Liverpool defender Joe Gomez has vowed to come back stronger than ever after being ruled out for a significant chunk of the season.

Gomez was forced to undergo knee surgery after rupturing his patella tendon during England training earlier this week.

Getty Images - Getty

With Virgil van Dijk also out for months with a knee problem, the Reds were counting on Gomez and his injury could not have come at a worse time.

However, it is not the first time the 23-year-old has suffered a serious setback, and Gomez insists he knows what it takes to come back better.

The road to recovery has already begun, Gomez wrote onTwitter. Ive been here before, I know what it takes and Ill be back better and stronger than ever.

Im obviously gutted, but this is a part of Gods plan and I believe everything happens for a reason.

Id like to thank everyone for their well wishes and messages of support.

Im focussed on my recovery and supporting my team mates in every way I can. See you soon.

Meanwhile, Liverpool legend Mark Lawrenson told talkSPORT he expects the Reds to sign a new centre-back in the January transfer window.

Joe is a very, very important player, he told talkSPORT 2. Obviously with Virgil van Dijk out, it would be Joe Gomez and another.

AFP or Licensors

The thing with Joe Gomez is hes had his operation straight away and theyre already saying hell miss most of the season, but that sounds to me really that he might just make it back towards the end.

And Matip is a decent player but hes like a willow tree; he occasionally gets blown over and hes not fit for two or three weeks, so hes another worry.

Some of the younger players have come in and theyve done absolutely fine, but I think youre looking at Matip, if fit, with the likes of Fabinho or maybe even Henderson [playing in defence] at some stage.

But I would think it will force the managers hand in the January transfer window.

Hes going to have to go out and buy somebody, and it wont be a difficult conversation with the owners. Theyll realise whats going on; the great thing about them is theyve got this sporting franchise in America and they know people lose form and get injured, so its case of who hes going to bring in.

Were all going to play the game now going into January who are Liverpool going to sign?

Read more from the original source:
Liverpool defender Joe Gomez breaks silence on knee injury as Reds urged to buy replacement in January - talkSPORT.com

Macys and ournew reality

To me, the recent boarding up of Macys 34th Street, in anticipation of possible post-election violence, symbolizes our countrys new reality.

As a young Jewish girl, I longed for a Christmas tree. No amount of cajoling or arguing could persuade my parents to allow me to have one. But I vividly remember being entranced by the famous Christmas-themed windows at Macys, and what it meant to me. Viewing those windows were part of my familys annual ritual of visiting the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center and attending the annual Christmas show at Radio City Music Hall.

Those glorious windows were special to me; there were simply so many of them, and they ignited the imagination (or at least my imagination). They literally sparkled, beckoning to all sightseers, no matter what their religion. And for a brief moment, I could fully participate in a holiday that I could only otherwise observe as an outsider.

Those sweet days are long gone but were replaced, years later, with another ritual: cutting through that same Macys on my way to and from Penn Station, as I commuted to my office, one block away from the store. It provided brief shelter and respite from rain and snow, chilling cold and sweltering heat. It was always bustling and welcoming. Tourists, speaking many languages and bearing large shopping bags, were a large presence. It gave the store a rather festive, international air. I liked that.

A high point of spring, for me, was always the Macys flower show, with its windows bedecked with multicolored blossoms. In the weeks before the flower show officially opened, despite the harsh March winds, I knew that spring was coming. I followed the progress as the windows and street floor began to be decorated with elaborate floral arrangements.

Macys also taught me a lesson about human nature.

During those dark days after 9/11, immediately after New York opened up again, I took one of the first DeCamp express buses out of Montclair. It was about half full. Usually, passengers were buried in their newspapers and electrical devices. But in that bus, at that time, we all had the need to talk and connect. We spoke of shock, confusion and fear. None of us felt comfortable going into Manhattan, but we each for our own reasons felt we had no choice. My story was that Im a psychotherapist; I had patients. End of story.

When I arrived in the city, I did not cut through Macys as I usually did. I was sure it would be the next target. While the Empire State building, on the other end of the block where my office was located, had become a virtual fortress, there was no visible security presence at any of the stores entrances.

Suddenly those interesting tourists with large shopping bags now seemed potentially menacing. And the landmark status of the building seemed downright dangerous.

