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Friday, March 17, 2017

Champions League draw: Bayern to play Real Madrid, Dortmund meet Monaco

Watch the full UEFA Champions League quarter-finals draw

Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich are to meet Real Madrid in the quarterfinals of the UEFA Champions league. friday"s draw in the swiss city of Nyonalso saw Borussia Dortmund drawn against Monaco of France"s Ligue 1.

This means that the two Bundesliga teams will starttheir quarterfinal ties at home, with the first legs to be played on April 11 and 12and the return matches to be held on April 18 and 19. It also means that Bayern head coach Carlo Ancelotti will be facing his former team, who he led to the 2014 Champions League title.

On their way to that trophy, Real beat Bayern1-0 at home in the first leg of their semifinal tiebeforehammering4-0 away in the second leg- the Bavarian side"s heaviest European home defeat. The two teams have already met 22 times in European competition-

"Of course it will be a special game," Ancelotti told reporters at a press conference in Munich shortly after the draw was made. "It will be exciting for me to return to Madrid, but it is a football match and we want to be the better team against Real Madrid."

Mats Hummels" Bayern easily swept past Arsenal

Bayern will head into the quarterfinal full of confidence after havingeasily swept away Premier League side Arsenal in the round of 16.

A new opponent for Dortmund

In Monaco, Dortmund were arguably luckier in the draw than Bayern, but the principalityside are top of Ligue 1. Dortmund"s CEO, Hans-Joachim Watzke, said BVB were not unhappy to be drawn against Monaco, a side that they have never faced in Europe before.

"We wanted to avoid Bayern Munich, so to this extent it is good," Watzke said.

Dortmund reached the quarterfinals by overcoming Portuguese side Benfica.

The otherquarterfinals willsee Atletico Madrid meet English Premier League champions Leicester City and Juventus faceBarcelona, a match in which the Italian side will be looking to avenge theirdefeat against the Catalans in the 2015 final.

The semifinals of the Champions League are to be played in the first and second weeks of May, with the final to be held at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on June 3.

Schalke draw Ajax in Europa League

Just hours after overcoming Bundesliga rivals Borussia Mnchengladbach in the round of 16, Schalke on Friday drew four-time European champions Ajax in the quarterfinals of the Europa League. The Gelsenkirchen side, who havehad a disappointing Bundesliga campaign and are out of the German Cup, are hoping to seize their last chance for success in 2017 by duplicating the feat of the Schalke side who were dubbed the "Eurofighters" on their way to winning the 1997 UEFA Cup.

Manchester United will have to overcome Belgian side Anderlecht if they are to reach the last four.Lyon, who eliminated Roma in the previous round, face Turkish side Besiktas, while Spain"s Celta Vigo meetGenk of Belgium. The quarterfinals are tobe played on April 13 and 20.

The final is to be played in Stockholmon May 24.

Source: http://www.dw.com/en/champions-league-draw-bayern-to-play-real-madrid-dortmund-meet-monaco/a-37987462

In Dispute Over Oxford Comma, 1st Circ. Sides With Drivers

What is the Oxford comma?

By Brian Amaral

Law360, Boston (March 14, 2017, 3:18 PM EDT) -- The First Circuit on Monday said the lack of a serial or Oxford comma in a Maine overtime statute made the law ambiguous, reviving a wage suit brought by a group of dairy delivery drivers.In a 29-page decision that carefully scrutinized the intersection of grammar and law, the First Circuit said that it"s not at all clear whether "packing for shipment or distribution" described one job or two. An oxford or serial comma, an optional comma that goes before the or or and at the end of a list, would have cleared it up. Instead, the First Circuit had to step in.

"For want of a comma, we have this case," Circuit Judge David Barron wrote for the panel.

The drivers had alleged that Oakhurst Dairy failed to pay them time and a half for more than 40 hours.

The dairy company argued in Maine federal court that the states overtime law didnt apply to the drivers. The law says it doesnt apply to people involved in food canning, processing, preserving, freezing, drying, marketing, storing, packing for shipment or distribution.

