Category Archives: general

Elias Pettersson’s wife Katelyn on her pre-wedding independence and LA life – “Wasn’t going to get rid of my place for a man”

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This weekend, Vancouver Canucks star Elias Pettersson’s wife Katelyn Byrd released a new YouTube vlog filmed during a recent trip to Los Angeles. In the video, Katelyn shared candid reflections on the independence she maintained throughout her relationship with the Canucks franchise player. “I’m not really from here, but I lived here for 13 years. So everyone that is supporting me and cheering me on behind the scenes is here. So, I decided to do it in LA,” she explained. Now based primarily in Vancouver, Katelyn shared that she still spends chunks of time in LA, where she maintains deep friendships and familiarity. She joked about hopping between hotels when she’s in town noting that she used to keep her own apartment in the city, something she held onto for years during her relationship with Pettersson. “I always said I wasn’t going to get rid of my place for a man no matter what. So I kept my place here the entire time that Elias and I were dating just ’cause I was very strong-headed about that and believed in always keeping your own place,” she said. She revealed she only gave up her LA home after she and Pettersson married in the summer of 2025. Pettersson himself called it “the best day of my life” earlier this season. Elias Petterson’s wife Katelyn took a work trip to Malibu Katelyn also mentioned that she “did a horrible job at filming” because she was caught up in the moment during the party. She included snippets from the event describing the setting as “cute, happy and fun, like candy.” During the same vlog, Katelyn shared a clip from a work trip she and friend Danny took to Malibu. They spent several days in a small Malibu beach cottage even as flash-flood warnings hit the area. “It was super rainy and there were actually flash flood warnings, but we were okay. And we just ended up spending the whole time just working. We worked like 12 hours a day and just hung out with each other and were trying to support each other and help each other out with random things,” she said. Katelyn also mentioned she is finally getting to see Vancouver outside the rhythm of the NHL season. Previously, her time there revolved around Pettersson’s games and evenings spent together at home. “We never did a lot of exploring during the day,” she said. “For me, I haven’t found the spots to go to during the day as a girl. I’m trying to explore and find cool spots in Vancouver.” She added that she feels like she’s “rediscovering the city again in a different light” and is surprised by how much she’s falling in love with it.
https://www.sportskeeda.com/us/nhl/news-elias-pettersson-s-wife-katelyn-pre-wedding-independence-la-life-wasn-t-going-get-rid-place-man

Ethereum’s Fusaka Upgrade May Enhance Token Value Capture, Bitwise CIO Suggests

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Ethereum’s Fusaka upgrade and emerging tokenomics like Uniswap’s fee burns are enhancing crypto token value capture, potentially driving prices higher by 2026, as noted by Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan. This shift from vague governance to direct holder benefits marks a key evolution in digital assets. Crypto tokens are evolving to better return value to holders [.] Source:.
https://bitcoinethereumnews.com/ethereum/ethereums-fusaka-upgrade-may-enhance-token-value-capture-bitwise-cio-suggests/

PICTURE: Alycia Parks poses in a black bikini as she enjoys refreshing drink during scenic tropical getaway

