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Gogue adds he's thankful the island was spared from major damage compared to other major typhoons and even storms that just hit in the past few months. "Definitely this Vongfong was less severe than Halong," he assessed.
And while some may consider it less severe than Tropical Storm Halong, flooding continues to be problem such as along West O'Brien Drive in Hagatna. And where down vegetation seemed to plague some parts of the island, for Hagatna mayor John Cruz, flooding appears to be a never-ending challenge. "Back then when they were doing the road, they did a poor job in drain systems," he told KUAM News, "and every time there's a heavy rain we get flooded here and it's been going on for several years."
Several years turns out to be at least two decades he later admits. In our past storm coverage, we've visited West O'Brien Drive where close to 100 people stay and we've witnessed the flooding. This time around, it is still a problem, but not as intense. "There is drainage, it's either plugged up, they did some sort of drain but it never worked," said Mayor Cruz, adding, "I hope the senators look at this real closely, they have a flood mitigation but it's still in the works and I know Public Works wants to do a good job in trying to fix this problem."
Cruz adds the road used to have some drainage that went out toward the beach however it was cut-off to due environmental protection agency standards. DPW director Carl Dominguez tells KUAM West O'Brien Drive is a routed road and would fall under DPW's primary maintenance. He suspects the problem lies in the fact that the road is not only leveled resulting in water becoming trapped but a poor performing drainage and it's closeness to sea level. He's been aware of the problem, as flooding even occurred during past liberation parades nearby. He tells KUAM that he hopes to have his team investigate adding it simply "slipped (his) mind" as assessments were being concentrated on others areas, particularly the southern part of Guam.
But it wasn't just Hagatna that had flooding, but also along Route 1 by Polaris Point in Piti. Dominguez says this flooding problem is "a difficult fix." He says the problem is a result of many reasons including the road being slanted and how its practically at sea level and at high tide it "aggravates the situation." Dominguez adds he's talked to Federal Highway Administration representatives about the problem to possibly raise the road 2-3 feet, but it would cost millions of dollars. In the meantime, while there was some damage that could not be prevented, the Office of Civil Defense thanked the public for taking the typhoon advisories seriously and preparing in advance.
"We had minor damages reported, luckily we had some crews out there and we can attribute that the governor calling COR3 on Saturday so we called it at a good time for everyone to go out there and prepare," stated spokesperson Jenna Gaminde.
Nissan and Toyota are planning to introduce new sales incentives in the U.S., as production following the earthquake and tsunami in Japan is starting to return to normal levels.
Nissan North America Vice President Al Castignetti said in a memo sent Thursday to dealers that the automaker is in a "much healthier position" than Toyota and Honda in terms of U.S. inventory, the Associated Press reports. Nissan said its inventory levels are better than its rivals because its factories in Japan and North America have recovered more quickly from the earthquake and tsunami damage and supply shortages. Nissan plans to offer more enticing new car deals toward the end of May, which could include discounted lease deals and lower prices on several models. Current Nissan deals for May include zero-percent financing on several models and lease deals.
Nissan also announced that it earned a $380 million profit for the first quarter of the year, compared to a $143 million loss during the same quarter last year. Toyota announced Wednesday that its profit dropped 77 percent in the first quarter due to disruptions from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
Toyota, despite its 77 percent decline in profit, also plans to introduce new sales incentives on some U.S. vehicles. The automaker says production at its North American plants is rebounding at a faster pace than expected, Bloomberg reports.
“In light of the improved supply outlook and our assessment of current market conditions, we will be offering enhanced incentives on a number of our core models including Camry, Corolla, Highlander, Avalon, Venza and Sienna,” Steve Curtis, a Toyota spokesman, said in an e-mail that Bloomberg received.
As all Toyota deals do, the new incentives will vary by region. Curtis said more details may be released in advertisements this weekend.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Nissan dealers had 175,913 vehicles in stock at the beginning of May. Toyota had 277,658 vehicles in its inventory at the start of May, while competitor Honda had 172,487 vehicles in stock.
Chelsea's Champions League defeat to Atlético Madrid highlighted the unfairness of the loan system. Thibaut Courtois, who made a crucual save for Atlético, isn't even their player. If only his parent club had given him a chance.
The Ta-Da! Lion of Latvia is a mythical figure renowned for its misplaced sense of showmanship. The lion is said to have terrorised inhabitants in the Liepaja region by descending on villages at night to demand that the youngest and weakest of the population engage in role play. The first atrocity attributed to the Ta-Da! Lion was to fall upon a shepherd and his wife and insist that they sit back to back to simulate an exchange between a dissatisfied customer and his tailor. This was soon followed by an incident wherein the lion surprised three sailors as they returned to their ship, demanding that they pass an imaginary kitten between them. As the attacks multiplied a pattern emerged; namely, those of the lion's victims who did not apply themselves to his exercises were killed and eaten.
