Luke Walton, Lakers Part Ways After Magic Johnson’s Surprise Resignation

LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 04: Head coach Luke Walton of the Los Angeles talks with LeBron James #23 during a pre-season basketball game against Sacramento Kingsat Staples Center on October 4, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)

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The Los Angeles Lakers announced Friday that they and head coach Luke Walton mutually agreed to part ways.

General manager Rob Pelinka said the following regarding the decision: “We would like to thank Luke for his dedicated service over the last three years. We wish Luke and his family the best of luck moving forward.”

Walton also commented on the move, saying, “I want to thank Jeanie Buss and the Buss family for giving me the opportunity to coach the Lakers. This franchise and the city will always be special to me and my family.”

The move came after L.A. finished a disappointing 37-45 this season and following Magic Johnson’s stunning decision to step down as the Lakers’ president of basketball operations on Tuesday.

In three seasons as L.A.’s head coach, Walton went 98-148.

Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reported Ty Lue and Monty Williams are among the top candidates to replace Walton.

His dismissal comes on the heels of ESPN.com’s Jackie MacMullan intimating in January that LeBron James’ camp wasn’t fond of Walton during an appearance on the Brian Windhorst & The Hoop Collective podcast.

“It’s clear to me, and probably to you, Brian, that LeBron’s camp would prefer a coaching change—they’re not too subtle about that,” MacMullan said. “Not LeBron, but all the people around LeBron. There’s plenty of them and they’ve made it known. I don’t think this is a shock, is it?”

Shortly after that news surfaced, Walton was reportedly involved in an “emotionally-charged verbal exchange” with several of the team’s veteran players following a loss to the Golden State Warriors on Feb. 2, according to The Athletic and Stadium’s Shams Charania.

Things didn’t get any prettier as the Lakers missed the postseason—marking the first time James missed the playoffs since the 2004-05 season.

Walton was hired by the Lakers prior to the 2016-17 season after he emerged as one of the league’s premier young minds on Steve Kerr’s staff with the Golden State Warriors.

At the time, the move seemed like a perfect match.

The Lakers were in need of a fresh face who would be willing to see the team’s rebuild through, and Walton fit the bill as an upstart who had championship experience dating back to his time with Golden State.

With expectations tempered, the Lakers’ fledgling group of youngsters sputtered to a 26-56 finish during Walton’s first year on the bench and a 35-47 record during the 2017-18 season after Lonzo Ball was added with the No. 2 overall pick.

However, the dynamic changed in a big way when James committed to the Lakers in free agency.

L.A. was immediately thrust into the playoff conversation, and although title aspirations remained something of a pipe dream, it wasn’t farfetched to think the Lakers could challenge for one of the Western Conference’s higher seeds.

Still, president of basketball operations Magic Johnson tempered talk of a hot start and publicly admitted the team would likely experience its fair share of growing pains.

“As I was talking to Luke [with GM Rob Pelinka], we said don’t worry about if we get out to a bad start,” Johnson said at the start of training camp, per ESPN.com’s Ohm Youngmisuk. “We have seen that with LeBron [James] going to Miami, and we have seen that when he came back to Cleveland. He is going to struggle because there are so many new moving parts. But eventually we are going to get it, and we are going to be really a good team.”

Johnson’s tone reportedly changed seven games into the regular season.

According to ESPN.com’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Dave McMenamin, Johnson “admonished” Walton in a meeting after the Lakers dropped consecutive road games against San Antonio and Minnesota, and the discussion “elevated an already acute awareness within the Lakers coaching staff that there are intense and immediate pressures on Walton to deliver the franchise a winner in short order.”

What’s more: The Athletic’s Sam Amick cited coaching sources who said Walton was “the most likely to feel his seat grow warm if there’s an extended Lakers losing streak” as the team sputtered in the lead-up to its Christmas Day clash with the Warriors.

Evidently, that foresight proved spot on.

The Lakers stumbled down the stretch and missed the playoffs for the sixth straight season, and James’ groin injury only complicated matters.

As a result, the Lakers will have to hope they can identify the right coach to lead James and Co. back to the postseason, with former Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Tyronn Lue and Miami Heat assistant Juwan Howard among the early names circulating as potential fits for the gig.

As for Walton, Sam Amick of USA Today reported that the Sacramento Kings are interested in potentially hiring him as their next head coach.

