Philadelphia Dreaming

Sports are a zero sum game. What’s good for me is bad for you, and what’s good for you is bad for me. The Eagles entered the offseason with defensive tackle and a deep threat WR as two of their bigger needs, and filled those holes with Malik Jackson and DeSean Jackson, two of the best available at those needs. They also re-signed Ronald Darby, keeping the young depth at corner intact, which checked another box. Those moves are good for the Eagles, and bad for everyone that the Eagles face. That’s a pretty good week.

But even if the Eagles didn’t do anything, they’d still have had a good week, because the rest of the NFC East had a bad week, even if they don’t know it.

The Giants are a disaster. This is a franchise with no consistent plan, and have poorly executed those plans. Math hater and Wii bowler Dave Gettlemen, who’s never produced back to back winning seasons in Carolina, can’t settle on the direction of his team. Last season the Giants had a lousy 37 year old quarterback and decided to try to win now, giving Nate Solder a contract he didn’t deserve and drafting Saquon Barkley second overall. A year later and they’re rebuilding. Except they’re not. Odell Beckham was traded, the theory goes, to gain draft picks and cap space for a team changing direction. That plan would have been better executed last year, when they could have received a significant haul for the 2nd overall pick. So what did they do after clearing cap space and adding to their collection of draft picks? They signed Golden Tate, who will be 31 when the season starts, to a large contract that both ate up cap space and took away a compensatory draft pick, to say nothing of him being a slot receiver, a role they don’t need to fill. And it seems they are not interested in drafting 38 year old Eli Manning’s replacement and letting him develop during his rookie year. It’s possible to walk the fine line of being competitive while also making moves for the long term, as the Eagles have in the Doug Pederson era. But you can’t do it by trading your best player and ignoring the most important position.

Things aren’t that much better when you head down the highway. The Redskins are once again doing Redskins things. In a market flooded with safeties, they jumped to the front of the line to give Landon Collins the biggest contract for a safety in total and guaranteed money. Five months after trading a 4th round pick for Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, who they did not re-sign. They also signed Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, who retired from the Raiders in October. The Redskins plan of overpaying and bringing in players in the twilight of their career is consistent with the Dan Snyder era, but the Dan Snyder era is also one of consistent mediocrity. Say what you will about the tenets of consistent mediocrity, but at least it’s a plan.

And at least they’re actually trying? The Cowboys have mostly sat still, which isn’t the worst plan for the opening salvo of free agency, when the worst contracts tend to be given out. But one of those moves was to end the search for Jason Witten’s replacement by signing Jason Witten. A 37 year old who didn’t play last year and wasn’t good when he last played is not going to solve the Cowboys problems. Nor will Earl Thomas, who Cowboys fans and possibly the Cowboys themselves spent all year dreaming of playing in Dallas in 2019. He signed with the Ravens.

The Eagles, meanwhile, are addressing needs with proven and productive players. The best laid plans can and do go awry, but the worst laid plans don’t go right.

PHILADELPHIA (CNN) — Pluto’s atmosphere may completely collapse and freeze by 2030, according to a 28-year study of the small, cold dwarf planet on the edge of our solar system.

Every 248 years, Pluto completes another orbit around the sun. This long orbit and its great distance from the star means the surface temperature is between minus 378 and minus 396 degrees Fahrenheit.

But Pluto, which has been subjected to the “planet or dwarf planet?” debate for years, is the most distant of its kind with an atmosphere in our solar system. The atmosphere is largely made up of nitrogen, with hints of carbon monoxide and methane.

An international collaboration of scientists from eight countries has been studying Pluto’s atmosphere and its evolution since 1988 using ground-based telescopes. These observations were compared with additional information gathered by the New Horizons spacecraft flyby of Pluto in 2015.

A study published in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics recently shares data on Pluto’s atmosphere gathered between 1988 and 2016.

The data was used to model seasons on Pluto and how those react to the amount of sunlight it receives during different parts of its orbit. The researchers were able to record how surface pressure evolves during the seasons on Pluto.

This helped paint a complete picture of the atmosphere, including density, pressure and temperature.

“What the study found was when Pluto is farthest away from the Sun, and during its Winter in the Northern Hemisphere, nitrogen freezes out of the atmosphere,” said Andrew Cole, study author and associate professor at the University of Tasmania’s School of Natural Sciences, in a statement.

