B.J. Raji plans to retire from football, the Green Bay Press-Gazette reports.
Raji"s intention to retire comes as he hit the free agent market following his seventh season in Green Bay. Drafted ninth overall in 2009, Raji was instrumental on the Packers" Super Bowl-winning team in 2010, registering a career-best 39 tackles and 6.5 sacks. Since then, Raji"s performance level steeply declined, as evidenced by just 3.5 total sacks, and he also missed the entire 2014 campaign due to a preseason biceps tear. At 29 years old, it appears Raji is ready to call time on his NFL career, taking his name out of consideration from potential suitors.
Feeling logy this week? Lost a step somewhere along the way? Cant concentrate while doing simple tasks? You can blame the time change.
The nations clocks went forward the customary hour on Sunday, but for those who are having trouble adjusting, theres more bad news: Were likely to get more Daylight Saving Time (DST) in the future, not less.
Thats because Facebook memes about abolishing the practice of losing and gaining an hour aside no organized movement has materialized to oppose DST.
In fact, the trend is in the opposite direction. Every 20 years, we get an extra month, said Michael Downing, a professor at Tufts University who wrote the book on the subject that is titled Spring Forward: The Annual Madness of Daylight Saving Time.
Despite that subtitle, Downing is not against saving daylight. He said, living in New England, he has come to enjoy the social benefits of a longer day: Weve come to feel that late summer sunsets are our right.
According to Downing, roughly every two decades, the U.S. Congress pushes DST earlier in the spring and later in the fall. The last time this happened was during George W. Bushs administration. Since Canadas trade and cultural ties with the U.S. are so strong, Parliament went along with the change.
Downing said DST has become a sort of magical cure-all and whipping boy all in one. It has been blamed and credited with all the ills and blessings of mankind, since it was first established as a way to save fuel during the First World War.
For most people it registers as a kind of profound jet lag, he said of the changes effects on the human body.
Would Downing at least be in favour of setting aside a shared time for everyone to recover from the time change something like a national nap day the day after? No, but he believes the timing of the change should be shifted so that it doesnt happen early Sunday morning. Making the change on Saturday would give people time to recover before returning to work. Which would be the same as national nap day, he said.
Stan Coren is a University of British Columbia professor emeritus and sleep researcher who wrote the book Sleep Thieves. He said national nap day is a decent idea, but human nature being what it is, people would use it as an excuse to party or stay up late again. If, in fact, everybody did take the time off to rest, that would be great.
Coren said studies show there is a six to seven per cent increase in traffic collisions after the change in the spring. Its also been linked to an increase in accidental deaths and even heart attacks, plus costs to the economy. Its highly likely that theres some loss in productivity, Coren said, which goes away in one to five days as people recover.
Despite those numbers, Coren is not opposed to continuing the practice. I think that theres a net societal gain because of the energy savings, he said. Downing is not so sure. We have much more sophisticated (energy) systems, he said, meaning many modern buildings are lit and air-conditioned 24 hours a day. And gas consumption increases, due to the fact drivers are travelling later into the day.
--- --- ---
DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME
Clocks sprung forward one hour Sunday at 2 a.m.
They will go back one hour Nov. 6 at 2 a.m.
Originally floated as a joke by Benjamin Franklin to save tallow for candles.
Change was originally made early in the morning so railway schedules wouldnt be affected.
The U.S. farming lobby was originally one of the few organizations against DST.
Makes some people sleep stupid, a form of jet lag.
It wonks a whole lot of people. Stan Coren, UBC sleep researcher.
There are so many opportunities to screw up pumpkin pie. But done right, it can win friends and influence people. Meredith Rizzo/NPR hide caption
toggle caption Meredith Rizzo/NPR
There are so many opportunities to screw up pumpkin pie. But done right, it can win friends and influence people.
Meredith Rizzo/NPR
Editor"s note: Last fall, NPR"s Maanvi Singh embarked on a months-long quest to find her ideal pumpkin pie recipe. As she discovered, there"s a lot of science involved in getting the crust and filling just the way you like it. To celebrate Pi Day, we reprise this story, first published last December.
It was the best of pies, it was the worst of pies. I have baked many, many, many pies.
And when I first began making pumpkin pies this autumn, my results were at best inconsistent and, at worst, disastrous.
"One of the problems is most people make it once, maybe twice a year, right around the holidays, so they"re not very practiced at it," says Dan Souza at America"s Test Kitchen. "And pumpkin pie is a little bit different in that it"s essentially a custard baked into a pie shell." In trying to juggle both components, even experienced bakers may end up with a grainy, overcooked filling or a soggy crust, Souza says. "There"s a lot of places you can slip up."
