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So-Fi So Good for Taylor Swift

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:50:27 GMT

So-Fi So Good for Taylor Swift: Not a single piece of the reporting you’ve heard about Taylor Swift’s Eras tour is exaggerated. Not a tiny little bit. This thing is enormous. Like, insanely big, and a phenomenon. And every single attendee (including this one) is here for the party. Not in a tailgate, beer-chugga-chugga sort of way. But in a genuine, love for the music, human connection, sort of way.That’s what Swift is all about. She connects with her fans on a deeply personal level. The sort of connection that all artists hope to establish with their target audience. And despite the fact that this writer is not a part of that demographic, empathy is possible for all but sociopaths.So friendship bands are passed around by nearly everyone on the way in. The parking attendants had arms full of them. It’s a love-in. It’s contemporary Coachella and the Super Bowl halftime show without the dust and sports fans. The range of generations in attendance (and not just parents being dragged al...

Legendary classic rock band says it isn’t retiring ‘anytime soon’

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:50:27 GMT

Get ready to yell out “Free Bird” — and have the request actually mean something — when Lynyrd Skynyrd returns this month to Northern California.The Rock and Roll of Fame act, known for that fabled song as well as “Gimme Three Steps,” “Tuesday’s Gone,” “Sweet Home Alabama” and so many other classics, performs Aug. 10 at Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View and Aug. 11 at Toyota Amphitheatre in Wheatland.Shows start at 8 p.m. and tickets — $18.75-$354 (subject to change) — are available at livenation.com.The Southern Rock outfit is co-headlining these concerts with the Texas troupe ZZ Top. The outing is dubbed the Sharp Dressed Simple Man Tour — a clever title that draws from a pair of the bands’ best-known songs (ZZ’s “Sharp Dressed man” and Skynyrd’s “Simple Man”).I recently had the chance to chat with Skynyrd guitarist Rickey Medlocke on a number of subjects. The one topic that kept coming up again and again during our conversation, not surprisingl...

Elon Musk promises to fund legal fights of discriminated X users

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:50:27 GMT

By Michael Sin and Vlad Savov, Bloomberg NewsElon Musk has offered to fund the legal bills of any users of his social network, X, who’ve been discriminated against by their employer because of their actions on the platform.The proposal comes with “no limit” on costs and X Corp. will “go after the boards of directors of the companies too,” he said in messages posted to the site Saturday night. The billionaire, who acquired Twitter for $44 billion in October and recently rebranded it as X, has made a habit of announcing major policy changes for the service late at night or over weekends. The X rebrand happened over the course of a weekend in July.Musk has been responding affirmatively to suggestions posted to X of cases his company could support.Related ArticlesTechnology | Elon Musk, self-described ‘free speech absolutist,’ sues nonprofit over its speech Technology | Elon Musk threatens to sue researchers who documented the rise in hateful tweet...

Review: With ‘Pikmin 4,’ Nintendo finally nails the right controls for a strategy game

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:50:27 GMT

Whenever anyone says you can’t do a real-time strategy game on consoles, the obvious answer to that is “Pikmin.” Nintendo’s series about Lilliputian spacefarers who crash land on an Earth-like planet has been captivating fans since the GameCube.The plots are generally the same. Explorers end up as castaways on a mysterious planet dubbed PNF-404, and they have to find a way to return home. That’s easier said than done, though, because the environment is hostile from the fauna all the way to the environment, with oxygen levels toxic to the space travelers.PIKMIN SOLVE A LOT OF PROBLEMSThe solution for the explorers is Pikmin, diminutive creatures that are a cross between a sprout and an ant. Spacefarers can control them and they quickly find out that alone they’re weak, but under a leader, they become a formidable swarm capable of taking down bigger creatures and lifting heavy objects.The original “Pikmin” laid a solid foundation and eac...

This week in SF Giants baseball: Shohei Ohtani, Bruce Bochy and a tough stretch of opponents

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:50:27 GMT

Starting this weekend, when Bruce Bochy’s Texas Rangers come to town, the San Francisco Giants won’t face an opponent with a losing record for the next three weeks.On the bright side, they also don’t leave California, except for a six-day stretch, until September. After a grueling first-half travel schedule — more air miles than any other club — they have only two trips left east of the Rockies.So, is the toughest part of the schedule behind them, or ahead?“They’re both challenging in different ways,” manager Gabe Kapler said. “We’ve played good baseball against teams with winning records. All of the challenges, they’re significant but also ones that we can and have overcome.”Perhaps the tick up in competition is a good thing.After dropping both games against the A’s over the weekend, Giants players were left just as dumbfounded as anyone about their inexplicable struggles against bad teams. They are 34-27 against clubs with winning re...