But then, later that afternoon, I got a very noticeable run in my stockings (in those days I cared about such things). Feeling I had no choice, I nervously dashed into Macys for a replacement. It was virtually empty, but I still vividly remember all the salespeople standing behind counters in an empty store, determinedly smiling.

I hurriedly grabbed a pair of stockings and, as I checked out, I asked the salesperson if she was frightened being there. Of course she said yes, then hurriedly added, But this is my job. To me, those sales clerks at Macys symbolized the quiet courage and determination of New Yorkers during that terrible time a time that seemed to bring out the best in so many of us.

Now, suddenly, in a very different time, the Macys that had always been so welcoming to so many of us was boarded up. Has there ever been an American election thats brought forth such fear?

Happily, at this point in time, instead of violence there is dancing in the streets and the joyous honking of car horns. Soon, the boards covering Macys windows will undoubtedly be removed.

Will that be a harbinger of renewed hope for our divided country?

Janice Cohn

Montclair

Montclair Local is providing true public service through its in-depth reporting on Lackawanna. The issues are significant and many, and should concern all citizens. To clarify one crucial point: The members of A Better Lackawanna LLC should not be painted with one brush as being preservationists our 200+ members joined for any number of reasons, which align with the points in our lawsuit.

In one survey we did of members motivations, 80 percent said they were greatly concerned about the 400-car parking shortage and the traffic impact at what is perhaps the busiest intersection in all of Montclair. Only 20 percent said historic preservation was important to them.

At its heart, our appeal is about good government and the publics protected right to question and comment. All residents should be outraged at the taking of the public easement on Grove Street, without disclosure or input by the public. This project needs to return to the drawing board a full remand, in legalese a drawing board based on the survey map that was missing throughout the original approval process.

Priscilla Eshelman

A Better Lackawanna

See more here:
Letters to the editor: Nov. 12 - Montclair Local

A mum was left distraught after her car windows were smashed and her purse stolen overnight.

Eleanor Walters, 21, had left her flat in Newport city centre with her one-year-old daughter when she noticed the passenger window of her Citroen C3 had been smashed and her purse taken.

Eleanor said: "My daughter and I left the flat at around 8.45am in the rain to find the window smashed, the car soaked and her car seat destroyed.

"The damage to the car itself is complete loss of the passenger window and, due to the type of seats, the glass is hard to shift and will either need replacing or professional cleaning."

Eleanor said: "It's become very stressful and draining. Multiple phone calls to cancel and re-start cards and accounts moved, and when the new bank account is sorted it's a matter of moving all bills over to new accounts which proves very difficult for someone like me, who struggles with phone calls and socialising with unknown people."

Eleanor said she and her family are now considering moving home as they do not feel safe in the area.

"The reason car insurance is so high here is because of people doing stuff like this and how common it is.

"I could have claimed on my insurance, making me lose my no claims bonus and possibly making the insurance for next year just too much to justify paying, or put ourselves out of pocket now to get it fixed," she said.

"For someone like myself with severe mental health problems my car is my safety blanket. Knowing I can get away or find my way to someone for help if I need it."

Eleanor said: "The car seat will need replacing and that is not cheap either. I now also have to replace the purse and all of the contents. The beautiful picture of my baby in the purse window will be wasting away somewhere. It hurts that it's had no effect to them but a huge one for me and my family."

A spokesperson for Gwent Police said: "We were called at approximately 9.15am on November 18, reporting that a Citreon C3 parked on Rodney Road in Newport had been broken into sometime between midnight and 9am.

"Cash, bank and store cards were stolen. Anyone with information is asked to call 101 quoting 2000419646."

View post:
Car covered in glass after windows smashed overnight in Newport - Wales Online

Topline

President Donald Trump insisted Thursday night during the final presidential debate that Democratic opponent Joe Biden is pining to knock down buildings and shrink their windows, a bizarre and inaccurate riff on Bidens climate plan that has quickly turned into one of Trumps go-to attack lines.

President Donald Trump answers a question during the second and final presidential debate at Belmont ... [+] University on October 22, 2020 in Nashville, Tennessee.

In an exchange on climate policy, Trump claimed Bidens platform involves forcing buildings to replace their existing windows with smaller ones, or ideally no windows at all, in the name of energy efficiency.

Trump has repeated this allegation for months, insisting Bidens plan to rapidly reduce carbon emissions would require buildings to eliminate their windows.

Bidens platform does not mention windows anywhere, nor does the Green New Deal, a climate proposal endorsed by many Democrats but not Biden.