“The atmospheric pressure has tripled over the past three decades, but as the planet orbits, our modelling showed that most of the atmosphere would condense out to almost nothing left,” he said. “What our predictions show is that by 2030 the atmosphere is going to frost out and vanish around the whole planet.”

The data was gathered when the researchers were able to observe ground-based stellar occultations, when planets pass in front of background stars. This allows scientists to measure how much starlight is absorbed by a planet’s atmosphere.

These observations are tricky. The telescopes have to be positioned in the right spot to capture when a path outlined by the planet’s shadow also passes over a spot on Earth. This lasts only a minute or two.

If Pluto’s atmosphere collapses and freezes over, the dwarf planet may appear brighter in our sky because it will reflect more sunlight, Cole said.

“The striking red terrain seen in the New Horizons images could fade away if they are snowed under with nitrogen frost,” he said. “This research has been crucial in furthering our understanding of Pluto and testing what we know about atmospheres, ices, and climate at extreme conditions.”

(The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2019 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.)

LOS ANGELES --

Spike Lee won his first competitive Oscar, while Ryan Coogler's superhero sensation "Black Panther" and Alfonso Cuaron's black-and-white personal epic "Roma" led a brisk and hostless Oscars awash in historic wins for diversity.

RELATED: How the 91st Academy Awards made movie history

The biggest surprise of the night was in the best actress category. Olivia Colman won for her Queen Anne in the royal romp "The Favourite," denying Glenn Close her first Oscar.

Take a look at all of the winners below.

BEST PICTURE

WINNER: Green Book
BlacKkKlansman
Black Panther
Bohemian Rhapsody
The Favourite
Roma
A Star Is Born
Vice

BEST DIRECTOR

WINNER: Alfonso Cuaron for Roma
Spike Lee for BlacKkKlansman
Adam McKay for Vice
Pawel Pawlikowski for Cold War
Yorgos Lanthimos for The Favourite

BEST ACTRESS

WINNER: Olivia Colman in The Favourite
Yalitza Aparicio in Roma
Glenn Close in The Wife
Lady Gaga in A Star Is Born
Melissa McCarthy in Can You Ever Forgive Me?

BEST ACTOR

WINNER: Rami Malek in Bohemian Rhapsody
Christian Bale in Vice
Bradley Cooper in A Star Is Born
Willem Dafoe in At Eternity's Gate
Viggo Mortensen in Green Book

BEST SONG

WINNER: "Shallow" from A Star is Born
"All the Stars" from Black Panther
"I'll Fight" from RBG
"The Place Where the Lost Things Go" from Mary Poppins Returns
"When A Cowboy Trades His Spurs For Wings" from The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

BEST SCORE

WINNER: Black Panther
BlacKkKlansman
If Beale Street Could Talk
Isle of Dogs
Mary Poppins Returns

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

WINNER: BlacKkKlansman
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
Can You Ever Forgive Me?
If Beale Street Could Talk
A Star Is Born

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

WINNER: Green Book
The Favourite
First Reformed
Roma
Vice

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT

WINNER: Skin
Detainment
Fauve
Marguerite
Mother

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

WINNER: First Man
Avengers: Infinity War
Christopher Robin
Ready Player One
Solo: A Star Wars Story

BEST DOCUMENTARY (SHORT)

WINNER: Period. End of Sentence.
Black Sheep
End Game
Lifeboat
A Night at the Garden

BEST ANIMATED SHORT

WINNER: Bao
Animal Behaviour
Late Afternoon
One Small Step
Weekends

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

WINNER: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Incredibles 2
Isle of Dogs
Mirai
Ralph Breaks the Internet

WINNER: Mahershala Ali in Green Book
Adam Driver in BlacKkKlansman
Sam Elliott in A Star Is Born
Richard E. Grant in Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Sam Rockwell in Vice

BEST FILM EDITING

WINNER: Bohemian Rhapsody
BlacKkKlansman
The Favourite
Green Book
Vice

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

WINNER: Roma (Mexico)
Capernaum (Lebanon)
Cold War (Poland)
Never Look Away (Germany)
Shoplifters (Japan)

BEST SOUND MIXING

WINNER: Bohemian Rhapsody
Black Panther
First Man
Roma
A Star Is Born

BEST SOUND EDITING

WINNER: Bohemian Rhapsody
Black Panther
First Man
A Quiet Place
Roma

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

WINNER: Roma
Cold War
The Favourite
Never Look Away
A Star Is Born

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

WINNER: Black Panther
The Favourite
First Man
Mary Poppins Returns
Roma

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

WINNER: Black Panther
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
The Favourite
Mary Poppins Returns
Mary Queen of Scots