The drivers read the last part to mean packing for shipment or distribution as one thing in other words, the law didnt apply to people who pack food for shipment or pack food for distribution. The drivers say they dont actually pack food.

The dairy company, however, said they were two separate ideas in other words, the law didnt apply to people who packed food for shipment, nor to those who distributed food. And the drivers, they said, certainly distributed food.

If the list had included a serial or Oxford comma, the dairy companys arguments would have won the day. The law would have exempted people involved in canning, processing, preserving, freezing, drying, marketing, storing, packing for shipment, or distribution.

Despite the lack of the comma, the district judge in Maine sided with the dairy company, finding the state legislature intended for them to remain two separate ideas. The legislatures drafting manual advises against using serial commas, and theyre typically not used in the states laws.

On appeal, the drivers pointed to the finer points of grammar. For example, the listed activities canning, freezing, drying, packing are gerunds, or verbs that function as nouns. But distribution, like shipment, is a non-gerund noun. That sets it apart, the drivers argued, from the activities that actually were exempt, making it clear that distribution only modified packing. The dairy companys argument would blow up a reasonable parallel construction, using one grammatical form throughout and then tossing in a completely different one at the end.

In their decision in favor of the drivers, the Circuit Court judges didnt quite say they were correct on the grammar question, nor did they explicitly rule that the law protected them. But there was too much confusion about the issue to decide right off the bat that the law didn"t protect them at all. Maine law says that in the event of ambiguity, courts should err on the side of the remedial purpose of the law, which was to provide overtime pay protection to employees.

The dairy companys best argument is that theres no conjunction before packing, the court said. Conjunctions link different parts of a sentence together, so if packing for shipment or distribution was really one idea, there should have been a conjunction before packing, the company said. If the drivers were right, the law should have said it doesnt apply to canning, freezing, marketing, or packing for shipment or distribution of food.

The only conjunction is the or, which appears before distribution, making the law strangely stingy when it comes to conjunctions, the court said.

The dairy drivers reliance on a legal text written by the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia wasnt quite convincing, the court said. Though Scalia and a co-author wrote that sometimes drafters leave out conjunctions in a technique called asyndeton, they also noted that drafters tend to avoid it.

We are reluctant to conclude from the text alone that the legislature clearly chose to deploy the nonstandard grammatical device of asyndeton, the court said. But we are also reluctant to overlook the seemingly anomalous violation of the parallel usage canon that Oakhurst"s reading of the text produces. And so there being no comma in place to break the tie the text turns out to be no clearer on close inspection than it first appeared.

The drivers are represented by David G. Webbert, Jeffrey Neil Young and Carol J. Garvan of Johnson Webbert & Young LLP.

The dairy company is represented by David L. Schenberg and Patrick F. Hulla of Ogletree Deakins Nash Smoak & Stewart PC

The case is O"Connor et al v. Oakhurst Dairy et al, case number 16-1901 in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.

Circuit Judges David Barron, Kermit V. Lipez and Sandra Lynch sat on the panel.

--Editing by Alyssa Miller.

Source: http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&ct2=us&usg=AFQjCNGJ8S_D4BL9Aot3_oRBcyDvMSoBcg&clid=c3a7d30bb8a4878e06b80cf16b898331&cid=52779420170358&ei=AyTMWPirDoHR3gG92ZLYDA&url=https://www.law360.com/foodbeverage/articles/901435/in-dispute-over-oxford-comma-1st-circ-sides-with-drivers

Holi just one of many colorful springtime festivals

Festival of Colors - World"s BIGGEST color party

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By Howard J. Bennett, Special To The Washington Post

People love to celebrate. Whether its a birthday, a wedding or the Fourth of July, we enjoy having a reason to kick back and have a good time. This is especially true for festivals that welcome spring and summer.

The rest of the world also likes to party. Here are some celebrations you may not know about.