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Sudan’s military council ruler Ibn Auf steps down

Sudan's Ibn Auf steps down as head of military council

The head of Sudan‘s ruling military council has announced his resignation in a speech broadcast on state television.

General Awad Ibn Auf’s announcement came late on Friday as tens of thousands rallied in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, demanding a civilian-led transition after the military overthrow of the country’s longtime ruler, Omar al-Bashir.

“I, the head of the military council, announce I am giving up the post,” Ibn Auf said, adding he took the decision to preserve unity of the armed forces.

Ibn Auf said Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah Adelrahman Burhan will now head the transitional council.

Al Jazeera’s Hiba Morgan, reporting from Khartoum, said protesters in Khartoum greeted Ibn Auf’s announcement with “ululating and cheering”.

“People are celebrating on the streets; they are saying that they managed to topple President Omar al-Bashir after four months of protests and less than 48 hours after the military council took over, they managed to bring down Ibn Auf, too,” she said.

Burhan is expected to address the Sudanese public on Saturday, Morgan said, adding that the armed forces will be keen to gauge the response from pro-democracy protesters to Ibn Auf’s resignation.

“The protesters are waiting to see what kind of vision and plan Burhan has, and to see if he is going to be the person they would want to represent them during the transition period, or whether they should continue with their sit-in,” she said.

More soon…

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Netflix is developing a print magazine

Mashable, MashBash and Mashable House are among the federally registered trademarks of Ziff Davis, LLC and may not be used by third parties without explicit permission.

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There are officially too many video streaming services

Disney’s upcoming video streaming service, Disney+, sounds like a really sweet deal.

For $6.99 a month or discounted annual subscription of $69.99, you get access to content from Disney, Marvel, Star Wars, and National Geographic. Subscribers will also get content from Fox, which Disney now owns, starting with the complete series of The Simpsons.

Disney is promising more than 7,500 episodes and 500 films from its library within the first year. And the company’s also considering bundling its other streaming services, Hulu and ESPN+, with Disney+ in the future at a discounted price.

Like I said, Disney+ sounds like a hell of value at launch. And judging by the overwhelmingly positive reactions on social media, Disney will likely sign up a ton of customers on Nov. 12 when Disney+ launches.

But while I agree that Disney+ is probably worth it, I’m also growing more annoyed at how confusing and expensive “cutting the cord” is in practice. The “great unbundling” that everyone once welcomed has quietly become an ingenious con to squeeze everyone for more money through recurring subscription fees from multiple streaming services.

Choosing a streaming service used to be simple. A decade ago you had two big ones: Netflix and Hulu.

Nowadays, in addition to those two, there’s PlayStation Vue, Sling TV, YouTube TV, Amazon Video, HBO Now, CBS All Access, Fubo, DirecTV Now, Apple TV+, and more to consider. The list of available streaming video services goes on and on, and there’s no easy way for anyone to keep track of what every single one offers.

Even the best comparative charts aren’t detailed enough to explain how these services stack up against each other. You would need several ultra-wide monitors and a really massive spreadsheet to even begin to piece together a complete guide on each service.

Researching and comparing every tier of subscription services is a painstaking task. Some services offer live TV, some include original programming, and some offer extra third-party streaming content like Amazon Channels and Apple’s upcoming Apple TV Channels.

If you’re a sports fan, which streaming service is the best? What if you’re an anime junkie? Best service for kids? There’s no way I could give you a definitive answer for any of these common questions.

And as content libraries change over time, it’s harder and harder to keep track of what’s being added (and removed) from each service. Not to mention when they do add more content, it usually means raising prices as well. YouTube TV’s price hike from $40 to $50 per month is a perfect example.

Frankly, I’m tired of being squeezed for more each month. At the end of this month, my bill for streaming video services will total up to $63:

$16 – Netflix
$12 – Hulu
$25 – Sling TV
$10 – Amazon Video (Included with Amazon Prime)

If I add Disney+ — the new Star Wars TV series makes it really tempting — my bill will balloon up to $69 per month. And if Apple TV+ is any good and reasonably priced, my bill will increase as well.

The biggest issue I have with our new cord-cutting lifestyle is that the dream of paying less than cable seems to be over. The only difference now is that instead of paying one company for content, we’re paying several different ones.