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American pro Alycia Parks is now off the court and fully in vacation mode with her sisters/friends in the Bahamas. The American last played at the WTA 125 tournament in Austin, where, despite being the second seed, she suffered a first-round exit at the hands of Malaika Rapolu. On Sunday, Parks shared the latest from her Bahamas vacation. She posted a photo, posing near the shores of the ocean in a black bikini top and a black crochet sarong-style cover-up. The tennis player is seen holding a fresh coconut drink in one hand while soaking in the sun. She captioned the photo: Thanks for the submission! “Vaca tings” In an earlier update, she posted a photo with her sisters/friends from Dolphin Cay at Atlantis Paradise Island in the Bahamas. Parks and her sisters were wearing swimwear with “Atlantis” written near the neckline. They can be seen holding a Dolphin in their hands. Alycia Parks opens up about her off-court interests Just two days ago, Alycia Parks collaborated with shampoo brand Batiste for a post on Instagram. She prepared a demo video for her followers, showing how she uses the brand’s hair dry shampoo in seconds “without leaving any white residue.” There are several more collaborative posts on Parks’ Instagram profile, showing her interest in beauty. During an exclusive interview with People in September, she talks about the benefits of using this product. “For all the busy days that I have, it’s been very convenient,” Parks said. “It keeps me fresh and smelling good on and off the court. So that was a plus for me.” Parks also talked about how she keeps up with beauty standards by taking an example of her recent US Open outing. “Before the US Open, the day I actually flew in, I had about two services in my room,” she said. “It looked like nine people in there trying to get organized and stuff.” According to Parks, taking care of her beauty helps her stay confident. She said: “I like to be extra on court, so always hair, nails, lashes,” she said. “I like to smell good, and [Batiste] smells amazing. It does give me that confidence boost.” Parks had several great moments in 2025, including the one when she defeated No. 1 seed Emma Navarro at the Monterrey Open in Monterrey, Mexico. It was her third top 25 win this year and seventh overall.
https://www.sportskeeda.com/tennis/news-picture-alycia-parks-poses-black-bikini-enjoys-refreshing-drink-scenic-tropical-getaway

Stores keep prices down in a tough year for turkeys. Other Thanksgiving foods may cost more

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Bird flu and another disease have shrunk the U. S. turkey population to a 40-year low this year. Wholesale turkey prices are expected to be up more than 40% as a result. But shoppers preparing for Thanksgiving may not see higher.
https://www.djournal.com/news/nation-world/stores-keep-prices-down-in-a-tough-year-for-turkeys-other-thanksgiving-foods-may-cost/article_06e50525-83ee-5e18-95f2-a193d772cccf.html

Dance Company brings Candyland to life through ‘WinterDance’

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Dancers twirled, tapped and traversed the rainbow road among sugary scenery in “WinterDance: Candyland adventures.” The production, which ran from Friday to Sunday in Van Meter Auditorium, showcased 10 dances tailored to each of the boardgame’s sections and characters. WinterDance combines a “variety of ballet, jazz, modern, and tap dance choreography,” the Fine Arts Box Office stated. “Being able to see them cross genres is quite incredible, and that shows the diversity of the dancers that we have,” said Director Meghan McKinley, a professor in the Department of Theatre and Dance. “It’s a cohesive whole.” Scenes comprised the introduction of the game pieces, plumpy trolls, Mr. Mint, sour patch kids, Lady Licorice, Princess Lolly, Gloppy, Gramma Nut, Jazzy Nuts, Queen Frostine and the finale at King Kandy’s Candy Castle. Game pieces appeared in brief transitions traveling between lands. Students from all majors in the department helped prepare the show, including backstage work, tech design, lighting design and costuming. “It’s a dance company performance, but it takes the entire department,” McKinley said. The company placed a Toys for Tots donation box outside the auditorium doors to encourage audience members to give new, unwrapped toys. Presents collected through Toys for Tots are sent to “economically disadvantaged children of the community,” according to the Toys for Tots website. “Since this is such a community invited event, that’s the perfect time to be able to do Toys for Tots,” McKinley said. The company cycles through recurring themes for WinterDance. The company last performed its Candyland show in 2021. Choreography and set pieces are likewise reused for each rendition of the theme. “Every time we reset it, the choreography acts as a framework or an outline, and then, according to the dancers that we’re working with, we’ll make modifications,” McKinley said. Senior dance and exercise science major Ella Claire Johns first saw the show as a senior in high school. “It’s part of the reason I wanted to come here,” Johns said. Dancers promoted the production this year by visiting elementary schools and local studios, encouraging families and children to attend. The company held a kids day with the National Dance Education Organization in early November. The company decorated its studios in Candyland style. Children met the characters, got a sneak peak of the show, and received free children’s tickets. The company implemented compensated pricing for the university community this year, discounting tickets for WKU students and staff. “There was a discussion through Potter College to try to make the performances more accessible to students, to encourage the community and the university to come,” McKinley said. The Dance Company relies on ticket sales as funding. McKinley said it was challenging to balance “having the energy of a full house to support the dancers and navigating through the budget.” The Dance Company holds auditions every semester. Dancers this fall auditioned in late August and had learned the dance by mid-September, allowing the choreographers to focus on developing technicality. “It’s to get new experiences and also see how different people take on the same choreography,” said Loryn Shea, a sophomore dance major who appeared in the Gloppy and Queen Frostine scenes. Shea said one dance the company reset was Mr. Mint and his candy. “It was originally four soloists, and it is now four partners,” Shea said. Shea and Johns both acted as rehearsal assistants to choreographers for select scenes. Assistants are chosen from dance majors, who “stick by the choreographer’s side throughout the whole process,” McKinley said. Student assistants give feedback, record and provide notes. The department will come together again to produce the company’s second mainstage event: “Evening of Dance.” Seniors put together the choreography and blocking for the finale of the show at King Kandy’s castle. All characters danced on stage in a mix of styles from different lands. As the music ended, the dancers bunched together as if posing for a group picture and yelled “Candyland!” The curtains closed.
https://wkuherald.com/89189/life/dance-company-brings-candyland-to-life-through-winterdance/