Some researchers have suggested old buildings replace their windows with more energy efficient ones, but no climate activists seem to support eliminating them altogether.

They want to take buildings down because they want to make bigger windows into smaller windows, Trump said Thursday night. As far as theyre concerned, if you had no window, it would be a lovely thing.

Trump has frequently attempted to tie Biden to the Green New Deal, a wide-ranging proposal involving renewable energy projects, infrastructure upgrades and economic stimulus. In its current form, the Green New Deal is a nonbinding statement rather than a concrete policy, so its difficult to assess its fiscal or economic impact, but Bidens plan tends to be far narrower than most of the ideas floated by Green New Deal supporters. Either way, windows are probably safe from Biden and congressional Democrats wrath.

Trump also claimed Bidens climate plan would cost $100 trillion. This figure appears to be lifted from a conservative think tanks estimate for the cost of the Green New Deal, though supporters of the Green New Deal have disputed that figure. Biden says his plan would cost far less.

Trump Keeps Talking About Tiny Windows, And No One Knows What He Means (Curbed)

Trump no windows comment draws fire (EnergyNow)

See the rest here:
Why Does Trump Think Biden Wants To Shrink Everybodys Windows? - Forbes

This article is part of our latest Fine Arts & Exhibits special report, which focuses on how art endures and inspires, even in the darkest of times.

For centuries, artists and poets have escaped the world of people by choice, opting out to find clarity or to see from a different perspective. The earliest drawings known to have been made by humans have been found in the deep, dark recesses of caves, spaces since supplanted by the modern studio.

But many artists have very social sides to their lives and practices as well exhibiting work, lecturing, attending openings that have largely stopped as they, and everyone else, have been forced into involuntary isolation by the pandemic.

For some, along with that separation has come a kind of acceptance of a new set of limits, among them the inability to travel freely and a change in how they interact with people, places and objects.

My work is all about context, about place, the artist Mark Dion said recently. I go someplace, and I listen to the site and I start to research its ecological history, its architecture, its material culture, its social history. All of those elements tell me what to do.

Mr. Dion, who is based in Copake, N.Y., is known for his cabinet-of-curiosity type installations that often pull from institutional collections as well as junk shops high and low conspiring to make arresting amalgams of human detritus.

But I am an artist, which means Im inherently resilient, he said. Artists are nothing if not adaptable, and in the end, I dont necessarily need airplanes and research and a different location and a budget; all I need is a pencil and paper.

When Mr. Dions show at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Fort Worth shut down two months early, he realized the importance of his works being represented in other media. The book and film associated with the show became critical if only because the public could not experience his work in person. (The exhibition was extended for a few weeks, when the museum reopened.)

During the virus, many artists have been returning to the basics, working alone without assistants, slowing down and taking a closer look at their immediate surroundings, spending more time in nature. But as they have turned inward, there has also been a renaissance of communication, of sharing ideas through digital media.

On March 17, Phong Bui, an artist and publisher, and his team at the publication he co-founded, The Brooklyn Rail, started a series of daily lunchtime conversations, called the New Social Environment, through Zoom.

Social Environment was a direct counter to social distancing, Mr. Bui told me. The conversations there have been more than 150 so far, archived online are a nod to the artist Joseph Beuyss concept of Social Sculpture, where artmaking is not considered to be so precious, but is democratized, a part of our lives.

As the daily conversations progressed bringing together both well-known and emerging artists, musicians, poets, curators, and museum directors the staff and participants noticed a magic to this new medium, with everyone in their individual Zoom box, a slice of their homes or studios visible behind them.

I didnt expect people to feel so incredibly compassionate, sympathetic and honest, Mr. Bui said. What we learned is that the need to connect to other human beings was amplified.

Zoom and other technologies existed before the virus, but we werent being forced to use them. For Joseph Grigely, who is deaf, this shift has been a boon.

Pre-Covid, people might pick up the phone, email or meet in person, Mr. Grigely told me via Zoom, using the chat feature to type, and with his wife, the artist Amy Vogel, signing for him. Post-Covid, were meeting all over the globe via Zoom, we are seeing and hearing people, we are seeing and having conversations that are embodied the face, the facial expressions.

Mr. Grigely, an artist and a professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, has been deaf since he was 10, shocked into a kind of involuntary isolation brought on by an accident. He deals with such a situation, like the coronavirus, through what he calls intercoming, rather than overcoming.