Because each service offers its own selection of content, many of which are exclusive, it’s not a matter of, say, subscribing to Netflix or Hulu or Disney+. Increasingly, it’s becoming Netflix and Hulu and Disney+, etc.

I want one streaming service that offers TV shows, movies, and live TV in one bundle for a single attractive monthly fee — nice and simple.

It’ll never happen, though, and some have even suggested just getting cable. Unlike the old days of only getting live TV, cable logins now give you access to stream certain content such as CBS and Comedy Central instead of forcing you to pay for them through other services.

My point is: There are too many video streaming services. It’s too confusing to compare each service, and the cost of subscribing to multiple services is becoming too expensive. I’m burned out having every streaming service trying to get my attention and my hard-earned cash, and I have a strong hunch a lot of other people are, too.

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Warriors’ DeMarcus Cousins: ‘I Don’t Want to Be Boogie’

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA - APRIL 09: DeMarcus Cousins #0 of the Golden State Warriors reacts during a game against the New Orleans Pelicans at the Smoothie King Center on April 09, 2019 in New Orleans, Louisiana. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images)

Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images

DeMarcus Cousins is shedding part of his identity.

In an interview with The Undefeated’s Marc J. Spears, the Golden State Warriors center declared he no longer wanted to be identified by his nickname of Boogie.

“It’s just like, Jesus Christ! It’s so much extra put on with ‘Boogie,’” Cousins said, adding: “I don’t want to be Boogie. I just wanna be DeMarcus.”

The famous tag has been associated with him since his time at the University of Kentucky.

Cousins is also focusing on “being the best me every day.”

“I want my family and myself to be comfortable wherever I am at the time, and just be able to relax and kind of let my hair down,” he said.

Cousins will enter a whole new world Saturday when the Warriors host the Los Angeles Clippers in Game 1 of the Western Conference quarterfinals. It’s the first time in his nine-year NBA career he will play a postseason game.

An Achilles injury suffered in January 2018 kept him out of the New Orleans Pelicans‘ playoff run last season.

Cousins is also trying to impress teams before he heads into free agency again this summer. The 28-year-old averaged 16.3 points and 8.2 rebounds in 30 games with Golden State.

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UK Labour party calls for May to prevent Assange’s extradition

London, United Kingdom – The UK’s opposition Labour Party has called on the government to halt the extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the United States, where he has been charged with offences related to his work with whistle-blower Chelsea Manning.

The 47-year-old Australian activist was arrested by British police on Thursday and forcibly removed from the Ecuadorian embassy in London after his asylum was revoked, bringing to an end more than six years in the building.

US prosecutors say Assange faces five years in prison if convicted of “conspiracy to commit computer intrusion,” though further charges are expected to be brought against him. On Thursday, a UK court found him guilty of violating his bail terms when he fled to the embassy in 2012. He will be sentenced at a later date.

Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott on Friday said Prime Minister Theresa May should intervene as she did in the case of British hacker Gary McKinnon, whose extradition request she rejected on medical grounds in 2012.

McKinnon was sought by US authorities on charges of hacking military computers and faced up to 70 years in prison, but was deemed by doctors to be a significant suicide risk.

“In the end, the then-home secretary, Theresa May, blocked his extradition on what she said were human rights grounds. We think there may be human rights grounds in relation to Assange,” Abbott told the BBC on Friday.

However, May has shown no desire to interfere with US wishes this time. She welcomed the arrest in Parliament on Thursday, where current Home Secretary Sajid Javid accused Labour of supporting a man with “a track record of undermining the UK and our allies and the values we stand for”.

Nearly 7yrs after entering the Ecuadorean Embassy, I can confirm Julian Assange is now in police custody and rightly facing justice in the UK. I would like to thank Ecuador for its cooperation & @metpoliceuk for its professionalism. No one is above the law

— Sajid Javid (@sajidjavid) April 11, 2019

Assange originally sought asylum at the Ecuadorian embassy in 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden, where prosecutors wanted to question him over a rape allegation, which he denied. The case was subsequently dropped in 2017 because it could not proceed while Assange was in the embassy.

On Friday, Swedish prosecutors said they were examining the rape case at the request of the alleged victim’s lawyer.

When asked about the rape allegations, Abbott said it was right that he should face justice if charges are brought.

“If the Swedish government wants to come forward with those charges, I believe that Assange should face the criminal justice system,” said Abbott, who added that the arrest was politically motivated as WikiLeaks has published enormous tranches of sensitive military information.