So Souza and J. Kenji Lopez-Alt, a chef and author of The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science, coached me through the process.
The Ultimate Custard
"Mainly it"s the texture that can go very wrong," Lopez-Alt says. "It can end up grainy, or kind of broken up like scrambled eggs."
Blergh.
See, a classic pumpkin pie filling includes a few eggs, as well as pumpkin puree, some cream, sugar and spice.
"As the custard cooks, there"s a loose network of the egg proteins that intertwine with each other and set to give the filling structure," Lopez-Alt explains. Ideally, you want to cook the custard just enough to form a soft, gel-like texture. "But as the custard keeps cooking, the eggs start to set so tightly that they squeeze moisture out," he says. That"s when you get an icky, lumpy pie.
Both Lopez-Alt and Souza recommend cooking the filling quickly, but gently: The center of the pie should never get any hotter than about 175 degrees Fahrenheit.
Fail. Meredith Rizzo/NPR hide caption
toggle caption Meredith Rizzo/NPR
And you"ve got to try to cook the pie as evenly as possible. Some cracking at the center of the pie is inevitable, Lopez-Alt says. It happens because the edges of the pie tend to cook and set faster, and pull at the center, which takes longer to cook.
Souza"s pro tip is to bake the pie at about 400 degrees Fahrenheit for about 10 minutes, until the filling just starts to set, and then lower the oven temperature to about 300 degrees until it cooks through. "By lowering the overall temperature, you get less of a disparity between temperature at the perimeter of the pie, and the temperature at the center," he says. He also recommends heating the filling on the stove for a bit, so it has to spend even less time cooking unevenly inside the oven.
Oh, and padding the custard with lots of fat helps as well. Souza"s recipe calls for three eggs plus two egg yolks. "By ditching some of the egg whites, you"re reducing some of the water content, so the filling takes less time to firm up," he explains. "And the fat in the egg yolks also serves as a buffer to keep the proteins from over cooking."
Lopez-Alt suggests substituting the cream in the filling with cream cheese for a similar reason: It helps the custard cook more evenly for a smooth, creamy end result.
Brilliant.
The Ideal Crust
Over the past few months, I tried nearly everything to avoid ending up with soggy, mushy pie crusts. I pre-baked and crisped up my crusts before pouring in the filling. I tried brushing the bottom of my crust with some egg wash to waterproof it. I pleaded with the culinary gods and complained to my friends and cried to my mother.
All of this, to no avail.
A silky custard and a crispy crust: perfection. Meredith Rizzo/NPR hide caption
toggle caption Meredith Rizzo/NPR
A silky custard and a crispy crust: perfection.
Meredith Rizzo/NPR
And then Lopez-Alt suggested something wacky and wonderful: vodka. Not to drink (though a shot or two have served to console me after a culinary disaster). Lopez-Alt suggests substituting some of the water used to pull the pie dough together with a tablespoon or two of vodka. "When you mix flour with water, it produces gluten," he explains. "And gluten is what makes your pie dough tough rather than flaky."
But gluten doesn"t form in the presence of alcohol. "Plus the vodka evaporates a bit more quickly when you bake the crust, so you"re less likely to end up with a soggy crust," Lopez-Alt says.
He also suggests blending flour and butter together in the food processor. "That way you need to add barely any water at the end to bring the dough together," he says. "But the dough is still very soft, and easy to roll out."
Pre-bake the crust until it"s golden brown, and then, Souza says, fill it with a custard that you"ve already heated and thickened up a bit on the stove. "That way," he says, "the filling is less likely to seep and soak through the crust, and ruin that buttery, flaky goodness."
The Richest Flavors
Canned or fresh squash?
The experts agree it doesn"t really matter.
If you are using the fresh stuff, Lopez-Alt recommends roasting it very slowly in the oven at around 275 degrees Fahrenheit. "Pumpkins and squashes have these enzymes that will break down some of their starches and convert them to sugar," he says. "Cooking them slowly can actually accelerate that process." Slow-roasting also allows for more water to evaporate from the squash, concentrating its flavor.
And feel free to experiment with different squashes. Sugar pie pumpkins are classic, but butternut and kabocha squash can often taste sweeter and more "pumpkin-y" than the traditional orange gourds. "Just never use one of those Jack-O-Lantern pumpkins," Lopez-Alt warns. "Those are meant to look pretty, but they taste nasty."