San Jose: Homicide detectives investigating stabbing deaths of woman, great-grandchild at apartment

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:50:27 GMT

SAN JOSE — Homicide detectives continue to investigate the stabbing deaths of an elderly woman and her great-grandchild whose bodies were found in an apartment Friday following a police welfare check, authorities said.San Jose police officers were called at 10:06 a.m. Friday to an apartment in the 1600 block of Parkmoor Avenue, site of the Vista luxury apartment complex, after being asked to check on the welfare of at least one resident.They discovered two bodies, of the woman and child. After the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner’s Office was summoned, police declared they were homicide victims. Monday, police said both had been stabbed at least once.Their names have not been publicly disclosed pending their formal identification and notification of their next of kin by the coroner’s office.Authorities confirmed that the victims were an elderly woman and her great-grandchild, but released no other details. A message from the apartment complex sent to ten...

Man dies after being rescued from water near Harbor Bay in Alameda

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:50:27 GMT

(KRON) -- One man died at a hospital Sunday following a heart attack be suffered after being pulled from the water off Bay Farm Island, an Alameda Fire Department spokesperson said Monday. Four people were rescued from the water near the Harbor Bay Ferry Terminal Sunday afternoon, the Alameda Fire Department (AFD) said. One of the victims was suffering from cardiac arrest when firefighter found him on the shore, officials said. Crews performed CPR and took him to a nearby hospital where he later died. His name was not available Monday morning from the Alameda County coroner's bureau.AFD posted photos of the rescue (below).(Alameda Fire Department)(Alameda Fire Department)(Alameda Fire Department)(Alameda Fire Department)AFD deployed rescue swimmers and found three other male victims in the water. Officials said they were approxiamtely 100 feet to several hundred yards off shore. Those three victims were taken to the hospital where they are being treated for non-life-threatening inju...

Book Review: ‘Disobedient’ deftly paints the inspiring story of artist Artemisia Gentileschi

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:50:27 GMT

“Disobedient” by Elizabeth Fremantle (Pegasus Books)Artemisia Gentileschi’s painting skills quickly surpass her father’s, but society dictates that as a woman, she must stay home and protect her virtue. Art — with its unsavory types and naked models — isn’t exactly fit for a good Roman Catholic girl. And when her painting tutor attacks her, it sets off a cascade of seemingly insurmountable problems and impossible choices.Author Elizabeth Fremantle deftly paints Artemisia’s painful but inspiring story in her latest biographical fiction, “Disobedient.” Having already established herself as a writer who champions powerful female leads, Fremantle fleshes out the 17th-century artist who defied the limits placed upon her and became one of the best painters of the Baroque period. The book starts off with a magical rendition of Artemisia’s childhood, the day she witnesses a beheading. It’s thrilling and wonderful to see the world from the eyes of 6-year-old Artemisia to open the story...

3 passengers dead after passenger bus crashes on Pennsylvania interstate, state police say

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:50:27 GMT

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A passenger bus carrying up to 50 people crashed and hit another vehicle on a Pennsylvania interstate, killing three bus passengers, state police said.The wreck happened during heavy rain around 11:50 p.m. Sunday on southbound Interstate 81 just north of Harrisburg, state police said. The bus drove off the roadway, struck an embankment and rolled onto its right side before hitting the back of a car that was stopped in the right lane of traffic, according to a crash report.The three passengers were declared dead at the scene, the police report said, and others suffered injuries that ranged from minor to severe. Matthew Oshiafi, a passenger on the bus, told Pennlive that he remembered a terrible screeching and shuddering before it crashed and flipped on its side. He said he was sitting in the last row of the bus that was covering a normal route between New York and Ohio.Oshiafi, 39, a New York City resident who was headed to Cincinnati to visit family, said the ...

USA TODAY SPORTS AFCA COLLEGE FOOTBALL COACHES POLL

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:50:27 GMT

USA TODAY SPORTS AFCA PRESEASON COLLEGE FOOTBALL COACHES POLL, Aug. 7, 2023.The USA TODAY Sports AFCA Coaches Poll Top 25 with team’s records FROM LAST SEASON, total points based on 25 for first place through one point for 25th, ranking in last year’s final poll and first-place votes received.RecordPtsPvs1. Georgia (61)15-0164312. Michigan13-1151033. Alabama (4)11-2148954. Ohio State (1)11-2148545. LSU10-41294156. Southern California11-31228137. Penn State11-2118178. Florida State10-31145109. Clemson11-310781210. Tennessee11-2991611. Washington11-2941812. Texas8-58482513. Notre Dame9-48411814. Utah10-48391115. Oregon10-38201616. TCU13-2655217. Kansas State10-44401418. Oregon State10-33651719. Oklahoma6-7320NR20. North Carolina9-5315NR21. Wisconsin7-6309NR22. Mississippi8-5303NR23. Tulane12-2225924. Texas Tech8-5200NR25. Texas A&M5-7196NRDropped Out: No. 19 Mississippi State (9-4); No. 20 Troy (12-2); No. 21 UCLA (9-4); No. 22 Pittsburgh (9-4); No. 23 South Carolina (...