“We all know what this is about. It’s not the rape charges, serious as they are, it’s about WikiLeaks. All that embarrassing information about the activities of the American military that was made public and that is what it is about.”

Assange was bundled into a police van following his arrest on Thursday [Henry Nicholls/Reuters]

‘Serious human rights violations’

Abbott’s comments follow a post on Twitter by Corbyn on Thursday that praised Assange’s exposing of US war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan and said that his extradition to the US “should be opposed by the British government”.

Massimo Moratti, Amnesty International‘s deputy director for research in Europe told Al Jazeera that if extradited, Assange would face the “risk of serious human rights violations, namely detention conditions, which could violate the prohibition of torture and other ill-treatment due to the possibility of solitary confinement.”

“We also consider him at risk of being subject to an unfair trial and even the death penalty can’t be excluded a priori. As a result of these risks, the UK at this point is under the obligation not to extradite him or otherwise send him to the US”, he added.

Assange’s collaborator Chelsea Manning spent seven years in prison in the US for providing 750,000 documents, videos and diplomatic cables to WikiLeaks in 2010 – including a year in solitary confinement, which the United Nations deemed cruel and inhumane. Manning was once again jailed in March for refusing to give evidence before an investigation into WikiLeaks, she remains under arrest.

Ruairi Casey contributed to this report from London.

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Democrats’ ‘Hallelujah’ moments at retreat belie tough battles ahead

Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her top lieutenants used their time during a three-day policy retreat to escape the glare of Washington and rally their rank-and-file. | Alex Edelman/Getty Images

LEESBURG, Va. — House Democrats ended a three-day policy retreat Friday promising a robust summer agenda, yet grueling legislative fights lie ahead that are sure to bring the party’s ideological divide to the forefront once again.

“The country is divided, we’ve got divided government,” House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) said in an interview Friday. “So I don’t know if any of us expect for anything to be easy.”

Story Continued Below

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and her top lieutenants used their time in the Virginia countryside this week to escape the glare of Washington and rally their rank-and-file while inching the caucus toward high-stakes legislative fights, like infrastructure and drug pricing.

They also wanted to move beyond recent internal squabbles on issues like a $15 minimum wage bill and Congress’s spending limits, which have exposed splits between the caucus’ left and centrist flanks.

“This was, ‘Hallelujah.’ It was cause for celebration,” Pelosi told reporters Friday, flanked by a half-dozen Democrats at the close of the retreat, which now kicks off a two-week recess.

“We did some reflecting, we dwelled in possibilities, and most importantly, this caucus became a family,” Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.), who has quarreled in recent months with some of his colleagues over charges of anti-Semitism, said as he stood beside Pelosi. “We’ve got to start talking more and tweeting a little less, and that’s what we need.”

Democrats’ massive undertakings on infrastructure and drug pricing, as well as looming battles over federal spending, the debt ceiling and potentially immigration, will test the sprawling caucus’ resolve to stay unified. And for the first time since this year’s staggering 35-day shutdown, it will force Democrats to deal directly with President Donald Trump.

Over three days at a country club-style resort, Democrats spoke glowingly about their early legislative achievements, including historic efforts to crack down on Washington corruption, expand gun background checks and close the gender pay gap. Still, they complained their bills have gone nowhere, venting openly about Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) resistance to bring their proposals to the Senate floor for a vote.

And even as House Democrats deepen their probes into the White House, attempt to seize Trump’s tax returns and threaten legal action to obtain special counsel Robert Mueller’s report, they swear they’re willing to try compromise with the president.

“I do think there’s plenty of room for bipartisanship,” Pelosi said on Friday. “The president has said over and over again, he wants to do an infrastructure bill, and so do we.”

“We believe there is a window of opportunity to get big things done working in a bipartisan way,” House Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries added. Minutes later, the New York Democrat went on to sharply rebuke Trump’s picks for the Federal Reserve, his immigration policies and his “reckless” shutdown earlier this year.

Away from the Capitol and largely cordoned off from reporters, roughly 170 Democratic lawmakers and their families took part in yoga and a celebrity-chef demo, with several members sharing a tee-time at the golf course on-site.

Democrats were even able to cut loose with a game of trivia Thursday night, answering questions about Beyoncé’s fan base — one of many Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) easily got right — and a category titled the “Green New Deal” that was all about marijuana.