But Souza says people can rarely taste the difference: "I think you may as well save yourself the effort and use a can."
Of course, a judicious sprinkle of spices, some maple syrup and even a bit of sweet potato can deepen and enhance the flavor.
The Taste Tests
My journey to learn the art and science of the ideal pie has been long. Very, very long. I"ve baked a total of 10 pies over the past three months. I wanted to perfect my pie by Thanksgiving but that didn"t happen. Instead, I berated my Thanksgiving guests: "You"re saying it"s good, but what does that even mean? Be more constructive with your criticism!"
The pie on the left was made with cream cheese and squash; the pie on the right was made with canned pumpkin. Meredith Rizzo/NPR hide caption
toggle caption Meredith Rizzo/NPR
The pie on the left was made with cream cheese and squash; the pie on the right was made with canned pumpkin.
Meredith Rizzo/NPR
I faced many setbacks: I badly burned a couple of crusts. And, despite all the coaching, I curdled some custard. Take note, folks: Timers and thermometers are key.
But finally, in mid-December, I brought in two pies that combined all that I had learned to face my toughest critics yet: NPR"s Science Desk.
For one pie, I used freshly roasted squash and cream cheese. I made the other with canned pumpkin. One of the crusts had some shortening, whereas the other was pure butter. And I used a good shot of vodka in both, of course.
Each pie had its fans.
My editor, Maria Godoy*, liked the cream cheese. "It"s like creamy pumpkin... Like, if pumpkin were milk."
NPR Skunk Bear"s Adam Cole disagreed: "Not my cup of tea." He liked the canned pumpkin better. [*Editor"s note: Adam has an admitted preference for bland food.]
Photo editor Ryan Kellman said he was divided, insisting "I need to probably to eat a lot more of this" in order to decide.
And science correspondent Geoff Brumfield was no help at all: "I mean, I"m just here to eat some pie."
I"m still not satisfied. A bit more ginger may have given the pies more kick. The cream cheese filling didn"t taste pumpkin-y enough, and the other one tasted perhaps too pumpkin-y. Maybe I should have baked the crusts a bit longer. Maybe I should have cooked the custard a bit less.
True perfection and success remain just beyond reach. Guess I"ll have to pie, pie again.
Jake Tapper to Donald Trump: Stop inciting violence "for the nation"
During the Democratic Town Hall Sunday night, CNN moderator Jake Tapper pressed Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders on the topic of his passionate followers, some of whom have shown their strong political allegiance with displays of aggression. With many comparisons drawn between the candidacies and followers of Sanders and Republican frontrunner Donald Trump, the issue of aggressive political passion has become more heated than at any other point in this election.
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Tapper preempted a question by noting that he was looking to play devils advocate on a point regarding the the differences between Sanders supporters and those of Trump. Some of your supporters in Chicago were acting violently as well, and I have to say the guy who rushed the stage yesterday at Donald Trump voted for you, said Tapper. That protestor Tommy DiMassino of Dayton, Ohio was caught on film abrasively rushing the stage towards Trump at an event Saturday before being subdues by Secret Service agents.
Millions of people voted for me. If I have to take responsibility for everybody who voted for me it would be a very difficult life, the Democratic candidate responded to a laugh from the crowd.
I never have and never will condone violence, Sanders continued. [But] people have a right to protest. A Trump event in Chicago was canceled on Friday after violence broke out between supporters and protestors of the real estate mogul and his controversial political rhetoric.
Watch the above exchange via CNN.[image via screengrab]
Selection Sunday 2016 March Madness Champ Week NCAA basketball championships March 13
This year"s show has been expanded to two hours for twice the bracket fun.
The moment of truth has arrived. Nearly all of the automatic bids have been handed out and the bubble situation is almost settled. Now the only thing left to do is make the bracket, which will be revealed on the Selection Sunday show. As usual, the show will be televised on CBS and streamed online at NCAA.com.
The big change to this year"s show is that it"s now two hours long, instead of the previous one hour. That sounds like a recipe for even more padding and filler, which will no doubt frustrate viewers. But everybody will be tuning in anyway, so CBS and the NCAA come out the big winners, as usual.
By the time the show starts, we"ll already know which 32 teams have won an automatic bid after taking their respective conference tournaments. The only champions that have to be decided on Sunday are in the American Athletic, the Atlantic 10, the Big Ten, the SEC and the Sun Belt.