BEST MAKEUP AND HAIR

WINNER: Vice
Border
Mary Queen of Scots

BEST DOCUMENTARY (FEATURE)

WINNER: Free Solo
Hale County This Morning, This Evening
Minding the Gap
Of Fathers and Sons
RBG

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

WINNER: Regina King in If Beale Street Could Talk
Amy Adams in Vice
Marina de Tavira in Roma
Emma Stone in The Favourite
Rachel Weisz in The Favourite

FULL LIST: 2019 Oscars nominees

What's the most popular Best Picture nominee? 'Bohemian Rhapsody' reigns in state-by-state search breakdown

Oscar-nominated movies 2019: Where to stream, how to watch

What it takes to make an Oscar-nominated movie

Celebrities react to nominations

Oscar nominations snubs and surprises

The Walt Disney Company is the parent company of ABC and this station.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Getty Images

The Vikings got running back Dalvin Cook back on the practice field Friday, but it’s unclear whether he’ll be on the field against the Eagles on Sunday.

Cook is dealing with a hamstring injury and he has been listed as questionable for the trip to Philly. Cook did not play the last time the Vikings visited the Eagles as the torn ACL he suffered early in his rookie season kept him from taking part in the NFC Championship Game.

Latavius Murray, Mike Boone and Roc Thomas would be the Minnesota backs if Cook can’t play.

Cook is the only Viking listed as questionable, but they did rule out four players. Cornerback Trae Waynes remains in the concussion protocol, which will leave cornerback duties to Xavier Rhodes, Mike Hughes and Mackensie Alexander. Defensive back Marcus Sherels (ribs) will also miss the game.

Defensive ends Everson Griffen (knee/not injury related) and Tashawn Bower (ankle) are also out, so the Vikings will be thin at that position.

Getty Images

Tommy McDonald, a Hall of Fame wide receiver remembered as a big-play threat, a leader of championship teams and the last non-kicker to play in the NFL without a facemask, has died at the age of 84.

McDonald grew up in New Mexico and was a star in football, basketball and track, and he ended up playing football at Oklahoma because the Sooners’ basketball coach, Bruce Drake, convinced the school’s legendary football coach, Bud Wilkinson, to give him a scholarship.

At Oklahoma, McDonald became one of the biggest stars in college football, a two-time All-American and the winner of the 1956 Maxwell Award as college football’s best player. Oklahoma went a perfect 31-0 in McDonald’s three seasons on the team.

Although he was primarily a running back in college, the Eagles drafted him in 1957 and moved him to wide receiver. McDonald stood only 5-foot-9 and was a scrawny 178 pounds, but in his second season McDonald led the NFL in touchdown catches, and in his fifth season he led the league in both receiving yards and touchdowns. He was also a Pro Bowler for five straight years in Philadelphia and one of the key players on the Eagles’ 1960 championship team.

“Any ball that came near me, I wanted to be like a vacuum cleaner,” McDonald told NFL Films. “I wanted people to say, ‘Tommy McDonald? Get the ball to him and believe me, don’t worry about it because it’s leather in his pocket.'”

Said Hall of Fame quarterback Sonny Jurgensen, “He was the guy who could probably catch the ball better than anybody I ever threw to. As far as sheer hands, catching the ball if he could touch it, anything he could touch, he could catch it.”

Said another Hall of Fame teammate, Chuck Bednarik, “I would say that as a receiver, I think Tommy was the best I ever saw.”

In 1964 the Eagles traded McDonald to the Cowboys, where his production declined, but the following season he was traded again, to the Rams, where he had a career-high 67 catches and was again chosen to the Pro Bowl. He later played for the Falcons and Browns before retiring after 12 NFL seasons.

McDonald was known for his toughness, including a willingness to go over the middle back in the days when defensive backs were not just allowed but encouraged to deliver kill shots.

“I don’t know how many times I hit Tommy McDonald, and how many times I thought I killed him, and how many times he got up before I did,” recalled Hall of Fame safety Larry Wilson. “I used to watch him on film and think, ‘That little snot, look at him bounce up.’ I’d think, ‘He’s not going to bounce up this time,’ but he’d be up fixing his shoulder pads and running back to the huddle while you’re down there hurting. Just more guts than sense. He enjoyed playing the game. He’d come across the middle and he’d be smiling when he’s running. Most guys today, you can see the fright in his eyes.”