"Some memorabilia makes a nice addition to a living room. This, I'm not so sure."
So, Manchester City have launched their own digital sticker collection. The creator of the concept says: "We redefine collector's passions while keeping the nostalgic edge alive." Good luck with that.
"In the Welsh Premier League on April 18, Bangor City were beaten 9-1 at home by TNS. After this ten-goal thriller, Bangor's manager, Neville Powell, was interviewed by the Welsh TV channel S4C for their Sgorio programme where he said: 'They haven't scored a good goal today – we've gifted them the nine goals.' A little ungracious, you might think."
"I know times are hard in print media but I thought the Scotsman could have afforded a few more pixels in their Sandy Brown obituary."
Dani Alves eats a banana.
And now everyone's doing it.
"Obviously there was the affair with his brothers' wife." Richard Keys shares some thoughts on Ryan Giggs.
Keep your broker on a short leash by watching Dukascopy Spike Controller. I'm Kiays Khalil with the benchmark interbank price stats. Spreads have averaged at less than point 3 pips in all three time scales for the Euro/Dollar. Maximum separation has been 1.6 pips. The pair has declined below the 1.13 level and it moved South by a total of point 73 percent or 83 pips. Spreads have been mostly narrow, peaking at only 1.6 pips yesterday minutes after 2 PM GMT. The Cable's daily average spread is point 84 pips and maximum separation has been 3.8 pips. Pound/Dollar has had a bearish run, moving further South of the 1.30 level as it declined by more than one percent or 146 pips. Spreads were slightly bumpy yesterday at 1:30 PM GMT as the US CPI stats were out, but 3.8 pips is the most you should have been charged. And last up for this overview is the Dollar/Yen, which has long term average and maximum spreads of point 28 and 1.3 pips respectively. Greenback rose against the Yen to break through the 111 level as the pair appreciated by point 49 percent or 54 pips. Spreads were slightly increased yesterday at 1:30 PM here as well, but the biggest gap was just 1.3 pips.
Five weeks ago San Francisco was 5-5, and some people were talking about the 49ers possibly making the playoffs. But now at 6-9, San Francisco is back where it belongs, one of only 12 teams already eliminated.
You see, when a team is in the bottom third of the lowly NFC in both offense and defense like the Niners are, that team truly deserves to finish in the bottom third record-wise as well. In fact, if ex-USC quarterback Matt Leinart had not started his career in Arizona with four consecutive losses, the 49ers would be in their rightful home – last place in the worst division in football.
At least San Francisco can take solace in knowing that the team has improved. Last season the 49ers’ offense and defense both finished dead last in the entire NFL.
We’ll see what happens next year, but right now the “S” on the 49er helmets still stands for “sad,” “sorry,” etc.
When wagering this Sunday on the NFL, it will be important to know which teams have the most to gain by winning, and which teams have nothing to play for. Some will depend on the games being played this weekend.
For instance, if the New York Giants lose Saturday, St. Louis, Carolina and Green Bay will all be playing meaningful games for the final NFC Wild Card spot. Atlanta needs help from those teams to make its effort in a 1:15 game against Philadelphia meaningful. If the Giants win, only Green Bay would also have a chance to grab the final spot, but it would then take a miraculous set of results for that to happen.
If Dallas beats Detroit, Philadelphia needs to beat Atlanta to win the NFC East. Chicago, New Orleans and Seattle have nothing to gain.
The NFL and its networks did a good job with the AFC contenders by juggling the schedule. San Diego, Baltimore and Indianapolis will all play meaningful afternoon games. New England cannot earn a playoff bye.
Finally, there are six teams battling for two AFC Wild Cards. Of those teams, only Denver could be possibly playing a meaningless afternoon game.
There are 17 college football bowl games from today until next Friday.
Bet on the teams that are more motivated and happy to be where they are at, play under better coaches, avoid key injuries and suspensions, have strong senior leadership, own offensive and defensive advantages over their opponents, come from stronger conferences, and have experienced recent bowl game success.
Music City: Clemson -10 points against Kentucky.
Sun: Missouri +4 and Over 53 points against Oregon State.
Liberty: Houston and South Carolina Over 56.
Champs Sports: Maryland Pick against Purdue.
Insight: Texas Tech -7 against Minnesota.
Meineke Car Care: Boston College and Navy Under 46.
Alamo: Texas -10 against Iowa.
Peach: Virginia Tech -3 and Under 37 1/2 against Georgia.
MPC Computers: Nevada +4 and Under 42 against Miami-Florida.
Cotton: Nebraska + 1 1/2 against Auburn.
Outback: Penn State +4 1/2 against Tennessee.
