wartime experience. Angels are imperfect, or invisible. Capital letters shout, Beware Landmines. An excursion into concrete poetry results in a mechanical, anti-creation hymn . Mass, mess, miss, moss, muss: the hissing litany of words chancily formed by the sequence of vowels, recalls a device used humorously in The Computers First Christmas Card. Poem 92 is a cry of pain, but still a word-dance.

Edwin Morgans 100th birthday would have been on 27 April. Im delighted to have an excuse to return to his work, and for PotW to play a small part in his centenary celebrations. No 20th-century poetry has brought me more varied, intense and unfading pleasure than Morgans. His is the song of our time the living, not the dying, song which gives us our being.

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Poem of the week: The New Divan by Edwin Morgan - The Guardian

So when Olaya talked to Mathurin that day, leading to a later offer from the NBA Academy Latin America, there was no reason to hesitate.

Never mind that it would represent a huge leap of faith both on and off the court. Mathurin was the Latin America programs first Canadian player. He spoke French, English and Creole but not Spanish.

It was hard, Mathurin said. People would try to talk to me and I couldnt understand but on the court, it was pretty easy.

When the coaches were talking, they were pointing with their fingers so I could understand. And a player translated for me, simple things like screen that I couldnt understand. I just had to learn to talk with people.

The 6-foot-6 Bennedict Mathurin is a four-star prospect.

Communication, in whatever form, was essential to make the most of Mathurins raw talent.

Mathurin says he helped his basketball footwork and IQ from playing quarterback for a youth football team in Montreal. But his experience with Canadas national winter sport was, well lets just say he was athletic and powerful back then, too.

Hockey was different, Mathurin said, chuckling. I was skating fast but I didnt know how to slow down, so I was always crashing into the glass.

The same concept applied, to some degree, once Mathurin arrived in Mexico City. Mathurin said his game was mostly about dunking and taking lobs and thats pretty much what his coaches saw.

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With late brother as both memory and motivation, Arizona Wildcats commit Bennedict Mathurin charts course for basketball future - Arizona Daily Star

Its big trouble for new artistRari in little China. The Virginia-native created popularity in 2018 with a growing fanbase and breakout song, The Realest. Catchy, witty and suspenseful, Rari new catalog makes its latest entry in new song, titled, Not What It Seems.

Directed by the talented PDGRFX, the new song is produced by hugely recognized producers HighDefRazjah and Grammy-nominated Johnny Juliano. In New York, Rari stars in a snappy, slick-talking visual about finding themselves.

Rari about making Not What It Seems:

This track is a motivational anthem for anybody feeling like all their hard work has been in vain. I think everyone can relate to being an underdog. Johnny Juliano & HighDefRazjah found a sound for me to deliver the message and now its time to make my mark.

Not What It Seems follows a string of hits by the upcoming star. Arriving on the scene in 2018, Rari established notoriety in previous efforts, The Realest, Live in the Garden and New Habits. For more Rari news, you may follow the new artist on Instagram and Twitter.

Stream it now.

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Rari Drops Motivational Visual for the Hit, "Not What Its Seems" - Substream Magazine

Ty Clark spent the last season down in Louisiana at CMP Prep Academy working on his football skills.(Photo: Submitted by Ty Clark)

ASHLAND - Ty Clark Jr. hoped he would be impressing his new coaches at Ashland University right now.

After spending a year in Lafayette, Louisiana, at CMP Prep Academy, he made the move back closer to home to continue his football career in the purple and gold as an Eagle.

Catching the eye of head coach Lee Owens and quarterbacks coach Tom Stacy was how he envisioned his spring.

Instead, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Clark is missing out on what he was hoping would be his golden ticket to making a name for himself at Ashland.

"It's a weird feeling, especially for us underclassmen," Clark said."Spring time for football is when you can really get your name out there to coaches before fall camp. We don't have that opportunity, it's weird thinking if you're going to get that chance or not, and how long it'll be before you get that opportunity since you didn't have a chance to in the spring.

"I was hoping to make the most of that opportunity because it was just me and (Austin) Brenner there, I was going to try to get my name up on the roster early before we had six quarterbacks this fall."

Upon graduating from Crestline in 2019, Clark had offers from Division III schools and even some at theDivision II level including Ashland but not to play quarterback. He opted to spend a year at CMP Prep to work on his football skills and grow as an athlete.

Week 1 | Buckeye Central at Crestline football on Aug. 24, 2018.(Photo: Mike Dornbirer/Correspondent)

"I enjoyed myself in Louisiana," Clark said."Coach Hutch, coach Black and coach Butler all took good care of me, took me in, made sure I wasn't just out on my own right away because I didn't know the area. It was a fun experience, they have some of the best food down there, we had really nice apartments with nine swimming pools. They taught me a lot about football, coach Black taught me the characteristics of being a quarterback and coach Hutch got my 40 time from a 5.1 to about a 4.9 and I put on almost 40 pounds doing so.