That fearlessness was part of why McDonald refused to wear a facemask even as every other player in the league, aside from kickers, had started wearing them. McDonald once suffered a broken jaw and continued to play with a facemask even with his jaw wired shut.

“With my size, I know the only reason I was able to make professional football, is that I had a heart as big as a wash tub. I don’t even know the word quit. It’s not in my dictionary,” McDonald recalled after he retired. “I just wanted a quarterback to be able to say to me that when he was in trouble and he needed something, that old No. 25 would come across.”

McDonald’s teammates always knew they could count on old No. 25.

The history of Philadelphia is a story of “firsts” when it comes to technology and innovation — in nearly every realm, from the sciences, the arts, design, industry, education, and on and on, we built it and delivered it to the world.

Last December, the leaders of Philadelphia’s civic, business and education sectors gathered in the Mayor’s Reception Room in City Hall to assert that we can again become a leader in technology and innovation. And that one of the keys to this future is high-quality computer science education for all children.

CS4Philly was launched last December as a call to action for the public and private investment needed to make this vision a reality. Its mission aligns with the national Computer Science for All movement to make CS an integral part of the educational experience of all K-12 students and teachers and to support student pathways to college and career success.

The CS4Philly “Bill of Rights” proclaims that all of Philadelphia’s children and youth have the right to access the knowledge, skills and abilities needed to participate fully in the digital economy; to be creators in the digital economy, not just consumers, and to be active citizens in our technology-driven world.

So, as a hard-working tech professional in Philadelphia, what can you do to help make this a reality? To start, join us for the CS4Philly Design Workshop on Saturday, Oct. 13 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Drexel’s ExCITE Center.

In this amazing collaboration space (with food and refreshments!), you will work in teams with your tech-industry peers and educators to identify and design computer science activities for the CS Student Experience, a citywide youth event that will kick off CS4Philly Week 2018. The CS Student Experience will bring together teams of high-school students and teachers with tech mentors from across the city to learn what CS is and how it can be a pathway to a future in tech.

Proud sponsors include Comcast, Technical.ly, Code for Philly, the School District of Philadelphia and the ExCITe Center itself.

I hope you will join us Oct. 13.

Connect your passion for tech with civic engagement. You can help us achieve the mission of CS4Philly!

• What: CS4Philly Design Workshop
• Who: Tech professionals and STEM educators interested discovering and designing computer-science activities for the CS4Philly CS Student Experience in December
• When: Saturday, Oct. 13 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
• Where: ExCITe Center, Drexel University, 3401 Market St.

Space is limited to 40 participants.

Register -30- JOIN THE COMMUNITY, BECOME A MEMBER
Already a member? Sign in here

Source: https://technical.ly/philly/2018/10/02/cs4philly-needs-your-help-getting-computer-science-into-philly-schools/

Philadelphia’s popular roving beer garden, Parks on Tap, has released its schedule of locations for the coming summer season, to begin on April 24.

The festival, which runs for 23 weeks in total each summer, moves to a new location every Wednesday and stays there for five days — until the following Sunday, when it picks up and moves to a new park. This year, Parks on Tap is kicking off Summer 2019 at Fairmount’s Azalea Garden.

The mobile beer garden, which has occurred annually since 2016, is a joint project between Philadelphia Parks and Recreation, Fairmount Park Conservancy, and FCM Hospitality, the restaurant and bar collective behind other popular outdoor venues like Morgan’s Pier. A portion of the proceeds raised from the festival will be donated back to the participating parks.

Chef Justin Koenig, of FCM’s Craft Hall, is heading up the festival’s food and drink offerings this year.

STATUS: Parks on Tap will open on April 24 and run for 23 weeks, every Wednesday through Sunday, until September 29.

Bright MLS image via Keller Williams Realty

Housing on the Main Line, as we all should know by now, ranges from the truly modest to the truly breathtaking. What might be more surprising is that high-end Main Line rentals cover an almost equally broad swath of real estate. In looking for the five most expensive houses, condos and Main Line apartments for rent right now, we found everything from (relatively) compact condos to spacious Spanish villas. Here are the five most expensive rentals we found on our search:

1. 2 College Ave. Haverford (above) | 6 beds, 7 baths, 8,112 square feet, $10,000 per month. Contact leasing agent about pet policy.