Capital One: Wisconsin and Arkansas Over 45.
Gator: West Virginia -11 against Georgia Tech.
Rose: Michigan +1 against USC.
Fiesta: Boise State and Oklahoma Under 51.
Orange: Wake Forest and Louisville Over 52.
Sugar: Notre Dame and LSU Over 56.
His performance overshadowed that of West Indies leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo, who took a career-best haul of six wickets.
Adam Voges scored a century on debut as Australia built a 132-run lead over the West Indies in the first Test in Dominica on Thursday.
Voges, 35, became the 20th Australian to notch a century on debut, helping his team recover from 126 for six to move on to 280 for nine on the second day.
His performance overshadowed that of West Indies leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo, who took a career-best haul of six wickets. Bishoo often bamboozled the Australian batsmen with prodigious turn on the dry Windsor Park pitch on the way to figures of six for 75.
The rest of the West Indies attack was toothless, however, as Voges and Australia's wagging tail demoralised the home team.
Voges was 114 not out at the interval with Josh Hazlewood on 17.
Voges was the only batsman untroubled by Bishoo, whose previous best test figures were 5-90 against Bangladesh in 2011.
Australia's lead is potentially match-winning given the turning pitch and the slow outfield, but at least Bishoo gave the West Indies hope.
He picked up three wickets in the first session, collecting the prize scalps of Steve Smith (25), Shane Watson (11) and Brad Haddin (8). The 29-year-old Bishoo had Smith stumped by a country mile after the batsman had added eight runs to his overnight score.
Bishoo sent Watson packing when the right-hander edged a sharp chance to Jason Holder at second slip.
But the best was yet to come from Bishoo after Australian wicketkeeper Haddin took the fight to his adversary by hoisting him over long-on for six. Bishoo got revenge two balls later with a delivery that pitched on leg stump and turned sharply to clip Haddin's off peg.
The ball, compared with former Australian great Shane Warne's famous "ball of the century" that bowled England's Mike Gatting at Old Trafford exactly 22 years ago to the day, left the visitors reeling at 126 for six.
Voges and Mitchell Johnson added 52 runs for the seventh wicket before Johnson was dismissed by Bishoo, caught at short fine leg off a poorly-executed sweep. Mitchell Starc was bowled by Bishoo for a duck, giving the leg-spinner his 50th test wicket in his 13th match.
But just when Australia looked to be on the ropes, Bishoo had to leave the field for treatment on a cut finger. Bishoo later had to depart for a second time, leaving his participation in the second innings in doubt.
Editor’s note: This post is the fourth in a series of ongoing articles that highlight “Contextual Storytelling: Best Practices for the Internet of Things,” an innovative, new directed research course taught by Andrea Zeller and John du Pre Gauntt for the Communication Leadership graduate program at the University of Washington. During the course, a small team of students developed a framework and best practices for native storytelling that is optimized for multiple devices, contexts and locations.
A recent Guardian article noted that one third of American consumers who owned a wearable product stopped using it within six months of purchase. This high rate of abandonment highlights that there are gaps in the current user experience of a wearable device and that technology alone is far from being able to provide a true connected experience. In Contextual Storytelling Part 3, we highlighted a new paradigm for storytelling and described how the value of a connected Internet of Things (IoT) world revolves around heightened experiences. These experiences go beyond standard interactions with a website. Without the framework of a fully connected experience, a wearable may not provide the user any more value than any other device.
Why Do Connected Experiences Matter?
When a device can connect a user to a new perspective, more data or a social network (or a combination of these elements), there is an opportunity for compelling narratives and contextual experiences that add value to the user’s life.
To illustrate this point, think about how the value of a mobile phone has changed over the years and how this has impacted user adoption. Initially, mobile phones were used simply for calls and texting. Then, as connectivity improved, data plans became cheaper and the technology improved, the mobile phone as a device has become our major hub of connection, our daily connected experience. Now, we can connect to just about anything and everything.
Looking at wearable tech in the same vein as a mobile phone, it is easy to assess that the connectivity and usability is missing from the experience, and this may impact the high rate of abandonment. How can we re-frame wearable technology and apply the framework for storytelling as connections. How would the narrative for an activity tracker change? Would user adoption increase?
As we move into a world without screens, wearable interfaces may be the only screens we interact with. It is important to uncover the connections that will provide value while solving some of our unmet needs. In a contextual story, the key factors are how these experiences are harvesting data from the user, replaying that data in a meaningful way and making that data compelling. It is this last part, making the data compelling, where there is an opportunity to create an engaging narrative. Consider the following examples of how these concepts can be applied to create meaningful contextual storytelling experiences.