WeatherNext 2 is here, Google’s improved AI weather forecaster

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Google is improving the weather forecasts you see in the Pixel Weather app, Google Search, and in other locations. The Alphabet subsidiary has introduced WeatherNext 2, a weather forecasting model powered by-what else-AI. Google says that this forecasting model delivers faster and more accurate forecasts. How much faster? Google says that this “most advanced and efficient forecasting model” will generate weather forecasts eight times faster and generates four six-hour weather forecasts daily, with future predictions going out as long as 15 days. WeatherNext 2 uses a new AI modeling approach called a Functional Generative Network (FGN) to replace the Graph Neural Network (GNN) and Conditional Diffusion model used in WeatherNext 1. Models of the latter are still available to use for reference and research purposes. WeatherNext 2 is being pushed out to developers, researchers, and users. In the next few weeks, WeatherNext 2 will also take over the weather forecasting job for Google Maps. So, if you notice an improvement in the quality of the forecasts you see from the Pixel Weather app, Google Maps, the Pixel Weather app and Google Search, it could be due to the improvements made by Google in the WeatherNext 2 forecasting model. WeatherNext 2 understands better the many different variables that make up a weather forecast. These variables, such as temperature, wind, and pressure are related and these relationships can be captured by equations. AI weather forecasting doesn’t rely on crunching data using Supercomputers. Instead, with AI, users are looking for patterns that would be expected to repeat. With WeatherNext 2, in just one minute you could have 15 days of forecasts generated in just one minute. Overall, hundreds and thousands of forecasts can be quickly created.
https://www.phonearena.com/news/google-releases-improved-ai-weather-forecasting-model_id176002