"They got me right down there, I was fortunate to be there."

It paid off as Clark proved himself as a quarterback and now has the chance to compete for a spot on the depth chart at Ashland.

Right now, his days are pretty routine work, train, school, sleep, repeat.

"I work about 50 hours a week, give ortake, Monday through Saturday," Clark said."Then I try to do my schoolwork when I get home. I work for Brian Glowaski at MWD Logistics, he has a weight room upstairs, so I work out right after work, go home, do some school work, then run."

Unlike numerous athletes right now, Clark is fortunate enough to have access to a weight room. He's using that to his advantage and hopes it'll pay off when he's able to link up with his new football team.

"I've been working out just about every day lifting," Clark said."I want to take advantage of this time to separate myself because I know not everyone is working out, not everyone is doing this because they don't have the opportunity to.

"When it is time, I can say I gave it my all."

Ty Clark moves from CMP Prep Academy to Ashland University this year.(Photo: Submitted by Ty Clark)

School is the one thing he has found most difficult during these times.

"I'm not too good with online learning as it is and you can tell these classes aren't meant to be online courses," Clark said."And it's hard to just sit there and want to do school work. It's weird."

His coaches check up on him and the rest of the team routinely reminding them how crucial this downtime is to their success both in the classroom and on the field.

"The coaches have been checking in every once in a while to see how we're doing and make sure we're still coming back in the fall," Clark said."Right now, the whole conference is canceled through May 31st, so we're hoping in June we can get back there, start lifting and working together.

"They express it all the time they're here for us if we need anything. A place to stay, food, really anything. It feels good knowing we have that support system. But they also stress taking advantage of this time and keep up with classes, but make sure we're working out so that we don't get behind.

"There will be players who do get left behind because they took time off instead ofworking out."

Clark, will not be one of those players.

zholden@gannett.com

419-617-6018

Twitter: @Zachary_Holden

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Missed opportunity in spring now motivation for incoming Ashland University QB Ty Clark - Bucyrus Telegraph Forum

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As life in lockdown continues it's becoming harder to tell one day from another, so it's understandable that a lot of people are struggling to keep up with their health and fitness goals. Lack of equipment aside, simply working up the energy to start a workout can feel overwhelming.

In a recent thread on Reddit, people have been sharing the ways that they have been able to build habits and cultivate a positive mind-set, so that they can start exercising even on days when they really, really don't want to.

For some people, it's useful to remember the investment they made in getting fit when they're feeling unmotivated; a financial motivator is still a motivator.

"I always keep in mind that I'm only cheating myself one way or another," says WeeJay11. "Be it my gym membership fees, or the home gym equipment I invested in for home use, or even skipping out on exercises I don't like to do or doing them improperly. I'm only cheating myself, and in some cases I'm letting somebody else take advantage of my desire to be a healthier individual through paying them for a service I'm not utilizing."

"I hate running, but I've been running regularly for over ten years now," says saugoof. "There are a couple of things that keep me running. One is that although I dread going for a run and hate it while I'm running, I have never regretted going for a run. I'm always glad afterwards that I did."

"Another is that often I make something I want a condition of doing a run first, e.g. I won't have dinner until after I've gone running. I also have a minimum distance that I run each week. I do this each and every week, no matter if the weather is shit, if I'm on holidays or away on business, busy this week, etc. If for some reason I do not manage to make my minimum distance I make up for it the week after. I know myself well enough to realise that if I didn't stick religiously to this, I'd quickly lapse."

There are many benefits to having a workout buddy, from the social element to the increased accountability in showing up and doing the work, so it's unsurprising that a number of responses on the thread encourage group activities as a way of staying motivated.

"Have someone to exercise with," says Chairchucker. "Keep each other accountable for going and exercising. Maybe play a team sport. Then if you don't exercise you'd be letting down the team."

Of course, in our current situation that is easier said than done but you can foster that sense of accountability by joining group workouts online.

All too often at the start of a fitness journey, people can feel discouraged if they feel they're not making immense progress right away, making that final goal, be it weight loss or building muscle, seem unreachable. Which is why it's important to break that one endpoint down into smaller, attainable targets, as this commenter points out:

"It's also really important to make short term achievable goals. Saying you want to lose 25 lbs is great but that's gonna take a long time and there will be obstacles and frustration. But if you start with aiming at running a sub 10 minute mile or being able to to 10 pullups, you can see your incremental progress."

"I start small. 5 mins a day or so," adds lequalsfd. "Then when that becomes habit and the time has been mentally carved out I increase it to maybe 10 mins. And so on and so on until my habit is fully formed. It's hard to motivate anyone to get up and immediately start a 30-60 min run. Start small stick to it and increase it after a week or two."