How many times do you go to your doctor and need to fill out endless paper work with the same questions? What if you had the ability to replay some of your Fitbit data to your doctor? That way, there would be live data that your doctor could respond to. In turn, your doctor could provide you with real-time feedback through your wearable.
How many times do you go shopping for an upcoming event and can’t find anything that fits or you like? Can you imagine being in a clothing store and getting shirt recommendations on your smartwatch based on stored preferences from your previous purchases?
A connected experience can establish your personal narrative based on the filters that you set to define what you want to include and exclude. Your everyday problems can be solved with the same brands and apps you use today. These apps would be simply be augmented as new functionality is integrated into your everyday interactions.
Once these narratives are established and start solving our everyday problems, we may not see the 30 percent drop in usage after six months of using a wearable device. What we may see instead is an increase in overall adoption.
Stay tuned for our next post as we summarize our class and key learnings.
Some very interesting research going on within the HCDE department at UW that compliments this examination of contextual storytelling and connected experiences.
UX design and taking into account the relevance of culture on all aspects and contexts of storytelling makes for a powerful combination with the highest potential for success.
Informative blog! It’s really true that the wearable techs are now rapidly increases. I think smart watches are the one that are very popular in the market with their high tech features.
We Are Scientists are pretty damn fun.
They're fun on record, and they're certainly fun live, with a battalion of quips, puns, in-jokes, and put-downs married to their pop-etched indie punk.
New album 'Megaplex' is out now, and the band feel like they've got a lot to talk about - and they want to talk about it with you.
The newly launched 'Megaplexperience' competition gives you a chance to attend their show at London's Shepherds Bush Empire this Friday (May 4th), set to be a highlight on their current tour.
As if that wasn't enough, however, you'll be invited to shoot a filmed interview with We Are Scientists, which will then be placed on the band's website and social networks.
And then We Are Scientists will pick the lucky winner. Good luck!
We Are Scientists will play London's Shepherds Bush Empire on May 4th.
For tickets to the latest We Are Scientists shows click HERE.
Brian Snyder / REUTERS Paramedics care for a man found unresponsive after an opioid overdose in Boston, August 2017.
KEITH HUMPHREYS is Esther Ting Memorial Professor and Professor of Psychiatry at Stanford University.
JONATHAN P. CAULKINS is H. Guyford Stever University Professor of Operations Research and Public Policy at Heinz College at Carnegie Mellon University.
VANDA FELBAB-BROWN is a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution.
In 2016, nearly 50,000 people died of opioid overdoses in the United States, and, per capita, almost as many died in Canada. From 2000 to 2016, more Americans died of overdoses than died in World War I and World War II combined. Yet even these grim numbers understate the impact of opioid abuse, because for every person who dies, many more live with addiction. The White House Council of Economic Advisers has estimated that the epidemic cost the U.S. economy $504 billion in 2015, or 2.8 percent of GDP.
This public health story is now common knowledge. Less well known is the growing risk that the epidemic will spread across the globe. Facing a backlash in the United States and Canada, drug companies are turning their attention to Asia and Europe and repeating the tactics that created the crisis in the first place. At the same time, the rise of fentanyl, a highly potent synthetic opioid, has made the outbreak even deadlier and begun to reshape the global drug market, a development with significant foreign policy implications. As a result, the world is on the cusp of a global opioid epidemic, driven by the overuse of legal painkillers and worsened by the spread of fentanyl, that could mark a public health disaster of historic proportions.
Yet in the face of this terrifying possibility, the world has remained largely complacent. Governments and international organizations urgently need to learn the lessons of the North American crisis. The first and most important of those is that the more opioids flood the market, the bigger the problem will be—and so governments must couple efforts to treat addicted individuals with efforts to curb supply. That will require them to crack down on pharmaceutical companies that abuse their positions and to take aggressive steps to regulate the sale and marketing of opioids. And the rise of synthetic opioids means that governments must rethink the role that fighting drug trafficking plays in their foreign policies.
The handpicked residents of Walt Disney World's cities will vote later this year whether to approve $80 million in bonds to finance road and parking projects throughout the resort.
After Walt Disney chose Orlando for his massive development, his company negotiated a deal with the state to create three Disney governments. Those include the Reedy Creek taxing district and two cities, Lake Buena Vista and Bay Lake. Disney is the primary taxpayer.
About 45 residents — Disney or Reedy Creek workers and retirees and their families — live in the cities. They own mobile homes and pay lot rent to Disney. One of their roles is to provide the votes in such bond elections.
Even though Disney pulls the strings, it's still a democracy after all. The votes are private and not always unanimous. A 2013 election on Disney Springs transportation bonds, open to all eligible voters in the cities, passed 17-2.
Scott Terrell, director of animal health at Disney's Animal Kingdom, will be a speaker an annual industry conference in Orlando starting Saturday.

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