This priciest Main Line rental also happens to be the roomiest digs on the market right now, clocking in at more than 8,000 square feet. The great room of this 1956 hacienda that’s heavy on the Spanish influences must account for half that space. You could host the dinner party to end all dinner parties here, as it also comes with an equally large kitchen with commercial-grade Wolf range and double-wide Sub-Zero fridge and freezer. There’s also a 20-seat home theater in the basement and a large terrace and pool in the back. The master suite’s on the main floor so you don’t have to climb stairs after you’ve raided the fridge for a midnight snack.

(We could swear we saw this place listed for sale not too long ago.)

2 College Ave., Haverford, Pa. 19041 [John Bolaris | The Condo Shop | Keller Williams Realty]

2. 418 Gatcombe Lane #450, Bryn Mawr | 5 beds, 5 baths, 5,500 square feet, $7,000 per month. No pets.

If privacy and discretion are your chief concerns, you should rent this place posthaste, for its owner shares your penchant for secrecy. Neither photos nor information about the owner or leasing agent appear with this Main Line apartment for rent listing on Zillow. What we do know about the unit is what you see in the stats above. We also know that it has a pool and a separate in-law/au pair suite. And we know that it’s half a mile from the Baldwin and Shipley schools, two miles from the Haverford School and four from the Agnes Irwin School. Would you prefer to send your child to Harriton High? We hope the landlord doesn’t reject your application on those grounds.

418 Gatcombe Lane #450, Bryn Mawr, Pa. 19010 [Zillow]

Bright MLS image via BHHS Fox & Roach Realtors

3. 40 Louella Court #2, Wayne | 2 beds, 2 baths, 1,512 square feet, $4,500 per month. No pets.

Here’s your opportunity to rent a unit in the magnificently restored Louella House, a grand Victorian hotel-turned-condo built in 1868 and located smack in the center of Wayne. Your totally modern apartment is just a short walk from the Wayne Regional Rail station and right at the edge of its town center, where you can find boutique shopping, fine dining and entertainment. Amenities include a gas fireplace in the living room, a kitchen with retro period cabinets, a large outdoor porch and parking for two cars in the building’s underground garage.

40 Louella Court #C2, Wayne, Pa. 19087 [Jim Becker | BHHS Fox & Roach Realtors]

Bright MLS image via BHHS Fox & Roach Realtors

4. 312 Iron Works Way, Unit E, Wayne | 2 beds, 2 full, 1 half baths, 1,848 square feet, $4,495 per month. Pets accepted on a case-by-case basis; contact leasing agent for more information about pet policy.

Its appearance and street address notwithstanding, you are not looking at a factory-to-apartment conversion. Pembroke North is a recently built (2010) condominium midway between the St. Davids and Wayne Regional Rail stations and within walking distance of the former. This unit features an open main living area with built-in bookcase, large windows, a balcony and a kitchen equipped with top-of-the-line GE Monogram appliances. Wayne’s comely town center is just a hop, skip and a jump away.

312 Iron Works Way, Unit E, Wayne, Pa. 19087 [Helen Gleason | BHHS Fox & Roach Realtors – Rosemont]

Bright MLS image via BHHS Fox & Roach Realtors

5. 1000 Mt. Pleasant Rd., Bryn Mawr | 2 beds, 3 baths, 2,650 square feet, $4,000 per month. No pets.

And bringing up the rear is another Mediterranean-style residence— one with some history behind it. Rent this 1926 carriage house and you will live in the last surviving remnant of La Ronda, the magnificent Italianate mansion built between 1926 and 1929 for manufacturer Percival Foerderer, designed by noted architect Milton Minzer and thoughtlessly destroyed and replaced by a more conventional manse by a new owner who bought the estate in 2009. This carriage house displays all the rustic charm that our No. 1 most expensive rental lacks, and it’s been updated to keep pace with the demands of modern living. Stone walls, Gothic arches, tile floors and beamed ceilings give this house all the warmth and charm your heart desires. Should you take up residence here, do us a favor: Head around the corner to 945 Roscommon Rd. and flip the Kestenbaums the bird as you pass by? Then thank them for sparing this prize.

1000 Mt. Pleasant Rd., Bryn Mawr, Pa. 19010 [Robin Gordon | BHHS Fox & Roach Realtors]