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Fit People Who Hate Working Out Are Sharing How They Stay Motivated - Men's Health

Amdavadi girl Shiny Doshi, who rose to fame with the shows Saraswati Chandra, Sarojini, Jamai Raja etc, is currently the part of Alif Laila. It is more than a month to lockdown and she badly misses being on the sets. Shiny says, I am missing the work on the sets in film city. It has been the longest time that I have been away from camera. But, life Is any day a bigger priority. She is currently with her mother in Mumbai. She says, I am glad to have her by my side. It keeps me emotionally and mentally balanced to have a loved one with me in such tough times. Though, I badly miss my brother, sister in law and my Nephew they are in Ahmedabad. I keep talking to them daily on video calls. This quarantine time has made this pretty actress learn lot of new things. I have started doing all the home tasks By myself. I am cooking all my favourite food. But my biggest take away From this lockdown phase is that I have finally got that self motivation to do my workouts without anyone pushing me. Trust me, I needed to be pushed by my trainer regularly to do my exercises. Now, I am doing it all by myself, says Shiny.

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Thanks to lockdown, I have finally got that self motivation for workouts: Shiny Doshi - Times of India

Tuesday marked the 20-year anniversary of Richard Baumhammers, a white man, murdering five people in Allegheny and Beaver counties: a Jewish woman, two men of Indian descent, two men of Asian descent and a black man.

Tuesday marked 20 years since a man murdered five people in a racially motivated series of shootings in Allegheny and Beaver counties.

Richard Baumhammers, now 54, of Mount Lebanon, was an unemployed immigration lawyer when he went on a shooting rampage on April 28, 2000.

Baumhammers, a white man, shot his neighbor Anita Gordon, a 63-year-old Jewish woman from Mount Lebanon, and set her house on fire. He then drove to the Beth El Congregation of South Hills, a synagogue Gordon attended, and shot out the front windows and painted red swastikas on the building.

Afterward, he drove to a grocery store in Scott Township and shot and killed 31-year-old Anil Thakur, an Indian man, and shot 24-year-old Sandip Patel, who is also of Indian descent. Patel became paralyzed and died about seven years later.

Baumhammers then drove to a Chinese restaurant in Robinson Township, where he shot and killed 34-year-old Ji-Ye Sun, a native of China, and 27-year-old Thao Pham, who left Vietnam in 1979. He finished his shooting spree by driving to C.S. Kim School of Karate in Center Township, where he shot 22-year-old Garry Lee, a black man.

He was arrested at gunpoint as he entered Ambridge. It is believed his next target was Beth Samuel Synagogue in Ambridge.

It took a jury less than three hours to sentence Baumhammers to death.

Baumhammers showed no expression as the verdict was read. He was reportedly living with his parents at the time of the shootings and was undergoing psychiatric care.

His lawyers did not argue whether Baumhammers killed his victims, but instead said he lacked the mental ability to tell right from wrong. Psychiatrists said Baumhammers suffered from a delusional disorder of the persecutional type, as he believed the FBI and CIA were monitoring him and that the family house cleaner was a spy.

Baumhammers was supposedly on prescription medication, but tests later found he had not been taking his medicine.

Allegheny County Deputy Assistant District Attorney Ed Borkowski told jurors during the trial that Baumhammers was not insane, saying he was anti-Semitic and racist, noting that he read racist and anti-immigration literature and saw Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh and Adolf Hitler as heroes.

Baumhammers lawyers lost an insanity defense and he was given the death penalty for five murders.

Then newly elected Gov. Tom Wolf on Feb. 13, 2015, declared a moratorium on Pennsylvanias death penalty, causing controversy over cases like Baumhammers.

Center Township Police Chief Barry Kramer, who was the first officer on the scene where Baumhammer murdered Lee, wrote a letter to Wolf asking the governor to allow capital punishment for egregious crimes, according to the letter.

There is fear that some death-row convictions have been biased due to race/ethnicity or socio-economic status; this is certainly of concern, the letter read. However; we believe that to completely eliminate the death penalty for those who have executed certain egregious crimes where guilt is clear would be irrational. Baumhammers 90-plus-minute, eye-witnessed rampage was fueled by racial and ethnic hatred from a man who came from a quiet, upscale, suburban community. Baumhammers was a white, well-educated man, was not poor or economically depressed, and from all aspects apparently had every opportunity for a successful life. In this case of cold-blooded murder of six innocent Pennsylvanians, we believe the death penalty is warranted.

Additional signatures attached to the letter included those of state Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati, House Speaker Mike Turzai, Sens. Camera Bartolotta and Elder Vogel Jr., and Reps. Jarret Gibbons, Jim Christiana, Jim Marshall and Rob Matzie.

Kramer said Wolf never responded to his February 2015 letter.

There is no political agenda, Kramer said, noting that his letter to Wolf wasnt about politics; it was about justice. I understand the governor might want to examine death penalty cases. But there were eyewitnesses to almost all of the murders. Theres no question to whether he committed these crimes.

Baumhammers lost an appeal Nov. 26, 2019, and remains in the State Correctional Institution at Green in Greene County.

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20-year anniversary of Baumhammers' racially motivated killing spree - Ellwood City Ledger