Handing out 10 awards from the Eagles-Cowboys game

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The Philadelphia Eagles dominated the Dallas Cowboys for a quarter and a half, building a 21-0 lead and looking like they would cruise to an easy win. They proceeded to blow their three-score lead over the next two and a half quarters, and took their third loss of the season. As always, win, lose, or tie, we hand out 10 awards. 1) The ‘Foot Off the Gas’ Award ⛽: Nick Sirianni The Eagles had a good offensive gameplan heading into this matchup. Jalen Hurts was finding open receivers in the intermediate areas of the field, A. J. Brown was involved, the tempo and pace was crisp, and there were results, as they quickly put 21 points on the board. They almost looked a little like the team that went to the Super Bowl in 2022 or the one that won it all in 2024, when things were clicking. But once they got a big lead, the Eagles’ offensive approach very clearly shifted. They started calling more conversative plays, whether that was running the ball into heavy boxes, or calling short passes unlikely to lead to explosive plays. Several Eagles players credited the Cowboys for adjusting, and Nick Sirianni disagreed that the offense took their foot off the gas. “I didn’t think so,” Sirianni said. “I don’t know what the run: pass ratio was in the second half. You guys could probably tell me that a little bit better. Obviously, we’re trying to be a balanced attack, so again, we’ll have to look at ourselves and look at the schemes, and then we’re going to look at the execution and see what the issue were. We just weren’t very efficient as an offense in that second half. “I didn’t really feel that we took our foot off the gas.” Their play calls would say otherwise: Their three touchdown drives early in the game were jump-started by passing. • TD drive No. 1: First two plays, 6 yard pass to Brown, followed by a 10 yard pass to Brown. • TD drive No. 2: This drive actually stalled initially (it started with a run), but the Eagles were basically gifted a second possession when the Cowboys roughed punter Braden Mann. On their second chance, first play, their drive got going with a 13-yard pass to Brown. • TD drive No. 3: First play, pass to Saquon Barkley for 16 yards. The Eagles had mismatches all over the field against the Cowboys’ secondary, and they simply stopped exploiting them once they got a big lead. Sirianni also decided not to try for points at the end of the first half, with 17 seconds left, two timeouts, and the ball at the 28 yard line. The Eagles employ three talented receivers in A. J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, and Dallas Goedert, who are all good at making contested catches, as well as gobbling up yards after the catch. Even if it may not be a super high percentage likelihood that you’ll end up with points in that scenario, it’s at least worth trying. It’s certainly far more likely that you’ll score points than if something were to go horribly wrong and the defense would end up with points instead. But Sirianni has consistently turtled up in those situations all season. “17 seconds, I won’t get into where our cutoff is, the ball was on the 28 yard line,” he explained. “If you look through a lot of that stuff, I’ve looked at all of those throughout the last 15 years, and that was the decision I made to go with that particular one. “A lot of things happen when you’re in those scenarios when you’re against the clock. We tried to run it to see if we could bounce one out of there, and see what happened after that, and we didn’t get anything there, so we let the clock run out there. “And they had their timeouts as well, and their kicker can make it from long range. We had a 21-7 lead, and that’s what I decided to do at that particular time.” Wait, what? The Cowboys had their timeouts and they have a good kicker? That’s part of the reason? Unless the Eagles are calling spike plays or kneeldowns, there’s no scenario where they can run four plays in under 17 seconds and the Cowboys have a chance to kick a field goal. 2) The ‘Can’t Choke ‘Em Out Like We Used To’ Award 🙁: The Eagles’ run game As noted above, the Eagles tried to run it a lot once they got a lead. That would have been fine if they’ve been choking teams out with the run game like they did all year in 2024. But they’re not that team anymore. They’re just not. Barkley carried 10 times for 22 yards. “We have to do a better job of putting teams away, and we didn’t do that,” Barkley said. “I definitely didn’t help. At the end of games last year I was a big part of that. I have to figure it out for the team.” The Eagles put a lot of mileage on Barkley in 2024. Including the playoffs, he got an astronomical 482 touches. That was the third-highest number of touches in a single season since 2000. Barkley aside, there have been 17 players who have had 430 or more touches in a single season during that span. Here are those players, with their yards per carry during their heavy workload season, and their yards per carry in their follow-up seasons: As you can see, there’s a clear pattern of drop-off the following seaosn. I’m sure the Eagles have no regrets with their usage of Barkley last season, and neither should anyone else. I mean, they rode him to a Super Bowl. But, Barkley had 5. 