At the moment you cant really beat the virus, you have to work with the circumstances that we have, he said.

Mr. Grigelys work is largely about communication, about living as a deaf person in the world of the hearing. He has held many conversations by passing notes back and forth with others, and he displays these notes as large wall installations. These are ordinary conversations you would not ever bother to document or display, he said, but there is a kind of revelation about their everyday ordinariness that is captivating when you see them together.

I see in Covid a lot of people are doing something like that; they are looking at whats on their desks, whats on their bookshelves. This kind of slow-life process, its something thats between the still life and life. Were all in that slow mode now, it seems.

At the very beginning of lockdown, Mr. Grigely encouraged his students to embrace new technologies, seeing these media as a way to stay optimistic through a challenging time. The way the students are disseminating work on Instagram or exhibitions that are posted online, to me it seems to supplement a body of work, not replace it. They create multiple entry points to it; you look into it through these different angles.

At the same time, he noted, they have come at the expense of how many lives? Its very painful to look at whats happening in that context.

As an artist, I, too, know the isolation of the virus. An exhibition at the Yale University Art Gallery that I worked on for over two years closed in mid-March, three weeks after it began. It reopened last month, and then was temporarily closed again, with plans to reopen and continue its run through February.

Isolation for me, in my studio in Easton, Conn., has above all emphasized a heightened relationship to nature, and the continued relevance of the elemental, primitive materials of my craft wood-handled brushes with animal hair bristles, pigments ground from minerals, charcoal, graphite. I marvel at how efficiently, even in the face of new technologies, these ancient tools still enable us to manifest thoughts, to get something out of our heads and onto a surface.

My own paintings, drawings, sculptures and installations have always been fundamentally about the interface of the real and the imagined, the actual and the imitation, and the interconnectedness between our thoughts and ourselves.

Isolation has made me look more closely at the nature of representation, a theme of the Yale show, and a theme of many of the conversations I had with artists: why humans bothered to depict things in nature, and how once we were able to do so, these representations helped us survive.

We cannot lament the virtual world; that would not serve us. As Mr. Grigely noted, these new forms of representation dont detract from the actual, but augment it. Its possible that when the first human drew a bison on a cave wall, someone was there thinking: Thats a neat bit of artifice, but I much prefer the real thing.

But the representation gave us the beginning of a secondary nature, one that complements the real one, and helps us navigate it, like a map. It also helped expand our minds in an imaginary world.

As we fully return to seeing art in person, I hope that our experiences in isolation will allow us to pay more attention to what is around us when we look up from our screens.

See the original post:
Artists in Isolation Make a New Window on the World - The New York Times

The Beacon Hill Architectural Commission unanimously approved the requested installation of an EV (Electric Vehicle) charging station at the street-level as part of an application for 6 Louisburg Square during its most-recent monthly public hearing, which took place virtually on Oct. 15.

The commission unanimously approved installing the outlet, with caveats that it be flush with the sidewalk, and that the applicant provide a letter of assent from the other resident owners of Louisburg Square, who collectively own the cobblestones, sidewalk light fixtures and everything else located between the edges of their personal residences and the street.

Staff recommends approving the EV since were in the middle of climate crisis, and it could help us achieve our goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2030, added Nick Armata, senior preservation planner for the city.

Rob Whitney, chair of the Beacon Hill Civic Association board of directors, who first suggested to the applicant that the charger could be built flush with the sidewalk instead of as a traditional granite charging-block as was originally proposed, said, Were not opposing [the charger] on the contrary, were saying, how do we bring it into the historic fabric of the neighborhood?

They could be made to resemble similar outlets for water and gas found in the neighborhood, Whitney said, while the chargers could be waterproofed in a simple way.

But really the issue is precedent, Whitney added, because street furniture is prohibited [in the neighborhoods historic district] except under certain circumstances.

As part of the same application, the commission approved requests to replace the front door (which it deemed may also be painted Rembrandt red) and the frame, with the caveat that the sidelights be restored; to replace all front windows on the front faade; to replace the garden-level door but without a recess; and to replace the existing skylights and install HVAC units on the roof, which are not visible from a public way.

The commission also unanimously approved as submitted a new businesss application for storefront signage and window decals at 99 Charles St.