“The bonding is always good. The question is how long will it last? That’s the big thing,” Clyburn said with a laugh on Friday.

Pelosi revealed Thursday that she and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) have made plans to go to the White House to talk infrastructure. Days before that, Pelosi began talks with McConnell about the slew of budget battles looming this fall, which will put government funding as well as the nation’s credit rating on the line. Within about six months, congressional leaders will need to raise the debt ceiling, avert hundreds of billions of dollars in automatic sequester cuts and reach a massive funding deal to avoid another shutdown.

Then there’s immigration, with Democrats and Republicans increasingly in agreement that the surge of migrants attempting to seek refuge in the U.S. has become a full-blown crisis — but with wildly divergent views on how to respond.

That long list of political battles will require old-fashioned dealmaking that will strain Democratic leaders as they attempt to appease their fiery new brand of progressives — as well as the dozens of freshman moderates whose districts are sympathetic to Trump. This point wasn’t lost on Republicans.

“Congratulations Madam Speaker, you’ve got a Freedom Caucus,” McConnell said on Thursday.

Democratic leaders are already highly sensitive to the notion of party divisions, spending hours here telling reporters that they’ve gotten the wrong idea from smaller-bore policy disputes.

“There’s a front page headline I want to deal with, ‘Democrats are not united,’” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) told reporters Friday, downplaying the party’s recent failure to pass a budget bill because the caucus’ left and centrist flanks can’t even decide how to split the pot between the Pentagon and domestic programs.

Hoyer laid out the agenda for the next two months, with plans for additional messaging bills like reasserting U.S. commitment to the Paris climate accord and condemning the GOP’s attempts to sabotage Obamacare.

But Hoyer’s tentative schedule left out a top progressive priority: the $15 minimum wage bill that’s been ground to a halt by pro-business Democrats who have called for a more flexible approach.

Top Democrats have repeatedly endorsed the legislation, though they’ve largely left it to the bill’s author, Education and Labor Committee Chairman Bobby Scott (D-Va.), to secure enough votes to bring it to the floor.

Scott hosted an early morning session here on Thursday to tout his bill. But he found himself preaching to the choir — with just a handful number of lawmakers showing up. Later that day, a trio of labor leaders made the pitch for Scott’s bill during a larger session with lawmakers.

“The conversations between members throughout the retreat definitely moved the ball forward. It’s clear that leadership stands behind the bill and is committed to getting it across the line,” said a Democratic aide.

But several Democrats said the issues that have stymied Scott’s bill so far — namely pushback from moderate lawmakers who want to see a more tiered approach to raising minimum wage — are still very much present.

Rep. Terri Sewell (D-Ala.), who has introduced her own version that allows lower hourly wages in rural areas, defended her bill to reporters later during the retreat.

“My approach is just an acknowledgment that where you live, cost of living might be different,” Sewell said Thursday. “I am obviously willing to sit down at the table and talk about it.”

Many rank-and-file Democrats, particularly freshman, stressed to reporters during the retreat that they were eager to work with the White House, echoing their stump speeches from last fall’s campaigns.

There was notably no talk of the Democratic Caucus’ mounting investigations throughout the retreat, even as rumors swirled that the White House would release the full Mueller report within days.

“This has nothing to do with any of us. It’s bigger than us,” Rep. Jahana Hayes (D-Conn.) said of Democrats working with Trump. “If I can help people in my district, I’m not concerned about who gets the credit for it, or if this helps with reelection.”

“Whatever we can do that does not make me depart from my values, and the reasons why I came to Congress, I’ll work with everybody,” Hayes said.

Burgess Everett contributed to this report.

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‘Meet Joe Black’ (1998) is having a strange rebirth on Twitter

Watch out, buddy.

Image: Universal Pictures

By Chloe Bryan2019-04-12 18:18:01 UTC

Apropos of absolutely nothing, a lot of people are discussing the 1998 drama Meet Joe Black on Twitter today.

The deeply strange film, which stars Brad Pitt as Joe Black and also Death, did not receive particularly good nor particularly bad reviews in its day. It is, however, remembered for being extremely long. Two VHS tapes!