8 yards per carry in 2024. He has 3. 8 yards per carry in 2025. Yes, the offensive line isn’t playing as well as it did a year ago, but Barkley himself also seems to be feeling the effect of that workload. 3) The ‘Things That Require No Talent, Unmastered’ Award 🚩: The 14 penalties the Eagles committed One of Sirianni’s mantras this season has been “Master the things that require no talent.” The Eagles committed 14 (!) penalties. Some penalties happen as a result of players competing and trying to make plays. Those are going to happen. But the Eagles also had a bunch of dead ball or procedural penalties that were unforced by the Cowboys. • Cam Jurgens had a false start that helped kill a drive. • Matt Pryor lined up incorrectly and was called for an illegal formation penalty, wiping out a 20-yard pass to Goedert and helping kill a drive. • A. J. Brown had a false start that helped kill a drive. You simply can’t have three drives at least partially killed by completely avoidable penalties. 4) The ‘Take This Game, Please’ Award 🎁: The Cowboys The Cowboys were an absolute mess to start this game. • On offense CeeDee Lamb had multiple drops, and KaVontae Turpin fumbled without an Eagle defender even touching him. • On defense, the Cowboys’ secondary couldn’t cover one of the most coverable passing offenses in the league. • Their special teams units committed an idiotic roughing the punter penalty that gave the Eagles a new set of downs that led to a touchdown. This game should have been a blowout. It’s not like this was some good team that played well. It was a mediocre team that was playing badly. But the Eagles let the Cowboys stay in it, and eventually Dallas played better and stole a win. 5) The ‘Wasted Performance’ Award 🚮: A. J. Brown and DeVonta Smith Brown looked as good on the eye test as he has all year, in my opinion. He had 8 catches for 110 yards and a TD. Smith also made this ridiculous catch: He finished with 6 catches for 89 yards. They both probably could have gone for over 150 apiece if the Eagles’ offensive staff kept feeding them. 6) The ‘WTF Are You Doing’ Award 🫤: Xavier Gipson Forget the fumble, which was obviously an egregious mistake in that situation. But why are you even fielding this punt?! I’m not normally a “Cut him” guy, but, I mean, cut him. Like, why is this guy on the roster over Britain Covey? 7) The ‘Too Many Bailouts’ Award 🤷‍♂️: The Eagles’ defense The Eagles’ defense is likely to take criticism for this loss, but the reality is that they produced two turnovers (four if you include the Cowboys’ two turnovers of downs) and held one of the most potent offenses in the NFL to 24 points, despite the offense’s inability to a damn thing from the middle of the second quarter on. How many times should they be expected to bail out the offense? 8) The ‘Unsafe’ Award ⚠️: The Eagles’ safeties Reed Blankenship injured his thigh, could barely walk off the field, and did not return to the game. Later, Andrew Mukuba got injured, and he was on crutches and in a walking boot after the game. The Eagles only have one other safety on the roster, Sydney Brown, who the Cowboys immediately attacked after he entered the game. If Blankenship and Mukuba can’t play Week 13 against the Bears, the Eagles’ starting safeties will be Brown, and, uh. Michael Carter? Cooper DeJean? Someone not currently on the 53-man roster? The Eagles also lost Adoree’ Jackson in this game with a head injury. Jackson has come under fire from the Eagles’ fan base, because he gives up more plays than DeJean and Quinyon Mitchell, but the Eagles clearly missed him when he left. Michael Carter played in nickel as the slot, and DeJean moved outside. The Cowboys then repeatedly tested DeJean deep down the field, often successfully. The Eagles suddenly have major concerns in their secondary. 9) The ‘Slide’ Award 🛝: The Eagles, in the NFC Heading into this weekend the Eagles were atop the NFC. As of this writing, the Rams are kicking the Buccaneers’ asses on Sunday Night Football, and are almost certain to overtake the Eagles in the NFC standings with a 9-2 record. If the Rams close the deal (as the Eagles were unable to do), they would be the new leader for the 1 seed in the NFC. The Eagles would drop to second. If the Eagles lose to the Bears Week 13, they will fall even further to the 3 seed, and it also might be time to start to worrying about just winning the NFC East. 10) The Quick Turnaround Award 🔁: The Eagles and Bears The Eagles’ next opponent will be the Bears, on Black Friday. The good news is that the Eagles will have a chance to very quickly put this disaster of a game in the rear view mirror. The bad new is that they suffered a bunch of injuries and those players might not have adequate time to heal. But that game is suddenly of major importance, (a) just to right the ship, and (b) for playoff seeding purposes.
https://www.phillyvoice.com/handing-out-10-awards-eagles-cowboys-game-2025-2/