Beyond the drama of which teams will get the 36 at-large spots, we"ll also find out who gets the coveted No. 1 seeds. This year"s big candidates for the top line are Kansas, Villanova, Virginia and Oklahoma, while teams like Michigan State, Xavier and North Carolina also make a strong case for themselves.
As for this year"s tournament favorite, well ... there is no favorite. This has been one of the wildest and most unpredictable college basketball seasons in recent memory, and the NCAA Tournament promises to be no different. In other words, this is a bad year to be a betting man. We recommend you just sit back and enjoy the ride.
How to watch
Date: Sun., March 13
When: 5:30 p.m. ET
TV: CBS
Online: NCAA.com
* * *
Greatest Cinderella: Was it the NC State Wolfpack or Butler Bulldogs?
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North Carolina will stay close to home as the top seed in the East.
The North Carolina Tar Heels were rewarded for yet another stellar season, earning the No. 1 seed in the East region. UNC made its case after beating Virginia to win the ACC Tournament. The Tar Heels get the built-in advantage of staying close to home, beginning the NCAA Tournament in Raleigh, N.C.
Check out the full NCAA Tournament bracket
The Tar Heels finished the regular season 25-6 and 14-4 in conference play, becoming the top seed in the ACC Tournament. They went on to steamroll Pittsburgh and Notre Dame in the postseason, with the 78-47 win over the Irish standing out as a dominant beatdown. The Cavaliers gave UNC a much bigger fight in the final round, but the Tar Heels eventually pulled out the 61-57 win. Virginia will travel out to the Midwest region as the No. 1 seed.
The rest of region is loaded at the top, with Xavier getting the No. 2 seed, West Virginia the No. 3 and Kentucky the No. 4. A potential UNC/Kentucky matchup in the Sweet Sixteen seems bound to be one of the best tournament"s best games, although mid-major champions Stephen F. Austin and Chattanooga should not be overlooked in this region.
Here"s the complete bracket for the East region.
1. North Carolina16. Florida Gulf Coast/Fairleigh Dickinson
You know the old saying: it"s Pi Day, Pi Day, gotta get down on Pi Day. And what better way to celebrate the date that embodies everyone"s favorite mathematical constant than with precisely 3.14 facts about pi.
1 A Japanese memory master Claims he can recite pi to 111,700 digits
Memorizing pi is an undeniably nerdy pursuit, but some people have taken the challenge to extreme lengths. Japanese memory master Akira Haraguchi has recited 100,000 digits of pi in public (it took more than 16 hours), andtold The Guardian that his personal record goes to111,700 digits. Haraguchi"s technique relies on assigning symbols to numbers, turning pi"s random sequence of digits into stories mostly, he says, about animals and plants.
"To me, reciting pis digits has the same meaning as chanting the Buddhist mantra and meditating," Haraguchi told The Guardian in 2015. "According to Zen Buddhism teachings, everything that exists in this world the mountains, the rivers and all the living creatures carries the spirit of the Buddha. Ive interpreted this to mean that everything that circles around carries the spirit of the Buddha. I think pi is the ultimate example of that."
A visual representation of pi. (Image credit: Creative Commons)
2 We know way more digits of pi than we need to
Pi may have transcended mere numberhood to become a cultural symbol, but it still has practical uses. As theseexamples show, engineers and scientists need pi for all sorts of tasks, including calculating flight paths (as the planes are traveling on an arc of a circle) and audio processing (as pi is used to calculate sine waves).
But calculations like these only needbetween five to 15 digits to be accurate, and we currently know pi toquadrillions of digits. Finding digits of pi may be a favorite pastime for researchers with idle supercomputers, but this is mostly just showing off. To get an idea of how unnecessary these digits are for practical calculations, consider the fact that you only need 39 digits of pi to calculate the circumference of the universe to the accuracy of the width of a hydrogen atom.
3 Pi has its own literary form: pilish
"Yes, I have a robot disguised as Nikola Tesla." This is my (sadly inaccurate) attempt at writing in pilish: a literary form in which the number of letters in each successive word match the digits of pi. The restrictive nature of pilish means it"s not particularly good for longer works, but the acknowledged master of pilish mathematicianMichael Keith has written anovella that follows pi"s digits for 10,000 decimals.
Scientists havesearched published works for examples of accidental pilish, but there seem to be few examples of any note. Happily, though, one of the earliest (intentional) examples of pilish is one of the most apposite. It"sthought to have been composed by English physicist James Hopwood Jeans and runs as follows: "How I need a drink, alcoholic in nature, after the heavy lectures involving quantum mechanics!"