Holi, the festival of colors, is an indian holiday that celebrates the victory of good over evil. The early-spring day this year its March 13 is spent outside eating, partying and watching dancers in brightly colored clothing. Participants paint one another with colored powder and get doused repeatedly with colored water. Wearing old clothes is a must.

People gather at a park in Zenica, Bosnia, each March to take part in Cimburijada, otherwise known as the Festival of Scrambled Eggs. The eggs are cooked in huge pots and served to residents and visitors alike to welcome spring. If youre allergic to eggs, stay away from this one!

Carabao is a water buffalo found in the Philippines, and the Carabao Festival is a day of dancing and revelry in May that celebrates the robust animal that plays such a vital role in Filipinos farming economy. The animals are washed and scrubbed before a parade in which 20 or more of them many decorated with paint and colorful ribbons lumber through the streets.

Coopers Hill is a steep, grassy knoll near Gloucester, England, that is longer than a football field. The Coopers Hill cheese roll is a late May event in which participants race one another to beat a nine-pound cheese round to the bottom of the hill. The event attracts lots of contestants and spectators but is harder than it sounds. Lots of contestants bite the dust before they reach the finish line. The winner gets the cheese.

The Boryeong Mud Festival takes place each summer near Seoul, South Korea. Tons of mud are trucked from the Boryeong mud flats to a beach area near the event. People participate in lots of activities, including a mud pool, mud skiing and mudslides. By the time the celebration is over, anyone coated in gooey or dried mud can take a short walk to the beach for a quick bath.

La Tomatina is an organized tomato fight that takes place in Buol, Spain, every August. The festivals origins are unclear, but that hasnt dampened anyones enthusiasm. The battle lasts for about an hour, and participants have to throw squashed tomatoes to reduce the risk of injury. When the spectacle is done, both the people and the streets are covered with tomato guts. Firetrucks then begin the difficult task of hosing everything down.

If youve ever visited Thailand, you may have run into a monkey or two that tried to steal your lunch. The Monkey Buffet Festival in Lopburi celebrates how the local monkeys and humans coexist. In case youre starting to worry, the buffet is not about eating the monkeys! Rather, the sneaky simians are provided with mountains of food to gorge themselves. The creator of the event, which is held each November, is a businessman who saw it as a way to bring tourists to the area.

Source: http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/03/16/like-cheese-mud-or-monkeys-then-head-to-a-festival/

Mt Etna Erupts Injuring 10 People

10 injured in explosion on erupting Mount Etna volcano

Tourists got a shock, when hot magma reacted with fallen snow causing an explosion.

Rebecca Morelle who was on the scene, tweeted:

Many injured some head injuries, burns, cuts and bruises, running down a mountain pelted by rocks, dodging burning boulders and boiling steam not an experience I ever, ever want to repeat.

The explosion threw rocks and steam into a group of tourists.

mt etna has been active for the past two days spewing lava and ash into the air. The south-eastern crater started a new lavastream on Wednesday.

Mt Etna is one of the most active volcanos on earth. Each year, it produces enough lava to fill a 108-story skyscraper and is prone to brief, powerful bursts of lava known as paroxysms.

The last aggressive eruption was in 1928, which destroyed the town of Mascali.

Although this eruption did not disrupt the surrounding towns, Mt Etna has the potential to be very dangerous.

Source: http://www.nationalgeographic.com.au/nature/mt-etna-blows.aspx

ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi discusses Florida basketball NCAA Tournament scenarios

OTL Investigates ESPN"s Worst Brackets | ESPN Originals

GAINESVILLE, Fla. ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi thinks center John Egbunus season-ending knee injury should be a factor for the NCAA Tournament selection committee when evaluating Florida basketball. Still, Lunardi projects the Gators as a No. 4 seed opening the tournament close to home in Orlando.

That could change, he added, based on the Gators performance in the SEC Tournament this week.

Florida, the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament, opens up Friday night against either Vanderbilt or Texas A&M.