Aggies put on a show at Texas Invitational

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Texas A&M swimming and diving traveled to Austin to compete in the Texas Invitational against several other schools, including Texas, from Nov. 19 to Nov. 21. Carrying momentum from winning their last three meets, the No. 25 men and No. 24 women both competed. The Aggies finished with 16 qualifying cuts over the three day meet and fourteen top-10 swims in the same period. The Aggies finished with eight qualifying cuts and seven top-10 swims in school history on Day 2 of the event. Sophomore Chase Swearingen produced A&M’s best finish of the day, netting a runner-up effort in the men’s 100 butterfly. He set a career-best time of just 45. 30, comfortably under the 46. 11 qualifying threshold. Junior transfer Ava Whitaker also qualified, garnering a seventh-place finish in the women’s 100 fly. She followed in Swearingen’s footsteps by setting a lifetime-best time of 52. 34, earning her ninth on the Aggies’ all-time top-10 list for the event. The Fightin’ Farmers also stood out in the 100 breaststroke, with a pair of “A” finishes from sophomore Ella McQuinn and junior Logan Brown for the women and men, respectively. McQuinn set a time of 59. 42 to debut at No. 7 on the program’s all-time list, and Brown placed eighth in the final with a time of 52. 45. Junior Will Heck wasn’t going to be left out, taking second place in the “B” final, setting a lifetime-best time of 52. 51. The men wrapped up the day with a runner-up finish in the 200 free relay, powered by the foursome of sophomore Ben Sytsma, junior Ben Scholl, Brown and Swearingen. These men set a time of 1: 16. 59, the fifth-fastest mark in school history and a provisional cut. The women finished up their Day 2 placing fifth in the same event, posting a time of 1: 28. 77,. The quartet of fifth year Kaitlyn Owens, freshman Eloise Williamson, freshman Reagan Sherrard and McQuinn netted the impressive result. On Day 3, A&M netted five qualifying cuts and five top-10 swims. The top finish for the Maroon and White on the day was Stysma in the men’s free 50 with a time of 19. 24, good enough for third in the event. Scholl also impressed on Day 3 with a season-best time of 19. 15, earning a qualifying cut alongside Stysma. Owens placed fourth in the 100 back with a season-best time of 51. 78, also a qualifying cut. In the 100 breast, freshman Lillie Sczech netted a 10th-place finish, debuting in ninth-place in A&M’s top 10 with a lifetime-best time of 2: 09. 25. Brown finished fifth in the men’s 200 breaststroke with a lifetime best 1: 52. 11, easily coming in under the 1: 54. 95 threshold to qualify. The women for A&M closed out Day 3 with a seventh-place finish in the 400 medley relay, with the bunch of McQuinn, Whitaker, Owens and Sherrard touching in 3: 35. 10. The men concluded Day 3 with a ninth-place finish courtesy of Scholl, Heck and freshmen Alejandro Michelena and AJ Robinson in a time of 3: 10. 13. The Fightin’ Farmers finished with three qualifying cuts, and two top-10 swims on the final day of the Texas Invitational. Sytsma ended up as the top finisher for A&M for the second time, with a runner-up finish in the men’s 100 free, posting a lifetime-best time of 42. 30. The swim moved him to fifth all time in the school record books. Brown took fourth in the 200 individual medley, well under his lifetime best and the qualifying time. This result moved Brown to No. 3 in the school record book. McQuinn set a lifetime-best time of 48. 54 in the B final of the 100 free, a strong result to beat the qualifying time. The men wrapped up the final day with a runner-up finish and a provisional cut in the 400 free relay with Scholl, Sytsma, Swearingen and Brown posting a time of 2: 49. 38. The women closed out the Texas Invitational with a ninth-place finish thanks to McQuinn, Sherrard, Owens and freshman Celina Springer touched in 3: 17. 11. The Aggies will head to Tucson, Arizona, to face Arizona on Friday, Dec. 19.
https://thebatt.com/sports/aggies-put-on-a-show-at-texas-invitational/