The new business, Gus & Ruby Letterpress, a custom design and print studio with other locations in Portsmouth, N.H., and Portland, Maine, intend to install a double-sided wood sign, measuring 36 inches in diameter, with raised aluminum lettering attached to the storefront, as well as a decal listing its hours of operation in the entry-door window.

In another matter, the commission approved an application for proposed work at 62 Chestnut St. that architect Frank McGuire described as replacing existing windows in the building with new, compliant, wood, true divided-light windows at the front and rear facades; this came with the caveat that the applicant provide two letters from restoration specialists, such as Olde Bostonian of Dorchester, verifying that the windows are indeed beyond repair.

The commission also approved an application for 33 Branch St. to replace front door hardware, as well as to repaint the front faade, trim, shutters and doors, with the caveat that the faade and lintels remain painted gray (and that the shade be approved by staff).

Meanwhile, three applicants who were scheduled to appear before the commission were no-shows, including one for the proposed reconstruction of a chimney at 30 Chestnut St. which was deferred from the September hearing because of pending violations including removal of historic windows without a certificate of appropriateness; another to replace the front door and hardware at 24 Garden St.; and a third to rebuild a chimney at 55 Pinckney St., respectively. Work at these locations is not allowed to proceed without the applicants first attending a future public hearing of the BHAC and getting approval from the commission.

View original post here:
BHAC Approves EV Charging Station With Caveats - Beacon Hill Times

Ferrari has reportedly issued a recall order for around 1,063 units of its 812 Superfast in the United States. These models were made between 2018 and 2020 and are suspected to have a rear window which could come off at relatively high speeds due to the chances these weren't fixed properly.

As the name itself suggests, the 812 Superfast is the most powerful and fastest road-going Ferrari ever built. With a 6.5-litre, V12 engine at its heart and the ability to sprint to 100 kmph in just 2.9 seconds, the 812 Superfast is indeed super fast. At such speeds, or speeds even significantly lower though, one won't want the rear window to come flying off. And yet, that is a possibility which the company is now hoping to address.

(Also read: Porsche and Ferrari face $59,000 tax on gas guzzlers in France)

It is reported that the glitch with how the rear window was assembled was first reported in March of 2020 in Germany, followed by two more such complaints here. This prompted Ferrari to start investigating these and it was eventually decided that a recall was the only way forward.

US media outlets report that Ferrari will replace the rear window on any affected car and that dealers and owners in the country will begin getting notifications from December onwards.

The Ferrari 812 Superfast has a pedestal of its own in the company's product portfolio and was first introduced to the world at the 2017 Geneva Motor Show. Its aero design, electric power steering and sheer power capabilities made it stand out in the world of super cars. And while Ferrari continues to fend off any need to go electric in current times, the 812 Superfast remains an ode to speed, as long as it can keep its rear window from falling off.

Read more here:
Ferrari issues recall orders for its most powerful supercar. Here's why - Hindustan Times Auto News

Editor's Note: Last night we published a story on local Goodwill locations being boarded up ahead of Election Day. This morning, the president and CEO reversed her decision, and contacted us to let us know she had changed her mind. We have written a new story outlining her thoughts, and those wishing to read the original story will find it at the bottom of this story.

The president and CEO of Goodwill Industries of the Redwood Empire decided to reverse her decision to board up a number of Goodwill locations in Sonoma County.

Brandy Evans said after an interview with about the initial decision, she reflected that it could have an unintended impact on the broader community. So, not specifically a Goodwill employee or a Goodwill shopper, but just the community in general, she said.

And I just decided, you know, there is a possibility that someone might see something negative in that, and Im not going to guess what that negative interpretation on their part could be, but all the sudden, it just didnt feel good, Evans said. So, I just made the decision of, Hey, lets get those boards back down.

A number of Goodwill stores in Sonoma County were somewhere in the process of boarding up windows ahead of the presidential election to minimize the risk of damage from possible civil unrest.

Evans said a Goodwill employee began dismantling the boards at the Healdsburg store Wednesday morning after Evans halted its construction partway through, and that the employee would remove boards from the Sebastopol store and Fourth Street location in Santa Rosa.

The process to protect store windows began the week of Oct. 11 and were to continue this week, originally. She said the process of boarding up the Stony Point Goodwill had not started before she reversed direction.

Evans said Tuesday when the plan was still in motion that there was no concern Goodwill facilities would be looted and that it was a completely financial decision due to the fact insurance premiums were dramatically increasing because of recent wildfires and that sometimes protests could take a wrong turn.