Most seem to have them kind of split between 3 and 4 so I guess I might be in a small minority that has them as a 4, and I guess thats in part because Im trying to factor in a little bit of the current roster, which is shorthanded. And to me thats worth half a seed line to a seed line, Lunardi said Wednesday on a media teleconference. If theyget to the (SEC) final and lose to Kentucky, I dont think theyll be worse than a 4. If they lose to somebody else I supposethey could slide to 5, but overall their numbers and profile are still pretty strong.

The Gators (24-7, 14-4 SEC) face an interesting opening gameFriday night, whoevertheir opponent ends up being. Vanderbilt and Texas A&M play Thursday.

RELATED: 2017 SEC Tournament games, times, predictions | Action updates

The Commodores (17-14, 10-8) swept the regular-season series with Florida, including a 73-71 win in Nashville last Saturday.

Meanwhile, Florida won its only meeting with Texas A&M (16-14, 8-10) this year, 71-62. The Aggies havean imposing front court that could pose a stiffer challenge to a Gators team now without its best interior presence in Egbunu.

Lunardi, ESPNs longtime NCAA Tournament bracket expert, thinks a loss in their opening game would likely drop the Gators to a No. 5 seed, but not definitively.

Remember, no result happens in a vacuum. What are all the other 4s and 5s doing, right? he said. Ive had years in doing an update on a Monday, all 4 No. 1 seeds lost in a given weekend so nothing changed. Its kind of like if everybody stands still nobody loses the race.

espn bracketologist joe Lunardi thinks the Gators will be a No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament. (Mark Gaier/ESPN Images)

If the Gators keep their place in that race, as a top-4 seed that is, Lunardi thinks their odds of starting the NCAA Tournament close to home in Orlando are a near certainty.

Extremely good because there just arent a lot of teams for which Orlando would be the obvious landing spot, and theyre the only two Florida, Florida State the only two teams on the board really that could be a 1-4 seed, which is what you need to kind of dictate your spot, he said. So I think theyre both going to be there as what I call pod leaders.

Orlando is amongeight host sites for the first and second rounds. They others are Buffalo, N.Y., Milwaukee, Wis., Salt Lake City, Utah, Greenville, S.C., Indianapolis, Ind., Sacramento, Calif., and Tulsa, Okla.

If they slide to a 5 then all bets are off because then they cant control where they go, Lunardi said. They would be linked to wherever the other 4s are, right? Because, you know, once you slot a 4 anywhere youre automatically tying a 5, a 12 and a 13 to that same site. So you lose your ability to do Google Maps once youre not a top 4 anymore.

Overall, Lunardi expects five SEC teams will make the Big Dance. Those teams areKentucky, Florida, South Carolina, Arkansas and Vanderbilt.

The Commodores can certainly thank their two wins over the Gators for that status.

I think Vandys in. They could be in a situation where they have to go again to the First Four where theyve played other times, and there has certainly been a lot of SEC representation at the First Four over the years, Lunardi said. But when I look at it, I dont think there really is a bubble in the SEC at this point. I think the five that are going obviously UK and Florida at the top, South Carolina, Arkansas and now Vandy and short of a complete run by an underdog in dramatic fashion at the tournament, those are the five that were going to be talking about a week from now.

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Source: http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&ct2=us&usg=AFQjCNEkXT5YzaQuehrG14zk79bvsOfcCQ&clid=c3a7d30bb8a4878e06b80cf16b898331&cid=52779414428681&ei=ShjMWNDbOpDepweZ9bfADQ&url=https://www.seccountry.com/florida/florida-gators-basketball-joe-lunardi-bracketology

Simeone: Atletico not focused on Champions League draw

Rahul, Vijay lead India"s response after Smith-Maxwell special

India Vs England 1st ODI !! Pune !! 2017 !! Captain Virat Kohli !! Cricbuzz Live !!

INDIA V AUSTRALIA, 2017

KL Rahul scored his fourth fifty of the series BCCI

Steve Smith provided another master-class in batting, in "his" style of batting to put it better, by knocking in 178 unbeaten runs to help Australia to a commanding total of 451. There was also a hundred to remember for Glenn Maxwell (104), who vindicated the decision to add him to the team, with a maiden Test century that saw almost none of the usual Glenn Maxwell flair but a lot of what was needed to succeed at the top level in Test cricket.