Comedian Rose O’Shea brought the movie back into our appear collective consciousness on Thursday when she tweeted a clip from a truly unbelievable scene. Here’s what goes down: Brad Pitt and Claire Forlani bid farewell to each other after their meet-cute, then steal alternating glances back at each other as they walk in opposite directions for a surprisingly long time. Lovely, right? Then Brad Pitt gets hit by a car. Then his body ricochets off some more cars. It is incredible.

“This is the most bonkers one minute of a movie that I have ever seen,” O’Shea wrote.

The last few seconds of the clip, in which Brad Pitt’s lifeless body bounces from car to car like a fish in a suit, should have become a famous GIF the moment GIFs were invented. Thankfully, the internet is now making up for lost time by tweeting it incessantly — by itself, set to music, alongside commentary about how they actually remember the movie Meet Joe Black (1998) and don’t understand why other people don’t remember it. It’s everywhere!

Delighted to see people are discovering the batshit joys of Meet Joe Black, which many of us discovered by accident when we went to see the Phantom Menace trailer.

— FILM CRIT HULK (@FilmCritHULK) April 11, 2019

Your MEET JOE BLACK memes are funny, but Jesus Christ, it makes me feel old to see a film I earnestly watched on a high school date being given the “lol wtf is this” treatment.

— Guy Lodge (@GuyLodge) April 11, 2019

I’m so glad this has been rediscovered. “Meet Joe Black” felt like a “Brewster’s Millions” situation where the objective was to waste as much of an audience’s time as possible. https://t.co/NRjufKp3G3

— Tim Carvell (@timcarvell) April 11, 2019

MEET JOE BLACK was the first movie I reviewed, ever. For my high-school paper. I remember quoting this exchange. Somehow, it has always stayed with me. pic.twitter.com/9SHEKJQ9b0

— Justin Chang (@JustinCChang) April 11, 2019

For everyone just now discovering the opening scene of Meet Joe Black, please know the film then continues for three more hours.

— Tom Reimann (@startthemachine) April 12, 2019

As a fun side effect, another (actually, the only other) notable scene from the movie is also making a resurgence. In this scene, Brad Pitt speaks patois to an old woman at a hospital.

I’ve replied to people with this a couple times today now that twitter is discovering MEET JOE BLACK. But I need to post it once more for my timeline to see. It must be seen to be believed. pic.twitter.com/DKNWL1xDrD

— andy elijah (@andrewmelijah) April 11, 2019

We will let you decide which movie moment is weirder.

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‘Game of Thrones’: Who will live and die, according to AI

Oh hell no.

Image: hbo

By Rachel Kraus2019-04-12 18:11:06 UTC

Scared of losing your favorite Game Of Thrones character? Technology could hold some comfort.

A group of what we can assume are extremely nerdy computer science students at the Technical University of Munich have developed an algorithm that predicts who will live and who will die in Game of Thrones.

Using data they extracted from the GoT show and book wikis, the students created an algorithm that weighs factors like gender, age, and house to determine the Potential Likelihood of Death (PLOD).

For example, people in House Stark are more likely to die than people from House Lannister (sorry but it’s just true!!), so the algorithm considers house affiliation as one factor.

The students used two types of models for the project, modeled after survival-rate algorithms used in medicine. The factors considered in one are house, lovers, marriage, titles, major/minor character, and gender. The other also considers things like popularity, gender, page rank (on the wiki), number of relatives, age, culture, house, region of house, allegiances, books the character was part of, episodes the character was part of, locations, and titles.

So what does it have to say about the fates of our favorite guys and gals this side of The Wall?

Apparently, the algorithm predicts that Daenerys Stormborn of the House Targaryen, First of Her Name, the Unburnt, Queen of the Andals and the First Men, Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, Breaker of Chains, and Mother of Dragons… has a 99 percent likely survival rate!

Here are the top five characters most likely to survive, according to the algorithm:

Daenerys Targaryen
Tyrion Lannister
Varys
Samwell Tarly
Jaime Lannister

On the other hand, everyone’s favorite boozin’ and whorin’ sellsword, Bronn, is 93.5 percent likely to die. Bronn had to know he was never gonna get that castle

You should probably say goodbye to these characters:

Bronn
Gregor Clegane
Sansa Stark
Bran Stark
Sandor Clegane

As Game of Thrones approaches its televised conclusion, we’re all wondering who will come out on top, and who will end up six feet under (my colleagues certainly have their share of predictions). This AI project is fun, and plumbing the algorithm for answers gives us something to do as we wait for the Sunday night Season 8 premiere.