I certainly did not expect that Goodwill will be targeted in any way, but just didnt want to take the chance and so I was putting up the protection in advance, she said.

Customers would have still been able to shop indoors at all open Redwood Empire Goodwill locations, but the Healdsburg, Sebastopol and the Stony Point and Fourth Street locations in Santa Rosa would have boarded their windows, she said Tuesday. She initially decided to fortify stores closest to city centers where she said protests were more likely to occur after hearing the news media say how contentious the election is.

Evans said she did not believe the Santa Rosa area would experience civil unrest as intensely as Portland, Seattle, Minneapolis and other cities across the country, but that some Goodwill locations had large glass windows that would be costly to replace.

Evans said the organization no longer had preventative measures planned around election night. Previously, she said the organization would evaluate how soon they would remove the boards after the Nov. 3 election.

Brenda Adams, assistant manager of the Healdsburg Goodwill store, said Tuesday that a man outside was actively boarding their windows with plywood and metal that morning and that she was trying to tell customers the store was still open its regular hours and accepting donations.

I personally dont foresee riots going through Healdsburg and everybody looting and destroying properties at all. Were a very peaceful town when it comes to demonstrations and things, Adams said Tuesday.

Adams said she found out stores were planning to board up windows a couple weeks ago. As an employee, she said minimizing the risk made sense. As a citizen of Healdsburg, Adams said, it concerned her that businesses were taking precautions because she said the area had seen many protests and demonstrators in the street, holding signs for equality.

But Ive never seen anything get violent. So, its kind of a hard pill to swallow knowing our store is being boarded up, but I understand why, she said Tuesday.

Evans said voting for president is important in the U.S. and that not every country has the luxury.

Just on a personal note, this election is probably the most important election in my lifetime, and if somebody were to see that and think we were somehow trying to make a message that it wasnt important, that would be very frustrating me because thats not the message at all, Evans said. The message is get out and vote.

For those wishing to read the original article detailing the boarding up, please read below.

A number of Goodwill stores in Sonoma County are boarding up windows ahead of the presidential election to minimize the risk of damage from possible civil unrest.

Its a completely financial decision. There is no concern that Goodwills will be looted, said Brandy Evans, president and CEO of Goodwill Industries of the Redwood Empire.

Customers can still shop indoors at all open Redwood Empire Goodwill locations, but the Healdsburg, Sebastopol and the Stony Point and Fourth Street locations in Santa Rosa would board their windows, she said. She decided to fortify stores closest to city centers where she said protests were more likely to occur after hearing the news media say how contentious the election is.

Goodwill stores in other parts of the county, such as Cloverdale and Windsor, arent expected to have boarded up windows.

Evans said she did not believe the Santa Rosa area would experience civil unrest as intensely as Portland, Seattle, Minneapolis and other cities across the country, but that the organizations insurance premiums dramatically increased this year and some Goodwill locations have large glass windows that would be costly to replace.

I would choose not to spend the money on that, so this is, again, a preventative measure, she said.

The process to protect store windows began the week of Oct. 11 and is continuing this week, she said. After the Nov. 3 election, the organization will how soon they would remove the boards. Evans said she did not expect any vandalism or break-ins and hoped to take the boards down as soon as possible.

Brenda Adams, assistant manager of the Healdsburg Goodwill store, said a man outside was actively boarding their windows with plywood and metal Tuesday morning and that she was trying to tell customers the store was still open its regular hours and accepting donations.

I personally dont foresee riots going through Healdsburg and everybody looting and destroying properties at all. Were a very peaceful town when it comes to demonstrations and things, Adams said.

Adams said she found out stores would be boarding windows a couple weeks ago. As an employee, she said minimizing the risk made sense. As a citizen of Healdsburg, Adams said, it concerned her that businesses were taking precautions because the area had seen many protests and demonstrators in the street holding signs for equality.

But Ive never seen anything get violent, she said. So its kind of a hard pill to swallow knowing our store is being boarded up, but I understand why.

Read the original:
UPDATE: Local Goodwill president reverses decision to board up windows ahead of election night - Sonoma West

A new threat

When Phil Foden and Ferran Torres were stripped and ready to come on midway through the second half Manchester City were still level with Porto. By the time they were introduced, they led 2-1.