At the other end, the batsmen had to counter Ravindra Jadeja, who mixed things up beautifully, to end with figures of five for 124 in his 49.3 overs. Jadeja inspired a lower-order collapse, taking four and inflicting a run-out in the six Australian wickets to fall on the second day.

India"s reply with the bat was near-perfect. KL Rahul continued his good run, but wasted another start as he departed after making 67. Murali Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara played out the remaining seven-plus overs to take India to stumps at 120 for 1, still trailing Australia by 331 runs.

But before Jadeja could prove his effectiveness, Smith and Maxwell batted with aplomb to put their side in a commanding position.

Smith continued from where he had left off the previous evening, knocking off singles easily and hitting the fence when the opportunity was there. Maxwell, who had to endure a dramatic start to the day when his bat broke into two off the very first ball, off Umesh Yadav, quickly brought up his century.

It was a moment to remember for the right-hander, who has not been in a great space, cricket-wise, for the past year. His inclusion in the side for India raised eyebrows, but he was able to put them back in place with a knock of the highest order. He shelved his usual go-to shots - the sweeps, reverse sweeps and switch hits, for more conventional ones. The plot worked to perfection, and with the pitch not doing much for the bowlers, he was able to reward his patience with a maiden first ton. Off came the helmet and he roared loudly to celebrate the moment.

He was only able to savour that for a little longer as Jadeja got one to turn from off stump and catch Maxwell"s outside edge. In Matthew Wade, Australia found an attacking option to try and up the ante. With Jadeja resorting to an over-the-stumps tactic against Smith, runs were hard to come by, but Wade took the risk of trying to hit the left-armer even when the ball pitched in the rough. The plan worked as Australia added 64 quick runs for the sixth wicket, Wade making 37 off them before Jadeja had him caught behind. Pat Cummins"s return lasted just 2 deliveries as Jadeja castled him for a duck.

Smith continued to take the easy singles on offer and added 51 runs with Steve O"Keefe before Umesh and Jadeja combined to remove the final three wickets for five runs and keep Australia to 451.

Smith was left stranded on 178, after having batted for 412 minutes and hardly offering his opposition a sniff. It was a knock of the highest quality, but he would have been disappointed with the total the team finally put up, especially given how India have responded to such totals in the recent past.

Australia had the chance to put in a lot more than they eventually did, but lost track with some quick wickets. When Maxwell had gotten to his hundred, Australia were superbly placed at at around 330 for 3, but the loss of the last seven wickets for just over 120 runs will leave them disappointed.

Having dismissed Australia late in the second session, India had the chance to show their mastery in these conditions. KL Rahul and Murali Vijay put on contrasting displays with the bat, both great in their own right, to blunt the Australia attack and give the side a near-perfect start.

Rahul has been in great form in this series with three fifty-plus scores in four innings. He needed just 68 b***s to raise his fourth in five innings as he powered India to a commanding start. Murali Vijay, on his return, enjoyed the relative lack of bite from the wicket, to get himself into groove with a typically patient innings.

Pat Cummins gave Australia their breakthrough against the run of play, as he surprised a well set Rahul with a bouncer. The batsman could only glove it through to the keeper before walking away disappointed.

Virat Kohli was not seen in his whites when Cheteshwar Pujara walked in at 91 for 1, adding some doubts over where the captain was going to bat. Vijay, however, brought the focus quickly back onto the field by slamming Nathan Lyon for three fours in an over to help India raise their 100.

India survived without any late-in-the-day casualties to end at 120 for 1. An enthralling third day, with a potential near-full house, awaits.

Brief Scores: Australia 451 (Steve Smith 178*, Glenn Maxwell 104; R Jadeja 5-124) lead India 120/1 (KL Rahul 67, Murali Vijay 42*; Pat Cummins 1-22) by 331 runs.

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