Still, Game of Thrones is at its best when its characters and viewers come to understand that the “Game of Thrones” is not just about the binary win-loss game of power, but is instead about understanding how power can bring out the best, and more often, worst, in leaders and followers alike. The sad, disgusted, and heartbroken determination Jaime Lannister exhibits when he leaves Cersei to aid with the defense of humanity, or the disappointment Tyrion feels as he watches Daenerys barbecue dissenting noblemen, show that the title Game of Thrones is inherently subversive: the quest for power is not a game at all to the people who die as a result.

The students’ algorithm plays on a lot of what’s made Thrones, and other shows, such an internet phenomenon: often, high-budget dramas become about teasing apart mysteries and using crowdsourced obsession to ferret out likely outcomes on forums like Reddit. Networks only add fuel to this fire when they use the morally uncomplicated ~drama~ to market the heck out of their shows, something that HBO has not shied away from this season. But this tendency to favor plot over substance can erase the finer points a show is making about its topic, whether that’s the ultimate quest for power (Thrones), religion and afterlife (The Leftovers), or the nature of consciousness (Westworld).

At its best, Game of Thrones demonstrates that power is not merely a game; instead, the whims of rule affect the lives and fates of all people. Reducing GOT to an algorithm plays into the least unique aspects of the show, while ignoring what makes it good.

Still, the website‚ A Song of Ice and Data, is pretty dang fun to play with.

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Gary Sanchez Placed on Yankees 10-Day IL; Calf Injury Diagnosed as Strain

New York Yankees' Gary Sanchez reacts after hitting a two-run home run during the eighth inning of a baseball game against the Seattle Mariners at Yankee Stadium Wednesday, June 20, 2018, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Seth Wenig/Associated Press

The injury-plagued start to the New York Yankees‘ 2019 season got worse Friday with New York’s announcement that catcher Gary Sanchez has been placed on the 10-day injured list retroactive to April 11 with a left calf strain.

To replace Sanchez on the roster, New York called up catcher Kyle Higashioka, who will serve as Austin Romine’s backup during Sanchez’s absence.

Sanchez joins a host of high-profile Yankees on the IL, including outfielders Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Hicks, third baseman Miguel Andujar, shortstop Didi Gregorius, starting pitchers Luis Severino and CC Sabathia, and reliever Dellin Betances.

The 26-year-old Sanchez was off to a hot start, as he was hitting .268 with six home runs and 11 RBI in 11 games for the 5-7 Yankees.

After putting up big numbers in each of his first two seasons with the Yanks, Sanchez struggled mightily in 2018 due to injuries and inconsistency.

Sanchez was limited to 89 games and hit just .186 with 18 home runs and 53 RBI while also having issues defensively behind the plate.

While Sanchez didn’t have enough at-bats to qualify for the batting title, he would have ranked second-last in Major League Baseball ahead of only Baltimore Orioles first baseman Chris Davis and his .168 batting average if he had.

It was an unexpected fall from grace for Sanchez considering how much he thrived over his first two seasons.

Despite appearing in only 53 games after getting called up from the minors in 2016, Sanchez finished second in the American League Rookie of the Year voting by virtue of his .299 batting average, 20 homers and 42 RBI.

Sanchez followed that up with an All-Star nod and Silver Slugger award in 2017 when he hit .278 with 33 home runs and 90 RBI.

The Yanks didn’t suffer much offensively in 2018 because of the depth and talent within their lineup, but Sanchez didn’t perform anywhere close to the level that was expected from him.

Sanchez entered 2019 with a clean slate and an opportunity to re-establish himself as one of the best young hitters in baseball.

One of the keys to returning to that form figured to be staying healthy, which is something Sanchez has struggled with during his career.

Entering this season, Sanchez had never appeared in more than 122 games in a single season.

Part of that is due to a concerted effort to keep him fresh as a catcher, but nagging injuries have been an issue as well.

If Sanchez is forced to miss some time, New York will receive an uptick in defensive play behind the plate with Austin Romine taking over, while Higashioka will serve as the backup.

Without Sanchez’s power bat in the lineup, however, opposing pitchers won’t have to be quite as fearful of the Yankees from an offensive perspective.

from Daily Trends Hunter http://bit.ly/2IuytVb
via IFTTT