That was thanks to Ilkay Gundogan (more on that below) but it was no surprise to see two of City's X-Factor players making their entrance in a game where Pep Guardiola's side had struggled to turn possession into clear chances.

It had all been a little too easy for Porto until that point, but within minutes of their arrival, Foden had fed Torres who had scored a wonderful goal. Job done.

Torres has made a good impression so far at City and the way he drove straight at Porto's defence before showing a calm head to cut inside and finish smartly suggests he is going to have plenty more good days in blue.

The Spaniard has replaced Leroy Sane in the City squad and while he is right-footed and maybe not quite as direct as Sane, Torres is still a more aggressive winger when running with the ball than Riyad Mahrez, Bernardo Silva or Foden, and maybe even Raheem Sterling, whose game has changed in recent seasons.

At times last season City looked like they were missing the directness of Sane. Now, in Torres, they have the ideal foil to an already supreme attack.

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Gundogan's moment

It's been a slow start to the season for Gundogan, thanks to the positive COVID-19 test he received on the day of City's first game of the campaign.

Since his period of self-isolation he's been working his way back to full fitness and finally made his first start against Porto. It wasn't one of his best games, although he did the job that Guardiola so often asks of him. City's midfield felt a little stale for most of the 67 minutes that Gundogan spent on the pitch.

Gundogan's job isn't particularly to create the chances for City, just to keep the ball moving, to pick the right moments to release the pass, and the ineffectual performances of those in front of him hampered in that regard.

But he still managed to leave his mark on the game, just in time. City looked like they might need a set-piece to open Porto up and Gundogan's delightful free-kick tilted the game back their way.

Defensive mistakes

City might have spent heavily on central defenders this summer but what hasn't changed is their luck when it comes to keeping them fit.

Nathan Ake was the latest to go down crocked before the visit of Porto, a niggle in his groin keeping him out of the Champions League opener.

That meant a seventh different central defensive partnership in all seven games the Blues have played so far this season, although at times this was a back three as much as a back four, with the superb Kyle Walker in such a rich vein of form he can play centre back and right back at the same time.

Nominally Ruben Dias was partnered by Eric Garcia now but again it was mistakes that cost City and meant it was an eighth successive Champions League game without a clean sheet. Dias' pass forward was sloppy and easily intercepted but the major mistakes came in allowing Luis Diaz to dribble from the left wing into a shooting position deep inside the box in the inside-right channel.

Rodri failed to do enough to halt the run as Diaz skirted across the face of the box and when he pulled the trigger Joao Cancelo managed to make himself smaller, rather than bigger when trying to make the block.

Pep Guardiola will be desperate to find some continuity in his defensive unit, while also accepting rotation is inevitable this season. A settled defence is going to be key, as City found out last season.

Inside knowledge

Guardiola revealed before this game that he'd picked the brains of new boy Dias about the threat Porto would pose to City, given he faced them regularly during his time with Benfica.

It was unlikely to be a coincidence that Guardiola picked all three of his Portuguese players to face the champions of their homeland, with Cancelo and Silva also starting.

But it's Dias who is most familiar with the current incarnation of Porto, a side who won the domestic title by five points from Dias' Benfica last season.

This victory would have been some sort of revenge for the Blues' new central defender. Not only did his beloved Benfica miss out on the title to this Porto side last season, but Porto also won all three games between the two sides. Despite those setbacks Dias clearly learned how to beat Sergio Conceicao's side, despite the defeats last term.

VAR decisions

The video assistant referee has rarely been City's friend in Europe so in a competition where the club will look for any signs that the tide is turning in their favour perhaps the decision that went for them last night is just that.

You can imagine every City fan watching at home expecting the worst when replays showed Gundogan standing on Porto goalkeeper Agustin Marchesin in the build-up to the penalty awarded for a foul on Raheem Sterling.

But the penalty decision stood - correctly - and Sergio Aguero made no mistake. Gundogan had clearly only stood on Marchesin by accident and the contact wasn't enough to warrant a foul.

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Ferran Torres showed Man City he can replace what they lost in summer transfer window - Manchester Evening News

Recent Windows 10 updates have been notably lacking in big, splashy new features, perhaps because several previous attempts, such as My Peopleremember that?never saw much usage. And other would-be flagship features, like the multi-app Sets, never even saw the light of day. Indeed, only diehard Windows watchers likely know of the existence of these once-touted initiatives.

That's just fine with many Windows users, who tend to shun glitzy new changes to their OS and actually gripe about any major changes. In fact, I find some of the more-recent features like Clipboard History and the excellent new screenshot tool indispensable. It's also important to realize that new capabilities occasionally roll into Windows 10 in between these major feature updatesusually things like redesigned icons and updated default apps.

In any case, a new Windows update is upon us, such as it is. This time Microsoft is calling it the October 2020 Update. Most Microsoft pundits and Windows Insider beta testers know it as version 20H2, to signify that it's the second update for 2020, and in fact that's how it appears in the System Info page of Settings.

The update has started rolling out to Windows PCs already, but there's a thorough vetting process for PC hardware to pass in order to receive it. These Windows Updates can take months to propagate automatically to every PC, but you can always open Settings > Update & Securityand tap the Check for Updates button to see whether the October 2020 update is available to your machine.

Aside from a few design tweaks, the biggest change is that the new, more compatible Google-powered Chromium version of the Edge web browser is now built into Windows. It replaces Microsoft's own previous homespun Edge to power not only the default browser, but Windows store apps that need access to web content.

By comparison, Apple has been far more aggressive with adding new features to macOS. The latest version, Big Surnow in previewincludes a new Maps app (Windows 10 has a pretty nice built-in Maps app, too, in case you forgot), rounded window corners, new system sounds, widgets, and more iOS-like functionality in general.

There are even more updates specifically for business and education installations, which require deeper management and security options. You can read more about those on the Microsoft Tech Community site. Finally, less sexy but just as importantly, many security updates that are intended to harden the platform against known vulnerabilities are implemented in the 20H2 version of Windows 10.

Yes, I already mentioned this above, but there's more news for the default Windows browser than just far greater site compatibility compared with the old Edge. After resisting Google's total takeover of the web as evidenced by Microsoft's adopting the search giant's browser-engine code at first, I've been won over by Edge. Its start page is truly useful and appealing, its secure password saving feature is spot on, and the syncing with the mobile phone app versions of Edge is well executed. I've even used the Collections feature, which does a slick job when it comes to web research.

The best new actual feature in Edge is support for Alt-Tab. The key combination now works with websites just as it's always worked on applications: hit the combo and it takes you through your open browser tabs. True, it's a minor feature, and you could always tab through tabs with Ctrl-Tab, but our motor memory is so in tune with Alt-Tab for switching that it just makes sense. Of course, you can turn this off in the main Settings app if you prefer.

The other user updates involve pinning sites and shopping. Now, when you pin a site to the Taskbar, hover the mouse cursor over its icon shows all the open tabs for the site. New for the Collections feature is Price Comparison, which automatically lists other shopping options for an item you added.

This is a fairly superficial change, but the redesign lets the quick-access tiles in the Start Menu take on the color mode you've chosen in Personalization. You can see the light mode version in the top image of this article, and here's the dark-mode version. The new design does have a more consistent appearance and adds a bit of transparency to the menu so you have an idea of what lies beneath it.

The Action Center right-side panel provides a great way to access basic computer settings but also shows notifications from apps you've set up for them. Now a redesign makes them clearer, by placing the app from which the notifications comes in the upper-left corner of the notificationalso known as the toast.

If you have a device such as a Surface Pro tablet or Surface Book convertible, you no longer have to deal with the "Do You Want to Switch to Tablet Mode?" prompt every time you yank off the keyboard. The updated behavior is just to switch to the mode that makes sense. Make sense? But that's not all: Tablet mode sees improvements for touch usage by increasing space between taskbar icons, replacing the search box with a search icon, optimizing File Explorer windows for touch.

Microsoft continues to slowly migrate detailed settings from the legacy Control Panel to the newer Settings app. With 20H2, you can change the refresh rate for your displaysomething gamers will appreciate. You can now copy system info from the Settings page, too.

This is huge for anyone who's had to do a clean install on a PC but didn't have the requisite disks. You can simply choose "Cloud download" to save yourself from having to hunt down that installation media for Windows.

You can follow all the latest developments on Microsoft's operating system at our Windows 10 landing page. For a feature-by-feature comparison with Apple's OS, you can read Windows vs. MacOS: Which OS Really Is the Best?

Further Reading

Operating System Reviews

Operating System Best Picks

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What's New With Windows? See 6 Top New Features in the October 2020 Update - PCMag